New data from the Freetown City Council (FCC) reveals a shocking surge in deaths related to the dangerous synthetic drug called Kush. Since the beginning of 2025, at least 220 bodies have been collected from the streets of Freetown, marking a catastrophic increase that has transformed an occasional tragedy into a near-daily occurrence.
The crisis has spread across the capital, with corpses retrieved from central Freetown to peripheral communities like Kissy and Lumley. Between January 1 and August 13, 142 bodies (136 males, 6 females) were collected.
An additional 32 bodies (31 males, 1 female) were retrieved between August 13 and September 11. The FCC noted that this figure dramatically contrasts with the preceding four years (2020-2023), where the annual count consistently remained below 50.
Mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr confirmed this alarming trend, stating that corpse collection has shifted from “occasional” to “almost daily.”
These young lives, once full of promise, are now grim statistics. Overall, 220 corpses have been collected in the first nine months of 2025, 170 were buried by the FCC, while 50 were identified and claimed by relatives.
However, the escalating crisis is now tragically complicated by a bureaucratic dispute at the highest levels of governance. In a letter dated October 20, 2025, Mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr disclosed that the Ministry of Local Government and Community Affairs had challenged the FCC’s “source of authority” for retrieving the dead.
In response, the mayor announced the immediate suspension of the FCC’s corpse collection services. This decision, driven by an administrative conflict, leaves a horrifying void in public service. There is currently no clear authority designated to manage the collection and dignified burial of the bodies that continue to appear almost daily on Freetown’s streets.
On Wednesday, Truth Media reported that a group of men bulldozed their way into the Wilberforce cemetery and abandoned a corpse (shown in photo) on the ground and left. Onlookers suggest that this corpse could be another kush-related death.
The mayor concluded her communication with an urgent plea to the central government, seeking clarification on which institution should now be responsible for corpse collection within the municipality.
