The Land of Thampèreh has been in dependence for as long as the ancestors can remember. And during that long period of dependency, the faraway Dis-United Kingdom presided over the village’s affairs. Many who witnessed that period testified and documented the horrors and brutal experiences faced by villagers. There were accounts of raping the women and the Land, pillaging the village’s resources, and a total lack of freedom.
This wasn’t just the case for Thampèreh but almost all other villages in the Green Kingdom. And like many of those villages, instead of fighting, Thampèreh asked to become an independent village.
About seven hundred and thirty-two (732) moon circles ago, the Dis-United Kingdom, in collaboration with other Kingdoms, shifted its power from direct Kingdom-rule to institutionalized rule and granted Thampèreh the illusion of independence.
The formation of institutions like the Kingdoms Group Bank (KGB) and the International Monetary Fraudsters (IMF) to preside over the village’s economic policies and growth reinforced Thampèreh’s new dependency.
Even when governed by its own, the village depended on outside forces to determine what developmental actions it must take, how it should go about it, and at what pace. Instead of moving upward, the policies provided by the KGB and the IMF placed the village in a downward spiral. Despite its verse deposits in mineral resources and its potential for agriculture, Thampèreh remains one of the poorest villages in all of the kingdoms combined. The village imports everything to the extent of flooding its markets with used underwear from other Kingdoms. The only few things produced in the village are unregulated alcohol, drugs, and energy drinks sold around without any age and health considerations. The consumption of these unsupervised products destroyed the people so much that walking around some of the village’s neighbourhoods feels like walking among zombies.
But while living in dependence, the people maintained a kind of hope. Even though outside forces still influence many of the decisions in the village, the people, at least, saw that they too could participate in deciding who gets to rule them. There is a somewhat new freedom to challenge the village’s rulers and hold them accountable for their actions.
The challenge remains to have a consensus among villagers to collectively agree on the meanings of Unity, Freedom, and Justice.
And while villagers sought that oneness, many cultural events brought them together in times past. For every moon circle and ahead of Thampèreh’s in dependence day, villagers parade with masquerades, and lanterns, hold street carnivals and organize other festivals to provide a sense of ownership of the Land. It gave them hope that they would exalt this realm of the free one day because Great is their love for it. With their lantern parades, they are firmly united, and ever they stand and sing praises of their native Land. This was part of what Independence Day meant to the People despite the hardship and harsh living conditions in Thampèreh.
But there’s no more freedom to assemble in the last few moon circles, no dancing with paddles, no holding lanterns parades, and citizens cannot organize street carnivals. The hills and the valleys no longer re-echo the People’s cries for Unity, Freedom, and Justice. The land of Sugar Loaf, regent, Charlotte, Kabala and other areas now re-echo the cries of environmental destruction as they wait in fear of the next disaster. The blessing and peace sought by the people over the Land that they love now remain a place where integrity and love for nationhood no longer matter.
That freedom is no more, and the village now resembles a leper colony where the only common thing among villagers is the fear of what tomorrow brings.
Still, the prayer is that the People of Thampèreh will be ones with a renewed faith that wisdom inspires. That, they will be with a zeal that never tires. And ever will they seek to honor their Land’s name. That, the People will reap the fruit of their labour. Above all that, no harm may fall on their children. That blessing and peace may descend on them; so that they may serve the village ever alone and not themselves.
The Hunting Book of Thampèreh’s Paint Collector and the Angal-Heyrsa virus
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During some unknown moon circles ago, the village of Thampèreh was cursed with the Angal-Heyrsa virus. It is a dangerous disease that affects the heart and strips off its victims’ dignity, respect, shame, and fear of the divine without them knowing it. Over time, the virus turned into a full-blown plague and took over the village’s public institutions. Pulakoun scientists believe that Angal-Heyrsa is one of the leading causes of corruption.
The Council of Elders in the village came up with a plan to curb the spread of the virus by establishing various offices, including the Tomb Raider’s office and that of Paint Collector.
The Tomb Raider’s office had a broader scope and had people with archaeological experience dig into the village’s tombs and ruins to uncover the misery of the virus (See article on Thampèreh’s Tomb Raider).
The Paint Collector’s role involved working on recommendations from the office of the Tomb Raider and, in other cases, investigating issues of mismanagement and embezzlement of the village’s resources as part of the fight against corruption. The Elders’ Council code-named the office the Anti-Corruption Commission and has a commissioner as its head.
