By Abu Bakarr Jalloh
Sierra Leone’s wide-ranging institutional reforms have given rise to the phrase “good governance”, especially after the brutal civil war that lasted from 1991-2002, killing over 70,000 people and displacing about half of the population.
Bad governance was one of the main causes of the war, according to the 2004 report published by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). The report recommended sweeping reforms to deliver justice and fair competition and participation in politics and the economy. It emphasized on building state, political and social institutions in delivering these indispensable products/services.
Moreover, law enforcement institutions such as the judiciary, police service, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and the Anti-Corruption Commission are expected to make the TRC’s governance model work.
Since the end of the civil war, Parliament has passed series of laws aimed at achieving various good governance goals including stronger fiscal and managerial controls, greater transparency and accountability, monitoring by an independent judiciary and free news media, greater participation and competition in politics and the economy, and a stronger civil society.
Moreover, the 1991 Constitution is being reviewed to meet the conditions of respecting boundaries among key institutions such as the judiciary, parliament, and executive, the National Electoral Commission (NEC), the National Revenue Authority (NRA), the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), the National Mineral Agency and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Among the laws passed over the past two decades are the Income Tax Act 2000, Customs Act 2011, the Environmental Protection Act 2008, the Anti-Corruption Act 2008, the Mines and Minerals Act 2009, the Local Content Act 2016, the Political Party Registration Commission (PPRC) Act 2004, the Right to Access Information Act 2013.
Moreover, the media and civil society communities are being integrated into the governance ecosystem.
However, many experts argue that the “top-down” reforms adopted after the war have not stopped abuse of power and wealth and have failed to deliver justice and fair competition and participation in politics and the economy.
Assessing the model
It would be wrong to suggest that Sierra Leone’s good governance model has failed. First, the country has held five general elections since 1996. Secondly, the independence and monitoring of the judiciary has improved compared to before the war. The issue of various aspect of bad governance such as corruption or abuse of power and wealth are back on the national agenda.
President Julius Maada Bio, whose campaign promises included rooting out corruption, appointed Mr. Francis Ben Kaifala Esq as the new ACC Commissioner as soon as he took office after winning the 2018 presidential elections.
The ACC has since launched a special Court at the High Court to try corruption cases. In one year, it has recorded over 95 percent increase in corruption convictions and recovered over $2 million of cash and some stolen assets and properties, according to Commissioner Kaifala.
Human and technical resources at the police service and CID have improved with increasing number of police officers with degrees and quality training and skills. There has also been progress made in free news media, greater competition in the economy, and a stronger civil society.
The share of the private sector in the economy has been increasing steadily. Moreover, Sierra Leone has seen a sharp increase in the number of formal civil society organizations with diverse interests and concerns. For example, the National Advocacy Coalition on Extractives (NACE), which advocates for justice on behalf of communities hosting large scale mining activities, groups several Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs).
The media community is still celebrating last month’s repeal of the 55-year old Criminal and Seditious Libel law which they say government officials used to harass, intimidate, incarcerate, or keep them silenced. Progress has also been recorded for greater transparency and accountability, especially with the formation of The Right to Access Information Commission (RAIC) and the publication of the annual report of the Auditor General. The number of requests to access information from public institutions has increased from 48 cases in 2014 to 112 cases in 2020, according to RAIC.
There has also been an improvement in fiscal and managerial controls, especially progress in employment of sophisticated technologies.
For example, NRA’s Domestic Tax Department has just launched the Integrated Tax Administration System (ITAS) technology to overcome the challenge of bank reconciliation and accurate revenue data collection. Like the Automated System for Customs Data (ASYCUDA) at Customs, ITAS would automatically do bank reconciliation as soon as the domestic taxpayer pays at the bank, increasing efficiency and reducing risk of corruption.
In 2019, Sierra Leone improved its scores in many corruption indices including the Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perception Index (CPI) and the U.S Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) corruption control scorecard.
Sierra Leone’s rankings improved in the CPI from 129 in 2018 to 119 in 2019, out of 180 countries, while the MCC’s corruption control scorecard shows Sierra Leone increased its scores from 49 percent in 2018 to 79 percent in 2019.
However, many people argue that for large majority of the population, progress in terms of social development and economic growth has been very slow.
The seven million residents of this former British colony had a Gross National Income (GNI) per capita of only $500 in 2019, according to the World Bank. Over 60 percent of the population suffered from dimensional poverty.
