By Hassan I. Conteh

Gibrila Kamara talks to Africa 24 about a “council pretender” who removed some parts of their highjack pump at Boyle Street in Waterloo and might have sold them off long since.

“A man came to us and claimed that he worked for Waterloo District Council. We allowed him in our ignorant to remove some parts of the pump piece by piece,” Kamara explained.

He said they never knew that that man was a thief who had pretended to be a staff of Western Area Rural Council (WARC) who was intending to help them sort out a problem in the pump.

Community high jacked pumps are common in Bassa Town and were initially built by Mercy Ships charity organization.

Mercy Ships’ workers comprise a group of some white humanitarian volunteers from all around the world including Germany, South America (Brazil) etc.

“We watched him pulling away the pump parts; we trusted him because he showed us every proof (ID, uniforms) that he was a staff at Waterloo Council.”

Since he done that criminal act, we have ever been struggling for water here as a community, Kamara and a woman sitting by added their voice in an interview with Africa 24 journalist.

Disguised stealing which occurs in such a form like the above scenario where some unknown individuals would tell people pretending they’re working for public institutions in isolated communities.

Years back, some men who claimed they worked at the country’s power house took away peoples’ electricity meters at Leicester Road community in Freetown and were believed to have sold those meters later to other customers.

The community people at Leicester Road said the “surprising criminal act” of stealing their meters was done overnight unnoticed to them.

The victims at Boyle Street have suffered a similar fate by an unknown man who had pretended to have been a government council worker.

They said their highjacked pump was built for them by Mercy Ships between 2002 and 2003.

It was later renovated by WARC and the project was funded by European Union (EU) in the years 2013-14.

The local residents have called on WARC and the government or NGOs to come to their aid as they’re struggling over access to water supply especially during the dry season.