Concerned citizens of the two sides of the political divide are complaining that they have been through a very rough patch under the Julius Maada Bio-led administration since 2018, but wish the president a happy failed coup Christmas and a prosperous New Year.
SLPP (Sierra Leone People’s Party) supporters known as patriotic Sierra Leoneans said since the events of 26th November, 2023 and the subsequent days thereafter, they had been praying that president Bio survives any attempts on his life long enough to see him fulfill his promises to make life better for citizens across the country.
“We thank the Lord that our leader survived the dastardly act that was perpetrated by people we still don’t know. We praise the Lord that our president survived and we wish him a happy failed coup Christmas. Our hope is that with the president surviving this attack on his security and safety, he will do all in his power to see that we have a much better 2024 than all the years before since 2018. We want to see the president working on the needs of the people,” the proud Sierra Leoneans told this press.
The group of men and women said they represented the two main political parties, and reminded the president that they have had to survive one hardship and insecurity after the other since June 24 elections. They said their situations were compounded by the continued rise in the prices of goods and services and insecurity of the state due to events that rattled the whole nation and garnered the attention of the international community particularly our development partners.
‘The New Finance Act stands to make our lives in 2024 miserable. The Act will see the prices of goods and services shooting up much higher than they are at present. Imagine we are expecting a 5 per cent tax increase on food imports. Things are already difficult as it is; we don’t need it to be made any more difficult than it is. You know we gauge our levels of difficulty based on the prices of rice and fuel. Look, these two commodities have been getting pricier by the day,” the citizens complained.
The SLPP strongmen told this medium that if president Bio is as concerned with the interest and success of the people and economy as he has led the people to believe, then president Bio can see to it that he addresses the areas of the New Finance Act that promise to make lives much more difficult for the people and do the needful.
In 2018, the hard-up citizens say the price of a bag of rice was at NLe200 (Le200,000); today the bag is approaching NLe1,000 (Le1,000,000). Back then the fuel pump price was at NLe6.5 (Le6,500); today fuel is being sold at NLe30,000 (Le30,000) per litre.
“We want the president to know that since he survived the attempted coup on his life through our prayers we now want for him to work on bringing down the prices of foodstuff and fuel. Sorting out these two critical and strategic commodities would mean saving many of us from sinking further into poverty. It will also save a lot of businesses and jobs that will be lost if 2024 don’t prove to be a much better year economically than 2023 and before,” disappointed SLPP members fumed.
Instead of Le1m for a bag of rice, the people of Sierra Leone said they would appreciate it a great deal if the president would work hard to bring the price down to at most NLe500 (Le500,000), adding, ‘such a price would be manageable considering the global economic situation’.
‘The price of fuel sets the pace for the prices of many other goods and services; it is either you are spending on fuel for your business or paying for it when the transport fares shoot up as a result of a price hike in fuel. Instead of NLe30 or Le30,000 we would like for the president to work on re-setting the price to at least NLe15(Le15,000). We want and expect the president to change our economic reality from bad to good,’ the bipartisan group of Sierra Leoneans pleaded with president Bio.
Now that the president has survived the coup attempt on his life on 26 November this year, the citizens of this country are happy he made it. They now hope that he will now focus his entire energy on resetting all the prices that are seemingly on a free fall.
Allowed to continue on this trend such prices could destabilise the state more than any planned insurrection.
‘There is a destabilising threat from unstable prices and these prices continuing to get higher. This is more dangerous than any coup attempt or plot. We wish the president a happy failed coup Christmas and a very successful 2024 in changing our hardship and suffering narratives from the worst to good,’ they wished Mr Bio.
