In his first, brief 73 days stint as military Head of State of Sierra Leone in 1996, incumbent President Julius Maada Bio wrote his name in gold in the annals of the country’s political experience. The then 33-year-old leader had acted with wisdom beyond his years by organising elections and voluntarily ceding power to a democratically elected government. A little over two decades later in 2018, when Bio returned to run for the office of the President as a civilian, the people remembered his uncommon valour and honour, and voted massively for him. Following his victory, he returned to the Presidential Villa in Freetown in April 2018. Today, President Bio is again showing the stuff he is made of: a fiercely patriotic Sierra Leonean who sought power for nothing else but the good of his compatriots.
“Sierra Leone is bigger that any or all of us”, he says, pledging to build “a secure, peaceful and just society where every person can thrive and contribute to national development.” The peculiar thoughts and philosophy of President Bio are captured in this scintillating interview. All through this exclusive interview, the Sierra Leonean leader espouses the ideas he hopes will not only return his beloved country to macroeconomic stability but also to the path of confident, sustainable, home-grown development-enabling milieu in an increasingly complex global economy racked by uncertainty. All these constitute the essence of the nation’s New Direction agenda. Excerpts:
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YOU once spoke about “Your Sierra Leone Story” and got people baffled. What is it really about?
Around the world, some people still see Sierra Leone through the lenses of the past as a war-torn country, a place ravaged by the Ebola outbreak, a corrupt society, the worst place to be born as a child and a poverty-stricken nation. Despite the significant progress we have made over two decades, it is hard to break this perception of Sierra Leone.
So, our “Sierra Leone Story” is about the new Sierra Leone we are building: the Sierra Leone where we have had three peaceful transfers of power through democratic elections; the new champion of Human Capital Development; the new champion of Innovation, Science and Technology in governance; a champion in the fight against corruption; a country with a youthful population and the best destination for tourism; a country that is providing leadership in the sub-region and a place for foreign direct investments and business.
Our “Sierra Leone Story” should not get people baffled, but rather it should get people inspired. As a nation of slightly over seven million people, we are collectively determined to ensure that the world will no longer judge us by our history but the boldness of our vision, ideas, policies and programmes to create a prosperous nation. I am committed and excited to provide that leadership.
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Your victory over the then incumbent party at the 2018 general elections is proof of Sierra Leone’s political stability. How are you working to grow the economy to match the maturing polity?
We assumed office under very challenging economic conditions. Real GDP growth was on a downward trajectory slumping to 3.7 per cent in 2017, from just over 6 per cent in the previous year. Inflationary, year-on-year was 15 per cent at the end of March 2018. The three-year Extended Credit Facility (ECF) arrangement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which was approved in June 2017, had gone off track due to lacklustre revenue performance and expenditure overruns. Within the First 100 days in office, I issued two Executive Orders focused on enhancing domestic revenue mobilisation and expenditure controls. In the same first 100 Days, we successfully engaged the IMF and following the implementation of agreed structural benchmarks, a new ECF programme was launched and is being implemented alongside several impressive measures aimed at correcting fiscal slippages that occurred in previous years and restoring macroeconomic stability.
Our economy is projected to grow by 5.1 percent this year. To sustain this growth in line with our sustainable political stability, my Government will continue to pursue aggressive fiscal consolidation focusing mainly on enhancing domestic revenue mobilisation and expenditure rationalisation as well as more significant private sector and development partner engagements underpinned by transparency and accountability. We would also continue to leverage on science, technology and innovation in the public financial management space.
In terms of domestic revenue mobilization, the most prominent policy shifts would be towards deepening the implementation of the Treasury Single Account; developing and implementing a robust and holistic duty and tax waiver policy; continuing the implementation of the Common External Tariff framework for member-countries of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS); and automating tax collection and administration and other financial management processes.
