Reports indicate that President Ernest Bai Koroma is said to be very angry and frustrated with petty traders, selling all over the major streets of Freetown, as his motorcades hardly pass through the principal streets during his morning and evening official patrols in the city.
According to reports, he made this statement at the official opening ceremony of the Eastern Police Station in Freetown recently.
“It has come to my notice with dismay and regret that the Sierra Leone Police and the Freetown City Council are not doing enough to reduce the rampant street trading that is causing embarrassment to not only motorists but pedestrians too,” the president reportedly said, adding that the government would soon institute measures that would stop street trading.
It will be recalled that the past SLPP government had “Operation Free Flow” to remove traders from the streets, but it all came to an abrupt halt as some big names were implicated because their relatives and friends were affected during the operation.
Our investigation reveals that some of the traders are not happy to be selling on the streets but the central market cannot accommodate all of them, and some of their goods cannot be displayed in the market grounds so they have no alternative but to chase customers all over the streets.
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