(Batherindor’s Pen)
The political landscape of Sierra Leone is currently replete with despair and despondency. Life, as was brazenly promised and verbalised by the current regime has not shown any iota of positive reverberation for the people. What pertains today is evidential frustrations, pain and regret by those who fell for their tantalising deceptive political bait that was laced with words of hallucinations and fantasy. It is all evident today that the country is currently constricted by high cost of living. Necessities such as rice, oil palm, pepper, onions and more are in the all-time high and costly. Added to this is the erratic nature of fluctuating price increase which often occurs like a loose cannon.
Under this regime, the country has suffered its highest rate of inflation souring at the highest double digits within the past five years (47.3% in 2023) an astronomically insane situation. Lack of tangible economic growth, poor fiscal management policies and a dearth in real investment could be attributed to this. In this kind of climate, unemployment is at its highest even though the government keeps dabbling figures that do not add up to actuality and unreflective of the country’s demography especially the youths. According to the global economy.com; the latest value from 2024 is 3.13 percent, a decline from 3.15 percent in 2023.
In comparison, the world average is 6.80 percent, based on data from 176 countries. Historically, the average for Sierra Leone from 1991 to 2024 is 3.99 percent. The minimum value, 3.13 percent, was reached in 2024 while the maximum of 4.68 percent was recorded in 2014.
A Ship on Stagnant Waters
This reality has made the country reflect the picture of a ship standing in the open seas with the ability to sail but unable to do so. This is because of the abysmally poor and incapacitated captain. The ship seems to be on self-beating oozing dark plumes of smoke and ramming the horizon with loud blaring deafening horns (voovozelaing) but still standing in one place. The situation of this government can also be likened to the biblical fig tree in the book of Mark 11:12-25 where Jesus encountered a fig tree that had buoyant “ever green leaves” but lacking fruits which was a symbol of hypocrisy, spiritual bareness and emptiness.
According to this gospel account, Jesus was hungry and this fig tree with green leaves led him to expect fruit, but he found none. As a result, Jesus declared: “May you never bear fruit again”. Sierra Leoneans are therefore not expecting much from this dust stirring, tongue wagging and empty barking government.
The Gloom that Looms
With the high sounding nothing of how much they have achieved in a little over seven years, the country’s atmosphere is eerie with cries from the populace on the dire economic situation and high unemployment that has plunged a greater percentage of young people into drug abuse and prostitution both as an escape and a means of livelihood. So gothic are the scenes that emerged recently that one keeps imagining if we are in a real war-torn situation. Never in the history of this country could dead bodies be seen strewn in different parts of the city with flies and the stench of decomposing cops perforating the air. It is the saddest turn of event that has occurred in a country that has had its own bite of anguish in recent times. Yet in all these, the current regime is unapologetically arrogant about the plight of the people.
A Narco State in the Making?
As if all that has been happening is not enough, Sierra Leone is currently engulfed with a rising tide of dangerous drugs that has brought the country to international spotlight for the wrong reasons. The country is fastly becoming a conduit for dangerous drugs transshipment with several incidences pointing to this. A number of boats had been seen with alleged consignments of drugs that often mysteriously disappear without trace. A particular foreign government had alleged that a fugitive drug baron who is a citizen of theirs is hiding in the country. There have been several media reports on this but there has not been a clear voice from the government save for a recent notice from the police that they have conducted searches but had found no person of the description alleged.
Tidal Waves of Doom and Gloom
In the light of all of these occurrences, despondency is rife in the minds of many. A lot of people are losing hope on the very notion of life merely existing to see one day at a time. It is believed that sadness has become a lifestyle for people in Sierra Leone. In fact, Sierra Leone has been ranked as the least happy country in Africa and the second least happy in the world, according to the latest Global Happiness Report 2025 by the global sadness barometer. The country placed 146th out of 147 nations. If this is true can there be any denial on what state the people are in currently? In a country where sadness is so high what rate of productivity could one expect? It is all doom and gloom but the government is projecting otherwise.
The Political Transitional Landscape
As all this is ongoing, there is an undercurrent brewing in the political landscape. Both parties in the country are clamoring albeit in various ways for the envisaged transition leading up to the next elections. New faces are rising in both the SLPP and APC to claim the mandate for leadership come 2028. In both parties very young people seem to be throwing their weight for a change in the political trajectory.
Prominent in the ruling regime is the young Chief Minister David Moinina Sengeh who has been in the administrative limelight for some time with notable media clashes on his personality.
For the main opposition All Peoples Congress, a name reverberating with competence and a new paradigm has also emerged in the person of Dr. Ibrahim Bangura whom many have dubbed “The Son of the Sun” meaning, a child of the APC party through and through.
To be continued …
