The first set of Architecture and the Built Environment Students of Limkokwing University of creative technology in Sierra Leone have been unveiled.
The unveiling which took place at the university Gallery took the form of design exhibition which started on the 28th March and ended on Friday the 29th March 2019.
Head of Faculty, Okanlawon Abraham Shina explained that
the reason why they did the exhibition is for Sierra Leoneans to see what their students have been doing for the past two years.
He said the journey was not an easy one, as the course itself is not meant for lazy people.
He pointed out that Limkokwing University is the first University in Sierra Leone to offer Architecture course.
“Sierra Leone is one of the most beautiful countries in the world, a country that is invested in nature and fantastic sea views and now you can imagine if all these nature is exploited what it will look like. Because of lack of Architecture, the country looks back on the old days.”
He spoke about the war among other issues that have pushed the country backward, hampering the course of urban development, but now they are talking about urban renewal.
“…the country is now redeveloping and we don’t have planners to plan how it will look like.”
He spoke further of how the University conducted feasibility studies, which is why it brought in such a course to help shape the country’s view and to develop its economy by attracting investors, which will prolong their stay and make them feel at home.
The students have been trained academically and professionally.
Abraham Shina said because Sierra Leone doesn’t have enough Architects, people are building in unplanned way thereby distorting the country’s looks.
“That is why we have this new student. By the time they go out, they will change the face of Sierra Leone generally. People are constructing houses without saving cost. They have been trained to save cost.
All the designs are done by Sierra Leonean students and I am proud of them all.”
Limkokwing University Program Leader, Ismail Rabluismail, explained that the university has three different programs; starting from diploma to degree and what the students demonstrated was done by the final year students.
Sulaiman Conteh encouraged the students as they are going out to carry out their duty and become the agent of change of local Architecture.
“Who ever thought you can do what you have done? You have to change that mind set. It will not be easy. Sierra Leoneans have negative thinking, you have to make that change possible, because the problem of Sierra Leone is not physical, it is psychological.”
He added that Sierra Leoneans are very intelligent people, they will believe and do what you tell them.
One of the final year students, Richard Akwnma-Eboja, described the course as a hard one.
Richard Akwnma-Eboja said he is not feeling good about the current Architectural design of Sierra Leone, adding that from what he has learnt; he will be a change maker.
“I am encouraging others to come out; they can do it not because of money but to put Sierra Leone on the map.”

Sierra Leone’s anti-graft agency says it has indicted the Director of Surveys and Lands at the Ministry of Lands, Country Planning and the Environment for corruption. Mr. Christian Harold Abioseh Pratt faces one count charge of Abuse of Office, contrary to Section 42(1) of the Anti-Corruption Act, a statement released by the commission on Monday revealed.
It explained that the sitting government official is accused of using his office to “Improperly Confer” an advantage to a non-deserving person.
According to the particulars of offence, Mr Pratt, between July 1 and July 18 2017, used his office to improperly confer an advantage on an individual to instruct and authorize another person to prepare a report unlawfully and conferring a beneficial interest in one of his accomplices.
The accused is expected to make his first appearance at the High Court of Sierra Leone in Freetown on April 10, 2019, according to the commission.
The move will serve as a major boost in public confidence on the ACC for indicting a sitting government official.
This is even more important given that the Lands Ministry in particular has be shrouded in allegations of corruption and abuse of office.
Currently the ACC is under pressure to investigate the current Minister of Lands, Dr Denis Sandi, who served in the same position under former President Ernest Bai Koroma.

