An advice not to stop subsidies on essential food items is rejected outright by President Julius Maada Bio resulting into the current crisis facing Sierra Leone today. The advice made by Bio’s predecessor, ex-President Ernest Bai Koroma was to ensure that life is made easy for Sierra Leoneans especially the have-nots and the low-income earners.
Throughout his leadership, the former President subsidised various sectors of the economy to improve the lives of citizens with education and fuel as key priorities. Koroma also admonished his successor to maintain the subsidies to ease the country’s hardship.
Sierra Leone was the only country in Africa where government paid 70% of the fee a university student should pay. The move was to reduce the cost of university education in the country. 100% subsidies were also provided for various other categories like students from poor families and female students who enrolled for science courses in universities.
President Koroma also informed his successor that during Ebola and post-Ebola crisis, government never cut down on the subsidies. He teachers were paid salaries throughout the epidemic although no schooling was taking place at that time.
“Your Excellency now has to take a decision as to whether to continue the subsidies on electricity, fuel, rice etc or whether to remove them and send the citizens deeper into poverty.”
Former President Koroma advised President Bio in a rhetorical question. Ex-President Koroma went on to state that for his own government there was nothing to debate as he saw no reason to remove the subsidies The provision of subsidies to cushion prices of goods and commodities was a move IMF (International Monetary Fund) abhorred. In most of its conditionalities, IMF would always suggest to governments to reduce public spending especially the provision of subsidies.
“…Governance must be predicated on the importance of effort to minimise the burden of poverty on the population, expand access for the common man and woman and and do everything possible to leave no one behind. Against the above foundation and much to the displeasure of some of our valued development partners, my government refused to end subsidies in various sectors,” ex-President Koroma recounted.
These subsidies went a long way to cement the deep divisions of poverty in Sierra Leone. Ex-President Koroma’s pathway should have been a bright example which Bio’s young government should have emulated. Poised to please the international community, Bio kicked against former President Koroma’s advice, and went the IMF way.
The current crisis is the result of Bio’s neglect of the advice given to him four years ago. The former President made the advice in his handing over note of 12th May, 2018. Former President Koroma, throughout his tenure, did not tread on the IMF path but worked towards the alleviation of suffering. In SLPP (Sierra Leone People’s Party) manifesto, President Koroma’s move of subsidising the sectors was part of a wide-ranging of leakages and reckless spending.
In the Governance Transition Team (GTT) report authored by a group of SLPP hardliners led by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Professor David Francis, the subsidies were also seen as wastages that amounted to corruption. Based on the GTT report, President Bio had no alternative but to do away with the subsidies.
Life became tough from the day the subsidies were removed as prices of rice, petroleum and other commodities spiralled out of control. A price for a bag of rice now stands at around Le500, 000 (five hundred thousand Leones) and the hardship continues four years down the line.
But, hardship of a more dangerous kind started over a week ago when petrol price hit a record level prompting loud public outcry. The Price currently stands at Le15, 000 (fifteen thousand Leones) and fears are rife that the price would reach Le20, 000 if prompt action is not taken to nip the problem in the bud.
Most filling stations in Freetown and in the provinces remain closed while waiting for the fuel price to rise. When petrol price shoots up, other prices also follow suit. A huge chunk of local goods sold in Freetown are produced in the provinces meaning their prices have to shoot up owing to transportation cost. Major streets in Freetown remain empty since most vehicles could not ply owing to fuel shortage. Commuters especially those in the east OF Freetown trek long distances to reach their destinations.
Many have restricted their movements since they cannot afford the cost. Sierra Leone is in a dangerous state. A good number of Sierra Leoneans are concerned about the prevailing situation calling on government to take action now. Civil society organisations too were also concerned about the hardship, and have called on government reverse the trend. One of such CSO’s is the Citizen Rights Network-Sierra Leone which sees the petrol crisis as an act of artificial scarcity. “Over the past three days, the issue of fuel has become very challenging for transport owners and commuters owing to artificial scarcity,” CRN-SL said in a press release dated 14th March, 2022.
The agency said it was aware of a consignment of fuel that was off-loaded in various petroleum terminals, and called on fuel importers not to use the Russian-Ukraine war as an excuse to inflate the fuel price. While he was President of Sierra Leone, Koroma’s government subsidised tuition fees at all levels of education from primary school to university, agriculture in the form of cash grants given to farmers, seedlings and fertilisers, healthcare services including the Free Health Care policy which covers pregnant women, lactating mothers and under-five children. Koroma’s government also subsidised electricity so that it was not only the rich that enjoyed energy but also those in lower social brackets. Participation in national and international sporting events, fuel, public transportation were sectors subsidised by governments to keep prices at an all-time low.
“Every subsidy placed a huge burden on the economy and there were calls for them to be discarded, but the after-effect of ending these subsidies will be a vicious cycle of poverty which will spiral the poor living conditions of our people in a downward manner,” the former President told Sierra Leoneans in his handing over note.
He went on to state that every subsidy taken by his government had a justification. IMF and other inter-governmental financial organisations were appalled at President Koroma’s moves seeing government’s spending at that time as uncalled. SLPP government believed that the reckless spending landed the country into huge debts.
Bent on his plans, former President Koroma said he was willing to incur development partners wrath than compromise obligations to reduce the state poverty his government inherited in 2007. Although the subsidies created a burden on the budget, they were highly relevant at the time in light of the suffering and hardship that afflicted Sierra Leoneans. The provision of the subsides went side by side with government’s traditional functions. The koroma administration dispensed critical financial obligations required to maintain the peace and stability of the state. The then government recruited men and officers of the police, military, prisons, fire services, teachers and healthcare institutions.
The current government neglected all these core functions which landed them in a dire state. As the crisis persists, government say it would start to subsidise, but it is a wait-and-see affair.