About a decade ago, we used to have a democratic country that was so peaceful and promising. The archaic ways of life were fading out; developments were making waves in the four corners of our country, which made the fittest survival for all. 
As fast-forward to the current phase of governance in the country, we have neither known nor seen any productive development. The struggle for survival in our country is becoming unbecoming. From dusk till dawn, people are always fending for their living, which makes quite the case of youths involving in all sort of dubious activities, because the country seems hopeless; some people strive over twelve hours a day (daily) just to put a plate of food on their tables, very heart rendering!
As we strike our pens through the flat surface of my sheet of paper, our eyes sinks in tears, our heart flips, and our brain is overshadowed with mind-blowing thoughts. Alas, we questioned ourselves, is the government really governing us as supposed? For one believes he is not, and it would be prudent we spend billions of Leones for our governance to acquire leadership skills and knowledge, rather than lavishing billions of the World Bank loans on plans that are devouring our country. In recent years, we have seen executed actions of the government, which were coated as plans for development, but they ended up worsening the unbearable situations of millions of Sierra Leoneans. Considering the newly procured buses, and the reason underlying the hike increase of fuel pump prices, we deemed them as some of the executed plans of the government which has not in any way favoured Sierra Leoneans.
Among many other crises in the country, since the procurement of the fifty government buses, transportation has been a major challenge in the capital city of the country, Freetown. The city’s population which is quite valent to half of the country’s population, is badly challenged with poor transportation, which has affected the transportation of goods to the central business areas, movements of workers and students to and from their work places and schools, respectively, and also the private drivers and riders from plying on the new roads of the city.
It is highly undone for the government, who has promised to serve the country democratically, and all of the sudden turn around to deprive his people from what they can afford, and vehemently impose hardship on them. This situation gets us so much concern as we went about getting the views and opinions of the affected people on the just procured buses. Speaking with Mariama Harding, a Nursing student, who stays at Wilkinson Road, she vented her plight that since the day the buses started operations, she has been missing lectures due to transportation scarcity; “Yesterday, we spent over two good hours at our junction to on board a bus, but I ended up cancelling the class, because we didn’t see any spacious bus, all the ones I saw were filled with people,” she lamented.
Thus, the running of the new buses which has caused a sanction on private vehicles (poda-poda), “keke” and motorcycle (okada) from plying on the new roads, has the potential of causing road accidents and unemployment for our youths. Considering the hike number of the “Poda-podas,” “Kekes,” and “Okadas” in the city, the old roads, which are full of boreholes, are very few and narrow for it to be made busy roads, for it will definitely result to too many accidents, and loss of lives. Bike riding has been one of the major ways of survival for the youths of our country; limiting them to fewer roads will seems like ending their trade, and we all know the implications of such on the society.
This medium is not preaching against the government effort in promoting the accessibility of transportation in the city, but considering the hike cost of the transportation provided, while leaving the people with no alternative is highly uncalled for. For us in this medium, it is a mere form of monopolizing the transportation for personal gain. It is quite revealing that the buses which do not even contain a number plate, is an enterprise of the government. Sanctioning other means of transportation from accessing the new roads, which are the usual and easy routes of transportation, seems like a strategy of making fast money. Even though it has been badly implemented, we pray it does not result into confrontation.
Another imposed hardship which the people have already accepted and forgone is, the increased fuel pump price, which caused a compound effect on the prices of commodities. The current fuel pump price (Nle30) which took effect on Tuesday, 29th August 2023, reportedly, was as a result of the excessive loss of the government in subsidizing fuel during the first half of last year. According to Mr. Edmond Abu, the Executive Director of the Native Think Tank, Native Consortium, there was no solid justification for the increment of fuel pump price because, the government was benefiting from international revenues for his projects. At that time of its increment, Sierra Leone was reported as the country with the second highest fuel pump price in Africa. To be honestly, very recently, there was a vast reduction of price of fuel from Liberia. We wish it happens here!!
