SLRA, RMF Sabotaging President Bio
By Daybreak
Freetown is bleeding. Its arteries — the very roads that connect communities, drive commerce, and symbolize national progress — are crumbling at a pace and scale of high magnitude of neglect.
From the bustling streets of Kissy to the commercial heart of PZ and the congested junctions of Lumley, potholes have become the unwanted hallmarks of our capital city. And at the heart of this creeping urban decay lies a failure that goes beyond negligence — a betrayal by the very institutions tasked with preserving our infrastructure: the Sierra Leone Roads Authority (SLRA) and the Road Maintenance Fund Administration (RMFA).
A City Held Hostage by Potholes
Freetown’s residents no longer commute safely they navigate an obstacle course. With every rainstorm, potholes deepen into trenches, claiming shock absorbers, breaking axles, and injuring citizens. Taxis refuse to ply certain routes, tricycles tip dangerously, and ambulances are delayed risking lives. School children trek through mud, shop owners lose business, and the city’s productivity wanes.
This is not a natural disaster — it is a manmade catastrophe, engineered by silence, inertia, and bureaucratic failure.
Presidential Vision Under Siege
President Julius Maada Bio’s vision of a modern, functional Sierra Leone — one driven by infrastructure, human capital development, and economic transformation — is being quietly sabotaged. While he champions international investment, transparency, and a new dawn for Sierra Leone, the SLRA and RMFA are dragging that vision through muddy ditches filled with broken promises.
Despite allocations running into billions of Leones, there is little to show on the streets. Citizens are asking, where is the money going? Why maintenance interventions are rare, poorly executed, or suspiciously delayed? And how can national pride grow when the capital city itself resembles a hard to reach village in remote communities?
The Dangerous Silence of the SLRA and RMFA
The SLRA was established to plan, develop, and maintain roads across the country. The RMFA was created to fund those efforts. Yet both institutions have become synonymous with excuses and invisibility. Annual budgets are approved. Road user charges are collected. But accountability? Absent.
There has been no comprehensive statement, no published action plan, and no visible emergency response, even as the rainy season exacerbates the crisis. Contractors work without oversight. Roads are patched without proper drainage. Entire communities are isolated as roads become rivers.
It begs the question: Are SLRA and RMFA fit for purpose? Or are they simply politically protected vessels of public waste?
Sabotaging the SLPP and Empowering the Opposition
The current state of Freetown’s roads does not just inconvenient the public — it generates public frustration. Each unfilled pothole, each flooded street becomes a campaign poster for the opposition. Citizens are beginning to ask whether the government truly cares, or whether incompetence has become institutionalized.
If left unchecked, this failure could snowball into a national crisis of confidence. The SLPP government, riding on genuine reforms in education, gender empowerment, and youth development, now risks losing ground over something as basic — and as visible — as road maintenance.
A Call for Presidential Intervention
President Bio must act now not tomorrow. This is not a time for memos or committee meetings. It is time for bold, decisive leadership that holds the SLRA and RMFA accountable. Sierra Leoneans deserve a public audit, a national pothole intervention plan, and urgent remedial works that reflect the urgency of the situation.
Ministers must be seen on the ground. DGs must explain their budgets. Emergency contractors must be deployed. And citizens must be empowered to report bad roads with swift feedback mechanisms.
The Road to 2028 is Being Dug Up
If Freetown remains in this state, then the path to 2028 will not be one of victory but of regret. Sierra Leoneans are watching. They know that bad roads don’t just damage vehicles — they erode confidence, fracture economies, and dismantle legacies.
President Bio promised transformation. But without roads, that promise will not reach the people. The time to act is not later — it is now.
