29 February, 2008

Sitta Turay and Abu Bakarr Tarawally

Bo Price Control! Who Orders It?

The increase in violence, intimidation and harassment of innocent citizens by hungry and selfish thugs is becoming worrisome. In recent times there have been reports of banditism and armed robbery, a development that is not only detrimental to the security of the country but sends an alarming notice to investors which always scares the investors.

There is a slow pace of business right now in Bo. Market women and men have refused to display their commodities because the Traders Union in Bo has decided to act like government officials by controlling price in the town. This is a system that has been adopted by the Traders Union that is very wrong. It is unimaginable that people will take to harassing fellow citizens because of political influence. Since the APC came to power, some people who claim to be close to the APC seem to be going about making laws on their own and imposing it on peaceful citizens without check. Most are doing so with malice and so called revenge. Everybody knows that there is dire need for prices of commodities to be reduced. Everybody is eager also to have things in the way average Sierra Leoneans can be able to afford a square meal a day. There is the urge for supporters of the APC to perform for the people of Sierra Leone. APC members want the magic of development to be realized as early as now. This urge has started to be interpreted into violence. It is conspicuously clear that young men and women are attacking issues all by themselves neglecting the proper channel (Police and Judiciary) that are supposed to enforce the law. Whatever happens today in the streets of especially big cities in Sierra Leone, the youth will give the first judgment before the police and the judiciary intervenes.

Go around country and be lucky to witness an accident, you will see wonderful things happening. Youth will mob the driver or the bike rider before the arrival of the Police. Apart from accident, any other thing that happens in the country is being violently handled by the youth. Look at what happened at Siaka Stevens Street on the 26th February, 2008. It was a coincidence that the President convoy met with school children coming form the National Stadium between Wellington Street and Waterloo Street. No sooner these kids new that it was the President’s convoy, they barricaded the road and the convoy had to stop for about ten (10) minutes. That was gross manifestation of lawlessness. Whether one agrees or not that never happened during the SLPP rule. That is to show that the SLPP somehow maintained law and order. I want to warn this victimization to stop because citizens of this country are good at taking records of things that happen. Most of the time, Sierra Leoneans do not immediately react to situations that are oppressive to them but will burst into severe reaction when they feel they are pushed to the wall. For that reason this thing must stop now and only now.

One will start to think where the idea of controlling price by the Traders Union is coming from. It is as if some people are behind the whole thing. What expertise is the Traders Union using to do that? Who authorized them to do so? These are the one million dollar questions. It is worth believing that there is somebody in authority that is encouraging them to do so. It’s very difficult to believe that people of nowhere will transform themselves into a price regulatory body. This is an assignment for the Minister of Trade, Mr. Alimamy P. Koroma. Maybe madness has befallen these young people in Bo. If it is not so, they will not have acted the way they are acting now.

The new APC government is now set with this huge challenge to abridge the fanciful scenario as the spate of thuggery endemic in the APC youth. Look at those guys that are calling themselves Task Force, running round the country with an unlicensed Jeep harassing people. Investigation is now considered necessary to unearth those thugs that are behind the nefarious mishap. These guys should be brought to book, irrespective of their alleged contribution to send the out of power in the last pools. The fact remains that nobody should grow taller than the state.  It is about time that Sierra Leoneans open up their horizons of thought for the development of the country which is the reason a lot of youths are clamouring for good governance.

The new APC government must be seen as a highly disciplined government one that must not condone such bad act of Bo.

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