SLRSA ACCUSES DRIVERS UNION OF STEALING PASSENGER MANIFESTS.
We have always insisted that the transport sector is fraught with corruption and lawlessness. Drivers form a Union primarily to seek and protect the interest of members as long as they are in conformity with the law. Sadly the Sierra Leone Motor Drivers Union has seen executives come and go over the years with hardly any plaudits for their stewardship. They collect dues from their members all over the country but face accusations of doing very little for them. From the hundreds of their members in jail for driving offences without proper legal representation, to a raft of corruption allegations against its leadership, the Drivers’ Union has come to be viewed as a cash cow for those in office.
The Union led this time by the embattled Alpha Amadu Bah has received the latest flak from the Sierra Leone Road Safety Authority (SLRSA) a supposed partner. The Authority in a statement released late last week has severed all ties with the body representing drivers, accusing executive members of the union of being in possession of copies of fake passenger manifests that they have been accused of peddling. The Authority’s action was necessitated by the fact that Bah’s Union was taking away monies from selling of the manifest that could have gone into the coffers of the Authority. Whatever partnership or relations that existed between the two parties, have been suspended. One could understand the consternation coming from the Authority’s Kissy road headquarters. It beggars belief that some executive members of the Union would sell fake copies of passenger manifest just to make fast bucks! To us that could be an allegation for now, until the Police which the Authority has called in, give a conclusive position statement.
This issue of manifest became mandatory only a few years ago, after a fatal road crash left scores of passengers on a bus on the Freetown- Bo highway dead, and because there were no contacts for relatives at the time, they had to be buried by government after weeks at the morgue.
Let’s say this; indiscipline is rife within the ranks of commercial drivers. They are rude to passengers and pedestrians, and they lack any dress code. They run short distances to cheat passengers and you go to the ‘’relaxation’ ’shacks located at parks for Poda –Poda and taxi drivers, you’ll be stunned to see these guys taking a deep whiff from marijuana and other drugs before they get behind the wheel.
No one stops them because there is no discipline or regard for the law. Only God sees us through as we travel on our roads.
Well we hear of an impressive transformation of our transport system that Principal’s administration would soon roll out but that could be at variance and quite worrisome too with the questionable conduct of our commercial drivers and their Union leaders! When will these guys actually get their acts together?
SCHOOL KINDS SAY THEY MISS THEIR BUSES
School children who resumed classes two weeks ago in preparation for public exams have had to commute this time without the government buses. Some kids from a famous school for girls in Freetown have admitted to us that they really miss the school buses that used to take them to and from school before they went into the COVID-19 stay home lockdown at the end of March.
They say it’s been quite challenging for them travelling in private commercial vehicles and would have loved to see the school buses on the road. We are certain that the government deliberately kept the buses off the road out of fear for the kids becoming infected with coronavirus which is quite understandable. Before the school break, the children could be seen crammed into the buses and with the virus now troubling us, it would be insane to facilitate a repeat of such a scenario and put their young lives at great risk. We think the decision to keep the school buses away for now was a good idea indeed. We know their buses would be on our roads when the pandemic recedes but for now let them stay in the depot or put into operation under strict social distancing conditions.
WHO REALLY BENEFITS FROM THAT TORN CURRENCY EXCHANGE BUSINESS
Some say it is good business that is benefitting some people, the veracity of which we are yet to determine but this business of giving some cash in return for torn or tattered Leone notes seems to be gaining grounds. Young men walking in neighborhoods and market places could be heard calling out on those with tattered or torn Leone currency notes to come forward and do an exchange for crisp or acceptable ones that are in good condition. For a torn and untidy looking 5,000 Leone note, the men pay the owner 3,000 or 3, 500 Leones depending on its condition. But one would be immediately tempted to ask why anyone would want to trade good acceptable notes for unacceptable ones?
Well what we have gathered is that these guys have a network of business places dealing with huge cash flow that provide the men with the good notes and after the business both parties share the profit. And you would want to know what they do with the bad money. It is placed among bundles of notes that bank tellers would just have to accept and put into the bundles of other notes that they cash out for circulation again whilst those that are so bad are eventually shredded at the central bank.
We have a history of poor handling of our local currency and people even with palm oil soiled hands wouldn’t give a damn grabbing a 10,000 Leones note and folding it in a soaked purse. No respect, no regard. We are accustomed to seeing these rough and dirty currencies in circulation though fights have broken out mostly between commercial vehicle operators and passengers over the acceptability of some of these horrible looking notes. More messages on how to handle the Leone must be stepped up by the central bank especially knowing that government spends a lot in the printing of our currency.
LOCAL COUNCILS COLLECT BIG MONEY BUT HOW ACCOUNTABLE ARE THEY?
It’s one thing for Local Councils to assemble in Makeni to sign grant papers with the European Union and the government of Sierra Leone for big development money; it’s another thing for those councils to deliver what actually benefits their people. We serve notice that those projects approved by the EU will be some of the most keenly monitored projects in this country and we will be very much involved in that.
We are extremely happy that Civil Society Organizations are going to be further empowered to keep their eyes on the implementation of all the projects. There is very little we know about certain councils – they are not open to media queries and they pay no attention to the transparency sections of the Local Government Act of 2004.
Some of the councils have managed to convince the EU and the government about certain project which many of their people have a big problem with. Those projects are not their priority and we wonder how much consultations took place in those rural communities before those activities were arrived at. We know that soon Civil Society Groups will move into action but for now we want the heads of those FOUR councils to note the following:
1. We will not accept you recruiting so-called consultants to study this and that. We think that will be a complete waste of our cash. Just get on with the jobs. We have passed that stage now.
2. Please don’t go around conducting endless workshops and giving out per diem to people for turning up, eating and talking. Don’t waste money on that.
3. All procurement rules will apply when we start our monitoring. We will ask for all papers from your contractors.
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