By Mabinty M. Kamara
The opposition National Grand Coalition (NGC) has said that Sierra Leone is in a state of ‘economic emergency’ and urged the government to stop resting on their laurels and do something about it.
“We at the NGC consider that at this moment our country is facing a state of economic emergency and that no other priority is more urgent now than reducing the burden of hardship on the common man,” the party said in a statement read out to journalists on Wednesday, as part of a press briefing dedicated to the state of affairs of the country.
NGC’s statement comes just a day after President Julius Maada Bio admitted the continued hardship as expressed by the public. But he called for patience, noting that his administration was working on it.
“I hear, I feel the pain and I can understand the common man who says the ‘grun dry’ and I can understand the language, but the development and improvement of the political, social and economic well-being of a human being does not come about easily," the president said at a function inaugurating the construction of a training center by the police wives association. He noted that his administration was working on the fundamentals which were also very important to get to the right destination.
Despite Bio's appeal and assurance, however, NGC believes it would take more than what the government is currently doing to change the status quo.
Arthur Pearce, the opposition party's Regional Coordinator in the Western Area, said they have been highlighting the possible solutions to the government but that they have been ignored by the administration.
“Our leader in Parliament, Dr. Kandeh Yumkella, has made several suggestions to the government in Parliament on the need to genuinely look for other stakeholders to help address the economic situation in the country, but the government thinks it's a political game. But our concern is with the interest of the people. That is why we have now called upon the media to let them know that the current economic situation, if not treated with seriousness, will not be fine for the common man in the country,” Pearce said told Politico.
NGC is not the only party that has expressed concerns over the state of the economy. Lawmakers from the main opposition All Peoples Congress APC) bench in the House on Wednesday called on the Minister of Finance, Jacob Jusu Saffa and the Governor of Bank of Sierra Leone, Professor Kelfala Muana Kallon, to face parliament and explain the circumstances surrounding the state of affairs.
NGC, in its statement, said three out of every five Sierra Leoneans today were living below the poverty line. The party said this is the result of many years of mismanagement, corruption and bad governance in the country.
“What we the political leaders need to understand is that the great call for change that we heard from the people in the 2018 election was not merely for a change of Government but for a change from the hardship they have endured for so long. What we the political leaders need to understand is that the people are losing patience and we can no longer pretend that all is well. Hardship for the common man and woman in Sierra Leone today is not imaginary it is real,” it reads.
NGC officials also expressed concerns over the potential security implication of this current ‘economic emergency’, citing the growing wave of protests in countries like Hong Kong, Chile, Lebanon and Algeria.
© 2019 Politico Online
