For those who haven’t read several of my previous blog
posts… an “okada” is a public, motorcycle “taxi” driven by a young, male (I’ve
only seen one woman) driver… who picks up passengers to hurry them to work, to
market, to home, to court, to visit girlfriends/boyfriends, to hospitals, to
funerals, to family and sometimes to the police station. Okadas can weave
between traffic… between lanes (down the centre of roads between traffic,
usually) across walkways, up trails and down pathways. They go where no car,
truck or bus would ever dream to venture.
The 125cc motorbikes are made by an Indian company, TVS or
Baja, and have an extended seat for passengers, goats, bags of rice, car tires,
wardrobes, baskets of fish, bags of charcoal, pregnant women, children… Yes, almost
anything and everything goes atop an okada. They are strong, sturdy, reliable,
rugged and reasonably priced. The average motorbike costs about Le 6,000,000 or
roughly $1,300. Second-hand parts are plentiful and almost every street corner
sports a mechanic or two who can install gaskets, fix brakes, repair flat
tires, change lightbulbs, etc.
In my opinion, okadas are an essential and integral part of
the transport system here in Sierra Leone. Okadas are everywhere… the capital
city, Freetown, provincial towns, border towns, villages, up the hills and
across the nation.
The guys who ride, most anyway, are decent sorts… trying to
earn a little money to pay school fees for their children, put themselves
through college, pay medical bills for ailing family members or just put food
in the pot. And most of these riders can’t find decent jobs that would take
them off their bikes. Some are illiterate. Some only speak native languages.
Some are former combatants. Some are college graduates. Some are orphans. Some
are former convicts.
Some riders carry driver’s licenses. Some of the bikes are
insured. Some of the okadas are properly registered… but many are not. Part of
the problem with illegal okadas is the cost to license and register a
commercial motorbike with the SL Road Transport Authority. According to a
rider-friend, it cost him almost Le 800,000 ($175 or so) to register his
commercial bike. He told me, “I’d rather just pay the police to let me off
because that’s only Le 10,000/day.”
To ride an okada in Freetown is not easy, as they say here.
I’ve asked around and learned a little about the economy of being an okada
rider. First, they have to rent the bike from a “master”. Most okada guys don’t
own their own bike. It costs anywhere from Le 40–50,000 (around $10) per day to
rent a bike. Then there’s fuel… about 10 litres (enough for a day) costs Le
45,000. Police bribes cost between Le 10–20,000 per day… to avoid being
arrested. If stopped/arrested by the police (if the officer is having a bad
day) it’ll cost the rider up to Le 50,000 to get his bike back. If they are
“charged to court” a rider faces a Le 150,000 ticket… and probably a year in
jail (a hell I’m thankful to avoid). An average rider can make (depending on
the weather) around Le 60–80,000 a day. Now, take away expenses… and these guys
are barely scraping together Le 20,000 a day (under $5/day).
Now… getting to the point of this diatribe.
About a year ago, the government of Sierra Leone (GOSL)
tried to stop the okadas from using some of the streets in the centre of
Freetown. They said the okadas were “lawless and indecent”… dangerous and
useless. The GOSL quoted non-existent accident reports… non-existent medical
evidence, non-existent police files, etc. in their public relations campaign.
The GOSL definitely get an “A” for effort… And, as they say
around here, “they tried”. To give the government of Sierra Leone credit, they
tried almost everything… extra police, newly recruited “azonto” police, beatings,
random arrests, sporadic checks of paperwork, Operation W.I.D. (I can’t recall
what that even stood for), Presidential task forces, road monitors, bike rider
union task forces, “spike rods” (long pieces of wood with nails driven through
to flatten tires) … and even SL Road Transport Wardens. But, nothing worked…
and okadas are still plying the streets.
The GOSL spent untold hundreds of thousands of dollars…
billions of Leones… trying to enforce a law that doesn’t exist (limiting
vehicles from certain roads). The GOSL instituted “operations” without any
legal basis. The GOSL violated the human rights of hundreds of young men. The
GOSL broke their own laws. The GOSL violated the Constitution (only police have
the right to enforce the law). The GOSL divided the bike riders union by
choosing some members to be “enforcers” over their brother riders. The GOSL
sold licenses and registrations to commercial bike riders and then told them
NOT to ride on certain streets in town.
It was a big mess for a while there… and the streets became
even more dangerous as “illegal” okadas twisted and turned to avoid being
caught by authorities. Of course, the minute the police left their post (around
7 p.m.)… or turned their back, okadas were swarming the streets again. Okadas
would speed through police checks. Okadas would jump sidewalks to avoid being
captured. And, it became a game for the okada riders… signaling to each other
where to avoid and where to zip along. I remember watching an okada rider
out-maneuver several police officers and I thought to myself… this is a scene
from a “keystone kop” comedy.
It would be hilarious if it weren’t so serious… and
dangerous.
So, after spending all that money and effort, the okadas are
still plying the roads in downtown Freetown… And I, along with my okada
brothers, will continue to zip along the roads on my privately licensed,
insured and registered, red motorbike… wearing my helmet and my boots, of
course. I have a good friend who calls me the "oCadaidian"... Funny stuff.
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