By Joseph Lamin Kamara
Chairlady of the King Jimmy Market in Central Freetown has called on government and nongovernmental organisations to help the market community because “we are seriously suffering.”
Neneh Sankoh said that the market was very significant to the history of the country “because it was where they keep the country’s foundation stone”. She added that: “Even the foundation stone is getting lost because of government neglect.”
The woman leader said customers had stopped coming to the market after government banned all boats coming to the King Jimmy wharf from Kafu Bullom in the Port Loko district as a result of the Ebola outbreak in the country.
The chairlady said nobody had come to talk to them before or after the ban, adding that she was only informed by a boatman that they had been banned from coming to Freetown.
Sankoh said before the ban people had come to King Jimmy market from across the country to get foodstuff and other things that they had acquired when boats came from Kafu Bullom. But “now we go there and sit all day without transaction.”
She said many traders had stopped coming, adding that most of them were now breadwinners of their families because Ebola had made their husbands jobless and that their families were starving of hunger.
She said government was not helping them with loans despite the fact that it gave similar help to other markets.
The chairlady claimed that when the King Jimmy bridge collapsed early this year “our goods were destroyed, which had been kept in stores and stalls, but much effort has not been applied by government to help us in that regard.”
She said pigs were also invading the market and making away with items every moment, adding that they had made countless appeals to the Freetown city council about the wandering pigs “but our pleas have all fallen on deaf ears.”
She alleged that they had been neglected by their member of parliament, MP, and councilor, adding that “I only came to know my MP when he came to campaign to us during elections.”
She said government “can still put screening measures in place to stop Ebola from entering Freetown through our trade instead of banning boats from coming in.”
Amina Thulla, who was trades in rice, alleged that “the Freetown Mayor lied to us when we met him about the wandering pigs.” She said the Mayor of Freetown Municipality, Franklyn Bode Gibson, had said that the pigs would be removed from the market the following day.
“He has kept to his promise even after we met him again on the same matter weeks after his assurance.”
Fertilizer Isatu Conteh said those who owned and reared the pigs kept insulting and threatening to beat them. “Some of them even say the Mayor eats pig that is why he cannot remove them from the market”, she complained, adding that the owners had erected a pen inside the market that had resulted in increased filth in places that were supposed to be kept clean.
Spokesperson for Freetown City Council, Cyril Mattia, said they had published a press release notifying traders about the ban on boats landing on Congo Town and King Jimmy wharves. He said to put screening measures at every point would be unreasonable, adding that “you have to consider security, medical and other implications and we don’t have the money for all that.”
Mattia agreed that the pigs were not only disturbing market women, but also some city residents. He said the pigs came from the Kroobay slum in the central Freetown and that they were struggling to get rid of them because their owners considered them as their own business and source of livelihood.
He said government had tried to relocate residents of the community but that effort failed because “people used political figures to resist instructions”, adding that they were however trying to get rid of the pigs “in a more astute manner.”
He said they would need the traders to establish a line of communication and cooperation with the council.
Mattia said considering the historic relevance of the King Jimmy market, they had “plans to erect a multipurpose international shopping mall in its place before the Ebola outbreak.”
When contacted, Mayor of Freetown said he was not ready to speak about pigs because “it is Ebola time.”
(C) Politico 14/10/14
