By Hassan Osman Kargbo

Life has been challenging for many not only in the interiors, but also in the capital City of Freetown. The high level of hardship in the country has becoming alarming which the government need to take serious action if only they are concerned about the welfare of the citizen in the country. There is a widespread of public outcry about the increase scale of hardship in the country, ranging from law salary income, prices of goods and services particularly the price of our local commodities such as pepper, onions and also the price of our staple food which is rice is seriously going out of hand.

Government has come and go but we are still facing difficulties when it comes to our stable food. We have seen a lot of stillborn promises from previous political leaders and in this current regime, we have witnessed another promise and yet there’s nothing to show for it. Sierra Leone is a country where the bread and butter issue is still a problem for the common man and our political leaders seem not to be doing nothing about that. It could be recalled that in the 2018 SLPP Manifesto, the then Presidential candidate and his allies promised the people of Sierra Leone “a New Direction’ a direction they claimed would help the ordinary man from the suffering of the then Koroma’s administration. They promised to build Sierra Leone and unit the country, bringing peace, create job opportunities for youth, food, education, and many more.

Now, going by the then manifesto promises made by the SLPP government and the prevailing circumstances in the ground; you will agree with me that President Bio and his SLPP government have failed the people of this nation. Because what they wrote in their manifestos and what’s the reality in the ground are two different things. Instead of the hardship to decreases in the country, the hardship is increasing at the detriment of the citizens on a daily basis. In his first term in office, President Bio failed to live up to expectation of the people in which many say he couldn’t deserve a second term in office because he spent five-year without maintaining if not to reduce the price of local commodities in the country. It will be surprising to note that some of our local products in the country are more expensive than the products that are imported in Sierra Leone. The question is why our local product should be expensive than the products that are normal coming in the country? That shows how the hardship in the country is seriously going out of hands.

Fast forward to today; President Julius Maada Bio was elected as President of Sierra Leone for the second term in office. Though many including the main opposition APC party  had questioned the credibility and transparency of the June 2023 election, the President continue with his administration and had started his effective work as the President of the nation. However, elections are over and the people are expecting a lot from President Bio in his team. The question that trigger my mind is, will Sierra Leoneans have a better life in President Bio second term? Considering the fact that he didn’t deliver on his campaign promises to tackle poverty and hunger during his first term.

Moreover, one might say the President clearly aware of the hardship in the country and he also aware that he didn’t live up to expectation in his first term in office, because his second term flagship programme is; ‘Feed Salone.’  In other words, his priority in this second term is to ensure Sierra Leone is food self-sufficient within the next five years. Sierra Leoneans at home and abroad have seriously questioned the new direction’s manifesto and many say this government is not serious in addressing the issue of hardship because prices are skyrocketing and the job opportunity is not encouraging for the citizens. Majority of the youth are jobless and their survivals only remains in God’s hands.

The hardship rate is alarming in the country, because It could be interesting to note that prices have jumped rapidly in the country. Before this time, a bag of rice was below 500NL, but at present a bag of rice is now above 800NL and the minimum wage is below 800NL which is not encouraging for the common man. A cup of rice, the basic unit of measurement now goes for 5NL and it killing people slowly. A price of vegetable oil now costs above NL1000.

A bag of local salt has also gone up and this is disheartening in a country where we are below 8 million population, yet citizens are facing a lot of hardship. As the price of food stuffs continue to propel unabated, the price of building materials and services has also correspondingly reached unprecedented high proportions.

In all of this, this current dispensation needs to put things together so that they could attract Investor to come and invest in the country. This might help to minimize if not to end the high rate of unemployment in the country. Hardship is clearly visible and people really deserve better. Until then this is not the Sierra Leone we have been anticipating for. The country deserve better!

The Government does not seem to have the solution to stem the tide, and this has created strong apprehension about looming hunger and economic crises in Sierra Leone. This situation needs urgent action, but if things continue like this, citizens might question the competency of the President.