Bo City Mayor wages war against street trading, unlawful street parking

By Paul Kamara Email: paulkamara772@gmail.com

In a bid to eradicate street trading and unlawful packing within the city, Bo City Mayor Kobba Musa has on Monday 7, August 2023 engaged relevant stakeholders within the transport and business sector. The engagement which took place in the office of the Regional Police Commander South AIG Brima Kanneh, brought together representatives from the Bo City Council including the mayor and his deputy madam Hawa Campbell, Waste Manager Samuel Hinga Navo and the Acting Chief Administrator Henry Powell, Driver Union and Traders Union representatives, Sierra Leone Road Safety Corps, Sierra Leone Road Transport Authority etc. Speaking on the essence of the engagement, mayor Kobba Musa underscored, the meeting was to inform stakeholders present on the council's plan of embarking on massive street clearing thereby putting a stop to street trading and the unlawful packing of vehicles along major streets within the city. He acknowledged that street trading has been a major problem over the years but vowed to change the narrative, thus first meeting with the relevant stakeholders before jumping into action. The mayor also used the opportunity to call on the Regional Police Commander South AIG Brima Kanneh to enforce compliance. Responding, representatives from the Drivers Union and Traders Union pleaded with the mayor to give them at least a month to totally vacate the streets. This they noted will give them more time to fully engage their members on the planned action. They also pointed out that many petty traders depend on their daily businesses to support their families and educate their kids thus not to take them by surprise. This was endorsed, with September 1, 2023 slated as the deadline date for all traders to vacate the streets and transport owners to relocate to identify parks. Meanwhile, mayor Kobba Musa has vowed to do the needful to ensure Bo City reclaim its lost glory, and therefore called for the cooperation of all and sundry for quality service. "The reason behind this engagement is to address the rampant street trading and packing of vehicles all over the city. We therefore called these stakeholders to draw their attention to this menace and to develop measures to address this. "In any development you have a price to pay to bring about the required change. I know some people will now start to see me as a bad person but I'm ready to do the needful to sanitize this city because that is what the people voted me for and I have already made up my mind to strictly go by my mandate without any fear or favour. "However, I believe this development cannot be done in isolation, that is why I am engaging the people, and together I believe we can make Bo City great again. "But again let me repeat, we are going to decongest the city. We are ready to weed out traders from the streets and put a stop to the unauthorized packing of vehicles along major streets in the city," he stressed. Regional Police Commander South, AIG Brima Kanneh assured the mayor of the police fullest support to enforce compliance, and therefore called on all to be law abiding at all times, failure which he says the law will take it rightful cause. "This is a very good engagement being that all key players were brought on board to take a decision which we as security personnel are now ready to fully enforce. You cannot just implement an issue without first dialoguing with the people and lucky enough the mayor has just done that which I believe is reasonable enough. Enforcement of the law is in the hands of the police. As a result we are now ready to fully enforce compliance come September 1. We are therefore now using this opportunity to warn traders and drivers to keep off completely from areas clearly marked as CBD areas. I'm urging all to listen to the mayor, failing to listen to his advice will then prompt us to use all available means to enforce compliance," he warned. Speaking on behalf of the traders, Bai Kamara Bo District Traders Union Chairman thanked the mayor for seeing the need for dialogue before taking action. He assured that the traders will adhere to the deadline date of vacating the streets noting that the traders have always been law abiding. "As a law-abiding union we have always been engaging our members. Today we have pleaded on their behalf which message we are taking back to them and we are assuring that as always we will adhere to the resolution", he assured.