By TALLA AGHAA
It was an interesting scene at the ‘Kumba Main Market’ on Saturday, April 18, 2020, when some traders stood their grounds that two of their colleagues won’t pay FCFA 4,000 for not putting on their face masks, as one of the measures put in place by the government to combat the coronavirus. Reports say some men in uniform came to the market in the name of “patrol”, and immediately descended on two traders maintaining that they were not putting on their face masks.
According to eye witness account, all the traders reportedly had their face masks on. The first lady who was “apprehended” had shifted the mask from her mouth to communicate with a customer on phone who apparently couldn’t hear her well since the market was full and noisy, The SUN gathered, reason why she was asked by the men in uniform to pay them the FCFA 6,000 which is the fine according to the ‘law’ when caught without a face mask.
Also, another trader, reports further say, was ‘apprehended” while drinking water with his face mask around his neck. The men in uniform, it is alleged, asked the fellow to pay a similar fine of FCFA 6,000. For fear of the unknown, the two are said to have pleaded to surrender the sum of FCFA 2,000 each to the officers but they refused. The scenario will then take a different turn, when the officers decided to take them to the Police Post. This triggered anger from other traders and like one man, they accompanied their two arrested colleagues to the Post in protest.
After exchanges and explanations by both parties to the Chief of Post at the Kumba Main Market Police Post, the Chief of Post asked the traders to go and continue with their businesses. About 30 minutes later, reports say the two seemingly frustrated officers came back and allegedly pleaded with the two traders to now surrender to them the FCFA 4,000 they had earlier proposed. The SUN gathered that this then provoked uproar in the market, after which they immediately quitted the scene.
It should be recalled that ever since the wearing of face masks became a government regulation, men in uniform have been allegedly making much money from the population.