A 30-day ban imposed on industrial fishing in Sierra Leone began on Monday. During the ‘Closure Season’ period, only artisanal fisher folks will be allowed to fish on the country’s waters.
The Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources said the move is meant to protect the country’s fish stock from depletion.
Sierra Leone, like many African countries, relies almost entirely on fish for its major source of protein. Yet fish has become expensive for most of the local population.
Local fisher folks accuse industrial fishing companies of overfishing and use of prohibited fishing gears.
In a statement issued by the Ministry, it outlined a series of measures it said would be taking during the ‘close season’ period, including a ban on all industrial fishing and a ban on export from both industrial and fish processing plants by land, sea or air.
It said artisanal fishing groups will ensure that all fishes caught in the country’s waters are sold to the local market.
“Industrial fishing companies should stock their cold rooms with different fish species (the number of fish to be stocked by each company will be calculated based on the number of fishing vessels operated by these companies). This is to ensure that there is no shortage of fish in the market,” it said, adding that the ministry will work closely with its stakeholders to intensify monitoring and surveillance and ensure of our waters o ensure compliance.”
The ministry also urged agents in the distribution line to ensure that fish prices do not go up during the period.
Sierra Leone, alongside Senegal, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau and Guinea are said to have lost about $2.3 billion a year from 2010 to 2016 due to illegal and undeclared fishing, according to the environmental watch group, Greenpeace.
Fishing boats from China and Korea are especially accused of engaging in these illegal fishing activities.

The Sierra Leone government has announced May 30 as the new deadline for six Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to submit their Proactive Disclosure Publication Schemes to the Right to Access Information Commission (RAIC).The new deadline, announced by the office of the Chief Minister, came after most MDAs failed to meet the first deadline of March 1.
The proactive disclosure of information is the releasing of information before it is requested.
This is in line with the requirement of the country’s Right to Access Information law passed in 2013.
The World Bank project was launched in December 2018 with ten MDAs being used as a pilot phase. These MDAs include the Sierra Leone Police, Environment Protection Agency EPA, National Revenue Authority (NRA), National Public Procurement Authority (NPPA), and Statistics Sierra Leone.
RAIC last week certified the four MDAs that met the deadline.
Statistic Sierra Leone, Environment Protection Agency, Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education and the Sierra Leone Police were issued with certificates of Compliance at a Roundtable enforcement forum held in Freetown on Thursday.
Mrs Nancy Tengbeh, Permanent Secretary at the Office of the Chief, expressed dismay at failure for the majority of the MDAs to deliver on time, according to a statement issued by RAIC’s communication team, a copy of which was received by APA on Monday.
“Being a liberal institution, RAIC is kindly appealing to MDAs not to miss the 30th May, 2019 deadline, in order to avoid negative repercussions,” she said, noting that the Government was in a hurry to develop.
According to relevant laws, MDAs that fail to meet the deadline will be subjected to a tribunal and, if found guilty, will face punitive measures.
The Right to Access Information, which is popularly known as Freedom of Information Law, is the result of years of campaign by pro-democracy organisations who say access to information by the public is crucial for democracy and good governance.
The campaigners say the proactive disclosure scheme will ensure reduction of cost and time in the processing of individual information requests and demonstrates a commitment to openness, accountability and transparency which in turn may increase the people’s confidence in the government.
Chairman and Information Commissioner of RAIC, Dr Ibrahim Seaga Shaw, explained that last week’s roundtable forum was designed to recognise MDAs that met the first deadline while encouraging the others to follow suit.
The Parliament of Sierra Leone is one of the pilot MDAs that missed out in meeting the deadline. But the Head of the Information and Communications committee in Parliament, Matthew Nyuma, who doubles as Deputy Leader of Government Business in the House, promised that they will work hard to ensure they catch up with the new deadline.

