By KABS KANU- www.cocorioko.net
The measure of sociopolitical and economic abuse Sierra Leoneans are suffering under the Julius Maada Bio and Sierra Leone People’s Party ( SLPP ) oligarchy since they came to power in 2018 is unimaginable and indescribable. The SLPP government is taking advantage of the people everyday, cruelly dashing their dreams , making the people suffer unnecessarily and on top of it, seeing President Bio and his wife dancing in public as if there is nothing wrong in the nation.
Despite all the flowery promises in the NEW DIRECTION manifesto to provide sustainable electricity, clean pipe-borne water , food, affordable medical care and other social services to improve the living conditions of the people, things have worsened in Sierra Leone. As we write, people are sweating like injuns under the sweltering heat because there is no electricity to run the fans and air-conditioners.
The erratic and unreliable power supply under the government has gone from bad to worse in the nation because the SLPP government lacks the moral and political will to alleviate the suffering of the people . According to various reports, President Bio’s government has not been able to pay the Turkish Karpowership moored off the coast of Freetown that provides electricity to the city. It is also said the the SLPP Government cannot find the resources to service the Bumbuna Hydroelectricity dam in Tonkolili which is the source of electricity in other parts of the country.
Yet, President Bio and his wife are able to travel all over the world every now and again at extremely prohibitive cost to the government, accruing thousands upon thousands of hard -earned foreign currency on travel allowances and Per diems. And the insensitivity of President Bio was demonstrated two weeks ago when , in the height of the suffering of the Sierra Leonean people, he ostentatiously appeared at the Old BO Boys Association ( OBBA ) anniversary in an extremely expensive Mercedes Benz vehicle said to cost nearly U.S. $200,000 . What a caring President ! ! !
While the SLPP Government has turned Freetown once again into the darkest city in the world, as was done by the previous SLPP regime of the late President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah , it is an equally disheartening sight to see children trekking the city during the morning and evening with buckets and containers, looking for water, because the pipes are not running. The SLPP Government has equally not been able to service the Guma Valley Dam, which provides water for the capital, Freetown and its environs.
The SLPP has cruelly disappointed the people of Sierra Leone and even their supporters in the Southeast are fuming that the man they took incalculable risks to support and bring to power has shown that he does not care for anybody and only cares for himself.
Under the inept, worthless , fruitless and unprogressive leadership of Retired Brigadier Maada Bio, prices are spiraling out of control and there is so much hardship in the country that not every family is able to provide one square meal a day for itself. The price of the staple food, rice, is almost one million leones now, triggering mass suffering in the country. Where the minimum salary is not even Le 500, 000, who can afford a bag of rice in Sierra Leone ?
It is a shame that after 5 years in power, all President Bio has brought to the nation is hardship without end. Everything is falling apart. No light, no water, no food. No hope in the horizon for the Sierra Leonean people. What a price to pay for our people’s trust in a political vagabond who does not know his right foot from his elbow.