MOTORCYCLE TAXIS, SELF-EMPLOYMENT AND GOL BANNING: A PEDESTRIAN REVIEW-By Seltue Karweaye

Pem –Pem ( also known as pen-pen or pehn-pehn) is a local parlance for commercial motorcycle taxis in Liberia, where public transportation is non-existent, traffic snarls up in Monrovia, and its environ and potholes mark most roads. The privately owned motorcycle taxis are the main mode of transport throughout the country and are considered especially useful in secondary and rural roads where public transport service is not available. The motorcyclist taxi drivers are mostly ex-combatants who fought during the Liberian civil war. At the end of the civil war, many of the combatants had not had any education, but had to find a means of living. As they engaged in the process of disarmament, demobilization, rehabilitation, and reintegration, many of the ex-combatants became pen-pen drivers. Since most of the roads were destroyed during the civil war, pen-pen riding became a useful way of transportation. As of 2012, there were around 500,000 drivers in the country, according to Liberia’s Ministry of Transport. During the 2011 Presidential election, politicians even use the pehn pehn drivers in their campaign. President Sirleaf ruling Unity Party went as far as issuing helmets and vests to the Pem-Pem riders. The Pem-Pem riders were behind Madam Sirleaf and UP campaign team everywhere they went to campaign, then they were not armed robbers and they were not riding recklessly and causing accidents. After the 2011 election and in 2013 the Liberian government banned the operation of these commercial bikes on the major roads of Liberia. So why now? The news of this bans has not gone down well with Pem-Pem drivers, and reactions have echoed in Monrovia. According to BBC, Police set up roadblocks at key intersections to enforce the ban forcing hundreds of commuters to walk to work in Monrovia. Is this the solution to the Problem? Is quick fix solution the Answer? Are these actions from GOL going to lead to more unemployment in our society? Can GOL work out the necessary mechanisms in assisting city motorcycle taxis driver seek employment? Is GOL action going to lead to increase crime rate in Monrovia and its environs? Unemployment and poverty are two basic problems plaguing Post-War Liberia recovery. High rate of unemployment especially among the youths in Liberia is as prevalent as the rate of under employed which are the major factors responsible for low standard of living in Liberia. Poverty is, therefore, widespread both in the cities and urban areas in Liberia. For instance, Liberia was known to have been ranked as one of the middle-income, rubber and iron ore countries in the late 1970s, but her ranking plummeted to that of one of the lowest-income countries in the early 1990s and 2000s. Liberia is one of the poorest of the poor among the nations of the world, confronted, not just with pockets of poverty, disadvantaged or marginalized areas, groups and individuals but with the situation in which most of the population exists at standards of living below those required for full development and enjoyment of individual and societal well-being. In her effort to create jobs for the unemployed and promote economic growth, the Government of Liberia put in place a number of economic reform programs which have very minimal impacts on employment creation, poverty reduction and growth of the national economy. In order to provide them with means of support, many of the unemployed have no choice but to exploit the income and self or casual employment opportunities in the informal sector of the economy. The informal sector has thus become a major provider of employment especially in developing and transitional economies. The types of work available in the informal economy are diverse and multifarious. It stretches from casual and unstable employment like garbage picking, street trading, domestic help, and so on; to self-employment as master-craftsman in any given trade. While many articles have been written about the employment generation potentials of the informal sector in Liberia post conflict Liberia; not much is known to have been carried out on the income and employment generation as well as the poverty reduction implications of commercial motorcycle taxi (popularly called ‘Pem-Pem’) operations. The purpose of this article is to critically analyze how informal Pem-Pem transport mode has contributed to income, employment generation and poverty reduction in selected Liberia. Poverty is a multidimensional concept. The World Bank defines it as ‘pronounced deprivation in well-being’, some Scholars maintains that poverty describes a state of ‘lack of key capabilities which may be income or education, or poor health, or insecurity or low self-confidence or a sense of powerlessness, or the absence of rights such as freedom of speech.’ In the empirical literature, poverty has been measured in terms of consumption or level of income. A person is, therefore, regarded poor if she/he lives below a certain level of consumption or income. The World Development Report reported that 63.8% of Liberians are living below the international poverty line of $1 per day. One important contributory factor to poverty is the dearth of formal employment to absorb the rural-urban migrants as well as graduates from the educational system that are unemployed and seeking wage work in the urban informal sector. For Liberia, the rate of unemployment has been on the rise while various policy measures aimed at restructuring the economy has destroyed more jobs than it created. The global economic crisis has also worsened the employment situation as massive layoff became inevitable as aggregate demand plummeted. An important implication of high unemployment rate in the formal sector is the rapid growth of the informal labor market that is characterized by earnings flexibility and hence high absorptive capacity for labor. In other words, both earnings and employment level in the informal sector behave in the neo-classical tradition, and this makes the sector an employer of last resort for most workers who would have otherwise remained unemployed in the formal sector. Thus, the informal sector has become a source of employment generation, and hence a means of fighting poverty by many innovative micro-entrepreneurs in Liberia. The commercial motorcycle taxis operations is a source of employment and income for many Liberian youths and this has shown the importance of the informal sector in the labor absorption process in the urban informal sector of Liberia. If you do an earnings’ analysis, I am sure it will confirm that the majority of operators are earning more than the (then) minimum wage, and