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We shall continue our prudent expenditure management measures mainly through the rationalisation of the government wage bill; the harmonisation of wages and compensation across the public service; and ensuring value for money in all public sector procurement.
However, our biggest focus would be on the real sector. How we can diversify our economy and support inclusive growth across key productive sectors — agriculture, fisheries, tourism, mining and the manufacturing industry. To create the enabling environment for businesses to grow and attract quality private investment to these sectors, my administration is investing in the development of critical infrastructure, especially in energy, transportation and ICT. This is being complemented by reforms in the business regulatory environment, especially those related to our ‘Ease of Doing Business’ and creating transparent systems and processes to help our investors. Besides, we also have sector-specific investment incentives, and for the first time, we have established a National Investment Board to ensure credibility, transparency and efficiency in the investment environment. We are investing in human capital development, especially education through strengthening access to quality formal, technical and vocational education. This will ensure that the requisite skills needed for production in these sectors are available, leading to sustainable job creation.
In all these investments, we shall continue to engage the local and international private sector as well as development partners to complement our efforts and also align their interventions with my Government’s priorities.
How is Sierra Leone preparing for implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) considering that the economy’s industrial base is still undergoing improvements to meet the level of sister African countries?
As you said, our economy’s industrial base is indeed undergoing improvements. We are undertaking investments in key infrastructure. We are also transforming the private sector by enhancing policy and legislative reforms while leveraging science, technology and innovation. These will enable the private sector to not only grow but also compete efficiently at the international level. We are also actively engaging local and international development partners and players in the financial sector to support us in this work.
You might have heard that in the New Direction, evidence guides our decision-making processes. We are undertaking research in collaboration with international economic partners to help define our national priorities and deepen our understanding of the capacity needs for the effective implementation of the AfCFTA by Sierra Leone.
In addition to addressing the traditional macro-economic fundamentals, we would be investigating opportunities for value chain development; strategic actions needed to boost sectors where Sierra Leone can be competitive internationally. We will also focus on resource mobilisation; adopting and planning for new technologies; developing a monitoring and evaluation framework; and how we can collectively scale up efforts aimed at addressing cross-sectoral issues such as gender, the environment and climate change. Once this is completed, Sierra Leone would be better placed to benefit from this landmark agreement.
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What are the focal points of the National Development Plan tagged “Education for Development”?
In line with the premium that my Administration has placed on human capital development, our medium-term National Development Plan, ‘Education for Development’, has been articulated across eight policy clusters: Human Capital Development; Diversifying the Economy and Promoting Growth; Infrastructure and Economic Competitiveness; Governance and Accountability for results; Empowering women, children and persons with disability; Youth employment, sports and migration; Addressing vulnerabilities and building resilience and the framework to ensure efficient implementation of the entire plan. The successful implementation of the activities embedded in these clusters would help us achieve five key targets: a diversified, resilient green economy; a nation with educated, empowered, and healthy citizens capable of realising their fullest potential; a society that is peaceful, cohesive, secure, and just; a competitive economy with a well-developed infrastructure.
The National Development Plan is a compilation of the various components of the development agenda we have mapped out as a nation for the immediate and long-term goals of our development aspirations. It outlines the vision of this administration. It delivers on the promise we have made to the people of Sierra Leone and our determination and commitment to transform this country from a fragile state into a stable and prosperous democracy. We provided the funds for the development of this plan to underscore both national ownership and the importance we have attached to this process.
To what extent is agricultural development the centerpiece of your poverty reduction and economic development drive?
On several occasions, I have reiterated that the most valuable resource we have as a nation is the human capital. Therefore, to enrich and develop human capital, we must invest in feeding the brain (through education), the stomach (through agriculture and fisheries) and taking care of the whole of the body (through healthcare delivery services). This explains why agriculture is in my presidential priority portfolio for Human Capital Development. Rice is the staple food in Sierra Leone, and the goal is for us to be self-sufficient in production of rice by 2023. In addition, fish supplies about 80 per cent of total animal protein consumption and the fisheries sector provides jobs for over 500,000 people. While work is in progress to complete a comprehensive fish stock assessment and guide our target-setting, we aim to increase the domestic share of marine catch by 2023, within limits of sustainability.
