By Thomas Dixon
FREETOWN, July 14 (SALONE TIMES) – Since 2022, the grumblings of Sierra Leoneans on the cost of living have been deafening. This situation has put the Government of President Bio under intense criticism from his people.
Certainly, it is the right of the people to vent out their anger responsibly when things are not going right and it is incumbent on the government to listen to the voices of the people.
On Monday 5th July, Sierra Leonean Women organized a protest in the capital and some other parts of the country in the North, calling on several things including fuel and the general the cost of living in the country to be available at reasonable prices.
This was because the government of President Bio has not been able to ensure that the people of Sierra Leone understand that most of the things that are happening are not fault of President Bio.
The fact is that President Bio was elected on a platform of change and a new direction for Sierra Leone but that change has been punctuated by COVID-19- which started in China in 2020 and spread across the globe, the Russia-Ukraine War and the global inflation on prices of basic commodities.
It should be noted that Sierra Leone is not in isolation but part of the Global Village and like all other countries are feeling the pinch of both the pandemic and the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, so is Sierra Leone feeling the pangs.
COVID-19 has its toll on the global economy, consequently, affecting the whole world not excluding Sierra Leone. Developed and bigger economy collapsed not to talk of developing and smaller countries like Sierra Leone. Countries like the United States of America and the United Kingdom experienced shortages of food and other essential products
Thus, the pandemic caused shortages of food in the world which incidentally led to an increase in prices of commodities across the globe.
Before COVID, President Bio has already spent 21% of his government budget on Free Quality Education Policy, one of the few countries if not the only country doing it as at now. Even though Sierra Leone Economy is shrinking, President Bio still maintains 21% of its budget on Free Quality Education.
Even when the world was undergoing serious food shortages during COVID, the Government of President Bio ensured that they come up with Quick Action Economic Recovery Programme (QAERP) so that business people will able to buy essential commodities. The Government also came up with stimulus packages through NaCSA for the vulnerable in society.
Just as the World was slowly recovering from COVID, the Russian-Ukraine War started and the whole world was sunk into a deep mess again. It was believed that the Russia-Ukraine War won’t affect the globe but it has affected the world leading to food shortages and increase in the prices of commodities. This has also affected Sierra Leone
“The economy had begun to recover from the COVID shock, but it is now faced with renewed uncertainty. Following economic contraction in 2020, growth had resumed, driven in part by iron ore mining. However, the growth outlook now faces renewed uncertainty, against the backdrop of the Russia-Ukraine war, global inflationary pressures, and the continued threat of COVID outbreaks. After expanding by 5.7 percent in 2021 (the strongest post-recession recovery in about 80 years),” the June 2022 World Bank Sierra Leone Economic Update states.
From the above quote, one will notice that the government has made effort to energize the economy but it cannot have any good effect on the backdrop of Russia-Ukraine War, global inflationary pressures and the threats of COVID Outbreak.
The World Bank Continues, “the global economic growth is now expected to moderate to 3.2 percent in 2022, and 3.1 percent in 2023 reflecting hikes in critical food and fuel prices caused by Russia-Ukraine war, adding to existing inflationary pressures stemming from lingering supply bottlenecks and over-heating economies.”
Thus, as long as these things continue, there will be shortages of food and other commodities and it will only take a global solution to solve global problem.
However, it is about time, the government through it spokespeople began to explain this to the populace so that they can understand that the high cost of living is no fault of President Bio and that he is merely victim of global crisis.