Sierra Leone ranked 181 out of 189 countries in the 2019 Human Development Index (HDI), according to the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). Government expenditure on education was 4.6% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Literacy rate, adult (% ages 15 older) was 32.4%. Expected years of schooling were 10.2 years (10.6 years for male and 9.7 years for female). Mean years of schooling were 3.6 years (4.4 years for male and 2.8 years for female). Population with at least secondary education (% ages 25 older) was 26.3% (32.9% for male and 26.3% for female). Percentage of secondary schools with access to the internet was 3%.
Moreover, the 2019 HDI suggests that only 16 percent of Sierra Leoneans use improved sanitation facilities and a majority of them die before their 54th birthday.
Incidence of diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis is still high. Moreover, the infant and under-five mortality rate is 81 deaths per 1,000 live births and 110 deaths per 1,000 live births respectively.
Sierra Leone suffers from one of the world’s highest maternal mortality ratios of 1,360 deaths per 100,000 live births, according to World Health Organization (WHO) figures.
Some human rights experts argue that citizens’ fundamental rights, their right to life and liberty, freedom of opinion and expression, and right to work, education, access to information, and to participate in decisions affecting their lives are largely violated.
A model that works better
Better model is possible in Sierra Leone if we understand the history of how societies achieve good governance and reduce corruption. Best model is elusive primarily because even affluent market democracies such as the United States and United Kingdom have their own problems or syndromes of corruption or injustice.
Sierra Leone’s “top-down” model is what some anti-corruption scholars would call “turning history upside-down and backward.” In other words, Sierra Leone’s “top-down” approach that places institutions as suppliers and people and groups as consumers in the model is like turning history upside down.
Moreover, mistaking contention from below for stronger fiscal and managerial controls, greater transparency and accountability, monitoring by an independent judiciary and free news media, and a stronger civil society is like turning history backward.
History has thought us that strong state, political and social institutions or strong and effective law enforcement found in societies where elements of bad governance such as corruption are low emerged from people and groups with capacity to defend their political and economic wellbeing sustained by their lasting interests.
In other words, people and groups with prolonged and vigorous contentions could reach settlements on various issues they care about such as reducing corruption, delivering justice, establishing fair competition and participation in politics and the economy.
Some African countries adopting this kind of “bottom-up” reforms of people, groups, women, girls, youths, artists, workers have started enjoying good governance. For example, people and groups in Senegal, a West African country like Sierra Leone, used social capital and networks to stop President Abdoulaye Wade when he went against the constitution and ran for president for third term at the 2012 general elections.
It was not formal civil society organizations funded by donors that forced state institutions to try Karim Wade, the son of former president Wade, and sentenced him for six years in prison over corruption and abuse of power. It was informal civil society groups comprising of young people such as Y'en a Marre (we’ve had enough) that went to the streets to demand that President Wade be stopped and his son tried for corruption involving over $2 billion. Karim Wade who held several ministerial portfolios and oversaw almost all large scale projects, including energy and road infrastructure, was dubbed by local media as minister of the sun, the planets and the moons.
With a hashtag “Ne touche pas à ma Constitution” or “don’t touch my constitution” that went viral both in mainstream and social media, the group of young rappers led a peaceful and successful campaign that is being copied by many other people and groups across Africa.
The Y'en a Marre hip-hop group was successful primarily because they were able to build a network of people and groups who perceived a strong, self-interested stake in politics and a realistic chance of defending their interests. Also, the political settlement over the pardoning of Karim Wade did not come from above. Religious leaders from various faiths entrusted to settle dispute among people, groups and communities persuaded Prsident Macky Sall to pardon Karim. He was therefore in June 2016 granted a presidential pardon and released from prison after serving three years.
Unlike Senegal, Sierra Leone has very few human and technical resources to demand that others respect their interests, rights, and property. Transparency and accountability can only work if Sierra Leoneans have reasons and feel safe to look into data or information and can act on what they see.
For example, Sierra Leone lost Le140.9 billion (about $14 million) to irregularities of Ministries, Department, Agencies, Public Enterprises and Local Councils, according to the 2018 Auditor General’s Report.
Therefore, for the “bottom-up” reforms to work, Sierra Leone will have to empower people and groups with some degree of liberty and security or, at least, of political space to freely express their interests, concerns, fears or needs.
The stakes are high, especially in politics, the economy, society, technology, international, legal, and the environment arena. However, some of the benefits that might emerge from a “bottom-up” model include exponential productivity and innovation, deep democratization and control of corruption.
Mr. Abu Bakarr Jalloh is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at Sanusi Research & Consulting.
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