Leading practitioners of social work in Sierra Leone have called for regulation as their ranks gradually swells, amidst a rise in interest in the profession.The calls were made on Saturday as the country rounded up celebrations of the Social Work Month. The month of March is designated, ‘Social Work month’ and around the world practitioners celebrate it with the aim of educating the rest of the public about the invaluable contributions they provide to society.
Sierra Leone, prior to its eleven years (1991 to 2002) civil war, had some level of social work practiced, even though it wasn’t well established. The only training institution at the time was vandalized during the civil war, forcing it to shut down.
In the last 15 years, after the end of the war, with recurrence of natural and man-made disasters, which have worsened the living condition for many citizens, interest have grown for the profession
due to the increased need for their services.
One organization which has led the way in the promotion of the profession is Social Workers Sierra Leone, a group of volunteer social workers, which organized Saturday`s event.
Various speakers, from volunteers to academia to employing agencies, spoke on the importance of the role of social workers. David Lamin, a social worker of 30 years’ experience, a Child Protection Officer at Unicef Sierra Leone, said while there was the need for social work services, it was also important to ensure that practitioners follow the rules governing the profession, hence the need for regulation.
Mr Lamin also called for the harmonization of the social work education curriculum, noting the need to align it with international best practices.
He also said that after qualification, there was the need for social workers to be licensed to practice it. He lamented that these days many people were opting to study social work with the goal of getting jobs with NGOs and the associated remuneration and privileges.
“The most important challenge for social work is the need to regulate it,” he told the audience at the event held in the conference hall of the Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender and Children`s Affairs in
Freetown. Saturday’s program began with a street procession from Freetown`s iconic Cotton Tree at the entrance of State House to the Ministry`s office situated at New England in the west end of the city. The audience comprised members of SWSL and social work students from its five partner learning institutions.
It was the first of three major programs lined up for the whole month’s celebration, which is championed by the International Federation of Social Workers. This year’s celebration marks the fourth time the month is being commemorated in Sierra Leone. And SWSL was the first to celebrate the month in the country.
This year’s global theme for the month-long celebration is: ‘Promoting the importance of human relationships.’ But SWSL have adopted the American theme, which is: ‘Elevate Social Work.’
The organization has in the course of the month-long celebration held outreach psychosocial sessions on emotional wellbeing and engaged in several media sensitization talks.
Social work practitioners say for the profession to make greater impact, it partly depends on the level of awareness in the public. But this, they say, also means the profession needs to be practiced in a
professionally regulated environment.
Presently there is no national policy on social work in the country where social work services from the government itself are hardly in existence.. The hugely under-funded Ministry of Social Welfare depends almost entirely on local humanitarian organizations in providing temporary protection and psychosocial therapy to people in distress situations who need of social work services.
There are about six learning institutions currently providing courses in social work in the country, notably the Milton Margai College of Education, Science and Technology, which provides it at diploma level and it’s the first to introduce social work courses in the country, and Njala University and Fourah Bay College, which provide courses at Bachelors Degree level. Between them, at least 300 people graduates yearly with a social work certificate from these institutions.
In his line of work, Mr Lamin deals with these learning institutions. He is also involved with ongoing efforts to revise the social work education curriculum, which he says is much needed to harmonize the practice.
“Social work is the fastest growing course at FBC,” he noted, citing a report by the administration of the University of Sierra Leone constituent college. Dr Abess Gassam, Principal Lecturer at the Milton College of Education, Science and Technology, emphasized on the need for training for social workers.
He said with the country struggling to cope with endless social problems that include school dropouts, sexual violence, teenage pregnancy and drug abuse, the role of social workers was very paramount. “With adequate training in social work, we will be able to sensitize the public about these problems,” he said.

