In this stupidly unjust and controversially mad world of same sex marriages, you cannot really say it will never happen, you can only safely say you have not yet seen it happen. There used to be an old lady in the Boston Kissy area who used to say that even if all the roads and streets in Freetown are made two-way, Savage Street will never become a one-way street. She died some years back and we are yet to see Savage Street turned into a two-way one. May her soul Rest in Peace. I only hope some crazy mad dog will not wake up one day and do exactly that… and of course rudely jolt the old lady in her grave.
In this our land that we love, because many of us have short memories and do not document what people say, any bunkum can just go over the radio and howl any gibberish. That is what the Creole says… Word nar mot nor to load nar ade. Too bad that lot of our compatriots go by this, especially our politicians and their police allies. The issue of right hand drive vehicles came to the fore over a year ago when the police spokesman went on air and told us that come October 2012, no right hand vehicle will be allowed to ply the streets of this country. Well that October the National Elections were just a month away and thus many people knew that our police guy was making a big joke. The date was later shame-facedly shifted to January this year. This time round it is staff of the SLRA who was on radio last week to say come September 1 no right hand drive vehicle will be imported into this country and come September 2014 no right hand vehicle will be allowed in this country.
I see all this as mere hot air bullshit! Question number 1: where did the right hand drive vehicles pass, did they drop from the sky r did they pass through the quay? Sometimes when some unintelligently warped grey mattered authorities go on air, they actually abuse our sense of intelligence. Most of them really do what innocent says. He says in one of his new songs: You day up tick, you dae alla tiff? Simple, if you are really serious about catching a thief, you do not go up the tree first and then shout from there for people to catch the thief. We have witnessed blatant lies over issues that hinge on people’s rights and livelihoods. With all the god given riches we have our compatriots in governance authority systematically rape the poor as if they have no right to be here. I keep on saying that nobody decided to be born here in Sierra Leone. Also if a set of people decide to enter politics and take leadership positions, they are there to serve us especially as they live on tax payer’s sweat. They are doing a job for which they are well paid and s they are not doing us any favour. Let me remind us all that in Chapter II of our Constitution which deals with the Fundamental Principles of State Policy in Section 5, sub-Section 2 (a) says sovereignty belongs to the people of Sierra Leone from whom the government through the Constitution derives all its powers, authority and legitimacy. If we believe in the spirit of this, then we need to rethink our approach to the power of the executive.
On March 1, 1971 this country changed from the left hand traffic to the right hand traffic. That meant that right hand vehicles gradually phased out. I can remember in Bo as a small junior school boy I stood around admiring senior boys who were engaged to help control the traffic. It was a very wonderful day. Well the exercise passed off with no reported incidents. In any case at the time the vehicles were not as many as today. At that time only brand new vehicles were ordered or bought, not like now where everything is second or even third hand if you like. Talking about second hand goods, even under wears are brought in and our ladies in particular prefer them to new ones because they say they are better and stronger. But tell me do you really need to wear under wears for several months? My God! Poverty has really dealt us a deadly blow and we seem to be losing every little pride and decency that was left in us after the disgraceful episodes of the RUF and the AFRC. This right hand drive dilemma is also rooted in our displayed poverty. Vehicles are expensive and so with the increasing demand for vehicles for both private and commercial use, people started buying second hand right hand vehicles. My first reaction to the issue was that it was a compliance issue and as such it was wrong for people to bring right hand drive vehicles into the country. But then I came to realize that it is far cheaper to own a second hand right hand drive vehicle. And you know the young men and women today see cars as necessities and will have one at all cost, pa-o-pa!
I must say that so many traffic regulations are violated with impunity. It is very interesting that part of the problem of right hand drive vehicles can be blamed on the Sierra Leone road transport Authority (SLRTA). The Section in the road transport regulations 2011 that prohibits the use of right hand drive vehicles is 73. Section 73, says: No motor vehicle shall be registered, used or allowed to be used if the steering apparatus of the motor vehicle is fitted on the right hand side of the vehicle. So tell are both the person who imports right hand drive vehicle and the road Transport authority which registers that vehicle not both in violation of section 73? It is totally unethical for road transport authority to register right hand drive vehicles and then expect to turn round again and condemn the use of the same vehicles. So you see how dicey the whole thing turns out? The laws are very clear but why SLRTA fails to enforce compliance is what they should tell us first. Let us not approach the issue like the tears of the man in the rain whose cry is known only to himself. Why not prosecute SLRTA for registering right hand drive vehicles in the first place.
By Ben Cambayma
August 20, 2013