Excerpt from a study of Sierra Leone’s fragility being launched today by the Fragility Commission. “The “social contract” has never been established in Sierra Leone at the national level. Rebellions and strikes before independence, and coup d’états and economic crises after independence, were repeated regularly. Yet the promises of a new beginning after every crisis […]
Have we crossed this way before?
New post on The Sierra Leone Telegraph by Abdul Rashid Thomas SLPP condemns violence at the APC political rally Sierra Leone Telegraph: 27 January 2018: Yesterday’s violence by supporters of the ruling APC, which led to the death of one person at their party’s rally in the capital Freetown, has been strongly condemned by opposition […]
2016 Human Development Report
The 2016 HDR is out and the news for Salone is depressing and worrying. Much can be said about the Report but I will draw attention to the latest set of statistics revolving around poverty and inequality. I have always questioned the poverty reports claiming that the country has reduced poverty considerably from 2002 to […]
On Poverty and Corruption
I was asked to add my few Leones worth of ideas to the above. I usually avoid getting into the debate for several reasons. First, some reportedly corrupt societies in recent history have displayed remarkable growth at early periods – China after Tianaman, Indonesia twenty years ago, and Salone between 2010 and 2013. The drivers […]
A silver lining?
A silver lining? Impact of Commodity Price Fall on Good Governance in Sierra Leone was just posted by the World Bank Institute’s Governance for Extractive Industries Program (GOXI) written in collaboration with Nicolas Maennling and Lisa Sachs. From 2002 to 2013, resource-rich countries in Africa enjoyed the benefits of a commodity boom, using increased revenues […]
The Looting Machine
Have just completed The Looting Machine – Warlords, Oligarchs, Corporations, Smugglers, and the Theft of Africa’s Wealth by Tom Burgis. This is a must read for all who love Africa. It provides dates, names, amounts and reveals the extent of looting going on in mineral-rich African countries.. If you have high blood pressure, keep water […]