November 26 Effects on Sierra Leone's Economy

By Mohamed Sheriff, Switzerland

Recently, the Least Developed Countries Report 2023 by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), call on the global community to urgently address the critical financial challenges faced by the world's 46 most vulnerable nations including Sierra Leone.

This report has mirrored the priority governance objectives of H.E. Julius Madda Bio's government since 2018 when he became the democratically elected President of the Republic of Sierra Leone, returning the SLPP to power after ten years in opposition.

The Julius Maada Bio led Government have had multiple national and international engagements with World Leaders, global financiers, and potential private sector investors for direct foreign investments in the areas of education, energy, health, infrastructure, trade, mining, transportation, fisheries, tourism among others. These engagements were efforts to rebrand Sierra Leone, and many have yielded dividends.

To keep Sierra Leone on this socio-economic transformation trajectory and build upon the tremendous gains made in the first five years, President Bio campaigned in the 2023 elections on the ' Big Five' priority game changing programmes to improve the lives of it people for the next five years.

The Big Five is a visionary national programme that include Feed Salone (Agriculture), Human Capital Development, Youth Empowerment Scheme, Revamping the Public Service Architecture, and Technology and Infrastructure.

The first step of government to make the national priorities a reality is the establishment of the National Investment Board. This will serve as the hub to break all the barriers for ease of doing business and to restore investors' confidence. It is a policy tool that will attract Foreign Direct Investments and establish a secured economic environment to achieve the government's priorities and accelerate progress through the private sector.

The November 26, 2023 incident was an unfortunate security breach, which the government has now characterised as an attempted coup, especially when a group of renegade individuals attacked the military armoury at Wilberforce, Cockerill, Murray Town, the Male and Female Correctional Centres, freeing the inmates, to cause their havoc. This temporary disruption of government institutions has serious economic implications. The National Revenue Authority (NRA) is losing millions of Leones in revenue generation on a daily basis. The private sector remains to count the loss in their efforts to contribute to national development programmes. Potential invetments have been held off in consideration of security issues. Our development partners are waiting for answers and explanation for such attempts at disturbing state operations.

It's important for every citizen to note that acts such as these horrific attacks greatly affect our every day life. Local businesses looking forward to increase their investment for the holidays ahead have had setbacks. This will affect the supply chain of key imported goods with prices hitting the roof in the coming weeks and months ahead.

Over the years, the Bio led Government has worked so hard for Sierra Leone to move from 'Fragile State' to a Peaceful and Democratic State after the eleven years civil war where thousands of forces and civilians were brutally killed.

In the 2023 Global Peace Index (GPI) from the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), Sierra Leone was ranked 47th globally and 4th in Africa and 3th in Sub-Saharan Africa, two places behind Mauritius and Botswana respectively.

Many citizens are hopeful that in the first quarter of 2024, the country would have experienced more foreign direct investment from the private sector to create thousands of jobs and boast the country’s economy in order to complement one of President Bio's Big Five Game Changers: Youth Empowerment Scheme.

But with such unpatriotic behaviour, most of the potential investors are worried, which means many young people who would have had employment through these companies will remain unemployed, and majority of the country’s population are young people.The government will employ more teachers, more health workers, more security forces, create jobs, stabilise the economy, but we need the private sector for the change that we want. The government wants every citizen to be a part of its Big Five development drive. Let us put the interest of Sierra Leone above all else.

Let us be mindful that no government can provide jobs for all its citizenry. Every government needs the private sector to create employment for its citizens. In fact, it's the private sector that creates the bulk of the jobs in a peaceful and democratic environment.

Therefore, it's incumbent on all patriotic citizens at home and abroad to say no to those who seek to disrupt our democracy and peace by seeking to overturn the people’s will by unlawful means. In order to improve on the quality of lives of the ordinary people amidst the global economic challenges, we must unite behind our government to succed.

In the recent national address, President Julius Maada Bio, Commander In-Chief of the Armed Forces, called on all to come together and embrace the values of peace, stability and democracy and reject every attempt to divide us through violence and unconstitutional means.
Sierra Leone is respected by the international community for her resilience in the face of adversity and her commitment to keeping the peace. Let's hold this up as our banner to the world.