By Mohamed Sankoh (One Drop)
If there is any political party that perfectly personifies the adage of only a bad workman that always blames his tools; the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) is a personification of that maxim. At first it was the loud-sounding nothing of “we inherited a broken economy in living memory”. Then it was “the APC [All People’s Congress] is not giving us a chance to rule”. And then came “they have hoarded the Leone in their homes which has led to shortages of monies in the local banks”.
And now it is “external factors [that are] impacting commodity prices”, which are responsible for the mismanagement of the country’s economy and the skyrocketing of the prices of essential commodities. But what the Strategic Communications Unit in the Ministry of Information and Communications fails to add are the over-bloated Wage Bill and the hundreds of thousands of United States’ dollars which are spent on the assemblage of hangers-on each and every time President Julius Maada Bio embarks on his trademarked foreign escapades that are, in fact, the cardinal factors for the current economic mess in Sierra Leone!
I’m surprised at those who are surprised at the surprisingly accusation of “the Opposition” by the SLPP for “making political capital out of the unbearable [economic] situation…” which the country now faces. When President Bio and his SLPP were campaigning in 2018 they promised, in their so-called “People’s Manifesto”, that “the SLPP [is] the only Party with the correct Agenda to change and transform Sierra Leone into a bouncing and prosperous 21st Century middle-income economy for the benefit of all…” So, in essence, they were saying that they were the only ones capable of fixing any future economic bulwarks and bottlenecks which the country would, or could, face.
But now, some of the same epithets which President Bio and his SLPP used in that 2018 Manifesto are now sticking up like sore thumbs or obstinate ghosts haunting their creators. As predicted in that SLPP 2018 Manifesto, under the watchful watch of the inept SLPP government Sierra Leone is now facing “…The realities of excruciating poverty and unaffordable education; a youth quake of unskilled, underemployed and unemployed youth roaming the streets; ballooning food prices and food insecurity; widespread indiscipline and the breakdown of law and order….” Yet, the Strategic Communications Unit in the Ministry of Information and Communications has the audacity to fallaciously state that “…we are better off than our neighbours [Guineans and Liberians]”. But in the same breath they assert that, “In Guinea, for example, a bag of rice is Le320,000 per bag”, while in Sierra Leone it is Le400,000. The SLPP government’s arguments in support of why the prices of a bag of cement and that of rice have risen to the top of the Bintumani Mountain are ridiculous in their ridiculousness as they are funnily funny!
Even the unadulterated and unrepentant SLPP chief propagandist, Sorie Fofana of the Global Times newspaper, knows that the SLPP has messed up bigly. In his usual terse “Short Comment” commentary last Friday titled “SLPP: Unite Or Perish”, he honestly stated that, “…The SLPP was elected in 2018 to fix the country’s broken economy and collapsing social services. Nobody is interested in excuses any more. The party should get on with the job for which they were elected to office in 2018….” This is truly true as it is a home truth coming from a home boy who is slowly, but reluctantly, seeing the light (Biblically-speak as in Saul on his way to Damascus.)!
But whether this is a slip of tongue (or slip of fingers on a computer keyboard) or not, Mr Fofana, of the “Manjoroka” fame, has clearly hammered home the point that the SLPP should stop playing the cry-baby and accept the fact that it has failing failed with distinction. For over three years now; President Bio and his SLPP government are still unable to “get on with the job for which they were elected to office in 2018”. And no matter which pun or diction the Strategic Communications Unit in the Ministry of Information and Communications uses to justify the unjustifiable; the SLPP government can be aptly described as a painted tomb!
I have been writing it in my One Dropian droppings many times. And I will write it today for the umpteenth time that no matter if a pig is dressed in queenly frock, complete with a diamonds-studded crown and silver staff; it will still be a pig! If things are the way they are in the country, at present, it is because the SLPP government doesn’t seem to have any clue of how to fix the economy which they promised they would if elected. And President Bio, himself, told Parliament on Thursday 10 May 2018 that, “taking tough policy actions is imperative to tackle the current serious economic situation that we have inherited…” But instead of “taking tough policy actions” to solve “the current serious economic situation” in the country, he has been travelling overseas with the frequency with which he breathes air. Why can’t President Bio stay at home for six months uninterruptedly and try to solve some of the bread and butter issues, which he promised he would?
What is expected of the Strategic Communications Unit in the Ministry of Information and Communications is not to bore us with the processes of how a seed of rice is planted until it reaches Sierra Leone in a bag. What is expected of the SLPP “Poapagandists” is to accept the fact that “nobody is interested in excuses any more” because the SLPP “should get on with the job for which they were elected to office in 2018” (to quote Sorie Fofana).
And what is worryingly worrisome is when the SLPP government is now using the COVID-19 pandemic as its new scapegoat for its fiscal ineptitude, maladministration, and lip service on the fight against corruption. Agreed that COVID-19 has placed some restrictions on the movements of goods and services across borders and on the high seas; but are presidential appointees still not receiving their hefty salaries and other mouth-watering allowances every month? Even at the height of COVID, were President Bio and the First Lady not travelling overseas with their assemblages of hangers-on costing the State millions of United States’ dollars? And with COVID, is the SLPP government not opening new Embassies and Missions abroad to create more jobs for the boys?
So, those who are telling us that “external factors [are] impacting commodity prices” in Sierra Leone should tell that to the dogs! Majority of the people of Sierra Leone are looking up to their government for solutions not complaints and excuses as the cry-baby SLPP government is now known for. Prior to the 2018 elections, the SLPP so-called economists were putting on airs that they and their party had all the solutions to Sierra Leone’s would-be economic woes. And now that they have been put to the test, they are making all sorts of excuses.
And from the mumbo-jumbo published last week on both the traditional and social media, it appears that the Strategic Communications Unit in the Ministry of Information and Communications is living in a fool’s paradise! And fools will always be fools no matter what logic is being employed to hammer home the realities on their thick skulls. So, I can understand when fools are making foolery of their foolishness. You can’t take that from them!
[email protected]/+232-76-611-986