By Kebba Jeffang
Residents in the Kanifing Municipality are lamenting the poor water and electricity supply from the National Water and Electricity 
Company (NAWEC) which is affecting households and small businesses in the area.
The consumers such as women and other members of the households, tailoring shops and other electricity dependent small businesses within the municipality, depend on the water and electricity supplied by NAWEC and do not have the means to resort to alternative sources of supply.
One of the women consumers, Fatoumatta Sanneh, a middle aged lady residing in Bundung Borehole with her family, expressed total frustration over the shortage of water in her neighbourhood. She described it as a serious water crisis in the area as they sometimes stay for days without a drop coming from their taps, adding that this is an ongoing problem.
“If we are lucky, we have to wait until very late at night around, 1 am or 3 am, before getting water from the taps. Sometimes this lack of water in the taps goes for days. This is a very difficult moment for us as we continue to be content with this lack of access to tap water at the time when it is most needed during the day,” lamented the housewife.
Salimatou Fatty, a young lady and resident of Bundung, said “It has been four days now since we last saw water from the taps. I woke up very early today only to realise that there is no water in the house, even to brush my teeth, perform ablution much more for bath and had to go to a neighbour’s house to fetch water with my siblings. Many of my schedules failed today because I had to ensure water was available in my house before leaving.”
Abdoulie Ceesay, a tailor with a workshop in Latrikunda Sibiji, who was interviewed just before Koriteh, was also complaining about the poor supply of electricity which was affecting his work.
“We have a lot of work to do, especially during the countdown to the ‘Koriteh’ feast, as many customers are waiting for the dresses to be finished on time. They have trust in us but this can be broken by our failure to meet the deadlines due to poor electricity,” said the tailor.
He added that the tailoring business has attracted many young people who could otherwise have resorted to the perilous irregular migration, or ‘back way journey to Europe. “But a situation like this is really frustrating us,” he lamented.
Falou Jeng, another tailor in the busy Serekunda market, also interviewed just before Koriteh, reiterated similar experience and urged NAWEC to consider them by providing uninterrupted electricity supply at this time when it is most needed by them to earn income for their survival.
When contacted, Mr. Pierre Silva, the PRO of NAWEC, said he was not aware of any of such complaints. But he added that if any member of the public had such problems with their services, the best thing was for the person to visit NAWEC offices to complain instead of using the media.