Sierra Leone apparently lost US $ 1,036,501,676.35 in only four sectors between 2015 and 2018 to mostly corruption. According to a technical audit carried out by auditors from Tanzania, Ghana, Kenya and Sierra Leone, the telecoms, roads, energy and social security (NASSIT) sectors were fraught with misappropriation, theft, phoney contracts, and bad investments. The reports on the four sectors released contain findings of unfair competition and unequal treatment of some mobile phone operators which saw 4G cellular network licence granted to some and not to others. Three of those preferentially treated, owe the state more than $ 10 million. NATCOM arbitrarily imposed fees, charges and penalties without documentary evidence, entered into a contract with a company that did not even tender a bid for the services, lacked proper audit trail, doled out nearly $ 1 million as alleged donations to youth groups, MPs, and officials of the information and political affairs ministries. At the state-owned SIERRATEL, there were 74 million missing recharged voucher serial numbers and 109,000 customers used recharged vouchers not generated by the system, amounting to $ 245,000. Two IT staff members had POS terminal operations in their own names with a total unaccounted for revenue of Le 33.5 Billion in January to Nov 2018 alone. From January – May, more than Le 19 Billion collected as revenue for POS recharge, could not be accounted for. A physical verification of vehicles valued at almost Le 2.5 Billion proved that the vehicles did not exist despite having been listed as fixed SIERRATEL assets.
SALCAB paid more than $ 526,000 and more than Le 2 billion to a company to perform more or less the functions of the board. Worse still, services were not rendered. There were “irregular contracts” awarded amounting to nearly Le 2 Billion. Huge funds were transferred or withdrawn as cash from SALCAB accounts without necessary supporting documents and without provision of services, amounting to $ 2.4 million and Le 1.6 Billion. No supporting documents for “Board Expenses” for the 2015 financial year amounting to Le 386 million. Le 3.2 Billion donated to former ministers, MPs without any policy for approving and processing such. At NASSIT, the NAPOS II software purchased for over $ 2 million has not served its intended purpose. 64 pensioners without social security numbers were paid over Le 409 million. 248 claims amounting to Le 5.4 billion paid out without meeting the set criteria – effectively illegitimate payment to undeserving people.
Billions of leones paid to underaged pensioners. There was total disregard for procurement procedures in the awarding of a $35 million contract for the construction of a multipurpose market and transport terminal in Bo (Sewa Grounds) through sole sourcing. A significant variation in the original contract for the rehabilitation of Bintumani conference centre – from $8.2 million to $ 16.2 million. I am still still reading the reports on the civil works (roads) projects and the energy sector.

The Confederation of West African Youth has awarded the President of the Africa Young Voices (AYV) Media Empire, Amb. Anthony Navo Jnr as Most Influential Person of the Year – Sierra Leone

Amb. Navo was awarded in absentia. Over 200 influential Business leaders, Politicians, Youth Leaders, Government Ministers, Innovators, Entrepreneurs and other professionals from all works of life in the Sixteen West African countries converged in Sierra Leone’s capital, Freetown where the ceremony was held.

Navo is the Founder, President, Chief Executive Officer and Financier of Sierra Leone’s leading multimedia institution that employs over 470 young people across the country and beyond.
His recognition is not unconnected to his contributions to changing the narrative of young people in the country.

He has created a platform that influences change in society. With his business establishments in and out of Sierra Leone, he has made influential Sierra Leoneans, especially young people who can now make boast of having platforms to influence change and hold authorities accountable.

This grand award was received on his behalf by the staff of the AYV Media Empire.

