By Saio Marrah
A newly- elected Councilor in Western Area Urban, Thaimu Turay alias ‘Thaimu on the road’, of the governing Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) has said he will focus on advocating for transportation issues in Freetown during his five-year tenure in the council.
The 59-year-old councilor elect told Politico about his objective in the council in an interview conducted at his Dwazark, Freetown residence on Wednesday 12 July 2023.
Speaking on the transportation needs of the city, Turay who has over three decades of experience in the commercial transport sector said that mini buses are the best a government can invest in. This according to him is because their spare parts are also common in the local markets, unlike the bigger buses. Thus, he said mini buses fit the country’s economy.
He said Dwazark and adjacent New England Ville are communities that are in dire need of secondary schools.
According to him, he had once bought a plot of land in his community to construct a secondary school and met the then councilor and the Parliamentarian representing the community to collaborate and construct the school, but said he faced a lot of challenges.
Now that he is the newly elected councilor, he promised to work with the central government to achieve that.
Currently, he said he had temporally converted the land area to a parking space for commercial bike riders but vowed to achieve his dream of constructing a secondary school for the community.
Construction of a bus halt around the Bellaire Park and renovation of the football pitch at the Dwazark community are among the other developments he aimed to address in his five-year term.
Explaining his experience in the transport sector, he said with a small capital in 1983; he was able to grow his business by securing vehicles on credit from an importer just to serve the transport needs of communities across Sierra Leone. He said he has also contributed to the training of over three thousand youths as professional drivers.
Councilor Turay is among the 18 councilors elected in the Western Area Urban under the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) in the June 2023 general elections.
Turay was last year awarded the Order of Rokel by President Julius Maada Bio for his ‘outstanding’ contribution to the development of his community through transportation.
Copyright © 2023 Politico (14/07/23)