In the light of all these, you can see that agriculture and fisheries are central to our poverty reduction and economic growth drive due to their potential for food security, job creation, contribution to our economic diversification agenda and foreign exchange earnings. Government is committed to increasing the budgetary allocation to this sector to a minimum of 10 per cent in the next two years in line with the Maputo Accord; undertaking sustainable investment in mechanized commercial agriculture; increasing food and cash crop production and engaging the financial and private sector to drive investments in this sector. I have even made investing in agriculture (including animal husbandry) a pre-condition for holding political office.
You consider human capital development as both a means and an end for development and a central pillar of your administration. How are you driving it?
For many years as a country, we have depended on natural resources, but the mere presence of these natural resources is not sufficient for sustainable development. Beyond our natural resources, Sierra Leone’s most substantial asset is its human resources, primarily made up of a young and dynamic population. Like natural resources, this resource must be adequately developed to be an asset for economic growth and development. However, levels of literacy are low, performance in primary and secondary education is weak, and what is produced for the labour market is inadequate to meet needs.
Improving human capital to promote growth and development will require a dramatic increase in the quality of public services. In the short term, better public service provision (especially free quality education) will free up household resources previously used to purchase similar services in the private sector, allowing for increased consumption or productive investments. This alone can improve outcomes, as lack of funding or capital was identified as the main reason for not sending children, particularly girls, to school and a key reason for not starting or expanding businesses and farming activities. In the medium term, an increase in human capital resources at the national level will improve the business climate, boosting the output of private sector activities and the attractiveness of Sierra Leone for future investment. Improved health also reduces days lost to illness, increasing the supply of labour for agriculture or informal non-farm enterprises. Quality education meanwhile, has been shown to enhance the uptake of modern farming practices and allow fishermen and fish traders to move up the value chain. In the long term, healthy and educated people living in stable conditions will constitute a ready workforce for new foreign direct investment in the manufacturing and service industries or increased domestic entrepreneurial activities.
We consider human capital development as both a means and end for development because it encompasses three critical components: education — in terms of equal and free access to quality education, skills training and innovation; healthcare — by strengthening systems and services; and agriculture – by focusing on food security. We are driving human capital development by making increasing budgetary allocations to the education, health and agriculture sectors. Human Capital Development is the central pillar of my administration because it is the most fundamental pathway to achieving a middle-income status and sustainable development for the country in the not too distant future.
What is the strategic objective of health in the New Direction?
A healthy population is among the most crucial prerequisites for the advancement of a nation. Along with education, health is a leading dimension of the human capital formation required for sustained GDP growth and the structural transformation of any economy. Before I assumed office as President last year, the health sector was faced with myriad challenges, including, but not limited to, poor infrastructure; poor conditions of service for health workers; poor governance and management of delivery systems; a weak human resource base; low per capita expenditure on health. The health allocation was below 15 per cent of the national budget, which is the 2001 Abuja Declaration minimum. It faced the challenges of inadequate disease prevention; a poor control and surveillance programme; poor quality data; and limited access to sexual and reproductive health services.
The health sector’s statistics were appalling despite the free health care programme that was initiated by the previous administration. In my first State Opening of Parliament Address, I outlined the strategic objective of the health sector in the New Direction: to transform health infrastructure and the healthcare delivery system by improving their quality and making them efficient, reliable, cost-effective, affordable and sustainable for the entire population especially women, children and the elderly. In other words, we must transform the health sector from an under-resourced, ill-equipped, and inadequate delivery system into a well-resourced and functioning national health-care delivery system that is affordable for everyone and accessible to all.
