By Saio Marrah
As a way of putting an end to the overpricing of public transport fares by commercial drivers in contravention of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)they signed with the Ministry of Transport and Aviation (MTA) whenever fuel pump price changes, MTA will by the end of 2021 set up a transport sector policy that will put an end to it.
This was disclosed by the Permanent Secretary of MTA, Brima Sowa during the Financial Year 2022 Budget Policy hearing process at the Ministry of Finance in Freetown, on the 21st September, 2021. He was responding to concerns from one of the members of the budget policy panel about the attitude of commercial drivers always initiating inflated fares that are beyond the government price norm agreed upon. He said that is a sign of the ministry’s inability to monitor the implementation of what was signed in the MoU with the private transport sector.
Sowa agreed that because certain things were not properly regulated, commercial drivers fail to honour the agreement but believed they have a plan on how to tackle it.
“As a ministry we have looked at this and we cannot continue with this back and forth. This is the first time we are having what we call the transport regulation policy. If we conclude that policy, most of the things we are discussing here will help us to regulate and monitor exactly the activities and the frame work we are talking about in terms of transportation, that policy will guide us.” he said.
According to him, they are at an advanced stage of the process and in consultation with stake holders and hope to complete the process by the end of this year.
In another development, the Permanent Secretary also disclosed that the ministry is at an advanced stage in transforming the Sierra Leone Road Transport Corporation (SLRTC) to the Sierra Leone Public Transport Authority, which he said will be fully responsible for regulating how public transport runs to maximize profit. He again said by the end of the year, cabinet would sit on the matter.
The Minister of Finance, Dennis K. Vandy, at the opening ceremony told all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) that the budget will not support new projects and they should instead complete the unfinished ones.
A team led by the Permanent Secretary, explained the achievements of the ministry for this financial year to lend weight to their argument why their budget for the 2022 financial year should be approved.
Copyright © 2021 Politico Online (24/09/21)