that, perhaps has made the sector be attractive to many educated youths (even up to University level) who would have remained openly unemployed. Many of the operators are former combatant whole some are non-combatant that have acquired some technical skills prior to their engagement in the Pem-Pem riding business while some of them are graduates of universities who had to get involved in auto-cycle riding due to lack of desired formal sector employment. For those with previous skill training, the lack of financial resources to set up own enterprises is the main reason for their involvement in Pem-Pem riding. Some had viewed the position of the government as noble and laudable, no matter the circumstances. This is especially in view of the nature of Pem-Pem riders generally in Monrovia and presents the argument: they are simply irresponsibly and reckless. Indeed, the Pem- Pem riders are the most unsafe means of transportation in Monrovia considering the manner of riders: wear a flimsy plastic helmet, which hardly protects the head from the impact on the road in the event of a crash, or no helmets in some cases. Also, the riders are barely well kitted in such a manner that if they fall off the bike they will be protected from burns, injuries, etc. This is all the more so as the riders compete with the vehicles for the space on the roads. Worse still, these riders are so reckless that they do all kinds of death wish to ride that the one wonders whether they have regard for life at all. No doubt, the nature of job provided has been shown to be risky given the rate of accidents reported. Apart from the fatalities, the injuries sustained by such accidents are so terrible that people are denied the use of their legs or hands. They either have to be in casts or use crutches, or even spend months in the hospital just because of the recklessness of o Pem-Pem riders. From my personal experience: the riders would see a tiny space between cars and they would just go in between unannounced such that the drivers of the vehicles do not even know they are about to come in. Also, they would even go between articulated trucks or trailers and so on. Thus, quite a number have caused accidents for car owners, etc. Regrettably, this has led to deaths of so many riders of the Pem-Pem and their passengers. Unfortunately, when one tells them that they should be careful some will tell you that you are a scared cat. They would even say they have been riding for so many years, and as such nothing will happen to them, worse still, some would say that you only live once. But then, is that enough reason to take life anyhow. What then happens to people who have wives, children, etc. at home? Indeed, this recklessness is seen mostly among the young riders, especially of the northern extraction, who are quite a nuisance both to other vehicles on the road and their passengers. These riders don’t recognize road rules; they just ride as they deem fit: to them everything goes, and they just ride obliviously of others but whom do you blame? Is it the Pem-Pem riders or the agency of government that issue the license? Pem-Pem drive doesn’t go for riding lessons, know the road rules, and go for a test and so on. They simply get approve because of the cold water syndrome in Liberia. This is why there are so many of them on the roads, and on some major roads they are like a swarm of bees in movement. Thus, they are always struggling with vehicles etc., on the roads to overtake, and from the wrong side of the road, etc. Also, the authorities do not bother to verify whether such person is fit psychologically or physically to operate on the roads. It is for these reasons that people lives are put at risk. Effective safety education and improvement in the enforcement of all safety measures by the relevant authorities are important to reduce the already high accident and fatality rates arising from Pem-Pem operations. In addition to safety education is the need for more rigorous enforcement of licensing requirement for the operators to ensure that only those that are qualified are certified as commercial riders. Though the commercial motorcycle operation provides a fast means of transportation in the usual urban traffic hold-up as well as provide motor access to areas linked with bad and often flooded motorways (especially during the long rainy season in Monrovia) yet the importance of safety cannot be overemphasized. For one, the ban on bikes on major road has come at a time when there seems to be endless incidences of public transportation scarcity in Monrovia. And this has contributed to the madding traffic situation in Monrovia in terms of shortages, etc. So the government should perhaps have waited for the situation to normalize. Importantly, concerning the economy of these riders, who for most of them, riding is their only means of survival. The alternative sources of income have to be made available before such a ban comes on such people. After all, they have been experiencing a particular standard of living which has suddenly been upset by the ban. Therefore, the question is raised: is there enough facility available for these people to earn a business or get a decent job in Liberia? For most of them, they cannot do anything apart from artisan work. They can’t really get any job that would give enough to keep them and their families. Indeed, I am aware that these riders can look after their families and still save at least monies per month .This will not be possible with the minimum wage in Liberia. So, for there to be alternatives, it must be such that gives these ones a decent income monthly. Otherwise, the implication for the public is that the rise in crime in terms of burglary’s, armed robbery, muggings and so on should be anticipated. And indeed, the citizenry or populace will be worst hit. This prospect has tremendously incensed the public against the government as they recognize that they are within the region of these people and do not have any means of real security, as opposed to the high end people have good security. There was a time in Monrovia that people in traffic would have their phones, wallets, bags, etc. dispossessed, and people could hardly do much about it. We can’t afford to go back to those days! The onus therefore lies with the riders. The ball is in their court. So they should, rather than react violently to the situation or get themselves into some real order, and make a case to the government. After all, the transportation problem in Monrovia without the Pem-Pem is such that there are not enough options for the populace. And this is borne out of the complex of demand outstripping supply as well as poor transportation system in Liberia