It’s time to stop those Water Quay thieves

They are saboteurs. They are moles. They are the prime enemies of the state and government. They have become a menace. They frown at the constant positive news dished out by reputable international organisations on the positive strides the government is doing to bail our nation from the shameful bottom position that was once synonymous with Sierra Leone. They celebrate in their corners when they hear bad news about Sierra Leone.

I am referring to those human rats at the Queen Elizabeth 11 Quay in Freetown, popularly called Water Quay. Some of the workers at that Sea Port are only interested in pilfering and vandalising exported goods to the country. This cruel act has been going on for ages. It was minimised at one point but has now rear its ugly head at an alarming proportion.

Just last week, a group of Sierra Leonean businessmen based in Holland, Belgium, Germany and France, stormed our Embassy in Brussels to complain bitterly about this barbaric act at the port. They gave horrific accounts about how their vehicles were vandalised and all items packed in those vehicles carted away.

On getting the report, I made a call to the General Manager at the Quay, Captain Benjamin Davies to inform him about the report. Though he promised to carry out a thorough investigation on the report, he however denied that the act was carried at the Quay. He said it was possible that the items were either stolen on the High Seas or by the relatives sent to do the clearing of vehicles and goods at the Quay.

Such an argument from the GM is not only vague and baseless, but portrays a picture of the boss pampering an illegal act which has the propensity of reversing all the huge gains made by the government in wooing businessmen to the country. No serious businessman/woman would like to invest in a country where the security of his/her goods is not guaranteed at the Port of entry.

The business men who went to protest at the Embassy had no gain in fabricating lies against workers at the Port if such acts do not occur. They even disclosed that some of the items removed from their vehicles were again sold to them right inside the Quay. This is wickedness and very heart-wrenching to say the least. It costs 1,000 USD (One thousand United States Dollars) or 1,300 USD (One thousand three hundred United States Dollars) to ship a car or Jeep respectively from the Antwerp Seaport in Belgium to Freetown. Not to mention the cost of custom duties at the Quay. You cannot expect the individual to just send such a vehicle without at least packing some items like shoes, clothes etc. for other relatives back home. But with the presence of these human rats at the Quay, who are always ready to smash vehicles and carted away these items, they will eventually succeed in diverting the attention of these businessmen to look for somewhere else to discharge their goods, thereby depriving the government of much needed revenue.

I am calling on the Office of the National Security (ONS), the Anti-Corruption Commission to place an owl eye at the quay as of this moment. The government is doing it very best to open up the country to the business world which will help to reduce the unemployment rate in the country.  We must not tolerate the unpatriotic acts of few selfish individuals to derail these gains. We must be our brother’s keeper.

Chernor Ojuku Sesay, Brussels.

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