By Mabinty M. Kamara
In an effort to promote democracy and good governance in their daily operations, the Commercial Motor Bike Riders Union across Sierra Leone is currently in the process of electing their executives at the park level.
The lower level elections according to the National Public Relations Officer, Mohamed Nabieu, are conducted by the National Executive, with the winners of those elections having the mandate to elect the District Executives who will then vote for the regional executives who are constitutionally mandated to vote the National Executive by March of Next year.
Speaking to Politico, Nabieu said that there are over three hundred and sixty Union parks across Sierra Leone with fifty-six in Freetown out of which Model Junction Park held theirs last Saturday 4th November 2023 which saw Alpha Vincent Kamara elected Chairman and Saifu Angel Conteh his Vice.
Kamara defeated his main challenger -Incumbent Issa Conteh with a vote of two hundred and four while Issa scored one hundred and forty-nine votes.
“We have successfully conducted the Model Park election in which Mr Alpha emerged victorious over the incumbent. This shows that we bike riders believe in democracy, we believe in the rule of law. We are not violent people. Everybody is celebrating and just after this, we will be having the national elections,” Nabieu said.
Every individual has the right to contest twice in the election with a mandate not exceeding two terms, each covering a period of three years.
This is the second time that Kamara has appeared and won the race. His first appearance, according to 25-year-old Ibrahim Kargbo was in 2017 during which he said Kamara served the park diligently and left, holding his shirt in his hands as he celebrated the winning alongside many others.
“When his term ended in 2020, he did not contest again. So we had Issa but we had to call on him to come and serve us again because of his leadership style. I have been in this Park for ten years now and I can say for sure that his tenure was the best in terms of seeking members’ welfare and interest at all times,” he said.
The Local Unit Commander for the Freetown Central Division, Commissioner Abdul Moijueh in an interview with Politico at the jubilant scene commended the conduct of the Bike riders, saying “It was peaceful. We have been here since 9 a.m. They have voted, counting done and you can see them celebrating without any violence and trouble because they gave them who they wanted,” he said.
He added that together with his team, they also supervised similar elections on Monday 30th October 2023 with similar peaceful outcomes at the New England Park.
The Commercial Bike Riders Union currently forms an integral part of Sierra Leone’s informal economy with a huge number of youth concentration while also cushioning the challenges of public transportation faced by commuters across the country.
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