By Alusine A Sesay
If you’ve ever found yourself perplexed as to why the fire brigade in Freetown appears CONSISTENTLY INCAPABLE of extinguishing the infernos currently consuming the capital, the answer may well lie here.
Behold, one of the frontline engines still deployed to combat blazes in the city is, quite shockingly, a 110-year-old fire truck.
Yes, you read that correctly.
One hundred and ten years old.
A relic from the Edwardian era now entrusted with the task of safeguarding a “modern” city.
Frankly, this antique contraption poses a GREATER THREAT than the fires it is meant to extinguish. It is a wheezing, rusting monument to neglect, better suited for our museum than a mission of emergency response.
Now consider the absurdity:- while government ministers glide about in SUVs worth upwards of $120,000 USD, our fire services are dispatched in machines that ought to have retired during colonial rule. –How is it that we’ve found the budget to fuel crooked egos but not to equip our emergency services? Huh?
The true character of a nation is not reflected in the opulence of its convoys or the ceremonial grandeur of its state events, but in how it protects its citizens in their MOST DESPERATE, VULNERABLE moments. And by that measure, this is nothing short of a national disgrace.
