A lot of hoopla was made about how the Work Permit Act 2023 was going to revolutionise revenue generation and collection in Sierra Leone. However, the proof has not been in the pudding as concerned Sierra Leoneans are demanding said proof of how such revenues were collected and spent.
The survival of any democratic government depends on how that regime can manage to stay afloat using tax and other revenue streams to keep government up and running and out of the Bretton Woods debt trap. As his government continues to struggle seeking more and better ways of raising public revenue to address funding stream pitfalls, not too long ago the ruling party government headed by president Julius Maada Bio disclosed how the issuing of work and residential permits was going to transform our government by making available to it much needed cash to meet the demands of a twenty-first century democratic state. Years down the line members of the public are asking the president and his cabinet to show proof of how such revenues, not limited to the granting of work and residential permits to foreign workers, public toilets, parking garages and the like, were collected and utilised.
‘Not too long ago our president and his team led us to believe that we can get more tax and other revenues by shifting our focus to traditional means of making money in government than borrowing from international financiers. Remember this regime was not going to beg; it was to craft local solutions to our global problems. It was going to avoid borrowing from the international donor market. The issuance of work permits and residential permits to foreign workers and others was to champion this idea going forward. Now we want to know how such funds were made and spent and the result of such spending. Surely members of the public, even the government benefited from the collection of such dues. However, we still don’t know how much was collected and much more important, how was such money spent and who gained much from it. We also don’t know how many foreign job seekers sought to come or are in country,’ said a member of the ruling party speaking from the heart of the central business district.
According to sources at the immigration, foreign business operators from across Africa, Asia and the rest of the world are in the habit of either not paying for or failing to renew the work and residential permits of expats, who after several years of being in the country work and reside as if they are residents not needing permits.
‘We got it from a credible source at Immigration that there are allegedly over 1 million foreign nationals working in Sierra Leone that don’t have work or residential permits. After such people from all over the world who want to work in Sierra Leone had paid for their original application for work and residential permits, they routinely fail to pay the expected dues going forward. There are many people here from Nigeria, Ghana, India, Pakistan, and further afield who have been here for so long, you would think they are Sierra Leoneans. The government was supposed to make significant revenues from such people working and living in Sierra Leone. But up to now we do not know how much is being made from the issuance of such permits and even if those that qualify for such permits continue to pay up until their stay is normalised. Our government is in desperate need of extra revenue streams. However, we need to know how these plans have worked out if we are to believe that any other plan to raise public revenue for our government to operate will work,’ stated the head of a civil society organisation.
The CSO head noted that while other countries in the region make significant amounts from the issuance of work and residential permits, Sierra Leone is becoming the home for all illegal aliens looking for somewhere to make a fresh start.
‘Surely this sort of thing will not happen in Guinea, Ivory Coast or Gambia. We know how strict these countries are when it comes to immigration control and seeking extra revenue streams for their governments. Recently Guinea deported hundreds of Sierra Leoneans for various reasons bordering on their involvement in illegal or illicit trades after staying in their country for a while. They know how much their governments depend on and need such revenues. However, in Sierra Leone it is hard to even hear of people being arrested for work and or residential work permit violations. It is as if we don’t even have foreigners working or living here,’ added the head of the civil society concern.
Meanwhile, it goes without saying that the SLPP led government is in desperate need of cash to fund its ideas and payroll obligations for which we need extra revenue streams.
‘Look governments don’t just survive from taxing mining and other concerns heavily for their expats to work and live in the country. There are many ways for the president and his cabinet to raise more revenue from local or national sources. Freetown is bursting at its seams as the city is congested. There is a desperate need for public toilets. The ones that we have in the city, for which I can only name a few at Falcon (EDSA), Bone Suffer and the Freetown Municipality Police headquarters at Wallace Johnson Street, Victoria Park, Bus Station are not enough. But we need more public toilets and WASH facilities in easier to reach places. Other ideas that should have long been incorporated by Bio’s government include but not limited to the building of parking garages. Cars and other vehicles find in hard to park anywhere in the CBD. It is long overdue for government to have constructed many parking lots and garages. There are lots of ways for government to raise funds from the public; however, for this to happen we need to show how well other plans have worked. This points to issues of accountability, something this regime is not known for,’ noted one of the CSO activists.
When you consider the amount of foreigners and foreign owned businesses in just Freetown, we expect for this regime to have collected significant revenue from work and residential permit holders. A congested city also presents more ways and means for extra revenue generation based on the reality on the ground – carbon emission taxing; the more smog your vehicle emit, the more tax you pay. However, getting to the bottom of how much has been raised and spent from the boastings made about the Work Permit Act of 2023, especially on what or who, is a herculean task as it points of issues of accountability, for which little if anything is available or should be expected from the current regime running our government of Sierra Leone.
