By Ralph Simeon Sesay
President Bio and his Minister of Finance, Jacob Jusu Saffa took to social and mainstream media quite recently to beg Sierra Leoneans to exercise patience against the excruciating performance of the economy and the skyrocketing rate of the dollar against the Leone.
Public expectations are very high and the hopes and aspirations of the people are waning.
Government, especially the Minister of Finance, has been criticized for not been able to have quick fix solutions to the country’s economic problems despite assurances during the campaign ahead of the March 2018 elections.
A senior veteran Journalist said prior to writing this article that if it was in the American system, the Bio presidency would have lost the mid-term elections due to the current state of the economy.
Thank God the President is still assured of three and more years.
The skyrocketing of the dollar at the country’s black market, hitting a million and five thousand (Le1,005,000 ) last weekend, has dominated public discourse among Sierra Leoneans.
The business community and many others in the private sector are worried that the economy is getting crazy by the day.
This is heavily impacting on their businesses against a stiff tax regime.
Many say the policies and programs of the government are not impacting on the lives of the people.
Such state of affairs has warranted both the President and the Minister of Finance to urgently take to the media headlong to explain their policies and programs.
Their messages to Sierra Leoneans took a defensive posture even though they were honest that things are miserable for Sierra Leoneans.
The President and his Finance Minister espoused on areas they have done well and admitted that the issue of fixing the economy cannot be a week’s job, especially against what they inherited.
Critics of the government and many Sierra Leoneans want a quick fix solution and would no longer go for the many excuses around what they inherited from the APC.
The ruling SLPP was said to have bogusly campaigned of providing all the solutions to fix what at that time they called ‘Bread and Butter’ issues beyond the mining sector.
Their manifesto dubbed as the ‘’Peoples Manifesto’’ went for the diversification of the economy against the backdrop that mining has over the years failed the country.
The manifesto had placed emphasis on rebranding the tourism sector, building on the agriculture and agro-processing and marine sectors to create more jobs for the thousands of unemployed youths, and also increase the foreign exchange reserves for the stabilization of the economy.
The government woefully failed after two successive budget statements to pump resources into sectors like tourism, agriculture and marine against a constrained budget.
Is the rhetoric of the opposition now weighing on the realities in terms of economic management?
The Leader of the NGC in Parliament, Dr. Kandeh Yumkella while making his submission on the 2019 budget, noted that government should cut down on spending and invest more in the agro-processing industry because it has the propensity to create more jobs and foreign exchange which would quickly fix the economy.
He warned against creating ‘’jobs for the boys’’ and criticized the increased wage bill by the Government.
The reviving of these sectors, Mr.Yumkella said, would have grown and consolidated the economy which is at the moment critical for the country.
The Bio government has not listened to all the wise advices and now they are confronted with a situation where Sierra Leoneans now want a quick solution fix or else they would be shown the exit door.
Government is now confronted with the option of either having a quick fix solution to address the crazy economy or face losing the 2023 elections.
The story is also the same for the issues around interrupted energy in Bo and Kenema, as patience is running out from the party’s stronghold and there are reports that a massive demonstration is being planned by the residents to complain to government that they are tired of incessant black-outs.
The Ministry of Energy and the Chairman, Parliamentary Committee on Energy, have nothing to offer except like the Minister of Finance to ask for patience on the pretext that government is going for a quick fix solution that will permanently solve the problem.
Here in the City of Freetown, the Turkish ship has left and many are speculating that black out will take over Freetown upon the departure of the Turkish ship.
There are strong assurances that Freetown will not face power outages.
The Ministry and the Management of Karpowership have assured all and sundry that Bumbuna is around with extra megawatts to support the other Turkish ship stationed at Cline Town.
On the mining front, we are also witnessing radical steps that have been interpreted by many to further worsen the prevailing economic situation.
The licenses of Shandong, the Chinese Iron Ore miner and that of Sierra Leone Mining, all in the north of the country are questionable after government halted the operations of the two companies.
The New Mines Minister, Rado Yokie, said it is better to have it right now and suffer than to allow the usual narrative where the mining companies ‘calls the shot’.
Government has issued a very strong ultimatum to SL Mining to either comply with certain strong conditions or cease export activities.
Even though government is positive there are strong indications that SL mining is ready to cooperate with government, the latest conditions are almost synonymous to telling them to leave.
Yokie has also asked Sierra Leoneans to exercise patience and allow him to sanitize the mining sector once and for all.
He said government will only settle for viable investors who are ready to give what Sierra Leoneans should get in return.
We are now at a point where Sierra Leoneans should settle for more suffering with promises that things will change after the many economic policies and the sanitizing of the mining sector.
When will things move for the better? We are not told. We should just wait and exercise patience.
As the Economy Gets Crazy… President Bio Begs for Time