Many commissioners headed the institution, but only a handful reached public expectations of their work. In fact, instead of acting as anti-corruption crusaders, many were known as Accompanying Corruption commissioners.
A little over thirty-six moon circles ago, Thampèreh’s current Painter appointed a dynamic wig man to be the village’s new Paint Collector. While the circumstances surrounding his appointment were controversial, he was a good pick for the job. He’s young, charismatic, and was one of the most vocal voices in telling Painters how they should use the village’s paint. He had a rigorous approach to investigating public officials for embezzlement, mismanagement of funds, and other racketeering activities in the village.
But shortly after his appointment, the wig man moved from being one of the most charismatic and vocal young men to an ariogbo performer. He had a hunting book where he kept records of who deserved his and the Painter’s mercy and who didn’t. He exercised his strength on the weak using black venomous scorpions while protecting the powerful and burying their deeds in his thick wig. He became the syringe to infect the venom from the scorpions on the Painter’s adversaries.
The Accompanying-Corruption Commissioner divided his hunting book into two parts. The first part contains the names and ranks of the Painter’s adversaries or those who challenge his rule. Those are the ones that have tasted the venom from his scorpions.
The second part contains the list of people from the Painter’s cathedral where individuals drank small and large doses of the Angal-Heyrsa pathogen that would turn them into “Yes sir” and praise-singing men and women. Even with clear evidence of corruption and other racketeering deeds, the Accompanying-Corruption Commissioner considers actions by people in this second part of the book as “ethical issues.” He will then suggest writing recommendations to “help with prevention” of such acts in the future. Corruption rules are his hunting book, and he tends to interpret offences depending on who is involved. Recent calls to investigate fake PhD buyers and their hunt for Thampèreh’s resources will continue to fall on deaf ears.
And for a Paint Collector who’s notoriously obsessed with masturbating on fake medals and awards issued by ghost institutions and groups, it is obvious the issue of counterfeit degrees will end up as an ethical problem shadowed by the Angal-Heyrsa virus.
Bockarie Kargbo: Sierra Leone Actor and Commercial Model
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Bockarie Kargbo is a 29-year-old Fashion, Commercial Model and Actor from Bo Town Sierra Leone currently residing in Johannesburg South Africa. With a burning passion for performing arts and modelling, he decided to join 33 and Me Talent Agency in July 2021 and immediately fell in love with the craft. He soon blew away the team at 33 and Me with his talent, dedication and willingness to learn and apply knowledge.
While in Freetown he studied at Bluecrest College (SL) where he obtained his diploma in Network Engineering in 2014. What motivated him was the fact that he could change his story, and create a future of which he could be proud. Bockarie is also very passionate about fitness and taking care of physical strength and endurance and is an avid Tennis player, Coaching young people and creating an awareness and love for the sport he so enjoys playing.
His biggest inspiration in life is his friend and mentor Dr Onyeka Nwelue, who is Lecturer at Oxford University, and a Book Writer and Film Maker. Bockarie believes in facing fears, which will allow him to speak with crowds and teach others how to be brave in the face of adversity.
In 2021 Mr Kargbo auditioned for the International ARTS Talent Showcase, Africa’s largest talent convention where he obtained an award for the Best Commercial Male Model and he earned himself a spot to showcase Infront of the world’s prestigious and international celebrities such as Nate Butler – Jnr Casting Director for Steve Harvey Show, A&R for X-Factor America and a Singer that has sold over 52 million copies at last count. Blaze Johnson – The Voice of America, Rhavynn Drummer – Executive Casting Director for Tyler Perry Studios, AMDA and IMTA Representative Joey Hunter – The President of Ford Models in New York City for the past 30 years. He represented his country very well after he obtained a $60,000 scholarship from AMDA the largest performing arts academy in the world. Even though the scholarship was for his presence on stage as a model he dreams about a career in acting and is currently hard at work honing the skills acquired to polish his talent. He will be jetting off to America in July 2022 where he will be representing his country in front of more than 250 agents, managers, record labels, etc…
He has also been on several TV commercials like VISA, GLO cell and GoTV which were shown all over Africa. This boosted his self-confidence and credibility within the industry in Africa. He is adamant about showcasing his skills in becoming a well-known Actor. Currently, he is studying Computer Science at the University of the People in America and is hoping to achieve a First World education to be able to apply knowledge gained to help the people of his nation in understanding and apply technology effectively. He came from a place with few opportunities and to be able to make it to America motivates him to work even harder physically, emotionally and mentally.
