Two sides to Operation WID

Operation WID has been an occasion of joy and sorrow. The ongoing operation launched by His Excellency the president, Ernest Bai Koroma, to sanitize Freetown has left many Sierra Leoneans weeping bitterly and many others rejoicing enthusiastically.

While many affected traders keep weeping over their demolished stalls and uninvited eviction from the streets, and many drivers lamenting over their towed or clamped vehicles, a good number of other well-meaning compatriots keep celebrating over the clearing of the streets.

As many aggrieved drivers and traders condemn the operation for tormenting their lives, happy citizens commend the operation for providing them the opportunity to now move freely through some major streets in the hitherto congested city centre.

The saying goes that nothing goes for nothing and it is axiomatic that to every advantage there is a disadvantage, therefore, if we have been crying all these years over the alarmingly congested and messy state of especially our city centre, what is wrong if few traders and drivers are sacrificed on the altar of decongesting and sanitizing our city?

Besides, why should we allow comparatively few drivers, riders and traders to continue obstructing the free movement of the rest of the citizenry? My only bone of contention is the operation’s failure to give adequate notice and compensation to the affected traders and drivers.

Whatever the case, I am firmly convinced that the advantages of the operation far outweigh its disadvantages. Those traders, drivers, riders and other citizens who have suffered from the operation should take it as their own sacrifice to national development.

By Joseph Milton Lebbie

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