By Amin Kef Sesay
The people are complaining in many quarters that President Bio is not democratic; in that they say when taking decisions he does not most times consider how they affect the downtrodden masses whose welfare and wellbeing he solemnly when been sworn in pledged to take care of.
Take the issue of the curfew from 9pm to 6am. Tens of thousands of urban dwellers complain bitterly that the only effect it has had on the fight against COVID-19 is to take away theirs and their families and dependants livelihood; not to talk of the extreme discomfort, and mad rush that it causes to them in the evening hours finding non-existent transport to take them to their different locations in the extreme West and extreme East of the Western Area.
As such, they are kindly, humbly pleading with the Inspector General of Police and other security authorities that whilst they remain fully compliant with the Government in the fight against COVID-19, they should think of easing the curfew, even up to a decent 11`pm, to allow them to “pick-pick” to provide for their families and dependants , against what those living in the Waterloo axis and beyond are reporting bordering on hundreds if not thousands of them daily are bogged down in Freetown by the curfew and have to find places to “carch” until the next morning. The men state that when they return home the next day, as well as the women, their wives and husbands disbelieve their stories that they were unable to get transport to go home.
The economic argument for pleading for a slight lifting of the curfew hour to 10 or 11 o clock at night, the poor say, is purely economic; that the more hours they have at night selling their “fry-fry”, pega, and other consumables to those that have “dregged” the whole day keeps the pot boiling the next days.
Then to the IG and his commanders, the other set of people who call for lifting of the curfew are shop and store owners, of whose shops and stores have been broken to because according to them, when the streets and corners are deserted, the night robbers have a field day as they can patrol freely and choose their targets with ease.
For example, the other day, a mobile phone seller whose shop is close to the Jui OSD barracks has everything stolen by robbers who broke into his shop.
For these and other reasons (not however that forwarded by the prostitutes that business is bad for them), because of the curfew, a sizeable proportion of urban dwellers are appealing to the authorities to consider easing the curfew.
