ECONOMY-SIERRA LEONE: Police Clamp Down on Hawkers

By Lansana Fofana Reprint | | Print |

Lansana Fofana

FREETOWN, Jan 19 2004 (IPS) - A seemingly intractable dispute is underway in Sierra Leone between hawkers, and those who’re tired of weaving their way through the teeming roadside markets that have sprung up in the capital.

Authorities recently launched a programme called – Operation Free Flow” to clear Freetown’s streets of vendors, who have also been accused of blocking traffic. The plan moved into top gear this weekend, when about 400 officers from the operations support division and general duty personnel combed the city in search of hawkers.

“In my view, Operation Free Flow has been a success so far, and we are sure that at the end of the operation the streets will be cleared of both vehicular and pedestrian traffic,” said Francis Munu, Operations Commander of the Sierra Leonean police.

“As for those who disobey the law, they will be arrested and prosecuted,” he added.

So far, about 400 vendors have been detained and charged. Many were given light jail sentences, or fined and then released.

Motorists seem relieved by the new policy. “Who could imagine that Freetown’s busy streets could so easily be cleared?” asked Joseph Magona, a taxi driver in the capital. ôAt least now the traffic is flowing easily.”

But, a spokesman for the street traders’ association was less upbeat. “We are not being lawless. What we cannot accept is the brutal and unfair way the police are dealing with the matter,” he told IPS Monday.

“The government has failed to provide us with purpose-built markets with the necessary sanitary facilities. Yet, they want us to vacate the streets – (to) go where?”

These frustrations have sparked running battles between hawkers and security forces. Several injuries have been reported, and it seems the confrontation is set to continue in the coming days and weeks.

The issue of what rights to accord vendors has become something of a political hot potato in recent years. Successive governments have failed to remove hawkers from the streets, largely because they make up a large constituency that politicians are reluctant to alienate.

Political analyst Musa Kamara says, “The move to rid the streets of hawkers and vendors could catalyse the collapse of any government in elections. These people make up a large voting population. It is a delicate issue.”

The fact that Ahmad Tejan Kabbah’s administration has shown willingness to tackle the issue now is being attributed by some to the fact that many traders are seen as opposition supporters.

“I, like many of my colleagues, support the opposition,” says a leader of the traders’ association, adding “I believe the government is punishing us for our political sentiments.”

The association claims to have hundreds of thousands of members throughout the country who are being ôharassed” because of political considerations.

Freetown is known for its frustrating traffic jams. During the course of the decade-long civil war which ended three years ago, there was massive migration from rural to urban areas as people fled rebel attacks.

The population of the capital swelled from 500,000 to more than a million. And, with unemployment on the rise as thousands of ex-combatants enter the job market, many people have taken to street trading in an effort to earn a living.

“If they stop us from selling our wares on the streets, what do they expect us to do? Go back to war? I think the government should think reasonably,” says Aiah Josiah, one of the vendors.

The authorities, for their part, argue that a smooth traffic flow must be maintained and that government will not relent in its drive to clamp down on hawking.

An official of the Ministry of Trade and Industry said, “We have had many road accidents, some fatal. I think it is time we clear the streets.”

In the meantime, police stations in Freetown are crammed with wares confiscated from hawkers and street vendors as well as broken wooden frames from demolished, makeshift stalls.