That one of the leaders of the financial and fiscal sector, especially Government’s Chief Economic Adviser and Governor of the Bank of Sierra Leone, Professor Kaifala Kallon is urging this nation to pray as there is nothing he can do about economy, clearly exposed failure at the top. His call placed the economy on a life support machine, having auctioned millions of United States Dollars.
The nosedived bad governance plight of the economy under the Julius Maada Bio hegemony as president, deserves a complete overhaul which will inject fresh reforms in the system, setting aside patronage. Patronage in any way should not eclipse national interests as it is now.
Nation first, Sierra Leone first…were among dozen nationalistic slogans that there were chanted during the 2018 elections. However these seem to be less considered these days, specifically in the management of public finance expenditures and fiscal policy formulations for the general good.
Fiscal and economic challenges are more national in that they affect the lives of all and sundry, irrespective of one’s social, political and economic status in society. Bio and his hardly talked about New Direction manifesto must be seen in action now, moving forward. And retaining an incompetent friend like the Governor of the BSL, Prof Kallon is widely deem as act of corruption, as it undermines performances and professionalism in the fiscal sector. Kallon is the longest serving public servant at the BSL, but has no positive change at the Central Bank. So he must have respectfully taken his leave of the bank and the government by now.
The fact that certain people were hired without due diligence, because of their relationships with the party, backed by political opportunism though their incompetence on the jobs later exposed them then the government has no business in wasting time to fire weak links within the system. BSL Governor Kallon in cajoling Bio into the currency denomination scheme, has auctioned USD5M in September 2019, USD5M on 5th August 2020 and Wednesday 28th September 2022 the bank also auctioned USD8M all in furtherance to position the Leone. But all of that did not work as anticipated, onto the era of the new Leone, which bears no difference against the foreign exchange. The bank Governor should therefore be sacked for deceiving not only his boss but this nation and for his failures in proffering professional advice to the government professional fiscal management. Except if Bio wants to continue to stomach blames for everything, then he can keep the BSL Governor on his job. The public expect much from government’s fiscal and financial sector to deliver the goodies. Like the PM on top of her own situation on No 10 Downing Street, London in the United Kingdom has done, when she sacked the former Chancellor of the Exchequer, Right Hon. Kwasi Kwarteng. This is why citizens want Bio to replace the Central Bank Governor.
The Bank Governor and others are paid directly from the Consolidated Revenue Fund. On that note, the job of the Governor at the BSL should be replaced with a very competent citizen who is capable of reforming the economy.
Some key reasons why many Sierra Leoneans want Kallon to be replaced, is that it under his stewardship the foreign exchange especially the almighty United States Dollar has gone out of hands. The USD has been auctioned twice or so; twice prior to the denomination of the Leone and once after the launch of the new currency, yet there is no value / nor impressive difference in the exchange rates. Afterwards, all the Governor has admitted that there is nothing he can do about the situation, but didn’t resign from his job. He advised government to do the redenomination of the local currency with the expectation of positively impact on the foreign exchange rates, yet the new Leone has made no meaningful impact in the financial market. The Leone is now around Le1 to $ 1.7. Hitherto his outburst Bio told a BBC interview in Freetown said there is nothing he can do about the present economic situation in Sierra Leone, which depicted leadership failure at the top.
Fiscal and economic reforms, with prudent management promised by Bio in 2018 via his failed New Direction blueprint, has not served the purpose. Hopes are being dashed with cries of economic hardship. The reforms promised five years ago are nowhere to be seen. And blames of broken economy, rampant public sector corruption, financial and fiscal disorderliness continue to be heaped on the shoulders of the last government, as if the incumbent leaders are not capable of fixing their self-created/inherited rots. Though leaderships are in to solve problems, BSL Governor Kallon in 2018 blamed the depreciation of the Leone on corruption et al. Kallon told Global Times in an interview that the past All People’s Congress (APC) administration were blamed their economic failures on the fall in the price of iron ore in the world market and the Ebola Virus Disease outbreak in West Africa. A situation the then opposition Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) trivialize for political scorecards.
Sadly though, Bio’s New Direction promises of fiscal and economic reforms remained unfulfilled due to lack of professional supervision and professional advice to the presidency on critical public expenditures, since 4th April 2018 when the SLPP formed government. These are facts Governor Kallon and other SLPP stooges do not want people to talk about, ignoring the fact that the economic situation can be hardly discussed without referencing the poor performances of the BSL; the incompetent man in the fiscal sector who continues to deceiving Bio. Kallon is part of reasons for the disgraceful depreciation of the Leone. As a Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of Sierra Leone, Kallon lacks what it takes to offer the right advice in the areas of public finance expenditures and proper economic management of state resources from the BSL outlook, through sober police formulations and implementations. Bio knows the level of incompetence of him but does not wants to hurt his friend at all. Government of whichever brand, should always be mindful that the people are the largest constituency in the geopolitics of Sierra Leone. Thus state matters relating to the wellbeing of the citizens ought not to be compromised by an unqualified state liability like Kallon.
Besides keeping the Central Bank Governor, Kallon from day one when he started clumsily to date, when the Leone is nothing to be proud of. Leadership to handle and address the current fiscal and economic challenges faced by Sierra Leoneans is highly urgent. Prof. Kaifala Kallon is no longer up to the task. To avoid further national and international disgrace of existing political leadership of the country and SLPP party, Bio needs to replace the current BSL Bank Governor and save the situation from further economic hardships.
