A government with a huge number of personnel spends huge amount of money on its officers at the expense of the state. So be it for the Sierra Leone Government which appears to be biting more than it can chew.
President Julius Maada Bio has the largest government ever in post-independent Sierra Leone although the people expected him to have learned from his mistakes in the past five years.
The wage bill currently stands at Le6.5 trillion according to the current Finance Appropriation Act, 2024. The law was recently passed in parliament authorizing Bio to go ahead with the bloated bill.
Although he struggles for recognition locally and internationally, Bio does not waver in creating more ministries and agencies thus creating a big burden on state finances. Although he has gained no legitimacy, Bio has created new ministries and agencies into which huge public funds will go.
After June-24 elections, a reduction of public institutions was expected for the sake of economy or judicious use of resources.
But, the people’s expectation became counter-productive as ministries were separated to create new ones for SLPP (Sierra Leone People’s Party) boys who claimed to have financially supported Bio in his presidential bid.
As if he was only waiting to be pronounced President, Ministry of Information and Communication was the first to split into two entities hiring new personnel for new jobs. In the new dispensation, the Information Ministry is now separate from the Communication Ministry and two ministers manning the entities.
Mohamed Rahman Swarray who was heading the hitherto single entity was transferred to the Labour, employment and Social Security Ministry although there was no evidence of any failing or maladministration.
The Information Ministry is in the hands a young man from Bo district, Chernor Bah while the Communication Ministry is entrusted to Salima Bah, a young female minister. Fear of overlap of responsibilities between the two ministries is rife as the public is yet to be informed about clearly defined roles for the ministers.
A new office known as the National Commission for Civic Education and Democracy (NACEED) has been added to the Information Ministry instead of shutting it down. Government also employed and paid huge salaries and wages to personnel that have been employed.
Questions about what the separation of the ministry still lingers with arguments of compensating SLPP boys becoming dominant. Amid deep-rooted grumblings and frustrations about the new offices, a new institution known as the Renewable Energy Agency is now up and running with Dr Kandeh Kolleh Yumkella as head. Those who have been monitoring Sierra Leone’s politics knew how Dr Yumkella came to work with Maada Bio after years of enmity.
A year to the election, Yumkella resigned from the National Grand Coalition (NGC), a party which he founded in 2017 after he was driven out of SLPP by Bio’s supporters.
His resignation from the party came after Bio paid a visit to Samu Chiefdom in Kambia district, the birthplace of Yumkella where he appealed to the elders to allow their son come back again to the party of his forefathers.
To the dismay and disappointment of top and grassroot NGC members, Yumkella left his party and threw weight behind Bio during the campaign period until Bio was announced President of Sierra Leone for a second term.
Based on the foregoing, it goes without saying that the creation of the Renewable agency is a big-time compensation for the former NGC leader although his political future remains uncertain.
Bio’s creation of more offices was a project he started in his first term. Ministry of Education which used to be a viable entity was separated into two: the Ministry of Technical of Higher and Technical Education is different from that of Basic and Senior School Education with the two entities manned by different ministers. The current Chief Minister, David Moinina Sengeh was in charge of MBSSE (Ministry of Basic and Senior School Education) while Professor Alpha Tejan Wurie was in charge of MTHE (Ministry of Technical and Higher Education) after he was removed from the Health Ministry.
The separation created little or no impact not even the Free Quality Education which attracted huge funding from the international community.
Throughout the five years, everything essentially remained the same in the education, a sector that is still constrained by the same old problems of poor learning materials, infrastructure, beggarly salaries and poor motivation for teachers among others.
In his second term, the people of Sierra Leone expected President Bio to amalgamate the education ministry as nothing meaningful was achieved. As if that was not enough, the Social Welfare, Gender and Children’s Affairs which was one ministry was divided into two separate institutions.
Ministry of Social Welfare is different from Gender and Children’s Affairs and manned by two different personalities.
Mohamed Khellah was Minister of Social Welfare, and Manti Tarawallie, Minister of Gender and Chilren’s Affairs. The creation of the two ministries brought nothing new to the ministry as the widely trumpeted ‘Hands Off Our Girls,’ campaign was fraught with challenges.
The ‘Hands Off Our Girls’ was an initiative of Sierra Leone’s First Lady to end sexual violence. The initiative generated an unprecedented euphoria than any other scheme Sierra Leone had seen in the past as West African first ladies jetted in to support their colleague, Fatima Bio who launched the campaign.
The Sexual Offences Act, 2012 was immediately amended making life imprisonment the maximum punishment for convicted rapists and sexual penetrators.
However, the anti-sexual violence campaign did not last long as it ended when the ADP (Alliance Democratic Party) leader, Mohamed Kamarainba Mansary was arrested and detained, and corruption allegations and money-laundering offences against Office of the First Lady made matters worse.
Almost invariably, Ministry of Lands, Housing and the Environment which was one ministry was also divided into two as the Environment Ministry stands distinct from Lands thus creating financial challenges that created a new burden on public finances.
As usual, the same old problems of environmental disasters and threats still confront Sierra Leone begging the question what is the need for creating a new environment ministry as Sierra Leone is still deficient in an early warning system about weather and disasters, the least move in environmental protection.
Even the agriculture, forestry and Food Security was not left out in Bio’s de-amalgamation drive as the lone entity is now divided into two. Forestry Ministry is now different from the Agriculture and Food Security Ministry although little or no achievement has been made as food is still an ever-green challenge for the people of Sierra Leone.
By his moves, Bio has shown no sign of reducing ministries and agencies for saving the country’s money and resources, and it is dangerous at a time when the international community has snubbed Sierra Leone for failing to conduct free, fair and credible elections.
It is not only in Sierra Leone that Bio expanded ministries and created new offices. Internationally, Bio created new embassies and foreign missions abroad with new personnel with bloated salaries and allowances prompting fear in Bio’s key minsters.
Former Chief Minister who was also Foreign Affairs Minister, Jacob Jusu Saffa warned Bio about the expansion of embassies abroad which increased government expenditure and wage bill. Without any mince of words, Saffa said having more government agencies was not the right way to go.
“We made a mistake for creating more agencies and employing more personnel,” Mr Saffa Said in a SLPP whatsapp group known as the ‘Green Revolution.”
Owing to the bloated cabinet, the former minister even expressed fear even before the election as the huge expenditure has badly affected their achievement, and their supporters had been disappointed. Despite the criticisms from his own party, Bio still maintained the offices till his first-term mandate came to an end.
Today, Saffa and others have gone, but their advice still remains an instructive lesson for the wise. At the moment, times are hard and the weather is turbulent these days as the United Kingdom, United States and European Union have turned their backs against the Bio regime which they consider illegal. What the future holds for Sierra Leone?