PortLoko traders who lost some valuables during an inferno that erupted on Lunsar Road benefitted from Vice President, Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh. Each was given Le10, 000, 000 (Ten Million Leones) US$500 by the Vice President apart from the Le500, 000 (Five Hundred Thousand Leones) US$50 that was initially given to them when the calamity befell them.
Apart from the VP’s financial assistance, the affected traders also stand to enjoy a new building, a project that would be fully funded by government. No police officer was deployed at the scene of the rubble.
But, the case of Belgium where an inferno broke out the previous week was a different one. Although the inferno caused great destruction, the traders were abandoned to their own fate as none benefitted from a government official. Well-armed police officers were deployed at the scene after the wild fire to keep guard.
Reason for the deployment of the police at the scene remains unclear. Others say it was a move to restrain traders from going back to the spot to sell while others see it as a means of providing security and protection. The traders are totally paralysed by an incident that has taken them backwards.
Public discussions hold that it would take decades for them to recover from the huge loss. Sources say police have arrested few suspects who are now helping the investigation.
Although no effort has been made by government to alleviate the traders’ plight, the arrest could be a ray of hope for the affected traders.
However, the hope is dying down slowly after police high command made a statement that traders at Belgium must come with their trade certificates to establish the legality of their stay there. The Inspector-General of Police (IGP) made the statement in a widely circulated video footage. By the IGP’s statement, the police are suspicious that the valuables consumed by the fire are stolen property.
The traders’ failure to produce certificates of their stay at the Belgium Park is another clue of the police suspicion. The stance taken by the SLP is a way of derailing the investigation so that traders can forfeit everything.
One of the traders, Osman Kamara who spoke to this press had made it clear that the burning of their property is a moment of grief for them. The statement from the police that insinuates illegal transactions at Belgium does not go down well with him.
“This is not the time for the police to utter such statement since no deep investigation has been conducted,” he said.
Public discussions hold that the statement from the police is to kill the investigation so that the traders could get nothing. It is also argued that fire incidents in the two communities share a common feature-man made. Covert investigation into the fire in Portloko revealed that it was caused by one of the traders who usually sell cooked food there.
The story told by one of the affected traders indicated that the trader failed to properly put off the fire before she went to sleep.
Very late at night, the small fire that was left in the locally made cooking pot burst into flames and caused the destruction.
Almost invariably, the fire at Belgium was caused by unknown men, but fingers pointed at SLPP youths who started the violence at their party headquaters before it spilled over to Belgium. Questions about the discrimination between traders in PortLoko and those in Freetown have come up, but answers are yet to be provided. A credible source within the SLPP has told this medium that the discrimination came out of political consideration.
Portloko, he said, remained SLPP’s key battlefield with the main opposition, All People’s Congress (APC). The town has been tagged as the birthplace of the Vice President although others find it difficult to accept the claim.
In the 2018 elections, PortLoko is one of the few towns in the north that showed a degree of political tolerance to the ruling SLPP. A window of opportunity was opened by supporters loyal to Alpha Khan after their candidate was deprived of the flag-bearership. Khan’s supporters became disillusioned and disgruntled with the entire exercise that saw the emergence of Dr Samura as flag-bearer instead of Alpha Khan.
The supporters showed their disgruntlement through their voting style in the election. SLPP made significant gains in PortLoko owing to the disgruntlement among APC supporters. Once the party was ushered into governance, the New Direction Government did not hesitate to consolidate gains made in PortLoko town.
Despite brutal tendencies put up by the New Direction Government, PortLoko has always remained safe. The town has also seen some degree of facelift since the New Direction Government took over state governance of the state. The construction of Dr Kadie Sesay Secondary School for Girls, the first in PortLoko, was championed by the New Direction government.
Portraits of President Maada Bio and Vice President Juldeh Jalloh stand prominent on a clock tower situated at the heartland of the town. This effort and magnanimity shown towards PortLoko by the New Direction Government is a manifestation that they are ready to help the community in times of disasters. Belgium community whose scale of destruction is apparently higher than the one in PortLoko received no financial assistance from government.
Freetown is labelled as an opposition stronghold owing to the number of polls APC usually enjoy during elections. The APC dominance in Freetown started in 2007 when the former APC Government won all 21 seats in the city at that time.
SLPP won no seat in the nation’s capital, and it became one of the greatest signs for Ernest Koroma’s political victory in the election. The APC came and governed, and its governance style was admirable to many residents in Freetown. The same trend continued in 2012 when APC also won all the seats in the city.
In 2018, APC almost won again all parliamentary seats in Freetown except two communities where the most popular candidates were deprived of the symbols. The mass of Freetown population are uneducated traders that have dominated the informal sectors for years. In Politics they are called the grassroots.
Abacha, ECOWAS, Malamah Thomas and other streets notably Belgium host the traders among whom APC enjoyed considerable following. Unlike SLPP which is an elitist political party, APC is a mass or broker party that has paid special attention in the protection of the masses’ interest. It goes without saying that APC commands large following at Belgium where the destruction took place few days back.
With the exception of PortLoko, residents in opposition strongholds have always seen police brutality and destruction running into hundreds of millions of Leones.
The destruction at Belgium is no difference. But hope of recovery especially when one considers statements from the police high command remains impossible. It is doubtful whether traders affected by the wild fire would get compensation.