On June 27, 2023, after Maada Bio was pronounced the winner of the elections, his supporters physically attacked market women in Freetown. That attack was prompted by Bio’s supporters’ suspicion that the market women had voted overwhelmingly for the opposition APC and its presidential candidate Dr. Samura Kamara.
Well, today, July 27, 2023, exactly one month after the SLPP supporters’ physical attack on the market women, these same women are now being attacked by Maada Bio’s government officials (see video).
In several videos circulating on social media, the women explained that their stalls were demolished and their market areas were declared no market zones by government officials.
This sudden loss of their livelihood led the women to go out and protest in the streets of Freetown. In their protests, the women chanted: “WE WANT TO SELL. WE ARE NOT FOREIGNERS.” Many of them stated that selling in that market was their only source of livelihood for their families. Their children’s welfare, including schooling, was all jeopardized by this sudden seizure of their places of business.
As usual, the Sierra Leone police and other security personnel proceeded to disperse the women’s protest, arresting several of them who were still in custody.
These poor women are victimized while Maada Bio’s government bragged about appointing several women to his cabinet. But a closer look at those appointments shows those appointed women are not from among women in the country but from among their privileged diaspora relatives and friends.
Yet women in the country suffering daily to feed their families and school their children are being further marginalized through economic and physical attacks.
#SAVEABACHAMARKETWOMEN
MAMA SALONE ~ Lioness of the West Coast 