Although there has been no official announcement from government through the Ministry of Transport and Aviation on change or increase in public transport fares, some commercial transporters have taken it upon themselves to hike transport fares, much to the inconvenience of the general public. Time and time again, tussles have erupted between commercial transporters and law enforcement officers to strictly abide by the rules and regulations of plying designated routes and desisting from halfway destination stops, which they see as much more lucrative.
“I see this as a broad daylight conspiracy to extort money from those travelling by commercial transport. It is not right and government should not stay silent over this,” said Osman Kabba. The retired police officer parts with between Le10,000 and Le15,000 a day to and from Tengbeh Town, where he works as a security officer with a salary of Le650,000 a month.
He added that part of his salary is spent on transportation, though he has a family to care for and bills to pay. At the Krootown Road market, traders also expressed similar concerns over the unnecessary price hikes to transport their wares to the markets.
Fish trader Aminata Sheriff explained that “fuel price has not gone up and we don’t want to add extra charges, but the commercial drivers make things difficult for us and so we have no choice but to sell in order to make a little profit to make ends meet”. She said there are too many traffic police officers on the road, which might be the reason commercial drivers have lately resorted to unnecessary price increases, even for the shortest destinations.
JSS, Prince of Wales pupil Donald Sesay is also bitter about the unnecessary price hikes by kekehs (tricycles) and okadas (motorcycles) for short distances, noting it as the reason more pressure has been put on school buses to overload, though not all drivers are willing to do so because of the COVID-19 protocols. “I am appealing to government to bring in more school and public buses in order to reduce the transport challenges in the country.”
Sesay added that the Ministry of Transport and Aviation should also do public notices to inform the public that there is no change in transport fare and to warn commercial transport operators of the consequences of fare hikes not in conformity with the government stipulated price. Emmanuel Cole, who drives a kekeh in the central and western part of Freetown, noted that indeed there is no official change in public transport fare, but the COVID-19 pandemic has reduced their passenger load from three to two, and increased traffic in the city has led to him use more fuel.
“If I don’t charge passengers extra fare I will not be able to pay my master fee and save up for maintenance and other costs. I am human and have to survive,” he said with a smile. At the Fourah Bay and Bombay Street commercial transport park, most of the drivers blamed the Sierra Leone Police for them doing halfway trips, noting that “everyday each commercial (poda-poda) transport should book before we are allowed to operate freely on the road”.
The drivers appealed to the Ministry of Transport and Aviation to hold a dialogue with the head of police to engage officers who continue to harass commercial drivers on the road to extort monies from them. The police deny the allegations by some of the commercial drivers, maintaining that most of them commit traffic offences including driving un-roadworthy vehicles that put passengers’ lives at risk.
Road Safety Corps around the Up-Gun area also complained that most poda-poda drivers are in the habit of doing halfway trips because they find them more lucrative, adding that “because we enforce the law to go to the designated route, they accuse us falsely of harassing them”.
By Ade Campbell