Five hundred and twelve (512) days ago, the Chief Electoral Commissioner and Chief Returning Officer of the Electoral Commission for Sierra Leone (ECSL), Mohamed K. Konneh, announced the incumbent Julius Maada Bio as winner of the 24 June 2023 presidential vote. The announcement was immediately rejected by the main opposition, all the international and local elections observer groups, the media, people and members of the international community not limited to the US, UK, Germany, France, Ireland, the EU, ECOWAS, AU, Carter Centre, NEW. They all said the same thing: the announced result was deeply flawed with several instances of statistical and mathematical inconsistencies.
The APC declared the regime illegal and boycotted it. However, 512 days on, the battle to get a legitimate regime that won the people’s vote in a free, fair, and credible manner has been going on, despite the ECSL boss, the president and his party refusing to allow the people access to the disaggregated voting data from polling stations from across the country to prove who really won the elections. The people that voted for change from all parties, regions, and tribes are quietly screaming “foul play” but there is no one there to hear them. They have been forced to keep quiet about how or if Bio won their mandate to lead. You can either get arrested, jailed without charge, taken to court, or much worse.
It must be recalled that during the 2018 presidential election campaign, the then challenger Maada Bio spoke passionately and lengthily about the high cost of goods and services, promising to cut down on the price of a bag of rice, which was at NLe200. He said Sierra Leoneans could not afford that high cost and promised to sort that cost, corruption, and financial leakages from the public space.
However, since 2018 to date there is a high rate of corruption in the public service. Based on the Auditor General’s Reports from 2018 onward, this is the most corrupt regime on paper. Things have been so bad that no less than the office of the president was caught up in the forgery of receipts. There are widespread instances of corrupt expenditures although those you would expect to face the music have all been slapped on the wrist. Yet still despite all this we are not allowed to address the elephant in the room that is taking up all the space.
Today, a bag of rice is anywhere upward of NLe750, which the people really cannot afford. You see, in 2018 the minimum wage was at NLe500, with which the poorest of the poor worker could buy two bags of rice, and still have NLe100 change to spare. Even though the minimum wage is now NLe 1,000, to get a bag of premium rice would cost a poor citizen NLe 1,000 and above. The people in the main have said they cannot afford to buy a bag of rice and make do with buying it per cup, which does not solve the problem. By next year, tax on imported rice will tick 10% and that will obviously hike the prices of a bag or a cup of rice in the local market. The wage bill continues to swell unchecked with salaries for the boys and girls newly recruited for their support roles. And there is no end in sight from this economy woe. Recently, the Minister of Finance in his 2025 budget revealed that the SLPP Government plans to spend and lend a total of NLe 35.3 billion with a projected deficit of NLe 16.4 billion, but however went on to announce a-15% increase on salaries of all public sector workers, but again projecting an increase of the wage bill to NLe 7.6 billion in 2025. The Government and the actors therein by this projected financial statement alone explains the loss of foresight and direction in the country’s economic and fiscal management regime and are instead playing trickery politics to confuse the masses in the face a worsened socioeconomic situation.
Reasonably, it was issues like this and many other reasons that the people, young and old, male and female came out in huge numbers and voted for change on 24 June 2023. They wanted a new leader at State House as Bio had and continues to fail them. That notwithstanding, Konneh announced Bio as winner. The people of Sierra Leone believe that their mandate was stolen as they had voted to replace a non-performing administration.
512 days after he was declared president, Sierra Leoneans still don’t have access to the voting records to prove that Bio won the 24 June 2023 presidential vote. Now, Bio is legitimized by proxy as President of Sierra Leone that the world does not recognise. The elephant keeps getting bigger and yet no one can complain; all should keep quiet and bear with the situation.
512 days after Bio’s illegal presidency was announced the bag of rice has gone up from NLe750 to NLe1,000 with a 5 per cent tax on rice import that will kick in in January 2025, at which time the price of rice is expected to take a further hike. Yet there is no one that dares say anything about this, and call a spade a spade. All the pressure groups are dead not limited to the judiciary, the media, the civil society and nongovernmental organisations, the Interreligious Council. None of them can say anything about the situation in the country with the big elephant in the room.
Even if the minimum wage was NLe1,500 the problems of the poor will still persist as there is high taxation of electricity and water yet we don’t get consistent supply of these services. The people are not in the position to demonstrate as they have been murdered on the streets by state security at scenes of protest actions against their condition, even against last year’s presidential vote announcement. There is not a strong opposition in the country to speak out for the people. The people are therefore left to their own devices.
But there is a saying that describes our situation: ‘If u block road wey water dey pas; if u feel say u able block di water, na lie! Wae da big rain kam, e dey broke all di barrier dem en pass.’
It is time for president Bio and his party government to start thinking about how to settle the situation. Although he had said he would not be able to fix the economy, he and his party government can make choices that show they care about the people’s welfare. Since they have failed to deliver, then they are only in power for their own self interests. Any serious president and government would have stepped down long ago after admitting that they will not be able to fix the economy.
How could such a president now say he won the people’s mandate to lead going forward? Lonta!