On Friday 29th March 2019, the Central Bank of Sierra Leone launched a competition known as the ‘Sierra Leone Fin Tech Challenge 2019-2020’, designed to support financial inclusion of the middle and low-income members of the population. According to a joint statement by the partners, the Bank of Sierra Leone, the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) and the IBSA Fund, “The FinTech Challenge 2019-2020’ aims to harness the growing digital economy in order to develop and test innovative solutions, as a way to leapfrog access to finance, and consequently build out government and private sector platforms to operationalize the benefits of the digital economy.”
The statement said the initiative will test and build business models for digital infrastructure to shift from informal cash–based transactions to digital financial services that can mobilize domestic
resources and address the latent needs around health, education, agriculture and help save and plan for the future.
The focus, it added, will be nationwide, with emphasis on rural areas, smallholder farmers, women groups and youths. The scheme will seek to address two key issues: to digitize informal savings and lending groups such that it leads to greater access to financial services – bigger loans, savings, other financial services, and non-financial services such as energy, education, knowledge, market linkages among others; and to digitize payments and collections, for example revenue collection, energy, health and education payments.
The project is being implemented in three phases: January – February 2019 as the Define & Kick-off phase; March – August 2019 Design & Test phase; and August – onwards Invest & Pilot phase.
The initiative, championed in partnership with the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) and the IBSA Fund, was launched under the theme: “Domestic resource mobilization”. The funds will come primarily from the IBSA Fund, which is the India, Brazil and South Africa Facility for Poverty and Hunger Alleviation.
Seen as a unique initiative to enhance South-South cooperation for the benefit of nations of the South, the IBSA Fund facilitates the execution of human development projects to advance the fight against poverty and hunger in developing countries.
UNCDF makes public and private finance work for the poor in the world’s 47 least developed countries. With its capital mandate and instruments, the UN agency offers last mile finance models that unlock public and private resources, especially at the domestic level, to reduce poverty and support local economic development.
The Bank of Sierra Leone, which is the country’s central bank and which is leading this initiative, is charged with developing the country’s financial sector. This initiative is part the implementation
of its National Strategy for Financial Inclusion 2017–2020.
The BSL will provide two finalists access to the Regulatory Sandbox – a safe space for unregulated financial sector innovations to grow under the guidance of the BSL staff and other specialists.
Officials say the overall goal of the scheme is to improve the country’s domestic resource mobilization and the economic well-being of its citizens living in rural and underserved areas.
The scheme has a two-pronged approach: Engagement and partnerships with innovation hubs and local players, and Catalytic investments to scalable partnerships and solutions.
“The world is currently experiencing unprecedented increases in connectivity and global data flows. And the rise of ‘superplatforms’ is starting to enter the African markets and will have significant implications for consumers, incumbent financial institutions, local entrepreneurs as well as for regulators,” the statement reads in part.
It adds: “In that context, Sierra Leone is facing a wave of new opportunities. Rapid mobile phone and network penetration across the country is opening the door to new services, making it easier than ever for people to use digital payments in their everyday lives.
Adoption of digital financial services (DFS) in the country continues to grow — active adult users increased from 6 percent to 10 percent from 2016 to 2017.”