To be chosen to represent himself and his country in America is a dream come true for him and the people that believe in him. His biggest role model is his loving mother Abie Kargbo. A strong woman that he has never seen giving up in life even when things got tough, she stands strong and is a strong believer in equality rights. A people person, and a formidable woman that always smiles and stays positive
DOES YOUR COMPANY FAKE CARING ABOUT THE COMMUNITY?
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A few months ago, I caught up with a CEO from a midsize firm for lunch. He was keen to tell me that politicians in Sierra Leone only care about money. His business that he had successfully co-founded, was built purely to enable himself, his co-founders and employees to support their families financially. He made out that was quite noble. Yet, there was no focus on how his organisation created value for their clients. The value was all inward. When I asked him what his company stood for, his brand proposition, he told me it was to enable his employees to feed their families.
On a positive note, his organisation openly supports a lot of charities. When I walked into reception before Christmas, a big Christmas tree was proudly displayed with lots of gifts waiting for a charity to collect as the year ends. It felt nice. Until he told me that he donated to charities, politicians and others in social positions of trust in Sierra Leone to improve his corporate culture and to attract talent because his employees wanted to make a social impact. Yet, still acting like Scrooge, he vehemently believed that all companies in Sierra Leone donated to charities, politicians and others in social positions of trust to pretend they care, but it was really to improve their reputation (and profits).
While I respected his truthfulness that he donated money, purely under the belief that it created more money for him, I let him know that his inauthenticity was probably the reason behind his frustration as to why employees didn’t bother staying at work after 5 pm. After all, they needed to bring home the bacon to their families, so they could all eat that night.
Doing Good, By Being Good
It’s very common that organisations in Sierra Leone pigeonhole their capability of “being good” purely through the limited filter of a corporate responsibility programme.
This severely limits the positive benefits that companies create for society.
The obvious one is that business creates jobs, growth and wealth. It can pay wages and generate profits from which tax revenues are drawn. It can build infrastructure, strengthen communities and improve people’s well-being and mental health. Go to any country with a high jobless rate and you see a lot of unhappy and unhealthy people But the real magic is when rulers find solutions to Sierra Leone’s problems, by creating socially driven businesses. Think of the transformation a new product or service brings to Sierra Leone (take the electric light, television and iPhone).
“Being Good” is very different to “Doing Good.” The distinction is really behavioural and it starts from when the company was founded. Look at the records of any company that has survived over 50 years and they were founded with the mission to improve human life in some way – from Levi Strauss, Proctor and Gamble and Disney. More importantly, they still focus on improving humanity. Yet, somehow companies were created that forgot that they were in Sierra Leone to serve humans. Their sole focus is to generate profits, with little or no consideration of the needs of wider society.
Without an inspiring purpose, organisations tend to fall into the elusive trap of focusing on the bottom line with profits being more important than purpose. They get lost in the false assumption that business is all about money. Rather than embedding “doing good” processes into their company, they chose to make the token effort of appearing to “be good” by taking the easy option and donating money to politicians, others in social positions of trust and charities (thereby, reducing tax). After all, Enron made sizeable charitable donations and we all know that “doing good” was not part of their corporate culture. Just like the cheating husband that buys his wife flowers when he’s having an affair, companies in Sierra Leone make large donations to politicians and others in social positions of trust when they’re polluting the environment, underpaying workers and ripping off customers with dodgy products.
And while profit is extremely necessary for any business, just like we need oxygen to breathe, highly impactful, exceptional businesses create more money when they focus on a positive impact for their stakeholders.
As Punit Renjen, the CEO and Chairman of Deloitte says:
“As business leaders, we should not choose between profit or good; rather, we must choose to profit from good. And that requires connecting what we do with a purpose beyond profit — a reason to exist that meets our shared sense of “doing good.”
Performance Before Profit:
Today, businesses in Sierra Leone operate in a low trust environment where the majority of people don’t trust them. As Indra Nooyi, the Chairman and CEO of PepsiCo say about building trust: “The company of the future will do better by being better. We’re in a low trust environment and it’s challenging when organisations rely on a daily exchange of trust with customers, consumers, and investors….balancing the long term and the short term is a constant struggle. The right answer is the ideal balance of performance and purpose working well together. Companies operate under license from society and therefore have to give something back. When we do so, we earn trust.”
