With inflation hitting a record 50.94 percent, government has expressed fear over what will be the country’s economic future if the trend continues.
Prices of goods and services continue to skyrocket at every tick of the clock with the masses at the wrong end. More suffering is sure to come.
The rapid rise in prices has shown no sign of receding, and government seems helpless in providing solutions to the country’s economic challenges although officials have been scratching their heads to fix the problems.
Head of governance at State House, Dr Emmanuel Gaima last Tuesday vented out his frustration about the apparent weakness of the economy and called on opposition politicians to work together with government for the common good.
Dr Gaima made the appeal during a press briefing held at New Brookfields hotel in Freetown during the signing of the terms of reference of the tripartite committee.
He said it would be bad for Sierra Leone if the stalemate persisted making reference to most of the protests and shutdowns that have taken place in the country. Sierra Leone have seen violent protests before, during and after June 24, 2023 elections, a factor contributing to the country’s hard times.
On several occasions, businessmen have shut down their shops and traders abandoned their stalls during demonstrations calling for Bio to step aside.
Government loses huge amounts of revenue during the protests since no business takes place in such situations. August 10, 2022 protest appears to be the deadliest claiming the lives of 31 Sierra Leoneans including six police officers.
The protest was a way of inviting government’s attention to the cost-of-living crisis the country faced, but the police responded in their usual heavy-handedness sparking more tension.
In September, 2023, hundreds of Sierra Leoneans also took to the streets in respect of irregularities alleged to have taken place in the June polls. The Electoral Commission for Sierra Leone announced 56.17 percent of the total votes cast in favour of the incumbent candidate, Julius Maada Bio of the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party leaving 43.83 percent for the opposition candidate, Dr Samura Kamara.
However, the entire process, according to opposition political parties and the election observation missions, was shrouded in secrecy and opacity especially the tallying process calling for the ECSL boss to release the actual figures.
Regardless of the ongoing conflicts and threats to national peace and security, the election chief, Konneh is yet to release the election results as he wanted to maintain his party, SLPP in power. After the protests have subsided, it would take weeks before everything got back to normal as traders and businessmen fear for their property and safety.
The protests, Dr Gaima said, did not augur well for a country grappling with a number of economic challenges. He hoped that the situation would be better off if the two political sides see eye-to-eye on issues of national development.
Although government wanted to see a revamped economy, it does not however want to accept one of the conditions that would bring peace, harmony and cooperation with the opposition.
The people of Sierra Leone wanted to see the June 24, 2023 elections thoroughly investigated with a possible recommendation for a rerun so that the people would get the type of government they wanted.
However, government officials were blunt and definite in their statement that there would be no rerun. Dr Gaima minced no word stating that “there will be no rerun of the elections; all what they are doing now is to review electoral systems and processes of past elections so that future polls would be free, fair and credible.”
Information Minister, Chernor Bah also maintained that his previous stance that the June polls were sealed and settled and there would be nothing like a rerun. Despite the prevailing bad economic situation, government appears very consistent in their stance about the elections taking place in 2028.
Immediately after the signing of the communiqué in October, last year, top-rank government officials said the deal was over, and the election results had been accepted by opposition politicians.
Even civil society activists have been quite vociferous on conventional and social media saying the issue of a rerun had been trampled in the dust, and there was no room for other elections.
This stance was repeated at the press briefing when critical questions came up, a move that demonstrated that the conflict between the two political parties is not yet over.
Government’s lack of the political will to end the stalemate also has been manifested in different ways. The authorities, after the signing of the communiqué, was under obligation to release political prisoners, end political trials and resettle victims of political violence.
The people of Sierra Leone expected government to have complied with these provisions after the tripartite committee was launched by President Julius Maada Bio.
But, to date, no prisoner has been freed as demanded by the APC, no political case has been halted and no victim of political violence has been taken back to their community and no backlog pay to parliamentarians and councillors has been effected.
In fact, the communiqué brought new disaster ever seen in the country’s body politic. It was after its signing that “security breaches” and “attempted coups” occurred leading to the arrest of dozens of Sierra Leoneans including former President Ernest Bai Koroma.
Koroma’s arrest caused new waves of political tension that also strengthened pillars of conflict in Sierra Leone. For the political analysts and commentators, it was a way of taking the work of the tripartite committee backwards so that government could successfully evade justice.
On the other hand however, the opposition, APC appeared to have dispensed their obligations. As part of their compliance with the communiqué, APC’S elected officials (parliamentarians and councillors) have taken their seats and submitted a list of prisoners to be freed.
Although it is difficult to get their salaries and allowances as well as office spaces, APC’s parliamentarians and councillors have been working with government within the spirit of the agreement for unity.
Representing the main opposition, All People’s Congress (APC) at the conference was former finance minister, Dr Kelfala Marrah who said the “economy is depressed” since the two political parties were yet to genuinely end the political impasse that has gripped the country after the elections.
To get back the economy on track, Dr Marrah said “it would be necessary for Sierra Leone to get out of the political quagmire” and appealed to government to respect the terms contained in the communiqué for the country to move on.
Without peace and harmony with the opposition, fear of security threats hanged on the atmosphere and there will be no viable business in the country with government standing to lose so much.
Situation is worsened by refusal of the international community to recognise and support Bio’s government. Sierra Leone’s traditional donors: the EU, UN, World Bank, IMF, Commonwealth, US, UK, Germany, Ireland, France, AU, ECOWAS and other inter-governmental organisations have turned their backs against the Bio regime which they consider illegal.
They have cut off all funding until the elections results are investigated and a true winner ascertained.