The social media is full of doomsday jibes and articles about economic meltdowns and challenges.
It must be realized that whatever meltdowns third world countries face usually start here. If you read the British and American papers, the same gloomy stories pervade. The stock markets have never been so erratic, plunging and rising and behaving exactly like a see-saw.
Americans too are worried. They are worried about the economy. They are worried about their security. They are worried about everything, including a predicted world economic meltdown. The fear is global. Just read other country’s newslapers. We always politicize things as if we are the only country that suffers economic shocks and downslides brought about by the unpredictable global economic downturn.
Our problem in Sierra Leone were compound ed seriously by the Ebola outbreak. It hurt our economy severely and we are beginning to feel the shocks.
We shall overcome. The challenges are daunting but we as a people must strive to support the economic policies being put in place by our governments. In Sierra Leone, as admonished by President Ernest Koroma, we must strive to Leonize our economic transactions. It actually makes no sense to demand payments for services and transactions in dollars when our legal tender is the Leone. Sierra Leoneans must see the wisdom in the directive instead of politicizing it. Our problem in Sierra Leone is that we want to politicize everything..
We blame government for everything . But if we the house owners, hoteliers, proprietors of food markets, restaurants, drug stores, and transport begin charging for our services in leones, do we know how much we would be helping to alleviate the problems of our people and cooling down economic and social tensions ? Nobody wants to give cooperation try, but when things fall apart, we blame the government .
A world economic downturn means that we all have to work to see our nation through the problems. The public must also downsize it’s expectations, demands and wants. We must stop living beyond ouf means and stick with the affordables. Our opulent lifestyles fuel spiralling demands for foreign currencies.
We must do even conscious family planning. More mouths to feed mean more economic problems and disenchantment . How many of us give that a thought in a country where birth control is not practised and where we think that we are locked in a breeding competition ? High time we started being more realistic and more practical.
We must trust in our leadership . We must trust in our President Dr. Ernest Koroma’s ability , commitment and moral will to fight hard to take us out of challenges. He did it during the Ebola outbreak. Many predicted total doom for our country but it did not happen. We too have a part to play. Nation-building is not one man’s job. We have had many daunting challenges but God has taken us out of all. God will take us out of the quagmire our doomsday writers are proclaiming from the rooftops.
The government will come out with measures to meet our challenges as they arise. Our duty as good citizens is to cooperate and work alongside our government. Government and the people are not mutually exclusive.
It is a symbiotic relationship.
We shall overcome, by the grace of God.
