By Ibrahim S. Bangura
Amidst the high cost of living in Freetown most women who have engaged themselves in the trade of bringing fresh produce such as groundnut, cassava leaves, potato leaves, ginger, etc. from Makeni, Bo, Kenema, etc. to Freetown as a way of sustaining their families after sales.
Talking to Premier media on Wednesday August 30, 2023, traders at Guard Street Market in Freetown, complained that the recent hike in fuel price has by extension caused a multiplier effect on the transport fare which has occasioned increase in their spending which has caused losses for business people forcing over 200 people trading in farm to leave the occupation.
According to Kadiatu Sesay, the Chairlady of the market, individually, they used to pay Le 80,000 from Freetown to Makeni, which has been increased to Le 150,000.
“Whenever there is an increase in the price of fuel, the traders will be the most vulnerable people. We used to pay Le 5000 for a dozen of cassava leaf from Makeni to Freetown, but has increased to Le 60,000. A bag of groundnut, ginger, cassava, etc. from Makeni to Freetown, which we used to pay Le 30,000 has now increased to Le 90, 000,” she said.
She revealed that after they would have spent a lot of money on transportation and other expenses on the roads they would realize no profit after selling their goods.
According to her, this has caused over 200 out of their total membership of 600 registered traders at the market to abandon because their capital has depleted.
She explained, “Now, for us the traders to even have our daily bread to sustain our family is not so easy for us. We are not realizing anything from our goods. I am the breadwinner of six children. After my husband died five years ago, I used to effectively provide food, cloth and medical for the children, but the present situation is not allowing me to even provide food and other basic things for my family on regular basis. I should have stayed out of business as some of my friends have done, but I don’t have any option. We are appealing to the government to make things easier for us the traders, mostly us the women.”
According to Amara Kamara, a driver who usually plies to and from Makeni, increase in the price of fuel and other expenses on the routes to those provinces have caused them to make increase in transportation fares.
He said, “We are presently buying a liter of fuel Le 30,000 and each trip we make to those provinces, we spend Le 1,800,000 on fuel. In the end, we will make no profit…because we have to pay to the officers attached to those checkpoints to the provinces, we have paid to the drivers’ union, amidst other things. All we could do now as a nation is to come together and appeal to the government to make the situation easy for us all,” Kamara said.