Seven Years On…
SIERRA LEONE STILL HUNGRY
By Ibrahim Alusine Kamara (Kamalo)
Daily living, known in local Sierra Leonean midst as “bread and butter”, continues to be costly, and is weighing down many breadwinners in majority of homes across the country due to the poor performance of the government, especially, in the area of the economy. Yet, President Bio and his paopa regime came to power on a litany of campaign promises, including, to revive the economy, create jobs, stamp out corruption, nip fiscal indiscipline in the bud by knotting the financial leakages, provide clean water and stable electricity, promote national unity, democracy and the rule of law, etc.
There is a plethora of other campaign promises made by Bio and his acolytes, but fixing the ‘bread and butter’ problem was much trumpeted, and advertised in the most aggressive manner. In fact, without mincing words, the Bio team vowed to fix the problem within six months if voted in to assume power. And as if it was a true, bold step to expedite this grand promise, President Bio quickly assured Sierra Leoneans of establishing a state-of-the-art bakery in Freetown to curb the high cost of bread in the country.
Besides, he assured the citizens of injecting a new life into the Tormabum Rice Project to serve as the main source to achieve the goal of national food sufficiency, also known as food security. But though millions of dollars have been pumped into this project, it sadly remains a failure.
The woeful failure to arrest the bread and butter crisis, even as the Paopa regime has hit seven years and counting, remains the most disappointing thing etched by Sierra Leoneans in living memory. Interestingly, whilst the Bio administration’s operatives continue to bluff out and take pride in Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) scores, their economic policies are nothing to write home about—leaving their grand campaign promises in tatters.
Seven years and months of the “New Direction” administration, aggravated debt burden and economic stagnation remain the deep-rooted hallmarks. The economy is in shambles, and the country lies prominently among those at the bottom of global hunger indexes. Again, blocking the financial wastage as they promised is a nonstarter—what prevail are exertions that have widened the channels for what belongs to the state to stream into private pockets at the peril of the citizens. So, the promise itself remains a facáde, and a bold move to cheat the conscience of the voting population, not anything truely meant to yield dividends for nation’s common good.
In present-day Sierra Leone, the unrelenting rise in inflation has become a cancer slowly eating away at the fabric of daily life. The pervasive economic hardship has forced many citizens to reflect bitterly on the unfulfilled promises of President Julius Maada Bio’s government—particularly the now infamous pledge to address the “bread and butter” issues within six months of assuming office. To most Sierra Leoneans today, that promise now feels like a cruel betrayal of their humanity.
President Bio’s “Paopa” and “New Direction” administration must confront the hard truth: it has not only failed to fix the bread-and-butter crisis, but has fallen short in nearly every critical sector of governance—despite reports of passing the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) indicators. For many, these MCC passes are baffling and out of touch with the lived realities on the ground.
“The President promised us heaven, and we voted for him. But today, they’ve landed us in hell,” one frustrated citizen lamented—echoing the general mood of a nation grappling with an increasingly “unfriendly” system of governance.
Sierra Leone’s struggle today is not merely economic—it is a crisis of leadership, accountability, and betrayed trust. Poor fiscal policies—whether by design, incompetence, or political favouritism—have made it nearly impossible for the average citizen to afford basic necessities. The country continues to suffer from unreliable electricity, a worsening crisis of access to clean drinking water, dilapidated health services, and deteriorating educational infrastructure. The list of social failures is long and growing, leaving many disillusioned with a government they once trusted.
To most citizens, these are not just policy missteps—they are egregious governance failures that define the legacy of the Bio-led Paopa regime, an administration now widely viewed as one of broken promises and squandered mandates.
Emphatically, what remains most perplexing to the people is how the government continues to pass international benchmarks like the MCC, while on the ground, the nation slides deeper into socioeconomic despair. The prevailing sentiment is that President Bio’s insistence on keeping underperforming allies in power has worsened the nation’s economic outlook and betrayed the hopes of the electorate.