*SLPP GOVERNMENT SCAMMING THE PEOPLE OF SIERRA LEONE TO SECURE MCC MONEY*
*BY ABDUL OSAIO KAMARA*
For a very long time, we have seen explicitly that this very SLPP- led Bio government is a government of deceit, falsehood, and insensitivity.
The amount of false acclamations being made from the time they controversially assumed power in 2018 to a highly contestable 2023 Presidential elections, one is compelled to assert that, indeed, there is no way this government will improve the lives of the people of Sierra Leone. The manner at which basic and essential commodities have skyrocketed since President Bio came to power is unimaginable. Poverty and suffering are boldly written in the faces of citizens in a monumental fashion. Many political and social commentators have described the Bio-led government as a complete joke to themselves, and a total misrepresentation of the masses with impunity.
Upon assuming power in 2018, on to this current period of 2024, this government have been putting out formal publications from both the National Revenue Authority (NRA) and the Ministry of Finance, indicating boastfully that, the Bio led government is breaking records in terms of revenue collection, and since independence, there have been no government that has gone beyond its targets when it comes to retrieving monies from taxes and other excised duties.
In a frivolous and ridiculous campaign against corruption, this government through its ACC flaunt out monies they claimed to have retrieved from past government officials without recourse to their own ministers or govt officials who were accused of the very corruption they seem to be fighting.
In another shambolic attempt, president Bio who was the presidential candidate for the SLPP in 2018 categorically told the people of SL that, just the marine resources(specifically fishes alone), are enough to transform the economy of this country and make SL a paradise.
The government additionally launched a hoodwinking ‘war’ dubed as war against ‘Corruption, Indiscipline, and poverty.’ Six years along the line, this government has not only demonstrated sheer negligence, naivety, and ineptitude to governance, but have exhibited the highest level of indiscipline in a rogue governance system that is best described as the most corrupt ever since independence, where the sacred office of the President is indicted for “double dipping, money laundering and forgery.”
The government and its officials use the state resources to fly all over the place on trips that have no dividend to the nation. President Bio is renown and notorious to have been the most travelled president in the history of the world with huge carbon print across the globe. Citizens and civil society activists have suggested that if the money alone used for travelling with all its accompanying perdiems are properly utilized, the electricity sector will witness great transformation.
Largely, human rights violations have been an order of the day with arbitrary killings, trumped up political cases and constitutional bastardization. The level at which this Bio-led government have initiated negativity in our democratic system, have caught the attention of the International community to a point that, they withdrew donor fundings in an attempt to force the government to operate within all democratic principles. The MCC compact fund of over 400 Million Dollars is now on the hang due to the SLPP bad governance system.
The Bio-led government is now trapped in an inextricable network to a point of being financially incapacitated to run the state. Their only hope now is to devise ways that will attract the attention of the International community to see Sierra Leone as desperately in need of finance to run the state or risked being callapsed. Key to this strategy is to deliberately refuse payment to the various electricity outlets including the Turkish Karpowership. This tricky, dubious, and diabolic strategy by the Bio-led government to put the entire country in total darkness in an attempt to grab MCC funds, is now killing the people of S/L. They don’t mind to plunge the entire country into perpetual darkness just to secure donor funds.
The questions one may want to ask are: How come with all the high taxes and “beyond targeted” revenue collected by the state, electricity bills cannot be paid? How come with all the negotiations government did with the Karpowership that is saving government huge finance, yet, they cannot pay for the electricity used? How come citizens are making prepaid payment for energy, yet, government still cannot pay? This is disgusting and unacceptable. Let it be known that, the deceit and poli-tricks of the Bio-led government have been placed under the radar of citizens with an immaculate optical lens and the international community is not ready to fall for these political intrigues.
No amount of falsification and shenanigans will save this government from its self-inflicting failures. The only option now is to vacate and give way to sober minded and patriotic citizens who are ready and prepared to alleviate suffering and predicament of the people to take over. The Bio-led govt cannot continue to hold the country to ransom for their own personal aggrandizement and self-seeking interest. We want to urge the International community to be resolute in their call for democracy to prevail and the will of the people to take effect at all times.
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