By Habib M Sesay, PhD
Turning Point for the Worst for the Sierra Leone Economy
In spite of severe economic stress in sub-Sahara Africa in general and Sierra Leone in particular, President Siaka Stevens was determined to host the Organization of Africa Unity Heads of State Summit in Freetown, Sierra Leone in 1980. Although it was an historic occasion for Sierra Leoneans as Sierra Leone welcomed heads of state of Africa, it was a turning point for the economy in that the aftermath crippled the state and rocked the foundations of the national government. When the conference ended, the Government of Sierra Leone was virtually bankrupted. The treasury was unable to defray the monthly salary of civil servants and sundry administrative expenses.
The hosting of the Organization of African Unity Heads of State Summit in Sierra Leone fulfilled President Siaka Stevens long held ambition to become Chairman of the Organization of Africa Unity. The conference cost the Sierra Leone treasury two hundred million United States dollars (US $200,000,000) at time of severe economic stress.11The aftermath of the 1980 Organization of African Unity Heads of State Summit Conference was a turning point for the Treasury Department. The poor performance of all sectors of the economy and siphoning of financial resources from the national coffers which contributed to the inability of the treasury to defray remunerations of civil servants and cost of basic necessities is what William Reno described as manifestations of a “shadow state”.
The incidence caused rapid decline in the provision of basic social services and the collapse of local and national institutions. The author argues that primary, secondary and vocational schools, hospitals, health centres and clinics lacked the cash to carry out their daily schedule. Sierra Leoneans began to manifest the horrendous inflationary spiral when the price of basic commodities including the staple food, rice increased beyond the income of the average head of a household. Also, the streets in the capital-Freetown, regional headquarters cities of Bo, Kenena and Makein, feeder roads and highways were filled with pot holes and would not be maintained for the foreseeable future.
The hallmarks of a “failed state” were glaringly visible in the health and education sectors. In the health sector in particular, hospitals, clinics and community centers were without drugs, patients were expected to bring beds, beddings, cash to pay physicians nurses, forms and sterilization of surgical equipments. In the absence of ambulance service, pregnant women were brought to hospitals on motor bikes, bicycles and wheel barrows. Under such conditions, one would expect an increase in infant and maternal mortality rates. That was the case in Sierra Leone
As the economy spiraled down wards, the effects were visible everywhere including the education sector. One of the spectacular sights on streets of Freetown that caught the attention of editors of daily tabloids was elementary school children carrying benches on their heads to school. Indeed, the state of morass started with six month-delay in payment of the meager salaries of teachers. Tertiary institutions were not exempt. As the crisis worsened, the school lunch programme that provided sustenance for severely underprivileged children was terminated. Once more, the residents of Freetown experienced several weeks without electricity, inflation got out of control, price of basic foods increased disproportionately. It became a struggle for heads of households to put meal on the table for their children in Sierra Leone.
Plundering of State Resources
The dire economic straits that African countries experienced in the 1970’s and 1980s in general and in particular Sierra Leone was caused by greed, economic mismanagement of natural resources and uncontrolled financial plundering of the national treasury by inept central and local government officials of the chief executive including President Siaka Stevens and his cronies in State House. In that regard, SahrKpundeh contends that the incidence of corruption were so pervasive in 1982, 1984 and 1987 involving state officials that the National Provisional Ruling Council (NPRC) constituted the Beccles-Davies Commission of Enquiry into financial malpractices of state officials. In particular, Michael Abdulai, Minister of Transport signed a contract on behalf of the Government of Sierra Leone with Hamburg Ports Consultants of the Federal Republic of Germany. The Commission found that Michael Abdulai was slated to receive one hundred thousand United Stated dollars (US$100.000) per annum for the number of years that the company operated in Sierra Leon.
Conclusion and Recommendations
During the past half a century, the economic cum technological development of African countries in general and Sierra Leone in particular was curvilinear, segmented and slow relative to their counterparts in Europe, North and South East Asia. Indeed, whatever rudimentary progress that was achieved came at a tremendous human and ecological cost. While some countries for example oil producing countries including Nigeria, Libya and Togo performed better in terms of gross aggregate output, a few countries gained indicators that measured real sustainable development. Otherwise, most of the countries slid backward amidst ecological degradation and abject poverty. Nowhere else in the world did inflation and economic downturn hit with greater impact than African countries. Currently, the crisis in some African countries is exacerbated by the twin global drought and flood that threaten to permanently dispossess millions of subsistent farmers of their land. Sierra Leone is not an exception.
