Bike Riders, Paolo, SLRTC Negotiate
The Sierra Leone Commercial Bike Riders Union (SLCBRU) has called for a truce with the new Minister of Internal Affairs, Alfred Paolo Conteh (in photo), who has vowed to halt the reckless manner in which bike riders conduct themselves when plying the streets
The Public Relations Officer of SLCBRU, Ibrahim Jalloh, has confirmed that talks were at an advanced stage with the Ministry and other stakeholders to show restraint in their planned onslaught on riders as the union is prepared to enforce zonal and routing systems put in place by Sierra Leone Road Transport Corporation (SLRTC) to restrict bike riders to specified routes in the central business district of Freetown.
“We have assured the Minister that we ourselves will be out on the streets coming Monday to monitor our riders as a way to demonstrate our commitment to working within the laid down rules and regulations of the Ministry,’ Mr. Jalloh disclosed in an exclusive interview with this medium past Wednesday.
The PRO said the problem is manifold and needs to be looked at carefully because riders are unduly and unfairly targeted by the police who seize their bikes and send them to the correctional centers for trivial breaches.
He disclosed that about 70% of commercial bikes are owned by policemen and soldiers, the rest being either private owned by ordinary citizens or influential people who have connections at high levels in the Government.
“Go to Central and Ross Road Police Stations and see how many bikes have been seized with no clear evidence of who the real owners are, or for what offences they have been impounded. There are hundreds of unclaimed bikes, whose owners are afraid to show up because they would either have to pay for their release or risk being detained themselves,” the PRO lamented.
He said President Ernest Bai Koroma is privy to the ongoing talks and would consider the final recommendations for a peaceful resolution of the growing tension between riders and the police, which has seen riders taking to the streets in protest against police harassment and extortion.
By Abayomi Tejan
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