The Fula and the Motor Transport Business in Freetown, Sierra Leone

Citations Over Time

Abstract

Over the past three decades, the motor transport business has been one of the fastest-growing sectors of the economy of Freetown, the capital city of Sierra Leone. Freetown has long been the hub of the national transportation network. This is the result of the city's port, its point of contact with the outside world, its concentration of economic and utility services, and its role as the seat of government and the source of news and innovation. For all of these reasons, Freetown has been the focus of modernization in the country. This has significantly affected Sierra Leone's motor transport business. Motor vehicles are not only used for the movement of goods between Freetown and the provinces, but also for the transportation of rural migrants from the provinces to the city. These multiethnic migrants, who number in the thousands, are attracted by the many amenities, including educational, financial, and medical institutions, of Freetown. Besides employment opportunities, these migrants are exposed to new ideas and values, which many of them take back to their traditional societies. This brings about a further increase in migration to the capital, as their kinsmen learn about the many opportunities in urban Freetown. The city also attracts those who have accumulated wealth in mining and the produce trade in the provinces and now want to enjoy the many amenities of Freetown.' Despite its importance, few studies of any kind have been conducted on the role of Africans in the motor transport business of Sierra Leone. Studies such as those by Peter M. Kaindaneh and J. Barry Riddell have been done on the evolution of Sierra Leone's transport services from the colonial era to the postindependence period.2 Although it does not deal specifically with the Fula, S. M. Sesay's study of drivers in the motor transport industry provides significant information on the activities of Africans, as well as the evolution of this industry and its importance in the Sierra Leonean economy.3 H. L. van der Laan's study on the Lebanese also contains valuable information on the development of the motor transport business and the competitive role of Africans in this sector.4

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