"A nation's greatness is
measured by how it treats its weakest members." - Mahatma
Ghandi
There’s a Freetown City Council (FCC) by-law
that says traders/sellers must not sell on several, specified streets in
downtown Freetown. It’s probably not obvious to folks who visit the “central
business district” or the downtown city core. Many streets are lined with
street sellers – selling everything from phones to underclothes… from
groundnuts to watermelons.
Personally, I love this kind of street
shopping… and can usually find anything I really need… belts, vests, novels,
phone cases, money changers, soaps, shoes, et cetera. In fact, I almost prefer
shopping on the street over the few grocery stores and electronic shops
frequented by ex-pats. When I buy something on the street, I know it’s going to
help pay school fees for children, buy food for families, pay medical expenses
and support some of the most vulnerable sectors of this society.
Hawa is a young friend who sells scented
sprays and shoe polish on a street corner. She works beside Fatmata, Lovette,
Zainab and Mary, who also sell assorted goods from small, plastic bowls or
baskets. It takes Hawa an hour and a half every morning to get to work… and she
begins her long commute home at 5:30 (just before the restriction on any sales
after 6:00 PM). The women are there – reliably – on the corner, every day but
Sunday.
The economic reality for most street
sellers is pretty grim. Hawa’s profits are between 30-50,000Le per week (about
$10). Hawa spends 4,000Le each day (just under $1) on transportation to and
from her corner. She spends 5,000Le per day ($1) on food while she works. She often
drinks 1,000Le worth of packet-water every day. Most days, she says, she adds
an oral rehydration solution (ORS) to her water to replenish the moisture she
loses under the sun. The ORS powder costs 500Le. Hawa and the others pay 300Le
per day in City taxes levied against all street sellers.
The City taxes are collected by an
obnoxious older man, Mr. Alusine they call him, who carries no identification,
wears no uniform and wanders the streets collecting 300Le from anyone he
catches. He dolls out a small “ticket” of paper that’s marked with the day’s
date… Does he submit these Leones to the city coffers? He offers no
explanation… but I suspect he’s a brother of someone who works at the City… and
collects this money for his own use.
Hawa and the other women’s largest expense
for the day are the bribes paid to Freetown City Council Municipal Police… who
harass the women, “arrest” their market – taking baskets and bowls to the
Police Station, or capturing them and imprisoning them overnight. Most of the
time, the women cough up between 20-50,000Le in bribes and are given back their
picked over baskets of small products. Many times, the police scoop up products
for themselves… and the bribes go directly into the police constable’s pockets.
The women tried taking up a small
collection of Leones to pay the officers every day… to leave them alone. The
collecting officer would then turn a blind eye… but another FCC police
constable would skulk past and also demand money and threaten the women and
children with arrest – which ultimately means a bigger bribe.
When I first learned about how the FCC Police harass street sellers,
several years ago, I was incensed… It’s so frustrating and sad to think of the
hardship that Hawa and the other women go through… scraping by to put a bit of
food on their tables.
"...the moral test of government
is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children;
those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; those who are in the
shadows of life; the sick, the needy and the handicapped. " - Last Speech
of Hubert H. Humphrey
No comments:
Post a Comment