By Mahmud Tim Kargbo
Sierra Leoneans are no longer united in defending the nation because many have lost clarity regarding whom or what they are truly standing up for.
When political leaders allow themselves to be directed by external interests, citizens may believe they are defending the country when in truth they are shielding leaders who have failed them.
Every political side has let the people down, most painfully the poorest citizens.
This is the moment for independent thought and for placing Sierra Leone above partisan loyalty.
When the price of rice rises overnight, when fuel subsidies are lifted without warning, when the country cannot afford standard medical facilities for the majority of its citizens and when mining contracts are signed in secrecy, it is ordinary Sierra Leoneans who pay the cost. Families face deepening hardship, businesses struggle to plan, and the civil service, the backbone of the state, operates in a climate of uncertainty that makes it almost impossible to attract or retain capable professionals. In a country where predictability in governance is scarce, public institutions are weakened, investor confidence falters, and citizens lose faith in the state’s promises.
Radical uncertainty is no longer an abstract debate about policy. It is lived daily in homes, markets, schools, streets and hospitals. It is visible in the civil service where qualified professionals are discouraged from entering or remaining because appointments are politicised, wages are inconsistent, and career development depends more on loyalty than merit. This systemic uncertainty has crippled the ability of public institutions to deliver services effectively.
*Banking and Confidence:*
In the United States, Roosevelt’s 1933 bank holiday and the introduction of deposit insurance restored confidence. In Sierra Leone, however, banking crises have had the opposite effect, exposing how weak institutions and a demoralised civil service can intensify instability. The collapse of several community banks in the early 2000s and the turmoil surrounding the 2019 to 2020 restructuring of commercial banks bred deep mistrust in the financial sector. Audit Service Sierra Leone reported that “illiquidity in state-owned enterprises and poor oversight in banking supervision exposed depositors to unnecessary risks” (http://www.auditservice.gov.sl). Oversight failures often stem from underpaid or undertrained civil servants who cannot withstand political pressure. This erosion of trust drove many families back into informal osusu schemes, weakening the formal credit base required for long-term investment.
Radical Uncertainty in Policy:
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission warned that “economic mismanagement, corruption, and lack of predictability in governance fostered cynicism and despair” (http://www.sierraleonetrc.org). This warning continues to ring true. Abrupt fuel subsidy removals without social safety nets, arbitrary restrictions on foreign exchange, and inconsistent mining taxation all exemplify what businesses and citizens describe as policy chaos. Section 111 of the 1991 Constitution requires Parliament to authorise all public borrowing (http://www.sierra-leone.org/Laws/constitution1991.pdf), yet successive governments have contracted loans with little transparency. Within the civil service, this unpredictability has made it difficult to recruit skilled economists and policy planners, leaving ministries short of expertise at the very moment when stability is most needed.
*The Agricultural Analogy:*
Roosevelt’s Agricultural Adjustment Act attempted to raise food prices by restricting supply, to the detriment of consumers. Sierra Leone has repeated similar mistakes in its agricultural sector. In the early 1990s, under the NPRC military government (1992 to 1996), state-led efforts to control rice imports through monopolies distorted markets, leading to shortages and inflation. More recently, abrupt tariff increases and subsidy removals under the Bio administration triggered protests in Freetown and Makeni in 2022. According to Afrobarometer, 76 per cent of Sierra Leoneans cited food insecurity as their greatest concern (http://www.afrobarometer.org). The civil service, which should have been the driver of evidence-based agricultural planning, is too often under-resourced and politicised. Professional agronomists and planners are either excluded from decision-making or leave the service altogether, leaving food security policy vulnerable to short-term political calculations.
Mining and Radical Uncertainty:
If Roosevelt’s National Recovery Administration in America smothered businesses with arbitrary codes, Sierra Leone’s mining sector has gone further by embedding uncertainty that deters responsible investment and deprives the state of fair revenue. Under Ernest Bai Koroma, contracts such as the African Minerals concession in Tonkolili granted excessive tax holidays without parliamentary oversight (http://www.resourcecontracts.org). Julius Maada Bio campaigned in 2018 on a promise to revisit “all mining agreements not in the interest of Sierra Leone,” yet many remain unchanged. The TRC described this pattern as “the culture of impunity in resource governance” (http://www.sierraleonetrc.org). The civil service, which should safeguard national interest by providing technical scrutiny of contracts, is weakened by political interference and poor incentives. Experienced geologists, legal experts, and negotiators are often bypassed in favour of political loyalists, undermining transparency and professionalism in one of the country’s most important sectors.
Keynesian Promises and Fiscal Realities:
Political leaders in Sierra Leone frequently invoke the language of Keynesian public investment, but without safeguards or discipline. The 2022 Public Financial Management Annual Statement confirmed that “budgetary overruns and unauthorised virements have aggravated inflationary pressures” (http://www.mofed.gov.sl). Debt-to-GDP climbed above 90 per cent in 2023, according to the IMF (http://www.imf.org), leaving little room for productive public spending. Unlike Roosevelt’s Gold Reserve Act in the United States, Sierra Leone has no stabilising mechanism beyond foreign borrowing, exposing the economy to external shocks. The civil service, which ought to provide the analytical backbone for fiscal planning, is undermined by low morale and the politicisation of appointments. Skilled accountants and auditors either leave for the private sector or are silenced by political directives, leaving fiscal management vulnerable to abuse.
Confidence, Investment, and Families:
Erratic tax enforcement, sudden asset seizures, and political targeting of business figures have created what investors call “policy risk.” The Sierra Leone Chamber of Commerce warned in 2021 that “businesses are unable to plan beyond six months due to unpredictable fiscal policy” (http://www.chambersl.org). The civil service has a direct role in this. When professional tax officers and regulators are pressured to act politically, businesses lose confidence and families bear the consequences. Statistics Sierra Leone reports unemployment at 5 per cent but underemployment at over 60 per cent, particularly among young people (http://www.statistics.sl). These figures reveal how weak governance and a demoralised civil service combine to deepen poverty and insecurity.
Lessons for Sierra Leone:
The lesson is clear. Stable, transparent, and predictable governance, not radical improvisation, is the foundation of prosperity. The 1991 Constitution, the Public Financial Management Act 2016, and the Public Procurement Act 2016 already provide mechanisms to ensure accountability and predictability. The tragedy is their chronic neglect. The TRC cautioned that “without respect for the rule of law and transparent governance, Sierra Leone will not escape the cycle of instability” (http://www.sierraleonetrc.org). That cycle cannot be broken without a professional civil service, equipped, protected, and respected to uphold the national interest.
Just as families and businesses require stability to plan, so too does the civil service need consistency and professional independence to function effectively. Sierra Leone’s recovery from debt and inflation will not come through populist announcements but through adherence to fiscal rules, credible procurement, fair mining agreements, and the rebuilding of a competent civil service. Otherwise, our own “new deals” will continue to burden citizens with uncertainty, unemployment, and mistrust in the state.
Disclaimer:
The views expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author and do not in anyway reflect the opinions or editorial policy of Africa Publicity
