What appears a sigh of relief in the transport system after the import of 50 new buses has turned into a new form of human rights violations particularly the right to movement.
Movement is currently under threat owing to restrictions imposed on commercial motor cycles, tricycles and motor cycles on the use of the highway.
The import of the 50 buses, according to government officials, is part of the urban mobility project initiated by government apparently to ease movement in the city but the result is counter-productive.
Within three days being the period for the test run, the four-lane new road would be reserved exclusively for the government buses, while the rough and rugged old road would be plied by commercial vehicles, tricycles and motor cycles.
An official at Metro Company which is charge of the management of the new buses said “from 6am-10am, the new road will be plied by only the new buses and it is completely out of bounds for commercial vehicles. Similarly, between 4pm and 10pm, the commercial vehicles also are not entitled to the new road.”
Police officers and traffic wardens have been deployed to enforce compliance, and punishment to follow for those who violate the rules.
Old Road which is just too old owing to wear and tear has been abandoned for years, and no driver or passenger would like riding on it; it is a ride on the rocks.
The old road is narrow and same time covered with deep potholes, speed bumps and muddy ditches making it difficult for free flow of traffic.
The road badly need repairs after falling into repairs for years gone by, and only few vehicles and motor cycles especially rickety ones ply it with Brima Lane junction in Eastern Freetown being the ultimate destination. The whole situation is just deadly after Brima Lane.
For the test-run period, the buses will provide free service, but NLe10 or Le10, 000 (ten thousand Leones) will be charged afterwards for any point between Eastend Police to Calaba Town in Eastern Freetown.
It is the same for Western Freetown as the same price will be charged, a move that takes many by surprise as NLe5 or Le5, 000 (five thousand Leones) is real price for all commuters. Many say such occurrence where a government service is more expensive than a commercial one will take place only in Sierra Leone.
For the past three days, life has never been easy for commuters in Freetown, a city well known for perennial traffic congestions and constraints.
Although no commercial vehicle is on the new road, commuters face difficult challenges in terms of accessing the new buses as they have to wait for several minutes for another bus after the departure of a loaded one contrary to the 10-minute interval announced by the Chief Minister.
On several media platforms, David Moinina Sengeh assured Sierra Leoneans that the people would have to wait only for 10 minutes for the other bus to be conveyed to their destinations after a loaded bus has departed.
In all three days, the streets remain empty at night, but the commuters could not move as groups numbering in their 50s are seen at bus stops waiting for the buses to ferry them home.
Investigation conducted by this press shows that most of the commuters reached their destinations late at night raising safety concerns for those residing in the outskirts of Freetown and in remote communities.
Reports of several commuters not reaching their homes are not uncommon, but authorities downplay the concerns knowing fully well that Freetown is an opposition stronghold and nothing else.
A Waterloo resident and businesswoman, Salamatu Kamara seems deeply troubled by government’s restrictions as she found it difficult to transport her commodities from Freetown to Waterloo where she owns and operates a kiosk.
“Yesterday, I spent hours on the streets trying to take my luggage to Waterloo, but it was extremely difficult for me. I nearly slept on the street as none of the government buses could take me along with the goods,” Salamatu vented out her sad experience adding that she preferred the old transport situation to the current one. Other businesswomen have also fallen victim of the same situation.
They could not take the commodities to their destinations at the right time, a move that badly affected trade and commerce between Freetown and Waterloo.
Abdulai Kargbo, a resident of Rokel community also trades in clothes at a stall on Goderich Street in Freetown, but has stopped at the moment owing to the endless traffic challenges confronting Freetown with the introduction of the buses.
“For now, I see no need to travel from my community, Rokel to Freetown as movement is just too slow and strenuous. I contemplate about temporally relocating my business to Rokel where I hope to make gains than in Freetown,” Kargbo told this press.
The cries and frustrations from the commuters continue, but government does not seem listening to them as the practice has always been ‘their decision is their decision.’
The ban on vehicles and cart-pushers from either plying or parking on Abacha is also a watershed moment for traders and importers as they wonder where to offload their imported goods.
According to the ban, no haulage vehicle could take containers to Abacha Street for goods to reach the last trader or consumer.
President of Sierra Leone Importers Association, three days ago, was on air explaining the sad situation into which they have been plunged by government.
“What can importers do to get their goods from the quay to the wharf,” he wonders while appealing to government to reconsider its decision.
Most of the traders depend on the importers through whom they earn their living and situation is worse for those who have children to feed and pay fees for. Several traders also pay for university and college students, but where will they get the much-needed money in such a situation.
The cart-pushers are also badly affected by government’s decision to stop their trade in one of the busy streets in the city. Like any other person seriously hit by government’s decision, it is also difficult for the cart pushers who will be jolted out of their trade owing to what they see as government’s illegal decision.
Several local rights campaigners are not with government’s decision saying it has dangerous human rights implications particularly the right to freedom of movement enshrined in the Constitution of Sierra Leone and various human rights treaties to which Sierra Leone is a signatory. Section 18 of the Constitution of Sierra Leone, 1991 states that:
“No person shall be deprived of his freedom of movement, and for the purpose of this section, the said freedom means the right to move freely throughout Sierra Leone, the right to reside in any part of Sierra Leone, the right to enter or leave Sierra Leone and immunity from expulsion from Sierra Leone.” Although the law made few restrictions in sub-sections (2) and (3) of section 18, none of those measures fall in any of the constitutional provisions.
Sierra Leone is a signatory to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948, the International covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966, the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, 1989 which recognise and uphold the right to freedom of movement.
With the government’s ban still in place, the people of Sierra Leone remain perplexed about what the exact objective government pursues.
Others are of the strong view that it could be a government’s retaliation to the people for not voting them in.
Really, it is a trying time for the people of Freetown and North-West regions under the Bio regime.