Whilst my Administration aims to foster increases in public and private investment in the sector with a focus on health governance; health financing; human resource; free health care; disease prevention and control and service delivery, I also have specific targets for health as part of my Human Capital Development (HCD) portfolio. In the Medium-Term National Development Plan, we have outlined four key targets: Firstly, by 2023, to expand and improve on the management of free health care. Secondly, to continuously improve disease prevention, control, and surveillance. Thirdly, to improve health governance and human resource management by 2023. Fourthly, to increase modern diagnostic and specialist treatment within the country and improve on secondary health delivery systems by 2023.
Additionally, Sierra Leone’s maternal mortality rate is one of the highest in the world, though maternal deaths are largely preventable, with the leading cause being postpartum haemorrhage. Teenagers account for almost half of all maternal deaths. Poor maternal health is also the leading cause of death in children under-5. My HCD flagship in the health sector will promote an evidence-based approach to addressing the causes of high maternal mortality rates. Therefore, we aim to halve the current maternal mortality rate by 2023.
You made war on corruption and the institutionalisation of accountability hallmarks of your administration. To what extent would you say they have yielded results?
On my inauguration day as President, I declared three wars, one of which was against corruption. This is because corruption in all its forms has a cost and it has real human victims when critical infrastructure like hospitals and schools are not built and when citizens are denied their rights and equitable access to service delivery. Therefore, corruption stalls economic development, compromises ethical conduct and national values, violates the fundamental rights of citizens and undermines democratic institutions of governance and the stability of a country. It is also true that credible foreign and local investors whose investments create good-paying jobs for citizens avoid corrupt countries. I consider corruption as a national security threat.
During the election campaign, I strongly advocated that we fight relentlessly against corruption. Immediately after winning the elections, I kept my promise to the people of Sierra Leone by setting up a Governance Transition Team to review the governance landscape we were taking over. Their report identified severe deficiencies in governance, financial management, and accountability. They advised thorough forensic audits and the setting up of an independent Commission of Inquiry. Three Commissions of Inquiry were set up and are at an advanced stage in investigating many of the governance and corruption issues in the previous administration. The processes have been transparent and enjoy enormous public support. For me, these Commissions of Inquiry would not only demand accountability for those who had occupied public office but also serve as a deterrent to all of us now in the present administration that they will be held accountable for their stewardship.
As President, I also appointed a new, young and vibrant leadership at the Anti-Corruption Commission who has injected new energy, increased public confidence and restored faith in the Anti-Corruption Commission. Therefore, last year, Sierra Leone passed the “Control of Corruption” Indicator in the Millennium Challenge Corporation Scorecard, scoring 71 per cent. We moved 22 points upwards, moving from 49 per cent in 2017. This is the country’s highest score in the ‘Control of Corruption’ Indicator since the introduction of the MCC Scorecard in 2004. In the Afro Barometer Report, Sierra Leone also made tremendous progress as only 43 per cent of the respondents think corruption is on the increase, as against 70 per cent the previous year.In the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) for the year 2018 released by Transparency International, Sierra Leone also improved from 130 to 129 out of 180 countries surveyed, with a score of 30 thereby leading more than 50 countries in the campaign against corruption including, Guinea, Nigeria, Kenya, Lebanon and Russia. Sierra Leone also ranked 3rd out of 35 African countries surveyed, on Government’s effectiveness in the fight against corruption, ahead of all other West African countries and behind only two countries in Africa. According to the Transparency International (TI) Global Corruption Barometer for Africa-2019 Report, 66 per cent of Sierra Leoneans in 2019 believe the Government is doing well in the fight against corruption; against 19 per cent of citizens who held this view in 2015.
We have made significant progress in the fight against corruption since I assumed office, but the war is not yet over. It is my firm conviction that if we are to develop as a nation, we must draw a line under the perverse, arrogant, and reckless looting of the state. I often say, corruption is a fight we must win, and it is a fight we will win.
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry.