Freetown Sierra Leone – Lawmakers from Liberia and Sierra Leone have agreed to initiate a joint Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) advocacy platform at Mano River Union (MRU) level.

The agreement comes in the wake of lawmakers from both countries meeting in Freetown to brainstorm strategies aim at improving the WASH sector in the MRU Basin.

Liberia’s Legislative WASH Caucus, headed by its Chairman, Grand Bassa County Senator, Jonathan Kaipay and other stakeholders from the WASH sector including Civil Society and international partners are in Sierra Leone attending the program.

The team of Liberian WASH actors is meeting its Sierra Leonean counterpart to also share experience about workings of the WASH Legislative Caucus and how such body can also be established in Sierra Leone.

According to a dispatch from Freetown, the Liberian Legislative WASH Caucus has held meeting with the Speaker of Sierra Leone Parliament, Dr. Abass Bundu.

The dispatch quotes Dr. Bundu as saying “If both countries fail to address the issue of WASH, they will be inviting Corona virus in the Mano River region.”

Dr. Bundu welcomed the idea of initiating a WASH advocacy platform in the MRU region and urged lawmakers from Sierra Leone and Liberia to start the engagement.

At the meeting, the Chairman of Liberia’s WASH Legislative Caucus, Senator Jonathan Kaipay called on legislators of both Liberia and Sierra Leone to declare WASH as an emergency.

The Liberian Legislative WASH Caucus also met with the Sierra Leone Water Company (SALWACO) on Wednesday, March 4, 2020.

The meeting was intended to understand the challenges, successes and action plans of the company in the provisions of safe drinking water to the people of Sierra Leone.

The Liberian WASH actors’ visit to Sierra Leone is sponsor by WaterAid.