On 14th April 2025, the Ministry of Information and Civic Education issued a press release heralding what it described as a successful conclusion of the recent International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission to the country. But beyond the polished language and cherry-picked statistics lies a disconcerting reality: the Bio-led Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) government continues to thrive on orchestrated misinformation, manipulating facts not just to save face, but to cover up the deepening economic catastrophe it has created.
This regime, which lied its way to power in 2018, and lied again to retain it in 2023, now believes it can lie its way out of the economic mess it has plunged the country into. Just as they concocted school examination results to paint a false picture of educational improvement, they now peddle doctored inflation figures and expenditures figures in dealings even with global financial institutions such as the IMF and World Bank.
The claim that inflation has dropped from a staggering 54.5% in October 2023 to a miraculous 13.1% in February 2025 is not only economically absurd, it is an insult to the intelligence of Sierra Leoneans who grapple daily with soaring food prices, hunger, and a cost of living crisis. Even more shocking, insiders in the financial sector confirm that this laughable statistic triggered an open rebuke from the IMF delegation. According to a reliable source in the economic management cadre who is privy to the discussion: “I’ve never experienced such humiliation throughout my professional work.” Sources describe how IMF officials labeled the SLPP government’s inflation data as “not credible” and “manipulated,” causing deep embarrassment to local technocrats forced to defend indefensible lies.
And herein lies the dangerous pattern: from education to energy to macroeconomic management, the SLPP government has spun an elaborate web of deception. Their press release: smugly stamped “Approved”, stands as a symbol not of transparency, but of cynical propaganda.
The implications of the IMF’s freezing of support are as dire as they are far-reaching. For a government that relies heavily on IMF disbursements to fund the budget allocations of Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs), this freeze is tantamount to shutting down the engine of state. The SLPP government cannot function. Salaries for public sector workers hang in the balance. Social services risk being paralyzed. And the suffering of ordinary citizens, already battered by hardship, will only worsen.
To compound matters, President Julius Maada Bio and the Minister of Finance have both recently admitted that the National Revenue Authority (NRA) has failed to meet its revenue targets. Why? Because their overbearing taxation policies and unsound fiscal management have crippled businesses and driven investors away. Also, the reckless spending without adherence to IMF regulations has led to breaching of the benchmarks for disbursement. This is the first time in the history of Sierra Leone that at the early inception of having a programme with IMF, the government has failed two successive reviews.
The message the IMF freeze sends to the global investment community is crystal clear: Sierra Leone does not have an adequate macroeconomic framework conducive for foreign investments. In other words, the country is not an economically safe place to do business. The “certificate of comfort” that investors and other development partners typically require from the IMF before committing funds will now be withheld.
Similarly, other institutions that provide budgetary support will also pause their budgetary support. They will not channel funds to a government that is fiscally undisciplined and chronically dishonest.
This is a moment of reckoning, not just for the Bio administration, but for all Sierra Leoneans. The SLPP government must be held accountable. There must be a loud and united demand for transparency and truth. The SLPP government must own up to its failures and engage the public honestly. The era of lies must end.
There is still a narrow path to redemption, but it requires humility and honesty. The government must abandon its overzealous partisan approach to governance and begin to put national economic growth above personal ego and arrogance. It must embrace bipartisan cooperation to chart a new direction, not the catastrophic “New Direction” that has led us into crisis, but a true national agenda anchored in integrity, competence, and patriotism.
To die-hard supporters of the SLPP: realism must replace blind loyalty. The SLPP government has failed. Join the rest of the country in demanding better leadership and a future worth fighting for. Silence in the face of such brazen deception is complicity.
To the main opposition, the All People’s Congress (APC): the time has come to put your house in order. The people are weary, the nation is bleeding. Be the force of redemption. Offer a compelling and unified alternative that will rescue Sierra Leone from this abyss.
History will remember this moment, either as the point of no return or the turning point where truth, justice, and national salvation triumphed over lies.