- Prince Macauley Affirms
Whilst political parties are busy wooing voters, little is said about how they intend to revive the economy, a very important aspect in the livelihood of citizens. The essence of electioneering is to tell the people how a political party or individual is going to make life better for them, and this is often included in their manifestos, but to date, little is being said about this all important sector, other than talk about strongholds etc.
One of Sierra Leone’s finest Economists, Prince Jacob Macauley, has raised the issue, calling for political parties contesting the June 24th elections to include in their manifestos, their respective plans to address the economic situation in the country. This, he said is the bread and butter issue that the populace is crying for, and all other things could then follow. He maintained that for any country or any kind of development to take place in a country, the economic situation should be the prime most factor to be addressed.
It could be recalled that when President Bio took office in 2018, his first statement to the nation and the world, via his address to Parliament was that he inherited a broken economy, but despite that admission and recognition, his government has not been able to fix the economy. Today the economy is on life support. Macauley noted that the prices of every commodity is dictated by the exchange rate of the dollar, and currently, the dollar has appreciated far above comprehension, resulting in an exponential increase of the prices of all commodities in the market. This situation has brought untold hardship on the populace, with families unable to have a full day’s meal on the table.
Macauley noted that only prudent economic policies by seasoned economists will be able to lift the country from its current state, and it is the duty of the politicians now vying for office to tell the people how they intend to fix this problem. Ethno-regional and party politics should not be the focus of politicians, but how they wish to address the hardship that is biting the nation. While recognizing the effect that the Ukraine war and COVID had on the economy, other economies in the sub-region are making gains, whereas Sierra Leone’s economy is on the decline. We all suffered from the same global shocks, but those countries have been able to address those shocks by the prudent economic policies put in place by the respective governments.
In the case of Sierra Leone, measures put in place to address the economy started on a wrong footing, with failed policy after another being introduced by the Bank Governor, despite warnings from economists about the dangers of such policies, among which Macauley was a very loud voice. Unfortunately, the textbook economist at the Central Bank failed to heed the alarm bells, including that from the World Bank. Today, we are in this position because no one paid attention to the alarm bells.
Macauley noted that the President may not have the technical know-how to address the economy, but he appointed people he had trust in to do the work, and expected them to advise him on progress made, but unfortunately, these may have been selling pleasantries of an unpleasant situation to His Excellency. He maintained that had these officials been honest to their conscience, the people and to His Excellency, they would have averted the current economic down turn that the country is in.
Against this backdrop, Macauley is calling on the political parties vying for the highest seat of the land, to tell the people how they are going to address the economic situation in the country and usher in economic recovery. Without any serious economic recovery plan, Macauley stressed, the next government will be doomed, be it the incumbent or any other government. He noted that while infrastructural developments are good, plans for agriculture etc are all good, but without a clear recovery plan for the economy, all those will merely be white elephants. Sierra Leoneans are concerned about what to eat, what the little resources at their disposal can buy and how their daily living conditions will be improved. A good number of residents do not care about who holds office, but only how they can survive (the bread and butter issue).
He noted that whilst there are some people who may be voting on sentiments, the bulk of the population want to vote on what the politicians plan to do to change their story. Therefore, putting in their respective manifestos their plans to address the current economic situation is vital for the sake of accountability, as a manifesto is the plans of the party of what they intend to do if voted for, and if they fail to do so, they could be held to account by the populace.
