By Nelson Manneh
Residents of Nemasu have expressed their dismay over the recent vandalism of NAWEC’s borehole within their community. The borehole was meant to supply water to Bundung and other communities in the surrounding area.
Over the years, the residents of Bundung had challenges in terms of accessing clean water and complained endlessly that they only accessed water during the late hours of the night. This prompted NAWEC to establish a borehole to supply water to residents of the affected areas.
“I cannot say much about the incident because I was not around when it happened. But when I was informed about it, I visited the place and saw the destruction that happened there,” one Lamin Fadera told this reporter.
Mr. Fadera said the perpetrators wanted to steal some of the pipes and other valuable materials to resell them.
“If you properly observe their actions, you will realize that they were using other equipment to disconnect the pipes and were not trying to destroy everything. Instead, it seemed they were disconnecting the NAWEC pipes and other materials,” he said.
Landing Camara, an eyewitness who spoke to this medium said he cannot identify any of the perpetrators but he saw them when they were trying to escape.
“I was coming from my house going to the shop when I heard some noise around the borehole. I was alone and I could not call for help. I do not know whether they saw another person coming. I later saw them running and scaling the fence,” he said.
Mr. Camara said the damage done by the perpetrators is too much and will cost NAWEC a lot of money to replace the pipes and other damaged materials.
Hon. Sulayman Jammeh, the National Assembly Member for Bundungka Kunda who visited the scene, expressed dismay about the unfortunate incident. He said the NAWEC borehole in Nemasu is intended to supply water to Bundung (his constituency) and its surroundings. But said, unfortunately, it has been vandalized by unknown individuals.
“This act is not only destructive but also a major setback to the project which aims to alleviate water challenges in our community. On behalf of the people of Bundung, I condemn this act in the strongest terms and urge all those involved in such actions, to desist from it immediately,” Hon. Jammeh stated.
He commended NAWEC’s technical team for their swift response in replacing the damaged equipment.
When contacted to shed light on the above story, Pierre Sylva, NAWEC’s Public Relations Officer, said he was sick and has not been going to work during the period.
