By Newman Anthony Levey in Bo
Another fuel crisis has hit the Southern district of Bo, leaving hundreds of transport owners and passengers stranded.
This is the third time in the last month.
The latest shortage started immediately after the second nationwide lockdown on Wednesday, May 6.
Since then motor bikes have been forming long queues in every filling station in the city hoping to buy fuel.
The major form of transportation in the city is motor bikes.
Some people had to work to their work places and homes, and those who dared to take bikes paid double the price they usually paid.
A bike rider, Borbor Francis Gbondo, told Politico: "We came to buy fuel at NP Filling Station at Ngalu Road Junction we were told that we were not organized and so we arranged ourselves. Then they we were disappointed when they left us in the queue and started picking gallons that they should sell to.”
Gbondo said most of the riders had to buy fuel Le 15, 000 per liter and Le 17,000. The official price for one liter diesel and petrol is Le 7000 per liter.
Gbessay Saffa, another rider, spent more than five hours lining up to get fuel. With frustration in his eyes, he said: "I came at 6:00am but could not get fuel and I do town service from town to Shellmingo.”
Bo was not the only city that was hit by the scarcity. There have been sporadic cases of fuel shortages in the capital Freetown, but that has not had any major effect on transportation services.
Neighboring Kenema also experienced similar shortages, with queues in almost every major filling station there.
The shortage comes at the backdrop of rumors that fuel pump prices might be reduced further to Le 5000 for a liter. Government has not announced any new price yet, but it is common for petroleum dealers to create artificial scarcity whenever government is suspected to announce a new pump price.
Those who call for price reduction cites the changes in the international market, which has always influences local fuel prices.
Responding to the ongoing crisis, the Regional Coordinator of the Petroleum Regulatory Agency in the south, Albert Yarjah, said fuel dealers said they had ran out of stock even before the lockdown was announced.
"The fuel dealers told me they sent money to Freetown for fuel before the lockdown and the fuel has not arrived. We took a task force to monitor, together with the ministry of Trade, to know if what the fuel dealers told me was correct. We went there and realized that they have dead stock (they’ve ran out of fuel),” Yarjah said.
As of Friday, the situation was still the same, with hundreds of workers either trekking or paying exorbitant transportation fares to get to their destinations.
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