Sierra Leone News: Cripples barricade Youyi Building Entrance

Cripples yesterday barricaded the entrance of the Youyi Building which holds most of Sierra Leone’s government ministries obstructing the entrance of mostly Ministers and Deputy Ministers into the complex. They were apparently revolting against attempt by OSD security personnel to remove them from the building’s entrance.
This recalcitrant move by the physically challenged chair-bounded group went in a showdown with paramilitary security guards deployed at the building. The ensuing melodrama was one of frustration for most of the visitors to the building and government officials working in it. It turned out to be a running battle as the security personnel made frantic and cautious efforts to remove the intolerable cripples.
Few of the disgruntled cripples who spoke to Awoko said, in anguish, that they earn their leaving through begging, and Youyi Building among many public buildings is one of the places where they have accessed to people, especially diplomats whohave the tenacity to dole out money to them. They said that the government has not done anything for them to alleviate their sufferings. As a result, they rely on begging for alms to feed their families at home.
They alleged that the Head of the Security at Youyi Building known as M.S.K had told them to comport themselves as they go about their begging around the building, which they assert, they have maintained since.  Therefore, they noted, it was a surprise to them yesterday, when the security officers held guns chasing them out of the building like outcast.
They opined that they have every right to access government offices, despite the fact that they are physically challenged. They posited that denying them the right to access public building and other places is not only a violation of their right of movement but a sheer discrimination against them, which, they affirm, “is unacceptable”. They went on “Why are other people allowed to enter the building when we (disabled) are denied. Is it because we are disabled, shattered and hopeless?” one of them lamentably questioned.
One of them who identified himself as Musa Kamara said “when it is time to register and vote, they will not tell us to stay apart because we are disabled beggars. But now that they are in power, having all the comforts in their offices and homes, they have pushed us apart until the next election, when they come around us again to make fake promises. But this time, we will teach them a lesson they will never forget” they promised.
As a matter of fact, the Prado vehicle meant for the Deputy Minister -2 for Health and Sanitation was vehemently denied access to the building through the main gate. And to press time, the cripples were still parked at the gate making vile insinuations against public officials including the President.
By Poindexter Sama
Friday October 04, 2013