The central pillar for building trust is a corporate purpose that’s defined by a genuine commitment to the social good. A socially relevant purpose that’s defined, communicated and embedded throughout the organisation provides employees with the context they need to understand how their work makes a difference to Sierra Leoneans. And it makes a lot of sense. After all, we’re more likely to trust a company that they’re ethical if we can see proof that they’re visibly making a difference to Sierra Leone and not just paying lip service to it. After all, “doing good” automatically infers that we’re “being good” without having to fake it.
Employees really do care about their organisation’s purpose and the greater the degree of specification in a mission statement, the more employees will be satisfied with the firm’s mission. This in turn generates increased commitment towards achieving the mission, as well as improving employee satisfaction.
If you want to build a company that matters, then you need to have a clear purpose. It lets everyone know – from employees through to customers – how much you care, which in turn makes them less likely to believe you just exist to make money. Focusing on purpose rather than profits is what builds business confidence and therefore, trust.
There are two ways of doing this. The first one is creating a company right from the start that has a focus on doing good. Examples include Patagonia, a clothing store, which has the mission statement: “Build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis.”
Their purpose combines both their values that have contributed to their market success (creating high quality and environmentally friendly products), as well as how they make the world a better place.
Creating a Meaningful Impact:
Within Sierra Leone, CEOs and politicians are feeling increased pressure from both customers and employees to start addressing broader social issues.
This is being driven by an increased demand by the general public who believe that it’s businesses that can be trusted to improve economic conditions and not the Government.
The good news is that the alignment of personal and corporate purposes allow employees to drive organisational results, as well as to contribute to resolving societal issues. Integrating purpose-building activities into core business strategies is good for business. Many global leaders are now putting a focus on what is known as the “triple bottom line” by measuring their company’s impact across financial, societal, and environmental dimensions.
As Renjen from Deloitte says:
“What companies do for clients, people, communities and society are all interconnected. A culture of purpose ensures that management and employees alike see each as a reason to go to work every day.”
A focus on purpose automatically pivots an organisation to focus on long-term results, rather than short-term profits. It’s this long-term horizon that ensures its longevity. Ideally, charitable giving needs to be linked to the core ideology of a company. It makes more sense to employees and customers as it makes it much easier for people to understand the organisation’s impact. Rather than the standard piecemeal approach of donating to random charities and those in social positions of trust unrelated to the organisation’s core business (under the guise of a corporate social responsibility programme).
While my CEO friend takes comfort in the belief that donating to charity and the selected few in social positions of trust makes him appear caring, he has missed a genuine opportunity to create a company that matters, that would make Sierra Leone worse off if it were to cease to exist.
By really sitting down and discovering how his services help his clients on a deep, emotional level (rather than transactional) and then connecting that to a charity and those in social positions of trust, he has the opportunity to create a more expansive and long-lasting impact. Rather, than a mediocre company that stands for nothing.
After all, when we look back at our life, and the legacy we have created, a business that outlives us, is a real sign that we have made a large dent in Sierra Leone. This can only occur if we set our sights on a larger vision that improves Sierra leone, rather than the limited perspective of our personal community. And really, isn’t that what business is all about?
Johnny Smythe was one of very few West Africans to fly with Britain’s airforce during WW2. He was a navigator with a bombing crew and was shot down over Germany in 1943.
Many considered the current Painter of Thampèreh, a crusader. Others see him as a man who vowed to cleanse the village’s image and bring back donor confidence and trust in its governance system. And he started well in convincing far away kingdoms and the people of Thampèreh that he meant business.
Shortly after taking office, he ordered disciplinary actions on all public sector workers and government ministers who failed to report to their offices from 8:30 AM, their starting time until 4:45 PM, their closing time. He declared a national cleaning day at the appearance of each moon. Instead of hosting in hotels, he ordered ministries, departments, agencies, and other public sector institutions to host workshops, seminars, and conferences in their offices. The objective, he said, was “to save cost and prevent wastage of scarce government resources.” He organized unannounced visits to various offices to see if people complied with his orders.
He even began publishing a list, and the purpose of everyone travelling with him outside the village.
Then his eyes opened.
