By Ragan M. Conteh

“Under this harsh economic situation hundreds of we the Abacha traders have suffered yet another heavy blow as our stalls have been vandalized,” one of the business woman said in tears whiles their tables were destroyed by the Freetown City Council for none trading in prohibited areas around the central business district.

Traders woke up in the early hours of Thursday 6th March, 2025 to witness their stalls been vandalized and millions worth of properties also destroyed.

According to these affected traders the SLPP regime has continued to exhibit absolute disdain and hatred for women who make up of 95% of the traders in Sierra Leone.

They said the government is shamefully targeting industrious women who are doing their business at the Sani Abacha Street in Freetown.

From time immemorial, from dusk to dawn, so many hardworking women have done and continue to do their business in that area to eke out their living. Women constitute large population of the Abacha Street traders and popular for variety of cheap goods for the less privileged people. And even though the Bio presidency often bluffs of providing a 30% quota for Sierra Leone women, it is however sad to note that majority of Sierra Leoneans are still businesswomen who always face constant intimidation and harassment in the hands of very SLPP regime who disguised themselves in police and military uniforms.

The affected traders have Africa24 that only the current regime has continued to unleash mayhem on them as innocent and hardworking petty traders.

They said that the violence against women traders escalated after they discovered that all their market tables and stalls have been damaged.

“The government is failing to realize that all of the market women are responsible for their respective families. Many of their husbands are not working and therefore depend on their tables to save cash to feed their families and buy school uniforms for their children.

Today these women are suffering unjustly. Worse of all, the moral guarantors like the civil society groups are mute over the situation and no women’s groups has dare to advocate for the petty traders,” a foreign national told this medium.