KUSH Related Deaths: When a Ministry Responds with Suspicion Instead of Empathy, Solidarity, or Urgency

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… It tells you governance has lost its heart and soul.

If our institutions cannot show compassion and rise to the grief and pain of the families and communities shattered by the kush crisis, then for the love of God, they must stop adding salt to injury.

Ministry of Local Government & Community Affairs Request for evidence— Kush-related deaths

A national emergency has already been declared by His Excellency, President Julius Maada Bio, on 4 April 2024 under the Drug and Substance Abuse Public Emergency Response Regulations, 2024.

If, in spite of this, communications are still failing to reflect the scope and seriousness of the crisis and government officials believe it is acceptable to be making statements that undermine the very Public Emergency declared by no less a person than His Excellency, the President, then that unprecedented constitutional problem is between those officials and the President himself.

It is for His Excellency to decide what to do about those watering down his Public Emergency proclamation.

But moving on, for the love of God, those still denying the scale and rate at which people are dying from the kush disaster, yet occupying key positions, it’s high time they keep their denial to themselves and stop making heartless statements that not only offend the intelligence of people but also their humanity.

To mock the dead is to make cynics of the living.

The Bio-SLPP administration touts building a stronger, smarter youth, yet Kush-related deaths read like an unofficial census of the nation's most 'developed' human capital losses.

Is the Bio government nurturing future leaders or just curating the ultimate Kush casualty? Some words of reflection from Prof. Dr. Prince Hycy Bull in ‘The Real Crisis We Ignore.’

The Real Crisis We Ignore: “Homelessness, drug abuse, orphans, poor health, and unemployment — these are not just statistics; they are the leading causes of death on the streets of Freetown.

If we cared for our people with even half the passion we show for politics and political parties, Sierra Leone would know true peace and prosperity.

Our nation suffers not because of a lack of potential, but because we have misplaced our priorities. Too often, we care only about ourselves, our politics, and what we can gain — forgetting the heart and soul of our nation: the poor, the vulnerable, the forgotten.

It is time to turn our love for politics into love for people. Only then can we rebuild Sierra Leone with dignity, compassion, and unity. “

In an ironic twist worthy of a dark comedy, if there are any youths left to be governed.

Video Courtesy: Use the Pinch gesture or Tap the blue circle on the video player to enlarge the view

Poet George Edwin, in the Poem "Kush —To Heal —Despair?"

Is this how you should get your living

To kill humanity in the living?

With a spate of leg ulcers piling

And with the show of indifference very telling

And irreversible addiction from one generation to another, spilling

While death and life are busy bargaining as to the fate of the living

Right in the eyes of their Mummies, you make them walk on their tummies

As they sleepwalk, they thrust dagger into their homies

Yet charged to court to answer to charges, even as zombies

And the puppies blamed for the bite of the bulldogs

To the material proceeds the society gives warm hugs

Even as the future stands to face many clogs

Shelves of pharmacies now relish holding anti youthful drugs

Drugs that lay wrinkled youngsters flat on unpaved floors like public rugs

And treat them like public bedbugs

For your living, you sell dope instead of hope

But just know that you're leaving for your children a tug of war on a tiny rope

And that any prayers for them from the Vatican will boomerang on the Pope

And as you suck out life from the living for your living scope

You narrow your pathway down this steep, dark slope

Yet you argue that you push Kush down the throats of youths to heal their despair

Hopelessness, irony, or disillusionment.

Something has gone so woefully wrong socially, politically, and environmentally that the next generation—young people, the youths—might no longer be around in society.' Sierra Leone! The collapse.

**Footnote:** A special thank you to the contributors.

Basita Michael ‘When a Ministry reacts not with empathy, solidarity, or urgency but with suspicion and administrative threats.’

Prof. Dr. Prince Bull ‘The Real Crisis We Ignor’

Poet George Edwin, in the Poem ‘Kush —To Heal —Despair?’

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UPDATE: 21 October 2025, 2:34 PM EST | From the Mayor of Freetown, Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr

“Instead of offering support, the readout request for supporting data for kush-related death from the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Local Governance and Community Affairs, Bai Thuray, read like a political stunt at a time when the government needs a coordinated effort to provide services to its citizens, including the dead.”

— 21 Oct 2025, 2:34 PM EST | UPDATE from the Mayor of Freetown, Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr

Upon request from the Local Government, the Mayor of Freetown has provided evidence of its claim in a spreadsheet with the name, sex, date collected, area, photo reference, and cemetery burial disposition of the dead found across Freetown from 7 January 2025 to 8 October 2025.

Additionally, the Mayor announced that the Freetown City Council will no longer be responsible for collecting the deceased individuals. If the Local Government wants to secure a pathologist to examine the bodies and confirm deaths related to kush, the FCC will assist in locating the corpses.

END UPDATE

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