**AS Sierra Leone’s Economy Goes Egregiously Mad …*
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*PRESIDENT BIO AT LAST SACKS BANK GOVERNOR*
*©️C4D Media Newspaper*
*Wednesday 15th March, 2023*
There have been clarion calls for the sacking or removal of the Bank Governor of Sierra Leone , Prof. Kelfala Kallon over the past years but President Bio has turned blind eyes and deaf ears to the calls made by citizens, civil society, the press, experts, analysts, and commentators until now, as late as Monday, 13th March 2023, when breaking news hit the social media that at last President Bio have relieved the services of the Bank Governor after four years of failed policies and two months left to the presidential elections.
The multi-million questions people asked is why the president sacks the Bank Governor in the nick of time and what benefits will the sacking does to the economy which has worsened under his tutelage. *Does the sacking of the Bank Governor bring economic sanity to the country’s economic woes?* *Common sense will suggest that the sacking of the Bank Governor is nothing but more economic woes, especially when the Acting Bank Governor had been the Deputy Bank Governor to the textbook economist, Prof Kelfala Kallon.*
It is shocking that the president sacked the Bank Governor when there is little time left to face the people of Sierra Leone to give answers as to why the economy went bad devoid of the Russian and Turkish war and the Corona Epidemic.
It is too late for the president, I wish he could have taken the bold step and put the Bank Governor aside but his failure to do so would likely dent his second bid to state House as there is no time left to reconfigure the economy. *The Acting Bank Governor has nothing to do to revive the economy now as ‘water don pass gari’*
*In an effort to get the side of experts, C4D met one of Sierra Leone’s finest economists, Prince Macauley, who suggested with reason and truth that the Acting Bank Governor cannot perform any miracle now, especially as the economy is on a life support machine and stressed that the sacking of the Bank Governor and replacement with his deputy is of no use. He concluded that with this action from the president, it seems as if all has been lost and there is no idea left in the Bio’s administration as far as revamping the economy is concerned.*
Political analysts and economic commentators alike leveled criticisms against the president describing his sacking of the Bank Governor as misplaced priority on grounds that he had all the time to have noticed that the economy was going bad and there was high time he relieved Prof. Kelfala Kallon from his duties, if you like indefinite suspension, since the laws of Sierra Leone law does not provide for sacking of the Bank Governor but with the precedent set in 2019 when the president use his supreme executive powers to sack Dr. Patrick Conten as Bank Governor by then , he could have done same but he treated public outcry with a pinch of salt and today the country is caught in a stake that it cant move the economy as it is in its comatosed state.
At the 11th hour of his sacking, the ecomomy is in shambles, prices of commodities have soared beyond imagination; cost of living is expensive and unbearable and the livelihood of every Sierra Leonean is nothing to write home about, businesses are closing with cost of production increasing at an astronomical rate.
As a matter of fact, the Bank Governor should have been sacked far before this period of indefinite suspension, when Sierra Leoneans who have been calling for his sacking have given up.
It would be recalled that the Bank Governor was appointed to resucitate the economy by the President sacking of Dr. Patrick Saidu Conteh as Bank Governor. Since his appointment he failed to manage the overall state of the economy and to ensure the stability of the financial systems. There have been inconsistencies in the implementation of his economic policy reforms and reconstruction for which the economy has been dragged into geometrical retrogression rather than accelerated in arithmetic progression, which by itself undermines economic growth.
The Bank Governor has also been criticized for his failings to oversee the Bank’s three main policies which among other things includes, controlling inflation, improving financial systems and promoting individual commercial banks.
Sierra Leoneans were expecting that the Bank Governor could have controlled inflation by keeping the cost of living stable, set interest rates each month, and making sure prices rise at set targets; improve the Financial System by connecting people who want to save, invest or borrow money and reduce the risks in the system, ensures commercial banks are run well but eventually, he did very little in this perspective, thereby crumbling the economy.
Citizens will never forget the Bank Governor’s extravagantly disbursed of $68 Million to combat the hoarding of the Leone which turned out to be a bad economic policy. The disbursement of this colossal amount of $68 Million dollars did nothing to stop the roof from leaking as the Leone depreciated unimaginably. This policy of ‘bribing’ the business community with $68 Million dollars was a failed policy and it shows that the Bank Governor is incompetent and inefficient enough to manage the economy of Sierra Leone which has been in COMA and has not resuscitated for the past four years under his supervision.
Another issue brought up against the Bank Governor was the redenomination of the Leone and despite the advised given to him reputable financial institutions like the World Bank to review his policy on redenomination, he went ahead and when things got bad, he employs another fail policy of damage control after he had disbursed a huge amount of money for circulation which turned out to be cataclysmic for he came crying that over over NLe 800 million or Le 800 billion Leones have been stolen from the banks creating panic with his diction..
The economic panic created led to further withdrawal of cash from the Banks between the 1st and 12th of July 2022. This gave rise to another spate of hoarding of the New Leones for which the previous hoarding had deflated the economy. This shows that the Bank Governor is not up to the task and does not look like the man with the ability to steer the ship of the economy into the future.
Experts say the Bank Governor could have initiated and popularized the Electronic Banking system with the New Leone to prevent the colossal amount withdrawn from the Bank.
One Banker asserted that the failure of the Bank Governor to create a short-term, medium-term, and long-term policies to control exchange rate was a major factor for increase in inflation in the country. He furthered that Prof. Kelfala Kallon inconsistencies in the implementation of his economic policies and reconstruction undermines economic growth.
A retired Banker stressed that the Bank Governor has failed to oversee the Bank’s three main policies which among other things deal with the control of inflation, improving the financial system, and promotion of individual commercial banks. He insisted that the Bank Governor was expected to have controlled inflation by keeping the cost of living stable, set interest rates each month, and making sure prices rise at set targets; improve the Financial System by connecting people who want to save invest or borrow money and reduce the risks in the system and ensures that commercial banks are run well.
Following the launch of the new currency Sierra Leoneans raised eyebrows over the refusal of the Bank Governor to inform the people of Sierra Leone about the amount of New Leones Printed and Old Leones in circulation. This they considered a disservice to the nation and disingenuous to the people of Sierra Leone, leading to suspicion and distrust over the quantum of New Leones the Bank claimed was withdrawn from the banks leading to an economic state of emergency but never.
*The redenomination is not expedient to increase the value of the economy but rather contributes to inflation, one economist observed.*
*If the factors given above have been taken into consideration, the country’s economy should not have been in shambles. Now that the president has sacked or given the the Bank Governor, Prof. Kelfala Kallon a indefinite suspension* *or sent on indefinite LEAVE, citizens asked , is of what essence would the sacking or indefinite LEAVE of the Bank Governor evitalize the economy in two months to presidential elections* .
#C4D MEDIA NEWSPAPER – Freetown, Sierra Leone.
