By Tilly Barrie
There was chaos and confusion at Orugu Bridge in the east end of town when the Freetown City Council (FCC) erected a check point to check on commuters for their local tax receipts causing long queues of vehicular traffic which forced some drivers to drop off their passengers.
MayorFranklyn Bode Gibson, councilors, staffof the council and metropolitan police were involved in the exercise.
A commuter, Mohamed A Sesay was left bleeding on his face when he expressed frustration at the hold-up and asked what was being done with their tax money.
Sesay alleged that no sooner had he asked that question than the mayor ordered metropolitan to handcuff himHe was manhandled and dumped inside a semi holding cell on the FCC bus for one hour before he was released.
According to the Public Relations Officer of the FCC, Cyril Mattiaas part of their sensitisation drive they did announce on radio stations and used their hailers asking people to pay their tax.
He said they held a committee meeting with the 49 wards who were also instructed to pass on the tax message to their different wards.
The exercise, according to him, is ongoing and they will be doing their stop-and-ask exercise all over Freetown.
Most of the members of public told Politico that they were against the method of tax collection. They said the former mayor landed in court after mismanaging their taxes and they were not sure the current one would be any different.
They complained that the exercise was done on the first day of the working weekwhich they said was bad timing, and complained that tax collectors had never shown up in their areas.
© Politico 23/07/13
