The issue of constructing a toll road system in one of Sierra Leone’s busiest roads, the Freetown –Masiaka highway was a very controversial decision after the Parliament of Sierra Leone had unanimously approved the contract between the Chinese Seventh Railway Group (CSRG) and the Government of Sierra Leone.
Many Sierra Leoneans had blamed their law makers and the APC government for approving what they described as a callous and inhumane contract. Some Sierra Leoneans were of the opinion that, government could have improved on the Lungi International Airport and further constructed the Lungi Bridge which could have opened up the flat Lungi area also provided another alternative for passengers who would not want to use the Gberay- Junction Lungi road.
The APC government went ahead in the expansion of the 56 KM road which cost them a whooping sum of USD $156 million including compensation for a period of 27 years. After almost 10 KM works on the road, the Chinese company also constructed three (3) toll gates at Hastings, Songo and Masiaka.
The government later announced that motorists plying the route will start paying, even when only 10 km of the 56 km has been constructed.
This provoked debates within the Sierra Leonean populace and both the Civil Society and the players in the road sector view this move as very unfair and further negotiated with the government to reduce the toll gate prices .The Ministry of Works took the lead and later succeeded in getting the Chinese company to reduce the prices.
With this state of affairs, the company went ahead in implementing the prices for the three toll gates. The issue became a very strong campaign message against the ruling APC party that was on the verge of conducting transitional elections. The four leading Presidential Candidates of the APC, SLPP, NGC ,C4C & the ADP were confronted on the issue of the toll road at the Presidential debate held at the Bintumani Hotel in Freetown. Most of the candidates excluding the then ruling party candidate Dr. Samura Kamara had promised the electorates that they would review this contract if anyone of them emerged as President in the March elections.Mohamed Kamarainba Mansaray of the ADP had severally stated in the media that he would destroy all the toll gates on becoming President of the country.
Sierra Leoneans were very much expectant that this election campaign promises would be fulfilled when the APC is booted out of power.
But almost ninety (90) days after being elected as President of the country President Bio has continued to improve relations with the Chinese who are very much in a hurry to patronize his government. With less than 100 days in office the Chinese had signed a Fisheries pact with the government of Sierra Leone and also contributed immensely towards the Saturday cleaning exercise by providing very close to a billion Leones. Plans are also on the way for the Chinese to provide substantial support to five Secondary Schools mainly in the East and South including the Bo Government Secondary School in line with the President Free and Quality Education Program.
We at the Nightwatch, had maintained that we are not averse to the many gestures the Chinese are currently providing to the Bio government, but we are worried that President Bio has forgotten so quickly his promises to look at the way and manner Chinese companies in the country are doing business. He had also promised reviewing the toll gate contract and many other shady deals the Chinese had signed with the then APC government that are not in the interest of the people.
The Chinese had over the last ten years taken over the Fishing, Wholesale Merchandise, Mining and Road Construction sectors .
The current price hike hitting the market cannot be unconnected with the fact that the toll road remains the only point of entry for foodstuff and other basic goods entering the capital Freetown. Large trucks carrying goods such as Palm-Oil, Charcoal, Local rice, Pepper etc and other basic foodstuff pay a total of Le 156,000 .00 in all three toll gates to enter the capital city Freetown. The so –called alternative routes for vehicles that would want to by-pass the toll road are almost impassable for such trucks to ply and they are left with no option but to pay at these toll gates.The ordinary Sierra Leonean faces the brunt of these prices as traders end up increasing the prices of these commodities to be able to cushion the fabulous prices they incur while brining these goods to Freetown.
President Bio since inception into office has taken a number of actions including the creation of the Treasury Single Account (TSA), the Wage Bill Control and the lifting of most duty waivers and tax holidays etc. as a way of stabilizing the economy. Despite all of these actions we still continue to witness a hike in basic food commodities, which is further excercebated by the rising foreign exchange rate. Many believe the President has failed in all these actions to take radical steps that will directly impact the life of the ordinary Sierra Leonean. One of such actions could have been to review the toll road contract and look into the issue of business people paying huge taxes to government.Taking measures that will have cushion the burden of the importers of basic food stuffs like George Weah did in Liberia would have got a direct impact on food prices that are currently escalating on a daily basis.
Sources at the various ministries are complaining of been starved of funds to undertake very important day to day state activities as a result of the implementation of the Single Treasury Account (TSA).Even though the initiative is good, piloting it using very few ministries could have identified the problems which is common to every new system. This could have provided an opportunity to map out strategies to address such challenges.