June 18, 2021
By: Dadson A. Musa
President Julius Maada Bio was democratically elected into office in 2018 amidst an economic meltdown. Corruption was rife and there were so many leakages.
The international community had lost faith in the APC government. The president started off by establishing the Treasury Single Account, Commissions of Inquiry and forging ahead with the ambitious Free Quality School Education which was the human capital development project.
The budget to education was increased to 21% which was unprecedented in the history of this country. This programme took the burden off parents to pay school fees and buy text books. Other necessary reforms have seen increased allocation to health and effort to revamp our agricultural sector. A country with a vast fertile farm land and regular rain fall is importing a good quantity of her food. He has tried to especially turn around the high cost of food importation by reducing GST by 15% on rice importation. That has been followed by the launch of the Regional Rice Value Chain in Tormabum in the Bonthe district which will be followed up by another in Mambolo in the Kambia district.
Salaries of workers of workers and allowances have been steadily increased since he took power. Teachers, security sector and the general civil service have had their salaries increased gradually. The supply of a bag of rice to the security sector has been regular since he took up office. So many other developmental projects have been launched starting from 2020 after the lull in corona virus. What is admirable is the manner in which the government has contained the corona virus disease in this country which has made the international community praise us and come to learn from our effort. The African Peer Review Mechanism was here in November last year to make an assessment of how we kept the corona virus disease in check. The first lady, Fatima Maada Bio has been on hands in helping with developmental issues especially the Hands Off Our Girls campaign.
Since the inception of democracy it is the first time we have had a young and active first lady. Almost all the districts now have sitting high court judges unlike before. Access to justice has improved greatly under the regime of president Bio. The youths have been catered for by equipping Tech/Vocs with the help of the World Bank to get hands on training in vocational education. The youths of this country will now be self-reliant with these skills. The president has supported sport to the extent of huge injection of funds especially in football which has seen the qualification of the national team to the African Cup of Nations after over 20 years.
President Bio knows he has done only a little over three years and elections were around the corner. He has a second term to run for. The electorates are keenly waiting to see what he has delivered and will be judging him on his performance. His victory in the last elections was marginal and it was a hung parliament although it was overturned by the courts. There is so much work to do by this government and they cannot afford to be complacent. The president knows he should not keep his eyes off the ball as the elections approach in 2023. The All Peoples Congress party which is the only formidable opposition is poised to stage a comeback.
The economy has been a huge challenge although he has an excuse of covid 19. Love him or hate him the president has not done badly.