By KABS KANU
President Bio has suffered a major blow in his stubbornness to do just what he wants. The World Bank today withdrew financial and technical support from the Midterm Census that the European Union had also advised the president to abandon but he had been insisting to hold, even when opposition parties in the country had also warned Mr. Bio to ditch the exercise .
In a letter addressed to the Minister of Finance, Hon. Denis K. Vandy and the Minister of Economic and Development Planning, Dr. Francis Kaikai, the World Bank told the SLPP government :
“To date, while work on most actions points is underway with some completed, several critical action points require further technical work to be satisfactorily addressed including evaluation of the pilot census, the field operation plan for the enumeration, and ensuring enumerators are adequately trained. All these outstanding actions are necessary and must be addressed prior to commencing data collection to minimize the risk of inadequate and poor data quality. There is insufficient time between now and December 10, 2021 to satisfactorily address all pending actions.
Therefore, while our technical team remains available to provide continued preparatory support, regretfully we will be unable to provide further technical assistance nor disburse any further funds.”
THE WORLD BANK DELIVERS THE BAD NEWS TO PRESIDENT BIO AT STATE HOUSE
Without the support of the World Bank and the European Union, the Midterm Census has died a natural death . There has been no official reaction from the government but sources tell COCORIOKO that State House is stunned and very disappointed . This is an egoistic president who believes that he is under no law or constitution and who believes that he must do what he wants.
While the World Bank was delivering the message to the government, opposition leaders the SLPP had already arrested were at the CID , while others it planned to nab too for opposing the census and telling their supporters not to participate had started showing up at the CID. This morning, the Chairman and Leader of the National Grand Coalition, Dr. Dennis Bright spent two hours being grilled by the Inspector General of Police, Ambrose Sovula. The Secretary General of the All People’s Congress ( APC ) , Ambassador Osman Yansaneh, is expected to appear at the CID tomorrow.
The opposition parties in Sierra Leone have long rejected the census as illegal and designed by the SLPP to rig the 2023 elections.
