As the ECOWAS summit ends, questions about the huge quantum of money spent on the building and the summit continue to rise.
An estimated $124m was reportedly spent on the construction of the new ECOWAS building while $86m goes directly into the hosting of the event and an additional $15m that reportedly came from member States.
The building has, according to reports has been handed over to the ECOWAS President implying that the building did not belong to the people of Sierra Leone.
Big doubts exist about whether the said sum of money was spent for the intended purpose as many who attended the conference returned home with dissatisfaction.
The public concerns about the money spent hinge on the building’s capacity to give back the said sum out of hotel and other services it would render to the people especially those coming from other countries.
Documents seen by this press confirmed the distribution and expenditure on the building and the event.
The building alone costs $124m covering the construction of the conference complex and associated hospitality facilities meant to serve future national and international events. US$86m, according to records seen by this press, goes into the three-day summit. The amount was confirmed through an announcement made by the Ministry of Information and Civic Education which indicated that the operational cost to host the summit was estimated at $86m with contribution from ECOWAS member States adding another $15m.
Host country contribution estimates, the announcement states, were placed at around $34m apart from major capital building projects.
Indirectly responding to public concerns about the huge expenditure, Chief Minister, David Moinina Sengeh said $124m figure represents a permanent national infrastructure investment rather than just the cost of staging the single event.
The vast majority of Sierra Leoneans particularly, social commentators and analysts are not convinced with the clarifications of the Chief Minister when the building is tallied to its cost.
It is insistently argued that is a bloated cost evidenced by the slashing of allowances for deserving attendees. Grumbles and disgruntlements came from journalists who covered the international event, suspecting that they get less than what they should have.
A credible source within government circles has intimated this press that media practitioners who covered the event got Le1, 000 (one thousand Leones) instead of Le10, 000 (ten thousand Leones) being the approved sum.
The vast majority of the people of Sierra Leone also expressed concerns about having a building at a time the country is hard-pressed by several socio-economic challenges of unemployment, inflation abject poverty and suffering.
In spite of fabulous promises about the creation of jobs as one of government’s BIG FIVE GAME CHANGERS, Sierra Leone still sees rolling statistics of jobless youths in the streets including graduates from various universities.
Government is expected, at this moment, to boost and expand the private sector to put back the young men and women to work and not to splash such a huge chunk of money in an ECOWAS building. Apart from the apt shortage of jobs in the country, have-nots or low-income earners still continue the weight of inflation as prices of goods and services continue to hike. The discontent and disgruntlement about the money spent on the building and the summit does not with the commoners but also some elites.
Social commentators and analysts have picked up the issue and have spoken loudly about it as they continue to pour out their views.
One of the analysts is not comfortable with Sierra Leone having such a building instead of addressing the people’s welfare concerns and other factors that threaten livelihoods.
He told this press that “jobless youth are still parade the city, prices of goods and services is sky-rocketing and there is suffering all over the place particularly men in the streets.” For him, the building is all about creating a cult of personality for the SLPP (Sierra Leone People’s Party)/PAOPA regime and nothing else.
He argues that $124m can fix some of the bad roads and cover the potholes in the city, and not an ECOWAS building that will offer little in years to come.
As the debate continues, a veteran APC (All People’s Congress) politician who opposes the hosting of the ECOWAS summit likens government’s move to that implemented by President Siaka Stevens of the APC by hosting OAU now AU Summit in 1980, a period in which Sierra Leone was engulfed in deep economic crisis.
The hosting of the OAU summit in Sierra Leone got President Stevens to construct a whole OAU village to provide accommodation for the visiting heads of states. The village at Wilberforce community still stands as an edifice of history but with a great cost to those who witness its construction.
The APC politician who chose to be anonymous told this press that Siaka Stevens who was bent on carving a towering personality in Africa got the OAU village at all cost despite the high cost of living and the economic crisis at that time.
There were reports that suffering worsened in the aftermath of the OAU summit as much of the country’s meager resources went into the project at the expense of the people’s livelihoods.
Those who advised the then President not to go ahead with the OAU summit in Sierra Leone were blacklisted and hunted except that many ran for their lives, but one, Samuel Bangura was brutally crushed.
Bangura was Sierra Leone’s Bank Governor who helped stabilize the country’s economy, and his advice in dissuading President Stevens from hosting the international event cost him his life. The late Bank Governor was reportedly secretly killed by thugs linked to the APC. Owing to the history of such brutal politics leashed by such an autocrat, many politicians of today would also fear to advise President Bio not to host such an event at this time although he leads ECOWAS.
Sierra Leone’s current economy is not ripe or ready for such an event but needs one who would proffer solutions to bring back the economy to sound footing.
In his honour, Sierra Leone’s tallest building was named after Bangura, and the building still remains today a monumental edifice.
Other opposition politicians also hold the view that the enthusiasm to construct the building and host the conference is to convince his PAOPA supporters that he is enjoying international recognition and support amid claims of “international isolation.”
President Bio has been grappling with legitimacy crisis since the announcement of the June 24, 2023 Presidential election owing to the findings of the Tripartite Committee. The Tripartite Committee is a body set up to look into alleged irregularities of the 2023 election and to proffer recommendations for electoral reform and accountability.
Insider sources have informed this press that the tripartite findings do not favour the Bio/PAOPA regime although the findings as to who is the winner remain a top secret.
Evidence reportedly tendered by the opposition leader, Samura Kamara indicates a first-round victory for APC with 57% in his favour.
It is true that, Bio’s biggest headache all along is to convince SLPP membership that his regime has been endorsed by the international community and development partners although there is no congratulation and inauguration.
Moderate and traditional SLPP members are also not convinced with a project which attracts a bloated expenditure, but the purpose is clear: Bio’s aim is to seek a second year of the ECOWAS leadership to intensify his international travels.
In most international meetings and conferences, President Bio would go in the name of ECOWAS and not Sierra Leone, but only time will tell on the ECOWAS building.