By Hassan Osman Kargbo
Since President Bio took over his second term in office, Sierra Leoneans have witnessed series of hardship in the country. The unprecedented increase in the prices of our local commodities across the country is very alarming and couple with the incessant power outreach. It is no long a secret that the country is experiencing too much ‘Blackout’ which this government cannot handle for its citizens in the country.
Recently, we saw a notice from the Turkish Karpowership informing the country’s Chief Minister David Sengeh for their intention to suspend the service of the Karpowership if they aren’t paid by April this year. The Karpowership had requested that the government of Sierra Leone pay the sum of US$27,102,555 which corresponds to the overdue amount for their invoices from 2022-2023. If a whole government cannot afford to pay what they owe to the Karpowership, what the future holds for the citizens of this nation?
Sierra Leoneans are suffering in silence and our leaders are busy enjoying luxuries. The economic hardships that the country is facing is going out of hands for which many hold the view that if the situation continued like this, it is certain that the country is not heading to the right direction, rather it is heading to the wrong direction.
The inflation rate in the country is nothing good to write home about as it has caught the people in a state of dismay as to what has went wrong with the prices of basic food items, like rice, onions, oil among other items are all skyrocketing or even triple in recent years.
The high cost of living has led to many homes unable to afford the basic three meals per day which is a right of every citizen.
Some can’t even afford two meals talking less of the normal three meals per day, a signal that the country is heading in a wrong direction.
A country where it citizens cannot earn more than $5 dollar per day and the country’s inflations is skyrocketing on a daily basis is a serious cause for concerns.
In additions, it seems like the government is reticent towards salvaging the issue of electricity in the country and talk less of the issue of inflations in the country. Despite the hue and cries from citizen about the current state of the country’s economic status and the power crisis, President Bio and his administration are not sending any signal of hope to the people of the nation; instead they are acting as if everything is bright and beautiful.
It will be interesting to note that some communities in the capital has taken more than a week without seeing EDSA’s light and some had gone even more days without electricity. The ways things are going in the country; it seems like President Bio’s current regime needs miracle to solve this economic and power crisis in the country.
when the current regime were in opposition, the former Minister of Finance, J. J Saffa, was on record, stating that if they took over governance, the SLPP government will cut down inflation and settle the economy in a space of six months.
Eventually, when they came into governance the state of the economic went from back to worse, after J.J Saffa had vehemently failed to solve the economy during his tenure as Minister of Finance, he shamefully disclosed that nobody will able to solve the country’s economy even if the president appoint four ministers of Finance at the same time in the country.
Many saw his statement as an insult to Sierra Leoneans owing to the fact J.J Saffa is considered as one among the authors of the New Direction Manifesto that was translated into the government Medium Term Development agenda. And this new direction is taking us to the wrong direction.
Moreover, what is affecting the progress of the country is a big question that is yet to be answered. Sierra Leone is a nation of less than eight million populations, yet people are facing untold hardship in the country. The hardship has caused many young girls to go out of school and join prostitution just for them to survival with their families while young energetic guys are now addicted to drugs which is not good for the growth of the nation.
In all of these, the government really needs to put modalities in place to fight not only the issues of inflations, and electricity, but also the condition of young people in the country should be seriously addressed.
