Freetown Mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr has announced that the city council will no longer collect corpses found on the streets after the Ministry of Local Government questioned its authority to do so.
The decision follows what the Mayor described as an “alarming” rise in deaths linked to the synthetic drug kush, which has devastated Sierra Leone’s youth population.
In a letter dated 20 October, addressed to the Ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Aki-Sawyerr disclosed that 220 corpses had been collected across the capital between 1 January and 8 October 2025 — more than four times the annual average recorded in previous years.
“Between 2020 and 2023, the number of corpses collected from the streets annually was less than 50,” the Mayor wrote. “In the past two years, we have seen a dramatic increase.”
The Mayor linked the surge to the ongoing kush epidemic — a cheap, highly addictive synthetic drug that has spread rapidly among unemployed youth. While no official post-mortem results have confirmed the cause of death, Aki-Sawyerr said the pattern was “deeply troubling.”
According to city council data, 170 of the 220 bodies were buried by the Freetown City Council (FCC) in municipal cemeteries, while the rest were claimed by families. The council maintains photographs of all cases but has withheld images of identified victims “out of respect for privacy.”
The letter was written in response to a request from the Ministry of Local Government and Community Affairs for evidence of alleged kush-related deaths. Aki-Sawyerr reaffirmed the council’s commitment to transparency and cooperation but urged the national government to take the lead in addressing what she called a public emergency.
She cited an earlier letter sent on 17 September to the Minister of Internal Affairs, copied to the Minister of Local Government, in which she warned that the city was facing a “crisis level” situation. “This phenomenon cannot be met with silence,” she wrote. “It demands a coordinated and urgent inquiry into the underlying causes of these deaths and decisive measures to curb the growing loss of young lives.”
She had previously warned that the FCC might be forced to suspend corpse retrievals without government intervention — a measure now in effect. “In light of the concerns raised in your letter about the source of authority under which the Freetown City Council conducted such retrievals, the council will no longer collect corpses sighted on the streets,” the Mayor said. “Please provide contact details of who we should report to when a corpse is found.”
The letter was also copied to the Chief Minister, the Chairman of the Ministerial Committee on Decentralisation, and the Minister of Information and Civic Education.
The suspension raises questions about who will now handle the retrieval and burial of street corpses in the capital. Historically, the Freetown City Council has provided “pauper’s burials” for destitute or unidentified individuals, even though the Local Government Act (2022) does not assign that duty explicitly.
Public health officials warn that the kush epidemic is deepening the country’s social and health crises, fuelling addiction, violence, and mental health disorders. The government has launched several task forces and enforcement campaigns, but treatment and rehabilitation options remain scarce.
Mayor Aki-Sawyerr reiterated the city council’s willingness to collaborate with the central government. “We remain committed to accountability, public welfare, and the fight against kush,” she wrote. “But the loss of young lives cannot continue in silence.”
Kush is a synthetic drug made from a mixture of cannabis, tramadol, fentanyl, formalin, and other chemicals. It is cheap, widely available, and increasingly popular among unemployed youth in Sierra Leone and neighbouring countries. Health authorities say the drug causes psychosis, aggression, and organ damage — and has been linked to a growing number of unexplained deaths.
