By Mackie M. Jalloh
The decision by Sierra Leone’s Internal Affairs Minister, Rtd AIG Morie Lengor, to order the arrest of passengers on commercial motorbikes (okadas) for simply entering the Central Business District (CBD) is not only unjust but a blatant overreach of power. This directive, which effectively criminalizes innocent commuters, reflects a deep disconnect between the government and the everyday struggles of ordinary Sierra Leoneans who rely on bike transport due to limited alternatives.
Minister Lengor’s announcement, made on February 25, 2025, at a meeting in Freetown, demonstrates a troubling disregard for fairness and logic. It is one thing to enforce restrictions on bike riders, but punishing passengers—many of whom may be unaware of the CBD ban or have no control over their routes—is authoritarian and excessive.
This crackdown will disproportionately harm the most vulnerable members of society, including market traders, students, and low-income workers who depend on bikes to reach their destinations quickly. Not everyone entering the CBD is deliberately breaking the law. Many passengers are unaware of the 36 restricted streets, while others are simply trying to get to work, school, or the hospital in the fastest way possible due to Freetown’s notoriously inefficient public transport system. Arresting them as criminals is absurd.
Furthermore, the Minister’s reasoning that passengers “help bike riders break the law” is deeply flawed. By this logic, a bus passenger should be arrested if the driver runs a red light. The responsibility for following traffic rules rests with the rider, not the person paying for the ride. Yet, in an astonishing abuse of power, Minister Lengor has chosen to punish people who are neither policymakers nor enforcers of traffic regulations.
This decision sets a dangerous precedent, where citizens can be arbitrarily arrested for offenses they have no control over. It opens the door for widespread police harassment and corruption, as officers will have unchecked authority to detain people simply based on where they are dropped off. Given the already existing tensions between law enforcement and bike riders, this policy will only escalate confrontations and breed resentment towards the police.
Instead of focusing on sustainable traffic solutions, such as improving public transport or providing alternative routes for bike riders, the government has chosen the lazy and oppressive route: criminalizing the public. This heavy-handed measure does nothing to address the root causes of congestion in the CBD but rather punishes ordinary citizens for the failures of urban planning.
If Minister Lengor is truly concerned about road safety and law enforcement, why is his ministry not cracking down on reckless drivers in government convoys who speed through traffic with impunity? Why is there no urgency in fixing the broken transport system that forces citizens to rely on motorbikes in the first place? Arresting passengers is nothing but a distraction from the government’s failures.
This policy is not about law and order—it is about control. It is a blatant attack on the working class, disguised as regulation. Minister Lengor must rescind this oppressive directive immediately before it sparks unnecessary unrest and further erodes public trust in the government.
