In the prefecture of Lélouma, the district of Ley-Lagui is struggling with a severe lack of basic infrastructure.
Located about ten kilometers from the center of the sub-prefecture of Thiaguel Bori, the area is hard to reach due to a badly deteriorated road, according to a report from Guineematin.com’s special correspondent on the ground.
Residents say the short distance is deceptive. What should be a quick trip takes between 30 and 40 minutes by motorcycle because of the poor condition of the roadway.
Faced with this, local youth have taken matters into their own hands, mobilizing once a week to repair some of the most dangerous sections of the route.
Elhadj Hambaliou Diallo, the first imam of Ley-Lagui, praised the young people’s efforts while making an urgent appeal for outside help.
He noted that a stream along the stretch needs a bridge, and that every year the same problem returns as young people work to keep the road from being completely cut off.
The community has also pooled resources to buy a jackhammer for road work. But the imam said these efforts are not enough given the scale of the task.
He is asking the authorities and people of goodwill to provide machinery, especially a grader, to rehabilitate the Thiaguel Bori-Ley-Lagui axis. He pointed to the travel time as proof of the road’s poor state.
Beyond the road, access to drinking water is a major daily challenge. The village’s main spring is the primary supply point for several communities, and the situation worsens in the dry season.
Saïdatou Bah, spokesperson for the women of Ley-Lagui, described leaving home at 4 a.m. and sometimes not returning until noon during the dry season. She said several villages, including Sentou, depend on the same spring.
Bah also said that attempts to dig wells have not solved the problem, with one well producing water that gives off a bad smell. She appealed to well-wishers to help the village secure a reliable source of drinking water.
The district, which has more than 10,000 inhabitants, also lacks telephone coverage. Residents depend on an intermittent network signal picked up from Yembering, a locality in the prefecture of Mali.
Source: Guineematin.com