Investigation mounted by this press has shown that over 600 motor cycles have been arrested by the police. The arrest spree came after the declaration of a police raid three weeks ago. It sought to restrain commercial motorists from plying in areas declared as Central Business District (CBD). The CBD is the city centre and heartland of Freetown.
Riding in such communities posed a serious risk to commuters thus increasing the likelihood for accidents.
Apart from riding in the CBD, the bikes were also arrested for other related traffic offences which commercial motorists are routinely prone to commit. Commercial motorists have gained, over the years, notoriety for reckless riding in the CBD. A number of commercial motorists have expressed concerns about the safety of vehicles in police hands.
A commercial motorist whose motor cycle was arrested spoke to this press on condition of anonymity. He told this press that he was concerned about the safety his motor cycle since it was taken away by the police. His fear rests on police’s inclination to dispose of motor cycles arrested and taken to the police station.
The commercial motorists made reference to previous arrests of a large number of motor cycles by police officers in which many of them were sold at cheap prices. The most embarrassing factor in the sale, he said, the police officer who arrested the motor cycles also bought them when put on sale.
“This is very bad for a police institution boasting about Force For Good,” he said.
Members of the public who are not commercial motorists did not reserve their feelings about arrest and arbitrary disposal of the motor cycles. Most have argued that police power stops at arresting, investigating and prosecuting and nothing else.
But, a police officer recently told this press that the motor cycles were disposed of by the courts. “The police only bought the motor cycles from the courts,” he said.
Purchase of the motor cycles by police officers has come to be seen as a collusion between the judiciary and the police. Public argument has always shown that the police were not supposed to have bought any motor cycle from the courts since they arrested them. The commercial motorist also spoke about the hardship associated with police action in a country known for endemic hardship.
“It is like the police want the boys to steal as their means of subsistence has been taken away from them,” he said.
He went on to state that those commercial motorists whose motor cycles have been taken away could commit any offence at any given time.
“The country has been rendered unsafe for everyone through police action,” he said.
Members of the public have expressed concerns different from those of the commercial motorists. They look at the transport difficulties police action has created. Fatmata Kamara is a teacher who goes to work every day. She compares the traffic situation prior to the arrest of the motor cycles and the situation now.
“Before the arrest of the motor cycles, I easily get a motor cycle to take me to town. Now it is a different case. Commercial motorists are not willing to travel to all destinations including those which are not declared CBD,” she expressed her frustration.
If they did, she went on, they demanded exorbitant money that doubled the normal price. Motor cycles remain suitable alternatives for vehicles. Commuters usually hire a motor cycle to convey them to their destinations where there is no vehicle.
But, the raid has left the city bereft of bikes which hitherto eased the transport situation.
As bikes have been taken off the streets, the drivers’ exploitation of passengers continues. Drivers are known to have taken to half-way model of transportation to make gains. They will not hesitate to leave behind those passengers heading for distant destination so that they could realise good proceeds. Officials of the Motor Drivers and General Transport Workers Union have raised several concerns about the transport situation in the country.
The union has trained and deployed marshalls to complement effort of police officers to stop the half-way syndrome that has characterised transport for a considerable period. Chief Driver at the union, Amadu Turay confirmed to this press, in a recent interview, the drivers’ exploitative tendencies through half-way transport.
Turay told this press that drivers used various ways to extort money from the public notably the half-way transport. He however also does not rule out passengers who opt to pay double the normal price.
Minibus vehicles from Waterloo whose destination is Bombay Lorry Park stops at either Shell or Ferry Junction. On their arrival on such places, passengers would be asked to disembark so that they could return to Waterloo Park for another batch of passengers.
In a bid to restore normalcy the Sierra Leone Police officers and traffic marshalls have barricaded the streets to ensure that drivers comply with the law by taking passengers to their destinations.
The officials operated within the framework of an operation titled: ‘Operation Restore order’ launched few months ago. In a country whose transport system is dominated largely by the private sector; the operation became a disaster to commuters.
The impact of ‘Operation Restore Order’ was weighing hard on commuters when the police raid commenced in the city. The objective which the operation seeks to achieve was defeated at the start. The police raid which nobody knows when it would end has spelt a new chapter in the suffering masses.
The public calls for the operation to be reconsidered for the benefit of men in the streets.