By Ragan M. Conteh
Government workers, traders and members of the public in the Western Rural District especially Waterloo have reportedly bewailed the night curfew proclaimed by the President Bio led government.
An indigene of Waterloo, Amadu Sahr Kamanda, doing business in Central Business District in the capital city yesterday informed this medium that, the curfew time is not in the favour of business people and government workers as, according to him, most of them get stock in traffic on their way to their respective business and work places.
According to Mr. Kamanda, although the reason for the night curfew is to, among other things, reduce the spread of ravaging COVID-19, security personnel, he alleges, are misusing it. According to him, certain security personnel are in the habit of using the curfew period to extort money from unsuspecting members of the public or sometimes violate their rights.
He however stated that the curfew is necessary but that it must be well managed by relevant authorities if it is to yield it desired purpose.
One Mariatu Sesay, a business woman at the CBD in Freetown said, it is better for government to institute a lockdown rather than curfew because of the limited time available to do business which, according to her, has affected their businesses, a great deal.
Madam Isata Saffa who resides in Calaba Town stated that the government should endeavor to make available government buses at this particular period to ease the transportation burden on passengers and reduce harassment from security personnel.
According to her, members of the public have, since the inception of the night curfew faced all forms of embarrassments, particularly at night whilst some have been arrested and detained as a result of traffic holdup or the lack of transportation.