By our Banjul Correspondent
News reaching Gainako indicate that at least 25 taxi drivers have been arrested and detained at Banjul Police Headquarters for overcharging taxi fares. The detained taxi drivers who operates along the Westfield/Cooperative to Banjul route were arrested on Thursday 16th December. Our correspondent revealed that an additional dozen drivers were also arrested and detained at the police station after the initial crackdown bringing the total number of detainees to more than 30. The taxi drivers were allegedly arrested for overcharging commuters by increasing passenger fares from the usual Ten Dalasis to 50 Dalasi.
According to our source, a similar crackdown on taxi drivers last year saw 30 taxi drivers arraigned before a Magistrate court and served with a month jail time plus a 1000 Dalasis fine each. A close relative of one of the detainees said that “he learnt of his brother’s arrest and had to make inquiries at the Banjul Police Headquarters as he couldn’t reach his brother on his phone”. Feeling aggrieved by his brother’s detention he lamented that “the arrest of the Taxi drivers is unjust because the Gambia should operate as a free economy”. He argued that “there should be a price control mechanism but it shouldn’t be extreme, resulting to the arrest of taxi drivers without any prior warning or deadline of the enforcement of price controls”. He further noted that “the government has now resulted in pressurizing people to pursue business at a loss”.
An affected business woman said that her driver was also arrested and she said, “taxi fares should not be determined by anyone because taxi’s are different from buses and vans [locally referred to as Gele Gele]”. She mentioned that “escalating fuel prices and road tax have been affecting businesses leading to the increase in taxi fares. Nonetheless, her view was that “taxis normally operate on town trips unlike the vans which gather large volumes of passengers”. She noted that “the authorities should not force Taxi drivers by fixing market prices on taxi fares without consulting taxi drivers or issuing warnings”.
According to a concerned taxi driver “the government should focus on addressing escalating fuel prices, reduce road tax and concentrate on developing the roads instead of arresting taxi drivers en mass. The Government should respect the free economy and should focus on its main roles.” since last year fuel prices have been increasing in The Gambia. meanwhile fuel prices declined considerably in the world market. In some cases fuel price reduction have been announced but have not been adhered to as detailed in The Point newspaper. Surely a more holistic approach is needed to address escalating fuel prices, road tax and other driving factors than a mass crackdown on drivers. As we go to press several of the taxi drivers are still detained. It is a rampant practice poorly paid police officers to crack down on taxi drivers only to extract bribes from those willing to pay. It is very likely that many of them if not all of them will be release once they have met the backroom deals that has plague many African countries.