Equipped with some of the best vuvuzelas, the Painter and his team established an exceptional group of image launderers who helped sell the idea of a reformed Thampèreh to investors, donors, and some of the village’s partners in faraway kingdoms. The Painter’s team spent millions of Thampi Gold Coins through the vuvuzelas who ran a formidable public relations for them. He brought under his arms some of the once reputable civil society organizations in the village to help write colorful and convincing reports on behalf of his administration. He also began drafting new policies and amending existing ones as part of a bigger plan in his renaissance of Thampèreh.
And while this was going on, the Painter acted like a man who walked miles to the river to cleanse his feet, and on his way back home, walked through the river’s pile of mud and carried it with him.
Instead of implementing what the vuvuzelas are projecting to the outside world, the Painter banked on their PR skills as he pillaged the village’s resources. As civil society organizations made a silhouetted image of him outside the village, he mercilessly plundered Thampèreh’s already crumbling economy. He built himself castles and fortresses in the space of forty-eight moon circles while the people perished. The policies became mere pronouncements on paper. He used the fight against corruption to go after his adversaries and anyone who challenged his rule. He launched inquiries into atrocities committed against the people but abandoned the investigations even before getting started.
In a bid to crown himself Bob the Builder, he launched more projects than all the music albums of the village’s artists combined. And like many of those artists whose works never crossed Thampèreh’s borders, no one has seen the finished products of the Painter’s launched projects.
Even when citizens called on him to strengthen the bakeries so that his people could bake bread and negotiate with the herders for the butter, he turned a blind eye to those bread-and-butter issues.
In a recent meeting with some of the village’s herders, where they told him about the challenges the people face, the Painter said he’s only hearing these significant issues for the first time, a complete disconnect from the reality and the people he claimed to serve.
The Painter is on the last lap of his first term, and reality is already kicking in. Like many in Thampèreh would say, the propaganda machine is “pulling smoke,” and it’s time to go back to the people and convince or lie to them about a second chance.
The PhD Buyers and Their Hunt For Thampèreh’s Resources
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[Elite_video_player id=”10″]
The PhD Buyers had red and black robes. Their hats were twice the size of their heads. They had red stripes on the arms of each robe. Some had two stripes, others three. They stood side by side under a mango tree and faced a man who appeared like he was recovering from a hangover. There are several unfinished buildings around. The man had a medal-like star hanging on his neck. He altered a few words before another man, dressed in a red and blue robe, appeared on the side, and walked in front of the group.
“Dominion, Dominion,” the man shouted in his husky-Ariogbo voice.
“I have the power to rule,” the group responded.
The man repeated his Dominion chant three more times as the group responded.
“Somebody, shout Yaaay,” the man said again, throwing his fist above his head.
“Yaay,” the group responded in like manner.
Now pause!
I know what you are thinking. This is not a scene from a cult initiation and the group is not waiting for a cup of blood to be handed to them to drink. It is also not a scene from one of Thampèreh’s low-budget movie productions. This is from a graduation ceremony, and the husky-Ariogbo man is about to give the PhD Buyers a different kind of cup, PhDs, that would allow them to suck the blood of Thampèreh – its resources. The man is the founder of the Dominion Christian University of Thampèreh.
This is not the first or second time he has organized such ceremonies and awarded what authorities later call “fake” PhDs. Dozens in Thampèreh benefited from his power to rule courses, including (allegedly) the village’s Inspector General of Police and the clerk of the People’s House. But his sheer “power to rule” charm failed him, prompting him to reach his Waterloo, where, coincidently, is his university’s location.
So, how did we get here?
You see, Thampèreh has a problem – well, it has many issues though this is one of its major ones. The village was known for producing some of the brightest minds in the entire Green Kingdom in moons past. And as other villages emerged from the barbaric times of colonialism, they built even stronger education systems to allow them to produce more brilliant minds in their villages instead of sending them to Thampèreh, whose education system was also on the verge of crashing. But many in Thampèreh wanted the world to believe or see that the village still has a robust education system. Over time, the pretence led to its total ruins. Instead of grades for merit, the entire system became a commodity, meaning you can buy your way to the top of the village’s education system if you have the money (or body) to pay.
For several moon circles, the culture of pay for grades grew bigger and later transformed into an industry of its own. And as that culture expanded, the trust level of all the village’s education system declined. Even when the few hardworking students tried beating the odds to obtain what they worked for and deserved, the system, through its gang of rogues, found ways to cripple the minds and made it harder for those hardworking students.
