*By Saikujohn Barrie*
*3/5/2023 @14:26*
The Institute for Governance Reform (IGR) April 2023 report has come out with it reports which reviewed the achievements of President Maada Bio’s 2018 Manifesto promises.
In the IGR’s reports, there are promises which were achieved in line with the promise made while in other areas the government had started the work but has not archived much as par the promised.
In addition, the IGR report states, “Overall, we identified and tracked 536 promises in the 2018 New Direction Manifesto covering all sectors including human development, the economy, governance, and infrastructure. The language of 40 of these promises was vague and unclear and therefore, not rated. The governance sector recorded the vaguest promises. In total 498 promises were rated.”
However, the IGR posited that only 33.5 % of the SLPP 2018 Manifesto was completely fulfilled.
This IGR result dispute the statement made by the President HE Maada Bio who had said that he had completed delivering what were in his 2018 manifesto and now he is giving bonuses to Sierra Leoneans.
I think Mr. President needs to revisit that statement, and some of his supporters who also hold such views must revisit and desist from making such statements otherwise Sierra Leoneans would consider such flagrant and barefaced claims which go contrary to the reality on the lives of majority of Sierra Leoneans as an affront to their intelligence.
It is believed that Politicians are social mechanics ie people who are capable or have the capacity to fix social problems of the country where they belong.
It is in line with these ideals that citizens surrender their rights and power to the state through democratic processes by electing their leaders mostly based on election promises.
Granted that there are possibilities that factors beyond the confines and capacities of the politicians may thwart the delivery of some of the promises made, yet Politicians are expected to possess the capacity and expertise to circumvent any or most of the unforeseen factors during their journey in the governance process.
In that vein, politicians of any country who rely heavily on excuses rather than coming up with ideas to counter any existing or potential problems that hinder the process of delivering what were promised in their manifesto are considered scrawny and incompetent in most cases.
It is on that light I would start my series of looking at the Bio meter 2018-2023 by considering the Bio promise on the improving the private sector courtesy of the IGR 2013 report.
HE Maada Bio and his SLPP party promised to introduce a partial guaranteed scheme to provide loans to high potential private sector entities, yet according to the IGR April 2023 report there is no evidence of any directive, law, or policy to suggest that a partial guaranteed scheme to provide loans to high potential private sector entities was introduced.
From the above mentioned, readers would realise why the private sector which is the main driver of developments and employment in any country was not creating impact in our country.
How do you think the unemployment rate will reduce if our government fails to take conscious efforts to boost the private sector in the country?
Another pivotal area of the SLPP 2018 Manifesto is where the SLPP promised to implement prudent fiscal and monetary policies to ensure a stable macro-economic environment.
The above promise on prudent fiscal and monetary policies was so vague that the IGR states, “Language of the Manifesto promise is unclear or ambiguous, and measuring its achievement could be subjective”
Taking the above into consideration, one may be tempted to attribute the current economic woes to these unclear and ambiguous language which had made almost no effective steps had been taken to reverse the trend of the abysmal economic situation in our country.
It is said that the SLPP promised to withdraw fiscal incentives from companies that do not comply with employment and local content laws, yet there is no evidence that this was done.
I wonder how many companies in Sierra Leone comply with employment and our local content laws especially when our government failed to do anything to ensure that the said laws are enforced for the past five years since there is no evidence to support any government claim to have acted in that direction.
Sierra Leoneans as you go to the polls on the 24th of June 2023, you must ask yourself whether you have gotten what you voted for in 2018.
It on this note I say, as the Bio Meter 2018-2023 under the Microscope, “Did We Get What We Voted For?
I rest my case.
