After 58 years of independence, Sierra Leone has nothing to show in terms of provision of basic social services for her people. As we speak every sector in the country is seriously challenged.
International ratings of the country, on development, hunger and the other social services sector, remain appalling. This is happening when the small West African country has several minerals, a perfect soil and climate and other natural resources like marine and wildlife.
The country also has cash crops in abundance, together with beautiful rocks, sand and other touristic potentials such as beaches, rivers and mountains, etc.
The state of affairs of the country can be largely attributed to the two main political parties (SLPP and APC) that have governed the country since independence. They have failed to develop a national development agenda for the country, which many countries that have hit the development ladder have worked with.
The Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper has been hugely popularized as political documents and hence they have not been able to impact the people of Sierra Leone. The country is implementing the fourth phase of the development program after having already rolled out the PRSP 1, Agenda for Change, Agenda for Prosperity and now PRSP 4, dubbed the National Medium Term Development Framework.
The SLPP, like the APC, had only thrived on tribalism, nepotism and regionalism in the appointment of state officials, which has only taken a North West/South East divide. Sierra Leoneans are losing jobs just because they are APC or SLPP depending on who is in charge.
Subsequent governments, whether be it APC or SLPP, have failed to concentrate on the developmental challenges facing the country. Institutionalised corruption has become deep rooted in the country. Procurement processes are skewed in favour of political party surrogates. Institutional capacity is at low ebb, largely politicized with senior party functionaries occupying top positions either as Chief Executives or Ministers. These two parties have not been able to draw a line between party politics and the general administration of the state.
National cohesion, peace building and consolidation are deteriorating and the future of the country is bleak. The new government of President Julius Maada Bio, that was voted on change a little over one year ago, is rigorously pursuing a revenge mission, perpetrating most, if not all, the issues they have blamed the APC in the past ten years.
They are doing well in the areas of fighting corruption and also generating local revenue, the first in the country since independence. The new President’s initiatives for changing the country’s development profile are threatened by the lack of peace and national cohesion in the country.
The relationship between the former President (Ernest Koroma), who remains very popular as Chairman and leader of his party and the new President is seriously strained. The two men are not seeing eye-to-eye and this is having a negative impact on peace.
The moral guarantors in the country, such as civil society organizations and the religious community, have remained quiet, while the president, now being conscious of the deteriorating nature of things, is calling for a national dialogue conference dubbed Bintumani III.
The Economic Community of West African States has led several delegations to the country with an attempt to make peace between the two parties, but such efforts have not yielded much.
All this has boiled down to the simple fact that these parties have put party interest over the national interest. This problem is not new. It has been the norm since independence and the gap has continued to deepen to the point that the regional divide has entered almost all sectors of society, including churches, schools, civil society and the media, etc.
Sierra Leoneans are still nowhere in the development ladder while the SLPP and the APC continue with their unnecessary fight for their party’s interest. Other countries in the continent, such as Uganda and Rwanda, have continued to move on. These two parties are indeed two ‘’halaki neibars’’ milking Mama Salone.