Mabinty M. Kamara
The umbrella body of motorists in Sierra Leone has complained of exploitation of its members in the hands of staff of the Sierra Leone Roads Safety Authority (SLRSA) in the course of acquiring driving license.
The Sierra Leone Motor Drivers and General Transport Workers Union (SLMDGTWU) said it has received several reports from drivers complaining of extortion by SLRSA staff when they go to either apply for or renew their licenses.
“Taking license is a right and responsibility of the driver, but this seems to be different with the way SLRSA operates especially with this new type of license that is issued out,” Alpha Amadu Bah, President of the SLMDGTWU, told Politico.
Officials at the Union said a temporary licensing regime operational at SLRSA in the last year opened the institution for exploitation by rogue elements within.
The temporary licensing, which has also been criticized by many drivers as unfair, entails that instead of drivers being issued a document lasting for five years, they are issued a temporary document which is renewable every six months.
An SLRSA spokesman told Politico that the temporary drivers’ license issuance was necessitated by a review of the current license.
The drivers though say beside the difficulty in getting this temporary document, they are subjected to a lot of extortion through a chain of procedure in the licensing department.
“There are lots of constraints in getting the license. Drivers are extorted by some criminals at SLRSA in order to get their licenses on time,” Mr Bah said.
The Union President explained that this cumbersome process has left so many drivers at the mercy of traffic wardens on the streets. He said because the Authority uses low quality materials to make the temporary document, the picture of the license holder quickly defaces even before reaching its six-month expiry date. And when drivers present the document to the traffic police or SLRSA’s wardens, they refuse to accept it and arrest the drivers. Bah said he has had to go to the police station on numerous occasions to intervene in such matters.
“I receive several complaints daily about this six-month installment licenses that is being issued out. It is a new thing and it is creating serious problem,” he said.
Saidu Kamara, a motor driver who plies between Freetown and the provinces, said when he lost his old license it took more than five months to get the temporal license the authority is issuing, but not without confrontation.
“Before now, even if you lose your license, if you have the code, they will replace it for you instead of giving you a new one. But I was told that the system is corrupt and so I had to be given a new license with new number. I spent so much on it that one day I had to cause confusion on the guy that I gave my money to in order to facilitate the process, before things eventually worked out well,” Mr Kamara recalled his ordeal in the hands of an SLRSA licensing officer.
But Kamara’s temporary license has expired since October 10, and two months on, he still can’t get it replaced even though he said he’d paid for it.
“We should not suffer for something that is not our fault. They are exploiting us seriously. We have paid for five years and now we are suffering to get the license when the six months period elapses,” said Mohamed Barrie, another driver.
But it seems it’s only the commercial transport drivers who are facing this alleged exploitation in the hands of SLRSA. Prince McCarthy, a private vehicle owner, doesn’t remember ever being disturbed by the traffic police. He said he was comfortable with whatever kind of license he got, once it served the intended purpose.
“My license has no problem and I have not been disturbed by any traffic police or warden in relation to any problem with the license. So, I have no problems with it,” he said.
But in Sierra Leone, the chance of a commercial driver getting arrested is much higher than it is for a private vehicle driver. While traffic controllers say this is because the commercial motor drivers are likely to break traffic rules, the drivers say they are targeted because the police know they always have money on them and are unlikely to successfully defend themselves when taken to court.
A spokesman for SLRSA dismissed the drivers’ complaints about the nature of the temporary license being issued. Abdul Karim Dumbuya, Public Relations Officer of the Authority, said the document they issue out to the drivers is strong enough to last for the six-month period. He claimed that the problem was that some unscrupulous drivers had been caught with forged versions of the document.
“The problem we are having is that there is no seal on this [temporary license]. We have arrested many fake licenses from drivers. We have a software that we are using in partnership with Orange. Once the serial number of the holder is entered, the information of the driver will come up and so they will know if it’s fake or authentic,” he explained.
Dumbuya also said the delay in issuing license was caused by drivers who attempt to beat the system. He said they had always encouraged people to pay money at the bank where a date would be issued to them to undertake a test and subsequently to collect their license if they are found to be qualified.
“Because licenses are not given in absentia anymore, some people like to go through the back door. If you go straight, a date will be given to you and it won’t take time,” he said.
Dumbuya also said that the halt in issuance of the normal license was caused by ongoing review of the security features, as part of efforts to introduce a biometric system of licensing by early next year.
The drivers’ union said whatever the SLRSA is on, there was a need for engagement between with the Union to avoid the prevailing confusion in the system.
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