Sierra Leone was highly hopeful of qualifying for millions of US Dollars under MCC (Millenium Challenge Corporation). However, current ratings on key governance indicators show that Sierra Leone does not perform well.
Its potential to get the US Dollars is seriously derailed. MCC is a United States initiative under which countries that do well in established governance benchmarks benefit millions of US Dollars in aid. In the 2021 MCC scorecard, Sierra Leone failed in most key sectors of governance although she does better in some.
‘Economic Freedom,’ ‘Ruling Justly,’ and ‘Investing in People’ are the broad benchmarks under which Sierra Leone is rated. These three broad topics were further divided into components showing how Sierra Leone performed during the year.
Under ‘Economic Freedom,’ the following components were examined, and Sierra Leone got the following percentages. Fiscal policy-18%, Inflation-14.8%, Regulatory quality-46%, Trade policy-54% Gender in the Economy-68%, Land Rights and Access-24%, Access to Credit-19%, Business Start-Up-85%,
Sierra Leone was also rated under the broad topic of ‘Ruling Justly’ in view of the following components:
Political Rights-28%, civil liberties-37%, control of corruption-81%, government effectiveness-42%, rule of law-63%, freedom of information-85-%. Under the ‘Investing In People,’ Sierra Leone was rated under the following parametres.
Health expenditure-68%, Primary Education Expenditure-90%, Natural Resource Protection-42%, Immunisation rate-83%, Girls Primary Education Completion Rate-65% and Child Health-17%. A close examination of the statistical analysis shows that Sierra Leone performs badly in the ‘Economic Freedom’ and ‘Ruling Justly’ parametres. Sierra Leone’s poor performance in the ‘Economic Freedom’ could not be divorced from government’s failure to control inflation in the country.
The report touched briefly on a decrease of inflation rate although it still remains double-digit. Sierra Leone, quite recently, has seen a hike in the prices of basic goods and services.
The increase in prices goes a long way to whittle down claims of Consumer Price Index Report of 2020. With the prevalence of high prices for goods and services, the country faces unbearable hardship.
Shutting down of mines and the pulling out of investors worsened an already economically polarised situation. Shutting down of mining companies resulted into a sharp fall of the Leones currency as against the US Dollar.
Trade in the ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) sub-region was severely impacted owing to the sharp rise in the price of the US Dollar. The outbreak of Corona Virus Disease also added insults to injury. Sierra Leone, to a large extent, depends on her neighbour, Guinea for viable economic activities.
A large quantity of goods sold in Sierra Leone is bought from Guinea. Sierra Leone traders say goods sold in Guinea are much more reasonable than those in Sierra Leone. They link the price variation to the different tax policies of the two countries.
Sierra Leone is also expected to perform badly under the ‘Ruling Justly’ indicator. With Exception of controlling corruption, Freedom of Information and Rule of Law, Sierra Leone scores low in the parametres of political rights, civil liberties and government’s effectiveness. Although Sierra Leone is a signatory to a number of international human rights treaties and conventions backed up with a rights-based constitution, government, on several occasions, has trampled on the rights of many citizens in Sierra Leone.
These treaties and conventions notably, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966, International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights, 1966 among others preach equality of human beings.
The human rights instruments share a common feature; they maintain that all human beings are equal and should be accorded equal treatment in terms of respect for their rights, civil liberties and dignity.
As a signatory, Sierra Leone’s Constitution mirrors the conventions. In its earlier chapters, the Constitution of Sierra Leone recognises the right to life and security of the person, movement, speech, privacy, assembly and association among others.
Despite Sierra Leone’s status regarding in international human rights instruments and local statutes, the rights of Sierra Leoneans have always been at stake since the New Direction took over state governance.
It is no gainsaying that the fundamental rights of many Sierra Leoneans especially political opponents have been abused with impunity. Political opponents and those in heartlands of the opposition have been the main victims of government’s abuses of human rights.
The northern capital of Makeni, heartland of the main opposition, All People’s Congress, few days back, saw a litany of arrests. Over 100 people accused of electricity theft were arrested and investigated by the police.
A number of civil society and rights campaigners condemned the arrests. They refer to as made-up allegations. The activists have been piling pressure on the authorities for an immediate release of the suspects.
They say it is an infringement on the rights of citizens who government are under oath to protect. Infringement on the rights of Makeni residents has been widely seen as a spill-over effect of government’s chase of President Ernest Bai Koroma.
It is a widespread claim that as long as the former President resides in Makeni, the people there would always see government’s negative side. The abuse of people’s rights in the opposition heartland is always masterminded by the energy supplier, EDSA (Energy Distribution and Supply Agency).
In June 2020, EDSA’s relocation of a 1.65 thermal plant from Makeni to Lungi town caused the deaths of number youths in Makeni.
In its relocation move, the army and the police were used. In 2018, a police raid in Rosengbe village in Tonkolili district infringed the rights of people there.
Tonkolili is also an opposition heartland. Brutal Killings were also seen in 2020 in the northern town of Lunsar.
The conflict that led to the killing is an outburst of a long-held grudge and grievance among youths for shutting down of the mines, a main source of livelihood for the youths.
One could not talk of peace and security where livelihood is threatened. Tombo town in the Western Rural district also saw brutality from forces of law and order. Abuses of rights could not be ruled out during the encounter.
The Tombo conflict is also one of livelihood since fishermen were illegally stopped from going to the high seas to fish.
Perhaps, the killing in Sierra Leone’s main correctional facility in April, 2020 is also a cardinal factor for the country’s weak performance in the ‘Ruling Justly’ parametre. Restrictions on movement of persons owing to frequent proclamations of states of public emergencies during COVID-19 pandemic also contributed to the appalling human rights situations in Sierra Leone.
Emergencies without rules render the people vulnerable in the hands of security forces. Police and military are always let loose during such periods to lord it over the people. The most frustrating aspect of the abuse, the perpetrators are never brought to justice.
A culture of impunity prevails and endangers the country’s standing in the world of human rights.