Gov’t Violates Its Own Regulation

What has been a matter of concern to many Sierra Leoneans living in Freetown and beyond is the imposition of a flat rate bus fare of NLe10 for any journey in the city via the newly introduced buses popularly known as ‘Waka Fine’.

While many lauded the effort of the government to address the transportation challenges faced by commuters in the city, but this current fare has created anger among citizens, especially as the usual minibuses plying the streets of Freetown have been restricted to specific routes, thereby giving government buses undue advantage over private commercial transport.

It could be recalled that after the increase in fuel pump price, the government directed that transport fare of all journeys within the city should be NLe5, and this has been largely the case for quite a long time now. Thus, the sudden increase of fare to NLe10, purely for the new buses, has been condemned by majority of the commuters. To make matters worse is the fact that people living along the restricted routes for the buses do not have any choice except to board the government buses.

Many are of the view that the government should be protecting the interest of its citizens and not introducing policies that will hinder their progress. It is the norm across the globe that government buses are the cheapest but in Sierra Leone it is the opposite.

Some commentators say that the current situation will inevitably prompt private commercial vehicles to increase their fare, which will have adverse effect on the livelihood of the people. When the cost of transportation goes up, all other goods and services will follow, as the business man uses transport to convey his wares to the market. If the cost of transporting his wares go up, it is obvious that the price of his goods will go up too. One does not need to know rocket science to understand this.

Furthermore, they maintained that the country is operating on a Free Market posture, and restricting private commercial transport to certain routes is against the principle of competition that is embraced in a free market economy. This action, they maintain, will kill businesses and add more economic burden on the already impoverished population. It makes rubbish of any talk of government and public partnership to develop the country.

While the government is talking about addressing the employment problem in the country, this action will put many self-employed youths out of business, many of whom have taken these kekehs on loan. It will also create an environment that will encourage robbery, as hitherto self-employed youths and those riding for their masters will be out of job, as they will not be able to pay their masters, or repay the loan.

Another concern is that some of these routes designated for the private commercial vehicles are not within the offices of many workers, and many are happy to walk long distances to get to their place of work, which means that lateness is being sanctioned by the government.

For many who manage to make it on the bus, they maintained that they wait in long queues to board the bus, and this often make them late for work. A visit to the Lumley-Regent Road axis will give you a picture of the struggle to board a bus in the morning, with a long line of passengers from that junction to the petrol station at the roundabout. It will take more than 6 buses to cater for the passengers; and that is about 7:00am in the morning, not to talk of 7:30am.

Many concerned Sierra Leoneans are calling on the government to allow competition to take place and let people be allowed to make their choice. People should not be forced to go by the government buses. Healthy competition results in growth, while monopoly kills business. What is so special about the buses that the routes they are using should not be used by other commercial vehicles that have been using these routes, an angry passenger questioned.