Crack Blackmail Against Sinneh Kamara Backfires
Selfishness and greed are the vices that have now eaten deep into the fabrics of our Sierra Leonean society today with many ill-motivated Sierra Leoneans especially some of those who hide under the clothes of journalism. It is now a sad reality that some of those who parade themselves as journalists are nothing but blackmailers who could go to every length including spreading false rumors about untainted individuals in society in order to extort money from them.
This is exactly the case with Sinneh Kamara; a coroner technician who also doubles as Head of National Burial and charged with the responsibility for the burial of destitute deaths across the city who some crooked individuals in the guise of journalists are trying to throw dust on his hard earned reputation with some foolish, baseless and unfounded allegations insinuating that he has been mismanaging funds derived from the use of the fleet of ambulances assigned to him.
Such allegation, according to Mr. Kamara is totally misleading, baseless and unfounded and has the propensity to bring his hard earned reputation into disrepute.
Speaking to this writer, Sinneh Kamara explained that an allegations that some 6 ambulances were assigned to him was not true, but maintained that in 2016 only 3 ambulances were assigned to him to enable him perform the work given to him. He maintained that his role included the collection and burial of destitutes and unidentified corpses found on the streets of the city. He further disclosed that he would on many occasions drive across the city and pick up corpses of people who had died and lay abandoned on the streets. In some cases some have been identified by relatives, whilst others who were not identified or claimed were buried. He further disclosed that he was also responsible for the provision of voluntary workers and following negotiations with the Freetown City Council will get a burial site and arrange for the digging of graves for such corpses. As a Practical coroner technician he has also been providing assistance to various officials in all MDAs and local councils who had requested for such assistance for the burial of their loved ones. In such situations, the parties provided fuel for the vehicles and not money.
On the issue of the use of the ambulances during the Ebola period, Sinneh dismissed the allegation as false. During that period all ambulances were engaged in ferrying the infected persons and burying victims. He disclosed that he was head of the burial team with a bunch of volunteers carrying out several burials daily. He stressed that his work during that period was recognised by all the stakeholders that he was dubbed as one of the heroes of Ebola. In such a situation how could he possibly have been involved in mismanaging funds when vehicles were being fueled by the government and no money distributed at all to workers except allowances.
Sinneh however explained that his performance during the Mudslide saw the reduction of 3 ambulances to 2 as all available ambulances at the hospital and other clinics were used to convey the dead to the Mortuary. He disclosed that during the process, he left one ambulance at the Mortuary for any other emergency and was using single ambulance to collect body parts and limbs for burial. How will he be able to charge people for the use of the ambulance when it was actively engaged in transporting bodies and carrying out burial of corpses and body parts?
He maintained that the writer of such a defaming article is bent on discrediting his institution and tarnishing his name. In the light of all the false information disseminated, it is clear that the writer has little knowledge of the workings of the Mortuary and his role in that department.
Some commentators who read the article maintained that because of the work of Sinneh, fewer corpses are seen now lying on the streets. They had praise for him and his relentless efforts at getting unidentified corpses from the streets. Many recalled that during the Ebola when people were afraid of being infected with the virus, Sinneh was actively engaged in the burial of corpses and had no time with his family for fear of not contracting the disease and transferring it to them. He is known to have been involved in the burial of colleague Health workers including Doctors claimed by the virus. They maintained that he took a great risk to his life and that of his family during that period, especially when people were shying away from areas known to have suspected infected persons. In their view Sinneh is a hero to have survived that period amidst all the challenges of the epidemic.
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