SIERRA LEONE’S ECONOMY IN SERIOUS TROUBLE AS CITIZENS BLAME SHAMBOLIC SLPP GOVT. POLICIES AND INTERNATIONAL BACKLASH FOR RIGGED ELECTIONS
By Kabs Kanu
Lacking transparency and accountability , the SLPP Government is not making the public know the seriousness of the financial shortfalls it is facing that have made the payment of monthly salaries and wages of public sector workers and fulfilling financial commitments to utility institutions very difficult.
The economy , to put it in layman terms, is in serious trouble and government is facing challenges to pay workers their salaries every month. Government also owes many companies hefty sums and the Turkish Karpower ship moored at sea, providing electricity, recently resorted to load shedding because the SLPP Government could not pay them for services being rendered.
Citizens complain that the SLPP ‘s çhaotic economic policies, wastage of government revenue on worthless travels and useless appointments to please bootlickers, as well as the pariah international image of President Maada Bio have exacerbated the SLPP Government’s inability to generate revenue, attract foreign investments, monetary inflows from mining companies and foreign aid and these have caused a drastic decline in domestic economic activities , which are in turn causing what economists call severe Financial Sector Turbulence , making the economy totter on the brink of collapse.
Correspondingly, the SLPP government is unable to hold down commodity prices . The cost of living continues to escalate and the price of the nation’s staple food, rice, is approaching one million leones a bag. The costs of every other food commodity, from palm oil to pepper, onions, salt, fish, meat etc . have gone through the roof and not many families can now afford a square meal a day.
“Things are very brutal for us here, “ Mohamed Mansaray, a government worker, told COCORIOKO this week. “Our salaries are no longer paid on time and even when we get them they are not able to do anything as prices of food and rent have increased beyond our reach. We just dey manage en cut ya, put ya “
A housewife in Bo, who gave her name as Magbondor , told COCORIOKO that families are now living by the grace of God. “When morning dawns , if God provides , me and my children eat. If he does not provide, we go to bed hungry, “ she explained . Magbondor , who refused to give her last name for fear of reprisals, appealed to relatives of Sierra Leoneans living in the diaspora not to relent in sending monetary assistance to families in the country because “things are terrible “, she complained. “Kondo dey eat in mama nar ya. “
Many supporters of the opposition in Sierra Leone claim that the economic problems of the country have been further exacerbated because some key donor partners have scaled down on their economic assistance to the SLPP Government because of President Maada Bio’s human rights atrocities and abuse of power and his recent rigging of the presidential and general elections, which spurred an international backlash. The Bio government is an architect of its own problems, citizens believe.
When I spoke to supporters of the ruling SLPP, they vehemently denied that aid has been cut to the Bio government. They said that the SLPP Government is doing fine economically and still enjoys the confidence of the international community. As far as they are concerned, Sierra Leone is not alone in the hardships being suffered by the people. Musa Gbow, a resident of Freetown, said that things are as bad or even worse in some of our neighboring countries . “The global economic trend is at fault for what is happening in Sierra Leone presently, “ Mr. Gbow, who refused to disclose his source of livelihood, explained.
Our reporter Yusufu Sesay claimed that when he called a government minister to seek reasons for the delay in paying salaries, the senior government minister hung up on him and told him to go find a better thing to do.
Opponents of the SLPP government said that up till now , four months after the elections, many of Sierra Leone’s traditional partners -in – progress have still not congratulated President Bio for being declared winner of the last polls because the elections lacked credibility and authenticity and this, according to them, is contributing to the SLPP government’s inability to attract international economic assistance. “When you rig an election, it comes with costs, “ Johnny Pratt of Freetown pontificated to COCORIOKO.
Last week, some shop owners in Freetown kept their shutters down . According to some Freetown newspapers, the SLPP Government has imposed unreasonably heavy taxes on businesses and owners shut down their shops in protest. The National Revenue Authority ( NRA) also threatened to levy fines on taxpayers who fail to integrate or complete the integration processes with the Electronic Cash Register (ECR) system. One trader, Issa Kamara, said that “business is really bad” now in Sierra Leone and the heavy taxes will kill their businesses . “People do not buy even when we reduce prices and we are running at tremendous losses. How can we pay these taxes ? “ , he complained. “Foreign currency to help us import goods are also in short supply and where available, the exchange rates are murderous because of the depreciation of the Leone. “
Some supporters of the SLPP on social media blame the business community for evading taxes and say things will improve and they ask Sierra Leoneans to give President Bio’s economic policies chance to succeed.
Meanwhile, oblivious of the bloated wage bill, President Bio continues to make appointments of supporters to positions in government that the public ridicule and consider redundant and meaningless. “How many more advisers does this president need ? “ Moses Conteh joked on social media. “ There is an adviser for everything. Soon, we will have presidential advisers for ogiri and Jakitomboi,” he laughed at President Bio.
