By Mustapha Kamara & Jenneh Braima
Hundreds of commercial biker riders in Freetown have condemned statements made by Sierra Leone’s deputy minister of political affairs, Karamoh Kabba, that: “over 60% of commercial bike riders are foreigners from neighboring countries”.
The embattled minister told Politico, after the impasse that ensued between the police forces and ‘okada’ riders when one of their colleagues was knocked down and killed by a truck as he tried to escape being arrested by traffic police.
He said before now it was easy for the riders to be mobilised through their leadership but blamed difficulties in bringing them together of late on the “influx of foreigners from other countries”.
He said: “these foreigners are infiltrating other riders to perpetrate violence and create havoc in the country”.
President of the bike riders union, David Sesay, denied the claims and condemned the statements, “especially coming from a government minister. He described the statement as “discriminatory”, noting that Sierra Leone and her neighboring countries shared tribal and ethnic cultures.
Sesay said the statement was also “unfortunate and unexpected” as they had just lost their colleague “who lost his life dodging a police officer”.
“The statement is a recipe for violence especially at this moment when the government of Sierra Leone has not been able to address joblessness in the country”, the bike riders’ president said.
He informed Politico that his union was planning to issue “a strongly worded press statement with regards to the minister’s unfortunate utterances”.
(C) Politico 14/10/14