The author contends that despite the abundant mineral and agricultural resources, there is consensus among pundits that the past performance of the economies of African countries and the glooming forecast for the future mean that greater effort is needed at all levels - local, national and international to radically transform the present sluggish development trend. In that regard, the United Nations Special Sessions on balance of payment, development and financing recovery since the 1980s highlighted the economic crisis and international support for the fragile economies of African countries. The salient question is – when will the current dependency syndrome end? It is the candid opinion of this author that the limit to western economic and financial support is fast approaching. Therefore, the burden rests on the political leadership in Africa who has the ultimate sacred responsibility to mobilize compatriots for the development of a strategy building capacity that will reduce vulnerability.
Indeed, the factors that contributed to the protracted economic decline in Sierra Leone since the 1960s have been dilated upon in the preceding pages. The author writes that the current political, social and economic crises are the result of a combination of national and international policies including
- unemployment among youths
- internecine war
- oil price shocks that partially increased national debt
- inflation
- global economic downturn
- steep rise in international interest rate
- low price for primary resources and deterioration of terms of trade
- coups and military intervention in national politics
- undue expansion of public expenditure on non-income generating activities
- corruption: pillage of financial resources, drug trafficking and money laundering
- lack of basic social service
While the above factors have played significant role in aggravating the current economic experience, discussions have so far diverted attention away from solutions with emphasis on strategies of development which created the problems in the first place.
A programme for fundamental economic and financial restructuring in Africa in general and Sierra Leone in particular must place the interests of the poor and vulnerable groups at the core of domestic and national policies. In that regard, the author recommends the under mentioned as the way forward to rejuvenate the economy of Sierra Leone.
- Democratisation of political institutions at the national and local levels is considered a prerequisite for political, social and economic transformation. It must be sustained under the watchful eye of the international community.
- Mechanisation of Agricultural Sector to bring about self-sufficiency in food production and eradication of the current stagnated peasant subsistence farming.
- A massive injection of seven hundred billion leones over ten years to finance building of new affordable homes for current slum dwellers in Freetown and elsewhere in Sierra Leone; construction of highways, trunk and feeder roads, dilapidated bridges built during colonial era; resurface streets in the capital – Freetown, regional headquarters cities of Bo, Kenema, Makeni, New Sembehun, /Koidu, Bonthe and other urban communities. Rehabilitate tertiary institutions, secondary, vocational and elementary schools; government hospitals, clinics and community health centres everywhere in Sierra Leone. The huge investment scheme will create thousands of jobs that will reduce the current immeasurable high rate of unemployment.
- The revenues generated from the above massive injection, goods and services tax, royalties and sale of minerals will bring about a sense of self-reliance as a way forward to eradicate the dependency syndrome and nurture the culture of self-reliance in Sierra Leone.
- Probity, Accountability and Transparency are placed high on the agenda: The author points out that national and local government officials, civil servants as well as managers of parastatals are accountable to tax payers. Furthermore, policy-makers are to ensure that the under privileged are not over burdened with exigencies of debt, structural adjustment and payment for corrupt and extravagant mistakes of the ruling class.
- Environmental/Ecological Sustainability implies that multinational corporations and public institutions are held accountable to restore the damage they cause to the environment during mining operations. Corporations that violate national statutes pay the penalty. Essentially, corporate social responsibility must be encouraged at all levels of government.
In sum, political leaders in Sierra Leone and elsewhere in Africa are constitutionally obligated to protect cultural artifacts, norms, values and beliefs of Sierra Leonean and other African societies. They must neither dispose traditional norms for a paltry price nor use them as tradeoffs for bilateral and multilateral financial aid from developed countries, multinational corporations and international organizations. Indeed, the proposed robust seven hundred billion leones injection in to the economy will make a difference in the live of Sierra Leoneans and a positive impact on the Sierra Leone economy.
Note: a paper presented at the 16th Annual National Conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Knowledge on the theme From Policy to Practice: Bridging the Gap in Education in Nigeria scheduled at Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, Rumouolumeni-Port Harcourt, Nigeria 10th - 14th March
About the author: Habib M Sesay, PhD is Senior Lecturer at the Department of Political Science, Faculty of Social Sciences and Law,Fourah Bay College - University of Sierra Leone.
(C) Politico 10/03/16
