By: Albert David
As President Julius Maada Bio ushers in 2026 with a declaration of a “Year of Action”, the irony is not lost on the millions of Sierra Leoneans grappling with the daily realities of hunger, unemployment, and institutional decay. The President’s call for unity, discipline, and shared responsibility rings hollow against a backdrop of reckless spending, shrinking civic space, and a humanitarian crisis that has reached alarming proportions.
In a nation where hundreds of millions of dollars in international aid, grants, loans and donor support have been funneled into food security initiatives like “Feed Salone,” the sight of citizens scaling the Presidential Lodge fence in search of rice is not just symbolic, it is damning. It exposes the catastrophic failure of governance, where the promise of sustenance has been replaced by desperation. The World Food Programme’s recent findings confirm what many already know. Sierra Leone is teetering on the edge of mass starvation.
While ordinary citizens scavenge for basic necessities, the ruling elite indulge in luxury vehicles, private jets, and five-star accommodations abroad. These expenditures are not just fiscally irresponsible, they are morally indefensible. The optics of opulence in a country where even the State House and Parliament rely on water trucks due to the absence of piped water is a grotesque contradiction.
The judiciary, once a pillar of democratic accountability, now stands accused of complicity in political repression. Independent voices are silenced, journalists harassed, and dissent criminalized. State institutions have been weaponized to protect drug traffickers and suppress civic activism, eroding public trust and undermining the rule of law.
The unresolved encroachment of Yenga remains a national security threat, yet it is eclipsed by the internal erosion of civic space. Political intimidation, unlawful detentions, and censorship have become normalized. The press, once vibrant, is now either co-opted or crushed. The private sector faces undue interference, and nepotism flourishes under the guise of national development.
Education has been reduced to a shadow of its former self, with underfunded schools and demoralized teachers. The health infrastructure is in ruins, electricity supply erratic, and public service delivery virtually nonexistent. These are not mere administrative lapses, they are systemic failures that betray the very essence of governance.
Sierra Leone’s global standing has plummeted. The arrest of diplomats for narcotics trafficking, the proliferation of drug addiction deaths, and the harboring of internationally wanted criminal have cast a long shadow over the country’s credibility. What was once a beacon of post-war recovery is now a cautionary tale of regression.
If 2026 is truly to be a “Year of Action,” then it must begin with accountability, transparency, and ethical governance. The President must confront the uncomfortable truths of his administration’s failures and embrace a civic reckoning. This is not a time for slogans or ceremonial declarations, it is a time for radical reform, institutional integrity, and a recommitment to the people of Sierra Leone.
The nation deserves more than rhetoric. It deserves leadership that listens, reforms that deliver, and a government that serves, not suppresses its citizens.
