By Steven Bockarie Mansaray
The authorities in Koinadugu, the only district in Sierra Leone without a confirmed Ebola case, have declared a weeklong curfew effective last night, Monday 25 August.
The Chairman of the Koinadugu District Council, Samuel Sheku Kamara made the announcement over the weekend which he said followed a decision by the district Ebola task force and was a means to keep the disease at bay.
He said the curfew would last from 8:00 PM to 07:00 AM.
The authorities have also extended by a week and tightened the blockade of the district. In the last two weeks traders in this agriculturally viable district were allowed to leave the district, on a pass, only on Tuesdays to sell their produce and return on Thursdays. That has now been called off with no one allowed to enter or leave the district at all.
Even school authorities who wanted to travel to Makeni to collect salaries of teachers are not being allowed.
This led to angry scenes on Sunday when traders who wanted to take their vegetables and other commodities to Freetown for sale were stopped by the security forces. Their six truckloads were sent back and the traders and drivers protested by blocking the main Sheik Bockarie Street in Kabala with the trucks, to bar other vehicles from passing through until they were allowed to travel with their wares.
Police and soldiers were able to put the situation under control and the vehicles were removed from the streets and the crowds who had gathered at the roundabout dispersed under the emergency measures which ban large public gatherings.
Two of the affected women traders, Musu Kallon and Titie Kabba told Politico that the taskforce chairman, Dr Fassineh Samura had issued them with passes late on Sunday to take their goods out before 6:00 PM ahead of the new regime. They said they used money they had taken as loan from a microfinance institution in Kabala, lamenting that all they relied on was trade to support their children.
Amid tears they pleaded with the authorities in vain to allow them to take their goods out.
Dr. Samura told Politico that the traders had received their passes at 11:00 AM and that the traders' union and drivers' union executives were part of the meeting in which the authorities agreed that from 6:00 PM on Sunday there must be no movements into or out of the district for another one week.
The executives of the traders' and drivers' union have criticised the action of their colleagues, promising to work with the taskforce and health authorities in the fight against Ebola no matter the inconveniences that may present.
(C) Politico 26/08/14
