“I must note, the Sandika, especially in Serrekunda, which is a council property, cannot continue to be where it is. The area is congested, and it’s by a hospital. The access routes are very thin and we know there are large trucks coming all the way from Guinea-Conakry trying to access the Sandika,” Bensouda said a press conference.
“So in our meeting, we have agreed with the Sandika Union or the Association of Serrekunda that we will move the Sandika outside of the vicinity of Serrekunda. The Sandika should not follow customers, customers should follow the Sandika,” he said.
“We had a joint tour with the Sandika Association and they have already reviewed sites and have agreed that now the council and them will join hands to build a new Sandika.”
“We have had tragic events during the month of Ramadan that has caused major damage and havoc to many of the vendors in the market; the first fire being in the Latrikunda Sabiji Market. It happened on Sunday 16th of March 2025 at 1a.m. when most of our residents were asleep and most of the market was vacant,” the KM Mayor recalled.
“The next fire happened soon after on Monday 30 March 2025, which was the day after the Koriteh celebration and this was at Serekunda Sandika. It happened around 2.30 a.m.”
“I was called by the DCP of the market during both events and made my present as soon as I can.”
“We have taken several steps after those events and we are going to continue to take measures to ensure we do not only prevent fires but also create standard infrastructure to ensure that even if they happen, they are mitigated and the damage is limited.”
“Fire is time sensitive. The faster you can react to it the more you can limit the damage.”
The press conference also witnessed the presentation of 44 fire extinguishers to 17 markets, three council installations and to first responders.
The mayor said these extinguishers are given to the right people with the right training that will be able to operate it effectively when such emergencies occur.
“The council is reinforcing our markets. As of now we have 112 police and security officers stationed at our various markets but we will increase their numbers and reinforce them with more officers. We will deploy 20 more officers to the various markets,” he disclosed.
“We will also work with our Municipal Police Office to do a risk assessment in all the council installations especially our markets to ensure that any risk is mitigated accordingly.
“We will also work with the National Water and Electricity Company NAWEC who are our neighbours. I know there's been a bit of a push and pull as to the cause of the fire.”
“NAWEC and KMC will set up a taskforce that will review all the illegal connections in our markets and ensure that these illegal connections are disconnected and done properly.”
“They will also ensure that going forward, this taskforce will also train KMC electricians on how to mitigate wiring problems in these markets.”
