New Direction Government of President Julius Maada Bio clocks almost three years with successes in many sectors of governance.
But, failures could also not be ruled out along the journey of state governance. The New Direction is about a complete deviation from business as usual. It is a deviation from corruption, lawlessness, indiscipline, and most importantly, fiscal indiscipline.
The New Direction appeared on the political stage in the midst of several challenges confronting the country. Challenges to governance, economy, security, agriculture health, energy, infrastructure among other critical areas of governance were prevalent at the time the New Direction Government came to power.
In a bid to counter the challenges, the New Direction Government simplified and catalogued the challenges in the 2018 Manifesto most popularly known as the ‘People’s Manifesto.’ This article thereby explores the extent to which the New Direction has succeeded in overcoming the challenges as well as areas in which it has shown apparent weaknesses.
Security and peace is always the achievement of any government as long as the people are free from fear, threat and intimidation, and can also go about their normal business for their livelihoods. The people should not only be free from crime but also the fear of crime which seems to be more potent than real crime itself.
Save for few isolated incidents, the New Direction has succeeded in maintaining peace and security in the country.
The sphere of governance is one of the priority areas to be considered in assessing how far the New Direction has come. Political pundits have come to see good governance as the maintenance of security , rule of law and human rights, equitable allocation of state’s resources, and the protection of the people’s welfare.
It has also been argued that the need for government arises from the need for security and protection making the notion of governance highly relevant to contemporary societies including Sierra Leone.
Towards this direction, the New Direction has recorded major successes in key sectors of the governance process. The success of the New Direction in the area of governance is evidenced by the favourable rating it enjoyed by the Millenium Challenge Compact (MCC) OF 2020.
The New Direction, according to the MCC, passed 13 of the 20 governance benchmarks prescribed by the United States. Sierra Leone, owing to the achievement, has qualified for the USD 400M grant, a sum that would tremendously help the country in its development strides.
As usual, education is also a major area of concern for the New Direction Government since it believes that a nation can never develop beyond its education. The level of priority and importance attached to education by the New Direction (FQE) is seen in the launching of the Free Quality Education Project in Sierra Leone.
School enrolment doubled tenfold following the introduction of the FQE scheme.
Whatever reservation or views held by critics, the FQE is a worthwhile investment as it saves parents not only from paying fees but also investing in the future of the young. The fruits of such investment cannot be realised today, but in the future which is set to be bright as human resource matters more than other resources.
The importance attached to the investment in human resource is derived from the notion that a nation can build roads, bridges and other infrastructure which can be destroyed within a twinkle of an eye if the youths are not educated.
A shinning example is seen in the outbreak of the civil war between 1991 and 2002 when a great majority of the perpetrators were largely uneducated. Sierra Leone saw one of the greatest infrastructural devastations in the world during the war.
The Leaders in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s were busy building bridges, roads and mighty buildings at the expense of the education of the youths. That great infrastructural ambition pursued by government at that time came to a halt when the war broke out.
The New Direction also continues to enjoy comfortable ranking in international corruption indices. The comfortable rating enjoyed by the New Direction is not unconnected to the great strides embarked upon by the country’s graft agency, the Anti-Corruption Commission.
The agency was on record to have recovered billions of Leones from former government officials who have allegedly stolen money from the consolidated revenue fund. In recognition of the important role ACC plays in prevention and prosecution of corruption, the ACC Boss, Francis Ben Kaifala was honoured as he was made Head of Ant-Corruption Network in West Africa.
The New Direction also made impressive inroads in the procurement sector.
Procurement in ministries, departments and agencies is regulated by the National Procurement Authority (NPPA) of Which Ibrahim Brima Swarray is the head. Prior to Mr Swarray’s appointment, NPPA had a skeletal strength with a hit-and-miss method of procurement processes and activities.
The agency now takes pride in an efficient and effective legal and policy framework for transparent and accountable procurement processes in Sierra Leone. The enactment of the Procurement Act of 2015 and the Procurement Regulations of 2020 are glowing examples of exemplary achievement.
Apart from the legal framework, a training manual was developed and popularised by the NPPA Chief.
Few months back, 130 procurement practitioners were trained on the procurement manual so that the right knowledge, skills and attitude could be engendered in the personnel.
Further plans exist to have more trainings for the procurement officers as well as media practitioners for effective reporting on procurement activities.
Since there is a nexus between procurement and corruption, the latter was appreciably reduced owing to the regulation of the former. Unlike the ACC which investigates and recovers state finances after they have been have stashed away, NPPA prevents public officials from stealing public funds.
The successes recorded were not without failures in the business of state governance. Apparent weaknesses are visible in some governance sectors.
The 2019 Consumer Protection Report of 2019 shows that inflation is still at double-digit indicating over 17 per cent. Prices of basic commodities still remain high with many Leones chasing few dollars signalling an unfavourable exchange rate.
Low salaries and low productivity continue to characterise the New Direction Economy with a perennial unfavourable terms of trade and balance of payment deficits.
It is clear that Sierra Leone still continues to spend more on its imports than she receives for her exports. The country is still vulnerable to exploitation in terms of fair prices.
Sierra Leone is still a price taker as it is primary producer especially in the mines and minerals sector. The failures of the New Direction is hardly exhausted without mentioning the abysmal weakness in the agricultural sector.
Despite the availability of vast arable land in Sierra Leone, food on the table is still a problem.
Plans to cultivate the Tomabom and Gbondapi Bolilands are still in the pipeline.
The youths have taken to bike riding as one of their main economic activities at the expense of the farms and swamps. One of the greatest failures of the New Direction Government is seen very clear in its attempt at building national cohesion. Consolidation of national cohesion through dialogue and politics of positive compromise would have been the best model.
The New Direction however started to stumble in its effort at building peace when it took over state command. The Bintumani-3 Conference, and the setting up of a peace commission to maintain peace in the country was snubbed by the main opposition, the All People’s Congress.
None can talk of viable investment in an environment of conflict and instability.