On 21st March 2019, in its bid to support the strengthening of a resilient Health system in the country, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), delivered 15 vehicles to the Ministry of Health and Sanitation (MoHS).
Poor health and poverty are inextricably linked. Gaps in governance, social injustices and economic inequalities are the bedrock of poverty, which in turn increases chances of poor health, which also traps societies in poverty. In this regard, UNDP recognizes and reaches out to compliment efforts of the government of Sierra Leone in trying to eradicate poverty in a holistic approach, through accelerated structural transformation for sustainable development.
The 15 4WD hard body Toyota land cruiser mini-trucks are well-designed to access Sierra Leone’s rural areas, tucked in thickets and forests with impenetrable roads. This is in line with the promise to leave no one behind in accessing quality health care service delivery among other development gains. These 15 trucks will facilitate the speedy delivery of medicines and other health care supplies throughout Sierra Leone’s 16 Districts.
Handing over the keys of the vehicles to Hon. Alpha Wurie, the Minister of Health and Sanitation, UNDP Country Resident Representative (RR), Samuel Doe reminded people that, the efforts to build resilient health systems in Sierra Leone started with UNDP’s interventions following the devastating Ebola Virus Disease outbreak since 2013.
In the onset, UNDP collaborated with the MoHS to improve access to quality basic health care services, promote livelihoods and economic recovery in especially the most vulnerable remote border communities in Kaliahun, Kono, and Kambia. Along with the intervention, access to clean-safe water and sanitation was provided with 88 water wells and pit latrines constructed across the three districts. This included the construction of six maternal-child health posts to improve access to and delivery of timely and efficient health services in 70 hard-to-reach communities. Sierra Leone has the world’s worst maternal mortality rates “and that is a major impediment to development we must tackle as a matter of urgency” emphasized Mr. Doe.
Additionally, UNDP in collaboration with UN women trained 360 women in various aspect of maintenance and sustainability of the facilities, including basic hand-pump mechanics, monitoring and initiation of community-led committees to manage the facilities. “Health-related issues shouldn’t be restricted to one agency; there should be concerted efforts from all stakeholders. Development starts with healthy people.” added UNDP’s RR.
The Health and Sanitation Minister, Dr. Alpha Wurie, described the gesture as a demonstration of “true fraternity and brotherhood between UNDP and the people of Sierra Leone.” He reiterated that “Sierra Leone has horrendous maternal death numbers. It has always been difficult to move medical equipment from the districts stores to the primary health posts because access roads are not there, or they are impassable. These vehicles will help manage the situation and drugs and other health care supplies to health care facilities when and where they are required. That will reduce the maternal death rates.”
The Director of Medical Services in the National Medical Supplies Agency thanked Global Fund and UNDP and assured the people of Sierra Leone that his agency would properly utilize the vehicles and employ innovative strategies in their effective maintenance and sustainability. “I’d like to thank UNDP for their effort at strengthening logistics capacity within the supply chain network and we are determined to enhance the cost-effective culture of regular maintenance, integrate parallel distribution regimes, ensure prompt attendance to emergency order and enhance general supply chain support and supervision.”
This intervention was supported by the Global Fund assistance through the UN Multi-Partner Trust Fund for Ebola Response. UNDP will work in close partnership with sister-UN Agencies and the newly established National Supply Agency to ensure the timely dispatch and delivery of drugs and medical supplies to the most vulnerable throughout Sierra Leone.

