With Government Broke Like Church Rat…
BIO TURNS INTERCONTINENTAL BEGGAR
…Goes from Africa to Asia & Middle East
By City Gossipers
When leaders of poor African nations defy the call of the Western powers to imbibe the true tenets of democracy and decide to do that which suits their selfish ends only on the conceited claim of being a sovereign people, they think their rebellious behaviour would injure the well-being of those Western governments, unaware that such insolence is self-defeating and serves as the harbinger of their doom!
It is an inalienable truth that democracy has claimed supremacy over other systems of governance because of its uniqueness in providing the people with better opportunities to take part in the administration of their states while creating a favourable business atmosphere that blossoms the economy. Moreover, it is only a democratic government that attracts guaranteed political, financial, and technical cooperation, including many other advantages from the wider global community.
However, though for the umpteenth time we had called on the Sierra Leonean authorities to abide by the true principles of democracy as it is the only system of government that has stood the test of time in the world, such calls were not worth attempting as all fell on deaf ears.
Consequently, Sierra Leone was to be etched in the records as a country led by non-respecters of democratic norms, civil liberties, and the rule of law as suppression and oppression of opponents and dissent voices to silence them seemingly became the regular complaints of the people, while allegations of extrajudicial killings were also rife.
The Sierra Leone government further stands tagged as globally “unrecognised” and “illegitimate” for what is said to be broad daylight thievery of the 2023 election mandate of the people, and all calls and cautions by the international community to right the electoral wrongs were devoid of the strength to move the Bio government into doing so. Thus, the country’s major donors and trusted development partners isolated the government and imposed political and financial sanctions, including travel bans on certain individuals, still unnamed, that are said to be undermining the democratic process in Sierra Leone.
Now city gossipers have it that as a result of the Western powers’ action, the Bio government now wallows in extreme financial breakdown and stagnation so much that paying public workers’ salaries has become a daunting task every coming month. Suppliers and contractors are also said to be owed colossal sums of money to the point that many are no longer able to render their contractual services due to the lack of finances.
The city gossipers say with very meagre resources mobilised internally and the economy seemingly being in a turbulent cyclone, the Bio has since chosen to shift to the masses the burden of bailing out his government from the economic mess it finds itself by heartless, indiscriminate tax hikes on all goods and services meant for human consumption.
While the Sierra Leonean people are grappling with the debilitating consequence of the harsh tax regime rolled out by the Bio administration with a particular reference to the daily socio-economic challenges, the cost of the nation’s staple food rice, among other basic goods and services, has been aggravated beyond means by a killer financial law, thus militate the purchasing power of the majority.
All of these moves are believed to have done very little or nothing in enriching the government’s financial base to enable it to bankroll its essential public services programmes, a reason the gossipers say Bio seems to have turned into an intercontinental beggar without option, crisscrossing from Namibia to China and from China to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and where next remains a mystery which he alone knows.
Meanwhile, the much-trumpeted “Feed Salone” programme of the government is feared dead on arrival upon the break of news alleging that President Bio begged for a consignment of rice in China instead of launching an appeal for agricultural equipment and mechanisms to accelerate and augment his “Feed Salone” project.