Senior police and SLRSA safety corps commanders cannot deny having knowledge of booking – the illegal act that continue to compromises traffic laws in the country. Booking simply put in commercial drivers and road traffic law enforcers, is the act of hand shaking of traffic police and SLRSA safety corps on the roads with money. And when once that is done for the day a driver can commit any form of road traffic and go free without any penalty; ie half way drop-off of passengers by mini-van/poda-poda drivers in the presence of traffic and safety corps, who always pretend not be aware of unruly drivers’ cheating games against commuters.

That is not what law enforcers are being paid for from state coffers, and by obligations you people are under oath to defend the people of this country though that is still a critical issue everybody is confronted with, so police and SLRSA safety corps deliberate ignorant and tolerant of lawlessness and unruly drivers on the roads is not in the best interest of the public and such must stop with immediate effect. Except if the Inspector General of Police, Amrose Michael Sovula and Executive Director, SLRSA, Ibrahim Sannoh want to continue to expose the lives of Sierra Leoneans to persistent road traffic accidents, but if only these people are serious about their jobs and saving lives from the tenacious problems, then these unlawful acts must be brought under permanent control now than later.

Forum continues to observe the trend with keen public interest that enforcements of road traffic laws being undertaken by the police and SLRSA safety corps, couldn’t clamp down on crime, lawlessness and misconducts of road users, especially commercial drivers. And therefore misconducts and lawlessness appear be all over the place, with flagrant violations and abuses of road traffic laws by the day all in the illicit name of “booking” under the very watch and canopies of the leaderships of the IGP, Amrose Michael Sovula and the ED, SLRSA, Ibrahim Sannoh. They both claim to be at work, but are virtually not doing their jobs much as discipline on the roads and the regulations of road users are concerned.

This takes us the question of ploy being machinated by both leaderships of the police and that of SLRSA road safety corps. This has to do with the fact of tolerating crimes and lawlessness by law enforcers themselves; ie the police and SLRSA safety corps, who always extort moneys from drivers and keep a blind eyes whichever crime they commit could on the road. Going by our records police and SLRSA personnel have on several occasion been caught extorting moneys from defaulting road users-drivers. Some had been charged to court whiles others were fired from the force, yet the tricks continue unabated, with new strategies of receiving moneys from drivers and other road users. And with this firmly in place for commercial motorbike and tricycle riders, mini-vans/poda-poda, bus and taxi drivers always subscribe to booking on demands of police and SLRSA safety corps, at every point along public highways and transport terminals everywhere, as means of protection against any probable arrest or issuance of tickets. Then, as long as drivers have book for the day they automatically become immune against police and SLRSA road safety corps interceptions at every points. No matter how faulty your vehicle is you are good so go under road traffic laws enforcers’ protective booking canopies. This even tolerate commercial vehicle driver and other service providers to impose double fares, half ways and other misconducts against commuters, to which police and SLRSA road safety corps always keep blind eyes, leaving the people at the mercies of crude and unruly drivers. It also causes difficulty to access to public transport facilities.

Besides, people across the municipality and its surrounding communities continue to face daily challenges of accessing public transport, especially government buses run by the Sierra Leone Roads Transport Corporation, under the supervision of the line Ministry of Transport and Aviation. A ministry that has never in the last three years attempt to provide commuters in Freetown with town and express transport service.

For the ministry this has always been the state of affairs, as if public transport facility provisions should not be made for people in the western areas; rural and urban, coupled with the public transport agency failures to offer services to the highly congested and much needed shuttles Freetown.

The SLRTC instead run to areas with lesser demands for public transport – south and eastern provinces, leaving huge number of commuters perishing for public transport in cosmopolitan municipality of Freetown.

A situation key private sector players in the road transport industry continue take advantage of at the detriments of the suffering masses, because government couldn’t make provision, on grounds of not making profit as if government is a profit making agency. Come on service delivery is what Bio promised the nation during his presidential campaigns three years plus ago. But we have so far come to see nothing except excuses we cannot be feed on.

Those provided by private sector players in the industry alleged to be in fraudulent syndicates with traffic police and SLRSA safety cops, of teaming up to extort moneys from road users all over the place, causing massive sufferings of commuters in accessing public transport due to failures of road traffic law enforcement agencies implement the laws of the country against defaulters. These must stop the more reason this medium is urging both leaderships of the SLP IGP, Sovula and SLRSA ED, Sannoh to remain watchful of the misconducts of their personnel to enforce road traffics laws and by extension save lives and not connive with lawless and unruly road users to continue to take lives through fatal road traffic accidents