Tomorrow April 4th 2019 marks that memorable night when His Excellency President Bio was declared winner of the March 2018 presidential election by NEC, and by extension the new president of the Republic.
If the government of President Julius Maada Bio were to be graded on their first year’s performance in office, it is likely that their report card would read, “promising start, which they must surpass in the years ahead”.
At the time, as with all changes of government, expectations were high that the new government would, above everything else, deal with the crying issue of bread and butter, namely, the high cost of living, inflation and record high unemployment among the youths, who always turn out in large numbers during elections to vote, with the hope that things will be better and brighter for them.
For a president who confessed to inheriting a battered, shattered economy desperately in need of resuscitation from recession, it is an interesting intellectual activity to evaluate how he sits with the people.
To say that President Bio does not command the respect and following of a significant proportion of his country men and women who hail from the North is to be economical with the truth – More so when he had undiplomatically called the members of their former APC government “Ayampis”.
The New Direction Government’s Commissions of Inquiry has divided the country sharply along tribal, regional and political lines.
Those against it call it a witch hunt; those for it say it is necessary therapy that the body polity needs, if it is to be purged off chronic anaemia and other symptoms of bad economic health that has resulted in the stunting of the economy generally and loss ot confidence in the country by investors, who see Sierra Leone as a den of iniquity – a dismal image of the country that President Bio, through vigorous economic and financial reforms, is trying to rewrite.
How do the majority of Sierra Leoneans view their ‘Talk and do’ president one year down the line?
Truth is, there are many who now take with a big pinch of salt talk by his Finance Minister during the campaigns that a New Direction government will easily solve the cantankerous bread and butter issues that have defied the efforts of government since the days of President Stevens’ failed IMF Structural Adjustment Policies (SAPs) of the 1980s, as well as President Momoh’s much vaunted ‘Green Revolution’ that would have turned Sierra Leone into rich bread basket. That is, given that since this government came to power, prices of essential commodities have skyrocketed as the value of the Leone has sky-dived.
Democracy being government of the people, by the people and for the people, politically, there are many people who think that since coming to power, increasingly, President Bio, his ministers and MPs generally have insulated themselves from not only the existential realities of the poor people that they are supposed to have been elected to help solve, but have also isolated themselves from the people, who a year ago, they were knocking at their doors to beg them for their votes.
Whilst the Free Education has generally been accepted by the nation as a boon to poor parents and their children, many observe that the program lacks adequate monitoring and supervision and that most of the same old vices committed by unscrupulous school heads and teachers, who place love of money far above love of their profession continue – like charging exorbitantly for sports, T-Shirts, Thanksgiving, Match Past, Social Science, etc.
The behaviour of teachers in the government and government assisted schools is also said to be nothing much to write home about, as private lessons instead of normal teaching in schools continues to be the order of the day.
Not helping the situation is the problem of many untrained, unqualified, unpaid community teachers in most of the schools in the provinces; particularly in the Northern Province.
Nothing much needs to be said about the crunching problem of the steady unavailability of clean drinking water in both urban and rural communities. We can leave without electricity, many say, but we cannot live without clean water.
Whilst the successes of the fight against corruption, drastic reduction in wastage of finances, plugging of loopholes, increased revenue collection are yet to trickle down to the masses, for poor people that commute every day or have to travel for businesses, they would be greatly pleased if the government had worked fast to actualise the promise of 200 new buses to fill the gaping gap that Balogun Koroma’s USD12 million buses left wide open.
Meanwhile, the people living in Freetown call the attention of the police to the growing sense of insecurity that they feel due to constant, daily harassment from armed robbers, who now brazenly break down their doors at night and attack them.
Since taking office after his successful election last year, this retired brigadier general has made a promising start, beginning with a massive investigation into corruption and mismanagement under All Peoples Congress (the APC) government of ex-President Ernest Bai Koroma.
On the recommendations of that investigation, a judge-led public inquiry is now examining corruption allegations against former officials. Early scalps in this veritable war on graft.
The issue of corruption hits a raw nerve here, a country that is desperately poor despite its wealth of natural resources and fertile lands, which in a parallel universe would guarantee a decent standard of life for every one of its 7.5 million citizens. Former government officials are also widely believed to have stolen resources meant for the victims of the Ebola and mudslide disasters which laid waste to thousands a few years back.
Simultaneously as he drove forward his anti-corruption campaign, the new President upon taking office established a consolidated account for all government revenues. The goal was to plug any potential “leakages” in his own administration.
Revenues collected have gone towards servicing the domestic debt and paying civil servants, who were now getting paid on time and without government having to borrow.
Bio’s stewardship of the economy has won applauds from the IMF, who have approved a new two-year support programme worth 172 million dollars. The World Bank has chimed in with support to the tune of 325 million dollars. Both Bretton Woods institutions’ relationship with the previous administration had been “increasingly difficult”, which saw the IMF suspending their programme in 2017. President Bio has said both institutions were “necessary evils”.
His ambitious, five-year National Development Plan, costed at 8 billion dollars, was unveiled in February and has been endorsed by the Bretton Woods double act. Its key pillars include the development of human capital and infrastructure, and increasing agricultural production, especially of the staple food, rice – which the country used to export up till the 1970s, but which now sucks up valuable foreign exchange to import.
Inevitably with report cards, you eventually get to the bits that cause embarrassment or feelings of regret in the subject. In this case, one of these has to be the alarming rates of gender-based violence against women and young girls. The available figures paint the story in vivid technicolour.
According to police statistics, there were 632 cases of rape or sexual assaults in 2012. That figure rose to an astronomical 8,505 for last year alone. Over 70 percent of victims were girls under 15 years old. Although the government declared the crisis a state of emergency and speedily passed legislation making the “sexual penetration of minors” punishable with an automatic life sentence, it remains to be seen how effective this will be.
“Our commitment [to solving this problem] is beyond mere words and beyond mere acknowledgement of an obligation,” President Bio has said. “The protection and empowerment of our women and girls is critical to our existence and progress as a nation.”
From an appraisal of the first year of President Bio’s government, two things are clear. The first is that he has entered into a marriage of convenience with the IMF and the World Bank; the second is that, if his government’s promising start is to be surpassed, or even sustained, he will need the skills of a master magician to keep both his people, as well as his “marriage partners”, happy.