The newly approved Minister of Trade and Industry, Ibrahim Alpha Sesay aka TEX, last Thursday 28th July, 2023 intervened proactively to stop a possibly dangerous situation from developing between petty traders and the metropolitan police attached to the Freetown City Council (FCC) at Sani Abacha Street.

The clashes between the irate traders and the metropolitan police started when FCC ordered that traders should stop selling on Sani Abacha Street and relocate to another market spot, but the traders insisted they should be provided with an alternative for relocation in order to continue with their businesses.

The new Trade Minister, Ibrahim Alpha Sesay, swiftly intervened to calm down the mounting tension between the two parties at Sani Abacha Street.

The proactive Minister in his request convened a meeting at the Office of National Security (ONS) at Tower Hill in the presence of AIG Mohamed Brima Jah, AIG Sylvester Koroma, Traders’ Union President, Vandi Lansana, Traders’ Council President, Foday Sahid Kamara, and representatives of market women and Traders’ Union respectively.

During the meeting, several issues to proffer a lasting solution to the problems of street trading were discussed and the key priority amongst all was to find an appropriate market place for the traders as the Sewa Ground Market was underway for completion.

Although there were initial plans to hand over the newly constructed Sewa Ground Market to these street traders, the latter claimed the nearly completed market has already been allocated to non-traders, leaving them with no choice but to continue selling at Sani Abacha Street to support their families.

Some passersby have however claimed the mounting tension between the traders and the metropolitan police occurred after the latter urged them to push back to allow free flow of traffic at Sani Abacha Street.

Meanwhile, many concerned Sierra Leoneans have praised the new Minister of Trade and Industry for his swift intervention to defuse the mounting tension between the traders and the metropolitan police, which they described as “good leadership and reactiveness.”