Today’s economic hardship is a direct result of yesterday’s mistakes by the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP). Once installed in power in 2018, President Julius Maada Bio became tough with the business community through imposition of harsh taxes. The move, according to Bio, was to stop leakages for a better Sierra Leone.
The taxes were high but the leakages never stopped, and the investors left for other countries where business is safe and easy to do. The arrest of a Lebanese businessman at Lungi International Airport approximately a 50-minute ferry ride away from the national capital, Freetown testified to claims of businessmen running away from Sierra Leone.
The hundreds of thousands of foreign currencies particularly the US dollars discovered in the businessmen’s possession also lent credence to claims of capital flight from Sierra Leone. Micro enterprises also shut down since they could not withstand the prevailing harsh taxes.
In such a situation, a great many Sierra Leoneans were thrown out of jobs. Structural employment in a country plagued by endless hardship is one of the worst situations anyone can find themselves in. Sierra Leone is a country known for easy taxes throughout successive governments to attract local and foreign investors.
Sierra Leone, a country trapped in a dance of destiny became arid spelling no future for her teeming population of youth. The country was in this dire state when Corona Virus struck in March, 2020. The outbreak also exposed the weaknesses that for a long time has characterised Sierra Leone’s health sector. The virus is new, and government’s response has been haphazard. Sierra Leoneans were unsafe, but they waited out of patience to know if they could see tomorrow.
A government plagued by economic crisis and hardship is compelled by the new virus to impose measures to cut off the chain of transmission. These measures became worse than the harsh taxes. Hard life ensues, and it continues in the face of a conflict between Russia and Ukraine, two of the biggest oil exporters in the world.
Price of a litre now stands Le18, 000 (slightly above US$1) and fears that that the price would hit Le20, 000 (twenty thousand Leones) is widespread among the public.
Worried about continuous and sporadic increases has caused others to add more stock on their stockpiles of petroleum. Dangers of fires await the country. Drivers and commuters are at the mercy of the fuel dealers.
Disturbed by the crisis, government is tight-lipped except the first lady who has responded to the crisis. Her response again is untenable as she accused main opposition of colluding with fuel importers to cause artificial scarcity. This is a worrying situation for SLPP government.
This is not the political situation the past government left behind so that life for the masses would be made easy. Concessions given to mining companies during ex-President Ernest Bai Koroma’s reign were bright examples of a country ready for business.
The concessions were in place in that Sierra Leone is not the only country endowed with diamonds, Iron Ore and other mineral resources. Other countries including neighbouring Guinea possesses the same minerals, most times, of higher grade than the ones in Sierra Leone.
It is incontestable that investors will penetrate where business is easy to do in terms of taxes. Mines closure also badly affected government now although it had no clue when they initially took the action. Marampa mines which used to put the much needed foreign exchange in government coffers stopped when SL Mining was put out of operation. Government’s order to stop the mines in the northern town of Lunsar was without legal basis. The Iron Ore miner occupied the mines on legal terms after it went into an agreement with the past government in 2017.
SLPP, on the other side, says the agreement is illegal prompting a court action. Government lost after months of protracted hearings in English Court. The illegal closure also affected the rate of circulation of the foreign currency especially the US dollars. One cannot argue about the harsh outcome of a situation where many Leones chase few dollars.
When the two currencies clash, the Leones crumble in the face of the dollar causing price hikes. The depreciation of the Leones was the genesis of inflation in Sierra Leone. The 2019 and 2020 Price indices showed higher inflationary trends which government found difficult to reverse. The trend still continues. Prices of goods and services have not shown any sign of receding.
The 2021 Price Index is sure to show higher prices than the previous reports. The economic situation puts the have-nots and the less privileged at a more vulnerable state. They have always been on the wrong end. The closure of mines seems less fatal to the economy compared to the termination of contracts of most local companies.
Commissions of inquiry which were set up to investigate the past government about wrong doings recommended to government that contracts left behind by the past government should be terminated.
This recommendation was accepted as a list of blacklisted companies was released to various media outlets warning ministries, departments and agencies from doing business with them. Even the Karpowership agreement for the provision of light in the city was terminated.
SLPP government tenaciously held the view that any agreement left behind by the past government was bad and illegal, and is sure to be nullified. The cancellation sounded a death-knell as the youth were sent out of work. Society is never safe when the youth are jobless considering the energy they possess.
SLPP’s construction of car-wash facilities for the youth is an infinitesimal response to the youth problem in Sierra Leone. Perennial hardship among the youth makes SLPP unpopular among the young people in Sierra Leone. SLPP also created double standards in the delivery of service to the people of Sierra Leone.
Communities considered to be opposition strongholds were left out of key services that should be provided by government. Schools and hospitals were built in south-east regions than in north-west regions.
Apart from failing to deliver services to those in opposition strongholds, government also cut down services already in existence. The transfer of electricity generators from the eastern district of Kono and the northern capital of Makeni are glittering examples of discrimination. Arrests and detention of those in opposition strongholds upon response to such discriminatory acts are not uncommon even when the 1991 Constitution prohibits it.
Amid uncontrollable arrest and detention in APC heartlands, political harassment and intimidation became the order of the day. Former government officials were arrested and detained on false claims.
Ex-Minister of Defence, Alfred Paolo Conteh and others were held incommunicado at the country’s main correctional facility on charges of treason. He was released after it was found out that the former minister had no hand in a phantom coup. Conteh was innocent, but the ordeal he went through remains one of the saddest stories.
It goes without saying that there could be no national cohesion in a country where the ruling party is bent of revenge. The manner in which the ruling party lorded it over the main opposition is a clear sign that SLPP government had scores to settle.
It was clear that APC’s boycott of the Bintumani-111 Conference two years back could not be unconnected to the humiliation encountered in the hands of SLPP. Even those who attend the so-called peace conference hit government hard about their brutality towards the main opposition.
A lawyer of good years standing, Basita Michael who is also ex-president of Sierra Leone Bar Association, the umbrella body for lawyers in Sierra Leone accused government of undermining institutions that provide peace when government said it needed peace.
The political tension between SLPP and APC sent shocking waves to the minds of investors who see no need to invest in Sierra Leone. Absence of investment spells hardship for a weak country like Sierra Leone. The current hardship will not fade in months talk less of weeks. If SLPP lose the elections in 2023, it could not be unconnected to the failings afore-mentioned. SLPP politicians are masters of their own fate.