Public condemns City Council operation
The current ‘Operation Sweep’ introduced by the Freetown City Council to clear the streets of the city of hawkers and traders, has being criticized by a cross section of residents of Freetown who have described it as a white elephant, a bogus plan and a figment of imagination as it is not working, according to the public, as it had been proclaimed.
Expressing anger over what has been termed as a non-functioning operation, residents of the city who spoke to this press reveal traders are still selling on all the major streets in the capital with impunity, even though the Freetown City Council has instructed them to quit.
Madam Memunatu Sillah, a school teacher blamed the lack of control and the ineffectiveness of the operation on the fact that it has been politicized. “It was a good initiative to clear the streets, especially Sani Abacha Street and Ecowas Street, but it is disappointing that the City Council was just making a lot of noise but not doing anything,” she fumed.
Mohamed Kamara of Brookfields has blamed the lack of control on politicians, whom he said “have politicised the issue because of their heartless agenda to win votes at any possibility for their selfish interest.”
“These people are destroying the beauty of the city,” Kamara said and appealed to the City Council to enforce the law properly.
Mr. Joseph Cole, an elderly resident of Freetown said that “while the City Council is efficient in collecting taxes from the public, they are not taking any action to provide much needed services to the general public. They must not only be seen collecting market dues from hawkers and market women, they need to come up with good quality plans for traders in the city and that is why we are paying our tax,” he said.
Dr. Kamara, a medical practitioner also added his voice by asserting that the FCC should try and control these traders from the street. “It is horrendous when you trek along Abacha Street, Guards Street and Ecowas Street and be engulfed by pickpockets and all sorts of criminals who are just parading those streets to steal from people”, he said.
According to the medical practitioner, “no impact has been made by the Freetown City Council in terms of clearing the streets. The mayor of the city of Freetown should know that the entire city especially the Central and Eastern part is nothing to write home about as every corner is now full of garbage,” he said and asked: “What are you doing with the monies you collect every single day while the community people are suffering as there are no better development going on in the various wards?
Meanwhile, sources have revealed that local councilors are grumbling that funds are not available for them to undertake projects for their community people. “The people are watching closely the way and manner you guys are using their monies, if you are using it in the correct way no problem, but if you are misusing their money, posterity will definitely judge you guys, and I hope the Anti Corruption is looking into this type of corrupt activity,” said Sahr Nyama, a political activist.
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