By Ragan M. Conteh
An opposition whip has raised eyebrows on the indiscriminate shutting down of beach bars in west of the capital.
Hon. Abdul Karim Kamara is the the Chief Whip of the opposition in parliament. He also doubles as the Chairman of the Human Rights Committee in Parliament.
He has stood his grounds in a debate in the well that the destroyed beach bars by officers play a life support to the economy of the country to survive on.
He said many Sierra Leoneans are still wondering the rationale behind the unfortunate destruction of bars situated on the Aberdeen beach and Lumley.
As its stand, he said there are thousands of citizens who are surviving through those social centers.
But by demolishing the buildings (restaurants and bars) the innocent people would face the brunt of their collapsing economic activities.
He went on that the citizens are with the views that the government is treacherous and callous, stating that any caring government that is always anticipating for the needs of the people should not be doing repulsive acts. But, it would rather proffer swift solutions that would seek to address any impasse between the state and investors amicably.
According to the MP, many Sierra Leoneans are inundated with unanswerable questions relating to the massive destruction of business centers on the beaches.
“Does the government not realize that they have created another loophole for persistent unemployment among the citizens?”
“Now that they have destroyed those structures, what do the citizens stand to gain out of everything?”
“ Is it that they have gotten other customers to replace them? Did they not aware the economy adversity in the country?”
A man said, “Indeed Sierra Leone has become a home for foreigners who possess more rights and privileges than the citizens.”
Many people hold the view that the ongoing destruction is only meant for those merchants who are anti-government while those who are in favour of the government nothing is happening to their properties.
The chief whip said there is rumour claiming that bar owners have not paying their taxes.
But in a civilized society, he said, if such a thing occurs, there comes in negotiations, but in this case for Sierra Leone, he added, the inverse is seen.
The Opposition Chief Whip, Hon. Abdul Karim Kamara robustly condemned the action of the government as they are inflicting more sufferings on the lives of Sierra Leoneans with impunity.
“They have caused immense suffering to our hardworking masses along the beach,” he said.
He emphasized that it is very untimely for the government to revoke such action as it has done more harm than good taking into cognizance the meaningful contributions those places have offered to the nation.
He further narrated that those people whose businesses have been destroyed, many of them still owe business loans at the bank, now that they have lost their centres how would they be able to meet the demands of those financial institutions?
Opposition Chief Whip stated that a good number of those who are affected there is proclivity for them to unwillingly leave the country for other countries due to unpaid loans which is a recipe for security threat and as a result the government is completely out of touch with the suffering masses of the nation.
He, therefore, called on the President together with his cabinet to have a second thought with regards the destruction of the business centers along the beaches as those places are playing a pivotal role to complement the effort of the government by creating an enabling environment for job creation.