Operation Restore Order launched by the Sierra Leone Police (SLP) to bring respite to desperate commuters in the nation’s capital is failing to restore hope in them.
The overriding goal of the operation is to ensure that drivers conduct their trade within the confines of the law.
But, the operation is being whittled down by the actions of deviant drivers.
The drivers see the operation as a form of police harassment that has the potential to badly affect their trade.
As the operation is being undermined, the expected result of comforting the commuters is not forthcoming.
Large crowds of commuters are still on the streets as drivers fight hard to beat down the operation.
The main method employed by deviant drivers is to evade areas where there is police presence.
They are inclined to stopping at Half-ways and told the passengers to alight. The drivers, most times, achieve this objective by resorting to unexpected changes of direction.
Driver’s tactics of deviation is adding to an already worsening situation which seems to go beyond government control.
Every passing day marks the worsening of transport crises that is deep-rooted in a society largely inhabited by low income earners.
By their numerical strength, the police cannot be anywhere at the same time.
The absence of the police at some locations becomes an opportunity drivers waste no time to exploit.
The SLP Public Relations Unit assures the public that the operation is mounted to ease the transport problem in the country.
The police have always been at loggerheads with the drivers who have an uncontrollable desire to stop at half-ways to make gains.
The drivers say they want to cover up the expenditure they incur daily along the route. An expenditure they say is caused by the police who they always accuse of extortion.
Drivers have always claimed that the transport problem would be solved if the police are taken off the streets.
Most drivers say police traffic spots are many starting from Waterloo to Bombay Park itself. Crossing all those traffic points a driver says is not an easy ride.
The other side of the argument indicate that drivers would still continue to play pranks even if police officers are removed from the streets.
The police some members of the public say are there to augment the traffic wardens who are mainly in charge of traffic duties.
As the argument continues between the police and the drivers, commuters have always been at the wrong end of dubious driver tactics as they face constant exploitation.
As drivers evade the rule, the potential to create suffering among the people is very great.
Taxi drivers also participate in the exploitation as the Waterloo drivers do.
They call prices commuters hardly afford thereby creating a situation of suffering and discomfort.
Those who pay the high prices are conveyed to their destinations, and those who not stay behind.
Commercial motorists and tricycle riders also have a slice of their own in the exploitation. They are of no help to a transport situation that is showing signs of collapse.
The transport sector has always been a bad one in Freetown, but has become more of a problem during Covid-19 pandemic.
Drivers showed their unpatriotism at the onset of the deadly virus when government announced measures to reduce passengers a bus should carry for the moment.
Covid-19 measures were not destined to last long as they are meant only to contain the virus.
But, the bus drivers saw it as a big blow to their income, and embarked on a sit-down strike action.
Only few of the buses operate in the city to help ameliorate a dangerous situation. Since few buses operate, it can’t be ruled out that suffering is the ultimate result.
Those bus owners who cannot withstand the hardship brought on them by the strike have gone to the provinces where they hope to make money.
The absence of the buses in the city contributes to worsening transport situation. Currently, various points have seen stampedes of unimaginable magnitude whenever a vehicle arrives.
Sometime in 2015, Ministry of Transport and Aviation procured 100 buses to ease the transport problem in Freetown.
The buses were distributed to several communities in the country to convey people to various destinations with ease.
Now, they are no more on the roads and the transport crisis continues.
The transport sector is dominated by private vehicle owners and government intervention is less minimal.
Vehicles owners always say the vehicles are theirs. They are bought out of their private earnings. They argue that they should not be controlled by government.
The Motor Drivers and General Transport Workers Union (MDGTWU), the umbrella body of drivers in Sierra Leone, seem helpless in the face of a deteriorating situation.
Almost all interviews with MDGTWU officials indicate that they could do nothing to bring sanity to the transport sector.
The public waits to see the tactics to be employed by the police to restore hope for commuters.