By Alpha Abu
President Julius Maada Bio was at Lightfoot Boston Street in the Central Business District of Freetown on Friday 27 August 2021, and precisely at a petty trading vicinity popularly known as “Belgium”, where he made a surprise gesture to traders who were adversely affected by a fire incident in March this year. The President presented cheques each valued at 10 million Leones to those traders whose wares were gutted in the inferno.
The ceremony featured his symbolic handing over of a couple of the cheques to some of the traders to herald the commencement of their full distribution to a total of 88 traders, mostly women. In all, 880 million Leones reached the traders who since the disaster, had been practically put out of business, as all their goods were lost in the fire which erupted during the night inside a number of stores where they were being kept.
President Bio told the gathering that his response to the plight of the business people was to manifest the true interpretation of the ruling Sierra Leone Peoples Party’s “One People, One Country” slogan, saying they as a government respond to people’s needs irrespective of party colour. He said people sometimes say he is a reticent person but asserted that he would always stand by his words. He said the fire affected the livelihood of the traders and hence the need for his government’s intervention, so they can resume trading.
A few families lived in the buildings that had their belongings also destroyed in the fire, and President Bio mentioned the humanitarian assistance rendered to them in the immediate aftermath of the incident.
He used the occasion to also highlight the importance of his government’s flagship Free Quality Education (FQE) programme, and its premium on human capital development. He said the children of the traders in benefiting from the educational offer, will hopefully become meaningful citizens and would in turn eventually support them the parents, in the future.
The event was the first significant public engagement by President Bio since his return to Sierra Leone mid-last week, after an overseas trip that lasted a couple of weeks.
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