For many, regardless of how hard students work and how much extra time they sacrifice, the system still gave them a reason to look for money (or an attractive body – for women and men) to pay their way through. And as time went on, the problem exploded beyond control. No one was in charge. It created an opportunity for anyone with a pen and paper to open a school or university. And because everything operated as a business, it also meant that anyone who wanted to open a school or university could register it as a business or cooperation and not necessarily a learning institution.
This, coupled with the other culture of people obtaining what they don’t work for (the massive corruption), led to the influx of cult-like institutions like husky-Ariogbo owned Dominion Christian University. And because the village has an enormous obsession for PhDs, PhD Buyers, or people with the doctor title, even though most of them hate sciences, many would empty their savings to pay for a PhD, even if it meant obtaining it under a mango tree. It is the power to rule and the fakery that comes with it.
Dominion Christian University has reached its Waterloo, or maybe not. But there are dozens of other Dominion-like fake universities posing as learning institutions that are still on their way and will take decades to arrive in their Waterloo. So, either those tasked with shaping Thampèreh’s education system begin to board Poda Podas or Kekes and go looking for them or lazily wait till those institutions arrive on their own.
Alhaji Njai, one of the village’s most revered professors (a real one) had this to say:
“Maybe we should all just buy PhDs, legalize cheating in schools and academic fraud, fake our way to positions in society, and in that way, we save big time on educational investments, and bypass all the daunting requirements for hard work, integrity, ethics, and excellence. Maybe we should just accept it as who we are, what we have become in 60 years, and how we have perceived success.
Maybe this is what we truly are, a society where mediocrity is rewarded and promoted, and excellence marginalized. So why do I have to do the right thing, when the basic tenets of integrity, hard work, honesty, and excellence do not matter anyway; Those who cheat still get ahead and are rewarded in the system.”
But we cannot give up now. We need to do better. Thampèreh is already a failed village. We mustn’t allow it to crumble or perish. Even though these problems have been with us for over seven hundred moon circles, they do not make us who we are.
And until more voices join in the calls for institutional and systemic changes, the leeches will continue to shout with their Ah Riogbo-like voices saying, “I have the power to rule.” And their gullible supporters, the PhD Buyers will always be there to answer “Yaaay” to that.
In Sierra Leone, whenever the country gets badly hit by hardship and an enormous lack of food, we hear politicians talk about the need for citizens to go back to farming. We even see how some of these politicians go to villages, and negotiate with local chiefs to have large pieces of land allocated to them. They collect tractors meant to support local farmers, pose with them on their farms, and tell citizens that if they can do it, everyone else should. But while they share photos of the beginning, we never get to see pictures of the harvest.
Even though many of these politicians often use the farms to score political goals, some genuinely want to cultivate to encourage locals, especially the youths, to go into farming and help tackle the nation’s growing food problem. I have heard testimonies from people in several communities about the enormous support they receive from people like Umaru Napoleon Koroma. Even though the farms fail, he continues to support them in his little way.
But farming in Sierra Leone isn’t as simple as acquiring land, planting seeds, and boom boom, you harvest. Many farmers failed badly in their farming efforts. And this is no fault of their own.
Politicians and their supporters often say Sierra Leone has fertile land to grow all crops. But the truth is, our land isn’t as fertile as we may think. Many of the areas available for farming would require massive investment to make them fertile before farming. It requires even more resources to start farming in new areas (land that has never been farmed before).
Then there is the issue of finding the right seeds for the right places. There is also the issue of pests. Sierra Leone has some of the most stubborn pests in our bushes, and we do not have the suitable pesticides to get rid of them. These and access to resources (mostly finance) are the major challenges we face. But the picture our politicians tend to paint is that we have fertile land, and if our youth weren’t lazy, they would tap into farming opportunities and save our country.
Let me share a personal experience. About two years ago, I joined two other friends to start a farm business in Sierra Leone. We thought about growing corn and leased a large piece of land. The three of us spend most of our time outside Sierra Leone, so we put together a team to work full-time on the farm. We hired an agriculture consultant to guide them. We reached out to the ministry of agriculture for tractors to help us prepare the over 50 acres of land. After the ministry sent a team to survey the land, they told us the tractors could not work on our land because it is a relatively new area, and they were worried about damaging machines while clearing. Fair enough. We hired over a dozen people from the community to help with clearing. We eventually cleared about 40 acres. We then planted the corn.
