One of the finest initiatives that erstwhile President Ernest Bai Koroma did was to ensure that local entrepreneurs and businesses were empowered when he appended his signature to the proposal of making sure that the Local Content Policy becomes legally binding.
The intent was simply patriotic in the sense that for the country’s economy to boom it was ingenious to give leverage to local businesses to have some form of protectionist coverage in order to compete with foreign owned and based business entities that have the mighty financial muscles to dominate the market. It was against that background that the Finance Acts of 2016, 2917 and 2018 gained currency based on their numerous and immense benefits that the nation should accrue in tandem with their implementation. Those Acts stipulated clearly that taxes levied on goods and services that were imported must be a little bit higher that the same goods and services that are locally produced (Made in Sierra Leone) must pay.
A typical example of an entity which was benefitting greatly from the Local Content Policy was the Sierra Leone Brewery Limited (SLBL). Taking into cognizance the amount of imported or foreign alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages that were flooding the market and how that was affecting local industries in dwarfing them then it makes sense that Government should be very pro-active in promoting and enhancing the Local Content Policy.
When again consideration is given to the situation of sorghum farmers who are supplying SLBL with the raw product of sorghum used in the production chain and how their number is now over 25,000 country wide and stand to multiply exponentially then it will dawn how it is vital for a country, with a fragile economy, to deepen the implementation of the Local Content Policy.
Lamentably, for the SLPP political administration led by Maada Bio to disregard all the values that the Local Content Policy encompasses then by shredding the sections within the 2018 Finance Act that provide a safety net for local businesses then we are just seeing or experiencing that the current Government is not in any way mindful of furthering the aspirations of the people and the collective will of the populace.
Allegedly, it was understood that certain foreign business owners or proprietors bountifully and handsomely greased the hands of President Bio with the request of rescinding the Local Content Policy and according to further understanding lust for money influenced him(Bio) to act according to the dictate of the predators thereby deliberately slaughtering national interest on the alter personal aggrandizement.
Many are now speculating that certain local entities are going to lay down more workers and smuggling is going on unabatedly through our porous borders to deliberately dodge the payment of custom duties with the alliance between the business men cum smugglers. That being the case it will defeat the argument for rescinding the Local Content Policy which is generating more revenue
