By Hassan Gbassay Koroma
While it was widely circulated on social media that 1,500 Sierra Leoneans were to be deported from the United States, the Minister of Internal Affairs, Morie Lengor, has refuted the said claim and confirmed that only 11 Sierra Leonean immigrants would be affected.
According to him, the 11 Sierra Leoneans would be deported not because of criminal records, but due to the lack of documentation.
“I have had a meeting with the United States Ambassador to Sierra Leone and we are ready to welcome our brothers and sisters home,” he said.
President Donald Trump had signed an executive order for the deportation of undocumented immigrants living in the United States, and the said order took effect immediately after his innouraguration on January 20.
Meanwhile, the minister was speaking at the usual government weekly press briefing hosted by the Ministry of Information and Civic Education where he briefed the public about issues, including the ban on commercial bike riders from using the central business district in Freetown.
He expressed optimism that the ban would succeed and be sustainable.
He explained that before they started the operations, they engaged the leadership of the commercial bike riders, and together, they came to the conclusion that they should go ahead with the ban.
“The introduction of the ban has helped to reduce cases of theft and accidents. We are also going to start to arrest passengers on the bikes and charge them both to court,” he said.
He said some of the punishment for any rider caught at the CDB would include fine, jail term, and even seizure of their licenses.
Also updating the press, the Information, Education and Communications Officer at the Freetown City Council (FCC), Koma Hassan Kamara said the ban on commercial bike riders from using the CBD areas was a welcome step.
She highlighted that the initiative was part of the FCC’s city development project, and that the uncontrollable riding of commercial bikes in the CBD was a huge disadvantage to their development project.
She said bike riding has contributed to the congestion of the city because many youth have migrated from the provinces to Freetown.
She further noted that FCC has a beautification project that would not be implemented without the ban.
National President of the Bike Riders Association, Ishmeal Sandy said the ban on commercial bikes from using the CBD started way back in 1999, and all efforts didn’t succeed because there was no engagement and awareness leading to the process.
He said the current ban is going to work because there was proper engagement between the government and the executive of their union.