The pests attacked the sooner the corn began growing. We tried different products from Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Ghana but couldn’t get rid of them. The pests, plus the quality of the land, killed our farm. We invested over 100 million Leones in the farm, and in return, we only got about 9 million Leones (yes, nine million). I personally invested about 70% of that over 100 million Leones.
I spoke with different corn farmers, and they all had similar experiences. I even contacted a friend at the ministry of agriculture and told him about our experience. His response was, ‘bra if you bin tell me quick ah for don tell u for try oda tin.” It turned out he also planted corn in the same area we had ours, and his experience was even worse.
Late last year, I decided to try something different. I leased a large piece of land (a swampy area) and decided to do vegetables. I bought irrigation machines, put together a smaller team, and again hired a consultant. We planted cabbage, watermelon, cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, okra, etc. And after months of toiling and putting nearly 50 million Leones on it, only the okra survived. The rest died. We asked people at the ministry of agriculture to tell us what went wrong. They said the land was a bad choice. Even when we told them we had a consultant look at the land, they said sometimes it is hard to tell the quality of the land until you try. So we have to try constantly till we get it right. I know a few other young farmers who had similar experiences.
The good part is that two years ago, while I invested in corn, I also planted cassava on the side. I let the cassava grow for two years. And I ended up with a bumpy harvest of the cassava earlier this year and had over a dozen bags of gari.
But how many young people or local farmers have the resources and money to try over and over before getting it right? How many would lose over 150 million Leones and still want to try? How many farmers would plant cassava and let it stand there for two years to increase the chances of a bumpy harvest? What happens within those two years if they don’t have a steady income somewhere? Maybe go into debt and pay when they eventually harvest two years later? Will the harvest be enough to pay the debts?
My dear friend Moinina David Sengeh said let’s teach our children how to grow wheat. But is wheat a staple food in Sierra Leone? What size of our land is compatible with wheat? Can we start having honest conversations about land access and its quality before we teach our kids how to grow wheat and other crops? Can we talk about access to finance and machines/tools to enable our farmers to work better? Can we talk about access to the right seeds? Or should we pretend it’s all good and let our youth get into much bigger problems while trying to solve our food security issue?
Headaches, nausea, lack of sleep, excessive fatigue, were among the dozens of cases reported at Thampèreh’s main referral hospital after the village went for nearly a full moon circle without electricity and fuel. In Bomeh, one of the village’s central depots for waste and garbage, the site was packed with rotten food because freezers became more valuable to metal scrap collectors than cooling food. And for the first time in more than a century, no police station received reports of generator theft. There were no stolen generators because no one had use for them.
On social media and on the streets of Thampèreh, there were shouts of blackouts everywhere to the extent that dozens of Blacks came out. The kiti kiti kata kata of the large crowds of these Blacks out led to heads bam bam-ing against each other because it was too dark outside for them to see one another. They are among the majority who are currently undergoing treatment for severe headaches.
In Sarèh Thampèreh’s capital, the problem was so severe that even the moon couldn’t shine in the city due to a combination of the thick smoke deriving from massive pollution and the darkness. Along beach road, another kiti kiti kata kata for having no electricity made it impossible to chill with the big boys.
In Kambia, a thief took advantage of the power shortage and went out of his house to try stealing goats from his neighbours. But because outside was too dark, he unknowingly returned to his home, stole his only goat, and went into his neighbour’s house thinking it was his. He eventually woke up in the morning next to his neighbour’s wife. His neighbour reported him to Bai Farma, the Paramount Chief. They later charged him with adultery and attempted bribery because the thief offered to leave his goat with his neighbour, hoping they would settle the matter “as a family.”
In Port Loko, the Apprentice went to vote for the Palm Tree’s candidate for the representative in the People’s House, but it was so dark that he mistakenly dipped his thumb for the CoPPP candidate. His vote became the deciding vote that eventually swung the Bote Game 4 Beteh candidate’s winning in constituency 073.
In Kailahun, a man went to the filling station and attempted to suck fuel from a goose, but unlike blowing breeze into a bubu instrument, he ended up with swollen jaws.
Even Bo had a vast shortage of eggs.
Obsessed with the Red Sun, Queen Yidador-Ka blamed them for the fuel shortage, claiming they own all the energy stations in the village.
