By Mustapha Kamara & Mustapha Sesay
Thousands of commuters in Sierra Leone were stranded yesterday on their way to work, business places and homes owing to a strike action undertaken by bike riders in the Western Area Business District.
The aggrieved riders blamed their union executive for allegedly taking a decision on their behalf without their consent. They said that they were not aware of new laws regulating bike riders within the district. They claimed they were never informed about any new policy with regards to where and where they were supposed to run.
They also complained of harassment from members of the police force, whom they said now had a habit of even caning their passengers.
But the union’s President, David Sesay, stated that his executive indeed informed the riders about the policy before signing the agreement. However, he said that they had already held meetings with the country’s Chief of Staff and the Sierra Leone Police to ensure that the misunderstanding was amicably sorted out. Sesay assured riders that the Union would continue to sensitize them so as to ensure that riders were fully familiar with the New Regulatory Framework and Codes of Conduct for bike riders.
The police head of traffic, Superintendent Ambrose Sovula, denied allegations of any harassment of riders by the police but said that they were only trying to implement the new Regulatory Framework and code of conduct of commercial bike riders. He explained that the regulatory Framework and Code of Conduct were a new set of laws to control the attitude and movement of riders within the country.
Superintendent Sovula revealed that at the end of the meeting at State House, the police had been instructed to allow riders to ply some major streets in the country like Jomo Kenyatta and Wilkinson Roads which were initially prohibited.
© Politico 03/02/15
