By Allieu S. Tunkara

Despite effort to ensure a spacious city, Freetown still remains one of the most congested cities in the world. Street trading, unregulated housing and migration are factors that fuel population explosion in Freetown. A city once inhabited by a population of about 400, 000 is now occupied by hundreds of thousands.

The 2015 national Census puts the figure of Freetown residents at 2, 000, 000. This figure is expected to have grown much higher. The rapid population increase is bad for a city meant for less people especially during outbreaks of deadly and contagious viruses.

Recent figures of COVID-19 show that Freetown is fastly relegating to an epicentre. On Abacha Street, petty traders and other retailers converge in congested conditions. None of these traders seem conscious about the effects of congestion in a pandemic period.

Mabinty Kamara sells assorted goods, a trade she has been doing for years to eke a living. She and her colleagues sit together to sell and discuss issues of the day. Sitting together and going en masse is a typical feminine characteristic.

Women, anywhere in the world, especially African women cherish a tradition of clustering.

In an interview, Mabinty is aware of the deadly nature of the virus, but could find it difficult to sit alone. “I heard about COVID-19, and the trouble it causes in the world. But, it does not mean I and my colleagues should not sit together and discuss,” she said.

At the time of the interview, Mabinty and her colleagues do not mask up. Although Mabinty said she was aware of the ravaging nature of the virus, but failure to go by NACOVERC directives defeats Mabinty’s position.

Abacha Street epitomises other streets in Freetown struggling with the problem of congestion in tiny city. ECOWAS, Free, Savage, and other Streets as well as Regent Road and Kabia Lot pathways are areas traders have colonised.

These selling points are very much closer to such slum communities as Big Wharf, Susan’s Bay, Mabela among others. Traders have appeared very much resistant to government’s ban on selling on the streets.

They hope to make more fortune than going into market facilities. Struggles for a way through by commuters are not uncommon. Hawkers too worsen an already polarised situation.

They squeeze and struggle along heavy traffic to make the day’s sales and make ends meet. Quarrels and scuffles are common sceneries in such situations. Scenes in which traders scold commuters for making a product fall off a stall are frequent.

These traders are of the view that commuters especially those who appear in European attires do not have respect for their trade, a situation that breeds fertile grounds for hostility towards them.

It is very difficult for combating contagious viruses in such situations. The newly constructed market centre very close to Victoria Park has become a White Elephant. By their persistence in selling on the streets, traders are not ready to use the facility.

One of the traders, Baby Kanu says the new market stalls and stores are too expensive. By her response, they prefer selling on the streets to going into the new market.

“We make more sales on the streets, and we choose to stay on them,” she said.

It is a general feeling among traders that there would be more customers for their commodities when they sell on the streets than when they find themselves in the market. It is clear that the hope for more fast sales keep the traders intact on the streets.

Freetown City Council (FCC) has laws that restrict street trading. A law seen by this press known as FCC Byelaws of 2010 outlaw street trading in the municipality, and prescribe punishment. A pecuniary or custodial punishment could be meted to offenders.

These laws have become dead letters as the trade on the street continues unabated. Matters are made worse when FCC grants licence to stalls and shops, and also collect dues. Those actions legitimise traders’ stay on the streets.

It has been argued, times without number, that it is better not to have laws at all than to have laws one cannot enforce. The swelling population on the streets is an age-old problem Freetown has been grappling with. The problem traced its root to early 2000 after the end of the country’s civil war.

At the time the DDR (Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration) Programme folded up in the provinces, most ex-combatants saw no future in the provinces.

Freetown and regional capitals: Bo, Makeni and Kenema were cities ex-combatants turned to as havens. Most were never accepted in their communities owing to the atrocious crimes they committed in spite of the preachings of forgiveness and reconciliation by the defunct Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Successive governments have failed for years in regulating and controlling migration to the city. What Freetown is facing today is a tragic failure of governments that have come and gone.

Today, villages, towns and Chiefdom headquaters are virtually empty. The youths are in Freetown with their eyes stucked to commercial motorism (okada riding).

They see great fortune in such trade. With exception of few, most are illiterates, half-baked and school leavers. High birth rate is very much prevalent among groups of people with less knowledge and awareness on birth control methods.

Owing to the population explosion, a single room is occupied by three or more, a situation that facilitates the spread of viruses. Ever-growing populations in sprawling slums have direct  spill-over effect on population on the streets of Freetown.

Houses in slum communities are cheap to rent, and can attract and host a large populations of migrants from up-country. Although those slums have been banned, residents still reside there.

In a recent interview, an official in the Ministry of Lands, Housing and country planning told this press that most slums have been declared as inhabitable, but residents still continue to live there.

Moa Wharf, Big Wharf, Shell Pipeline, Kroo Bay, Susan’s Bay and other slums should not exist by now if residents comply with government’s directives.

Public argument holds that as longs as long as Freetown’s population remain controllable, the city is always vulnerable to viral attacks. A similar situation was also seen in Freetown during the Ebola days between 2014 and 2016.

During that period, Freetown quickly relegated to an epicentre owing to congestion.