As the problem worsens, it is no longer a case of who can afford fuel but where to find it. The light and fuel crisis poses a major threat to Thampèreh’s livelihood. Even when the Lord said, “let there be light,” Thampèreh’s rulers continue to disobey the Lord’s commandment as they say no to His people.
And till this day, there’s been no explanation as to who led the blackout as the dogs continue to bark woo, woo, woo, woo.
A few months back, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) in Sierra Leone increased to 366.30 in December from 358.70 in November; source: Statistics Sierra Leone. Inflation of 13.3% for the Sierra Leone economy indicated some despair for households amidst the pandemic and the current Russian NATO proxy war taking place in Ukraine. This inflation figure means that in comparison to January last year, prices have gone up by 13 per cent for the basket of goods that a consumer typically purchases. This seems an unreasonable number to expect and is a bad scenario for the consumers.
For a government with an increasing level of public debt and a large fiscal deficit, this could explain the need to hike prices of petrol, diesel, and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), especially in the midst of a pandemic and the ongoing proxy war between Russia and NATO taking place in Ukraine. Let me explain how a large fiscal deficit gives incentives for the government to increase taxes on essential commodities.
This is a concept called inflation tax. With the inflation tax, the government could increase prices either by increasing taxes on essential commodities or asking the Bank of Sierra Leone to print more money. The result of increasing such taxes is that they get passed on to consumers as a general increase in prices. The most obvious contender for such a general increase in taxes is universal inputs used by most consumers in a country.
A key universal input in the production process includes fuel. An increase in the prices would largely increase transportation costs and directly affect our day-to-day expenses. There is more! Fuel acts as a universal input for production too. Farm products are moved from our villages to Freetown and other main cities and this transportation rely on fuel. A hike in fuel price affects the agricultural sector as farmers and distributors have lesser profit, so they pass it on to consumers.
Let us take a simple example. Think of Le 250,000 which is in your wallet. When inflation is less, you could potentially buy 50kg age of rice with that amount. But when the government increases taxes on fuel or on basic food items, the same Le 250,000 fetches you only 25kg bag of rice at higher prices. Now imagine this happening across the board for all the commodities. This is general inflation. So, why does the government tax food and fuel to increase inflation? The government does this to erode the real value of government debt.
Continuing with the example of rice purchase, let us suppose that we borrow Le125,000 from our neighbour to buy a 25kg bag of rice before the inflation episode took place. We could purchase 25kg of a bag of rice. In the interim, the government increased the fuel price because of which the general level of prices increased. When we repay our neighbour, he could not buy a 25kg bag of rice for the same amount of money. What happened in the interim is that prices of all goods increased. This benefited you the borrower and worked against your neighbour, the lender.
Now, if we apply this concept to the entire economy, the increase in fuel prices is indicative of a strategy by the government whereby it is pressured by a need to payout its debt. In other words, now the government is the borrower who gains from inflation in the economy. This could partly explain the constant increase in fuel prices despite the proxy Russia NATO war taking place in Ukraine and the increase in crude oil prices. Moreover, this strategy is also adopted by States around the globe that have the power to levy Value Added Tax (VAT) on fuel.
Even though inflation tax is an indirect strategy for sustaining fiscal deficit, it is often adopted by policymakers all over the world. The more direct way to pay for the borrowings is to earn money. However, given the projections, the likelihood of an increase in Gross Domestic Product (GDP), so that the government could generate enough revenue, remains bleak. In such circumstances, a more indirect approach is mandated and that is what we are witnessing.
The existing deceptive comment by certain individuals of the previous government and their supporters is that they were providing sizable fuel subsidies and hence, lessen greater taxes on fuel to make life comfortable for consumers. This was never the truth. In fact how big was ‘sizable’ is certainly an opinion, but if we compare their statement and try to use the right economics word to justify their past actions with respect to this subject, they were actually doing tax cut on fuel, but never they’ve subsidised for fuel.
Thus, the tax cuts were paltry in comparison with the tax revenues. So, a part of the tax cut was necessary then and needed further increased to counteract the possible increase in fuel prices.
Signs of poor management
The continuous increase in fuel prices over the last few years under the Bio led administration points to systematic mismanagement of public debt. This is how our taxes are paying for the government’s extravagance. This is the sort of economics that masks administrative inefficiency.
