WORSE IS YET TO COME
All across the capital city, Freetown, and consequently the interior, things are difficult. Sadly, despite how things have turned out since the advent of the SLPP regime, Daybreak was informed that we should expect much more hardships under the second term government of President Julius Maada Bio.
After a series of rollercoaster across the board hikes in the prices of goods and services that resulted to several protest actions during the past regime, the people of Sierra Leone woke up to new fuel prices that have resulted to a further hike in transport fares across the country.
Fuel regulators say that the hike from Le21,500 to Le25,000 was the result of a rise in global fuel prices. They justified the removal of government fuel subsidies to save the government tens of millions of dollars, money that the government needs to take care of its wage and other bills.
‘This change in the price of fuel is expected to affect many others. Apart from rises in the prices of transport fares across the city and to the interior, we also expect for prices of foodstuffs and others to also follow suit. This presents a very untenable situation as our salaries are still the same yet we are expected to absorb these changes in the prices of goods and services on our meagre take home salaries,’ complained a passenger at one of the bus terminals in Freetown.
Most modern homes use electricity to power their homes and entertainment centres. The cumulative effect of a rise in the price of fuel on an economy can be devastating, especially in poor economies like Sierra Leone.
However, this medium was informed that the people should expect more changes to come that will really test and put a dent on their wallets. The nation’s current political climate is not encouraging to investors and our funders in the international community. Many of them have called for either a release of the polling station data or a rerun of the elections before they can release fund they have withheld from government.
‘Presently, the people who were paying our judges and many other people in government have withheld their funding or support because of the current impasse in the presidential elections result. The sanction regiment that has been unleashed on the country will end up living us in a position where the government will not be able to pay wages. To compound the situation we see street traders being removed from their stalls without an alternative for them. This will result to more unemployed people on the streets,’ they said.
The prices of goods and services that many complained about last term are all expected to rise, with many already taking the leap.
‘Today a ball of onion costs more that a cup of rice. Fuel has gone up and so has the cost of transportation. Since we have to transport our goods from the farm to the city, the rise in transport cost will have to be recovered by a rise in the prices of our goods. We don’t want to do this because we know about the hardships all across, but we are forced to either raise prices or end up worse than those we want to feel sorry for,’ complained a trader at Kroo Town Road Market.
It is generally agreed that the way a nation treats its most vulnerable people says a lot about how much they care. The people on the street, those who are homeless, disabled or mentally ill that depend on the daily charity they get from shops, passersby and people in commercial or private vehicles have all complained that the love of most have grown cold.
‘It is hard to get someone to give you five leones these days. Many of the people that used to help us are now complaining of difficulties and poor sales. Many people complain of not receiving their salaries. As you can see across the city many shops remain closed. We have so many police officers on the streets the people are afraid. No one is sure of what is going on and how long we can live like this,’ complained a disabled man in a wheelchair.
All across Freetown there is a conspicuous lack, a felt need and palpable fear that the people say those in power should focus on sorting out to either pause or bring a complete halt to them.
‘We pray that those in power will solve what needs solving for us to go past this. We cannot afford for things to get worse than they are at present. Our leaders should know that while this will not affect them and their families and friends, we the poor people of Sierra Leone have no one except our government. We cannot afford to live like this for another day, let alone five years,’ implored a young student passenger.
