There are two types of friends: a friend in need and a friend indeed. Upset Sierra Leoneans have accused China of being a friend in need to Sierra Leone.
At a time when Sierra Leone is in desperate need of a friend or friends in the international community owing to the harsh nature of our economic and political realities, China has disappointed the nation by caring too much for the needs of her government, businesses and people over those of Sierra Leone’s.
As a friend, China is needy. Sierra Leoneans say China is so needy she needs Sierra Leone much more than Sierra Leone needs her. China’s needs are based on extracting as much of our mineral wealth. She needs paying the least going rate and assuming negative moral, ethical or legal responsibility.
They based their friendship on a policy of non-interference in their host country’s politics which Sierra Leoneans see as a cop-out and not wanting to look like a hypocrite back home in China for contradicting their Chinese form of socialism.
While other nations are contributing their time, money and expertise in helping Sierra Leoneans get through this present rough economic, social and political impasse, China has been very quiet and has maintained her focus on business as usual despite who gets to rule and how they got around to winning the people’s mandate.
Let us take for an example the fact Sierra Leone is in desperate need of the construction of roads and railways.
At present, China’s Belt and Road initiative will lessen the stress the nation is feeling in the capital, Freetown due to the traffic congestion that has gripped Freetown due to the introduction of the “Waka Fine” public buses that has elicited widespread criticism for the buses being brought in at a time when there is not adequate road infrastructure to accommodate them alongside the old users of the road including government and private buses.
According to Angry Sierra Leoneans, when the people need China as a friend her businesses in Sierra Leone continue to behave in ways that question China’s promise to make a positive impact on the lives of not only the country but also the community they operate in.
Instead of making a difference by paying their employees at the going international standard for such professionals, Chinese employees brought in from China to do jobs a Sierra Leonean is quiet capable of executing are being paid in United States dollars while their local counterparts are being paid in Leones, at a rate much lower than what their compatriots make working for government.
It is quiet selfish and inconsiderate of China that at a time when other leading nations are making their presence felt in the nation’s body politic by taking an active role in how our politics impacts on our social and economic well-being by leveraging their financial and moral muscles all in an effort to encourage our leaders to see the light and work in the interest of the people and nation.
Despite making so much money in Sierra Leone through their mining interests across the country, the Chinese government and businesses have continued to perform business as usual while our political impasse continue to threaten the existence of our democracy.
While the Americans withheld their support to our president and his government by withholding grant support to the tune of hundreds of millions of United States dollars because the nation failed to meet one of the prerequisites needed to qualify for the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) grant owing to government’s failure to ensure free, fair and credible elections.
The UK also flexed their donor support muscle by withholding salary and other funding to our government that led to the sacking of several hundred state employees while even ECOWAS, the EU and the AU had said or done something drastic to get our head of state government to know that the 24 June 2023 presidential election are far from over or conclusive.
The Chinese continue to do nothing but focus on exporting as much of our mineral wealth out of the country while failing to respect the terms and conditions of the agreement they signed with the government including the promises made to better the lot of the communities they operate in.
China is not a friend indeed to Sierra Leone, as a friend indeed is someone that will be there for you through thick and thin. After 52 years of diplomatic friendship China has failed to be a friend to Sierra Leone the way other nations who benefit far less than the Chinese are benefiting from their relationship with Sierra Leone.
Now that things are much difficult for the people of Sierra Leone, China through the actions of its many businesses operating in the country is showing that she does not care about how hardships and suffering affect the nation’s politics which has a huge bearing on how the government conducts business with other nations and multinational companies.
Sadly, in our relation with China we have been on the receiving end of the stick and have been taking all the pain as a result. In our relationship with China they need us more than we need them. There is nothing that China is contributing to Sierra Leone that the rest of our development partners cannot pick up if China decides to make an exit.
They benefit more from our mineral wealth than we enjoy of their huge financial, social, political and economic wealth.
As an up and coming superpower, China should be much interested in getting involved in the nations they do business all in the name of safeguarding our political rights to offset a time when people accuse them of looking the other way and focusing on exporting our iron ore and other minerals without the nation knowing how much of our said mineral deposits they take out of the country.
In Sierra Leone’s relationship with China, the Asian nation has had the lion’s share of the relationship, something they accomplish without lifting a finger to help change the people’s economic reality based on paying them good salaries, taking care of the host community and national economies.
It is wrong for the Chinese to focus on exporting our raw materials when we have all on hand to export finished goods from here whose work would require locals trained by the Chinese through knowledge transfer.
However exporting finished goods would be more palatable if they also show a bit of interest in the welfare of the people and state. Since China has been in Sierra Leone they have not built factories to make finished goods that we can export from Sierra Leone instead of the other way around exporting the raw materials.
We have a lot of college graduates that need jobs for which the Chinese have not played a significant role encouraging local start ups and entrepreneurs.
As a concluding thought, the Chinese should change the focus of their relationships with our governments by stop dealing with individuals instead of the government itself.