We can’t bear to imagine the rate at which lives, businesses and many other sectors were badly affected by the imposed new price of fuel. Sadly, the poor Sierra Leoneans who are often scared of expressing their grievances were left with no other option but to conform to the situation. The struggle for survival is multiplying every now and then, as the prices of commodities skyrocketed, and transport fare became a nightmare to millions of Sierra Leoneans. Mr. Edmond Abu disclosed that when the government need money, they search for a place where they can get it easily; “Stop going after the predictable revenue because it is hurting the people,” he said. So sad!
Few months ago, we saw another unfavourable action of the government towards the people. In a press statement released by the Sierra Leone Police on the 30 August 2023, which placed a ban on local fishermen from being at the Wharfs after 7:00 p.m., has amplified the hardship in the lives of not only the fishermen, but also thousands of fish traders nationwide, who rely on the fishermen for their trade. According to the press release, the police received a factual statement of locally boatmen planning to carryout undercover activities at night, but such a reason is not quite enough to cease the entire wharves which provide the country with abundant fishes, from fishing at night. Following a report, Mr. Mustapha Gbapa Kamara, the Former Village Head of Godrich Fishermen, he said they normally fish at night, which is the appropriate time to carry out fishing activity, noting that they had never involved in any illegal activity; allegedly, he said the industrial fishermen are the ones involving in the illegal activities.
About five years ago, we overwhelmingly embraced some ideas of fantasy proposed to transforming our weeping education. At the genesis, the idea attempted to surface some amounts of probabilities, and we gladly endorse their bold step taken, as it was vividly evident that an amount of Le1.25 Billion was pour into the education sector as a subside to abolish the expenses of admission fees, tuition fees, the National Primary School Examination (NPSE), the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE), and the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE), core textbooks, school feeding programs, etc. However, some questions were left unanswered; the school feeding program, for example, which was quite unsuccessful, I observed that it was just a gadget used to fine-tune the FQSE project, so as to attract more sponsors/donors. Following the operation from the second phase to the current phase, we have observed dramatic changes, which have left the bulk of our expectations in limbo.
Reportedly, “In 2019, the Chinese government donated a total of 30,000 bags of rice to the Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education as support for the school feeding component of the FQE. But only 3,000 out of the 30,000 bags were distributed. 90% of the rice disappeared.” If they are capable of cheating on their children with donation from outsiders, how then can they use the country’s finance which they have full control over, to support the feeding programme effectively and sustainably? On the 23 November, 2023 it was also reported that the Government of Sierra Leone was set to expand the school feeding programme to more chiefdoms through the 22 percent budget allocation to education from the Ministry of Finance, a promise which was geared towards the 2021/2022 academic year, but the implementation was neither seen, nor heard of. The rates at which pupils are dropping out from school due to some certain challenges, is an order of the day which is to be reserved for our next edition.
Before we relinquish our pens, there are few lapses in our governance system of our country which we would like to project and provide possible ways of amending them. Based on our erudite observations, we noticed that the government is too lame in strategic development planning. Taking into consideration the fifty procured buses, which has monopolized all the new (major) roads in the city, the inflation in our market caused by the skyrocket fuel pump, and the ban placed on fisher men are a vivid manifestation of our poor governance system. The government should note that, for every action, there is/are consequence/s; so, it is incumbent upon them to always unearth the potential consequences of every planned action, proffer solutions to them before execution. However, nothing like this has ever been applied on any of the executed plans of the government.
Reportedly, as a way of initiating a swift flow of transportation system in Freetown, the government needs to provide 250 buses. When we saw the report, we chuckled. Anyway, it is a sound idea of strengthening the transportation system in our city, but my question here is, are there enough roads for the 250 buses? Presumably, it is a proposed plan of the government trying to prioritize the transportation sector of our city as a way of making more profits. Should this be the case, the aftermath would be unemployment, road accident, and confrontation. Following the provision of just a fifty buses, we have seen the confrontation of private bike riders, ‘poda-poda’ drivers, and ‘keke’ riders taking to the new roads a protest, demanding that the government allow them to access the new roads. Considering such a plan, I would advise the government to carefully think and rethink before taking it into consideration, for the wrath of it on our country, will be distasteful. Finally, we would like to reckon an affirmed statement of a report which states that, “The federal government is our servant, not our master!” Which means that government is neither for profit making, nor for monopolizing the public sectors for personal gain.
