Tombo Junction, on the busy Freetown–Masiaka Highway, is fast becoming a shameful symbol of lawlessness. What was once a government-designated waste disposal site has been taken over by traders, turning it into a sprawling market where food and filth sit side by side.
Fresh produce, cooked meals, and household items are sold just steps away from heaps of rotting rubbish. The stench hits you before the sight does. Flies cloud around exposed food. Plastic waste, animal carcasses, and decomposing matter spill across the area, yet buyers and sellers carry on as if nothing is wrong.
“This is a ticking time bomb,” warned a public health officer who requested anonymity. “Selling food in the middle of a dumpsite is an open invitation for cholera, typhoid, and other infectious diseases. Every customer is at risk, and contamination spreads far beyond this junction.”
The Freetown–Masiaka Highway is one of Sierra Leone’s busiest transport arteries, connecting the capital to the provinces. Thousands of commuters, truck drivers, and passengers pass through daily. Instead of being a safe transit point, Tombo Junction has become a hotspot for disease transmission, a traffic hazard — and, according to locals, a haven for thieves, thugs, squatters, and even the risk of explosives being hidden in the rubbish.
The makeshift stalls creep dangerously close to the roadway, forcing vehicles to slow or swerve to avoid pedestrians crossing without warning. “The road is for cars, not for markets,” Abdulai Mansaray, a taxi driver said. “If the council doesn’t act, we will be counting bodies here soon.”
Local authorities admit the problem is spiraling. “We know it’s dangerous,” Kasho J. Holland-Cole, Chairman, Western Area Rural District Council told This Day. “We have secured an alternative market site, but until we get cooperation from the traders, the problem will persist.” Cole also accused political leaders from the ruling SLPP of interfering with efforts to relocate the traders.
Albert Tarawallie, chairman of the Waterloo Petty Traders Union, has been accused of collecting money from traders in exchange for space on the dumpsite — allegations that critics say are fueled by political backing from the SLPP.
Albert Tarawallie has denied the allegations. Political leaders of the SLPP have also denied supporting his actions in that regard.
Civil society groups warn that the council’s hesitation is putting lives at risk. They are calling for urgent clearance of the dumpsite, fencing of the area, and affordable stalls away from the highway.
For now, Tombo Junction stands as a grim reminder of how weak enforcement, political interference, and poor urban planning collide — leaving Sierra Leoneans to live, work, and eat in the shadow of garbage.
As the days go by, the piles of rubbish grow higher, the number of traders swells, and the government’s silence gets louder, one question hangs in the air: how many people must get sick or die before action is taken?
