By Cocorioko reporters
Freetown came to a chaotic standstill yesterday as public transport drivers went on strike, stranding thousands of commuters , workers and students who could not go about their daily business due to lack of transportation. There were no public buses, taxis, okadas , Poda Podas and kekehs anywhere around the city and large crowds of students and commuters were seen standing , waiting in vain for public transportation.
SCHOOLCHILDREN AND PUBLIC STRANDED BY THE LACK OF COMMERCIAL TRANSPORTATION
The strike is being enforced by angry youths who have been setting up roadblocks and burning rubber tires to repel the public from moving around in a show of support for the drivers. Sierra Leone Police responded by trying to disperse the youths with teargas.
YOUTHS BLOCKING PUBLIC MOVEMENTS AS COMMERCIAL VEHICLES ARE PARKED , STANDING IDLE
The drivers are protesting against the shortage of fuel in the country, the steep rise in the prices of petroleum products and attempts by authorities to regulate fares of public transport. According to the drivers, their businesses will suffer financial losses if fares are regulated while they are already paying exorbitant prices at the gas pump.
SOME PARTS OF FREETOWN LOOKED LIKE A GHOST TOWN
Social media commentator, Tunde Scott, looking at the thousands of people stranded on the streets, said that the nearest this situation can be compared to is the AFRC junta era in 1997 when the public went on sit-down strike in protest against the junta.
Some parts of the city looked like a ghost town , deserted with people staying at home.
Other youths in Tombo turned the usually busy lorry park into a football arena, with commercial vehicles parked nearby , idle.
The public is blaming the SLPP Government for not being forthright with the fuel situation in the country. As a matter of fact, the First Lady and wife of the President, Mrs. Fatima Bio, whose outrageous comments and excuses on social media have been a daily source of annoyance and ridicule, angered the public further last Thursday during a public rally, campaigning in the Koya bye-elections, when she said that the reason there is fuel shortage in Sierra Leone is that all the gas stations belong to officials of the opposition APC. What a shameless and ridiculous excuse, many people stated on social media.
The government, meanwhile is blaming the fuel crises on the global trend precipitated by the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
