Drivers' Union president, Alpha Bah
By Aminata Phidelia Allie
National Grand Chief Patron of the Sierra Leone Drivers' and General Transport Owners’ Union, Aruna Conteh aka Ambush Commander, has revealed that there are over 600 drivers “languishing in prisons across the country”.
He was speaking at a meeting at the ‘Tipa Ground’ in Goderich outside Freetown where the newly elected president of the union had formed an interim committee to oversee the operations at the sand mining site.
Conteh noted that most of their colleague drivers were suffering in prison because they could not afford to pay "small amounts of money", adding that with the new executive now fully functional, “I am positive that the little pennies drivers are contributing to the union will be used to protect members, particularly against arbitrary arrests and detentions”.
Claiming that drivers were hardly respected in Sierra Leone, he said he was sure that if “our house is in order, especially with the amount of money the union collects across the country, our retired colleagues will be able to collect pensions, [and] each member will be proud and respected”.
He admonished all to “give peace a chance as the court case has been resolved in favour of the present executive" adding "I am further pleading with the aggrieved party to join hands and work together for the peace and progress of the union”.
Conteh said that it was time for everyone to put their hands on deck and see how their colleagues could be released from prison.
President of the Drivers’ Union, Alpha Bah, whilst appreciating his colleagues for standing by him, also pleaded with those who lost the election to put away their differences and stop tearing themselves apart.
Bah explained that he was holding several consultative meetings with the minister of lands, whom he said had already promised to bring a dredge that would pump sand from the sea onto the land.
“I have made it categorically clear to the minister that should such a technology come to this site, our men must be the ones to work with it” he said, adding that he was also in serious negotiations with the police to see how a police/driver partnership could be formed.
He added that through that partnership, his executive would take a tour of prisons across the country to see how many drivers were being held in cells, try to know their crimes and see how they could help facilitate their release.
The president stated that the 11-man interim executive would operate for three weeks after which he would finally announce a chairman of the ‘Tipa Ground’ “according to the desires of the people”.
About how he would separate the union’s work from national politics however, Mr. Bah refused to comment saying “I don’t want to go into that”.
Speaking to journalists immediately after the meeting, Chairman of the interim executive, Ibrahim Mende Kanu, said he would work “zealously in accordance with the president’s agenda”, and he encouraged others to exhibit a change of attitude for “personal and national development”.
(C) Politico 20/03/14
