The literature on ‘conflict-sensitive’ business practices has burgeoned in recent years. Yet there remains a critical knowledge gap on the value of incorporating ‘conflict-sensitivity’ systematically to business environment reforms (BER) advanced by the public sector and its international partners. Wars and protracted conflicts reshape market environments in deeply distortive ways. The resulting transformation often enlarges the informal sector at the expense of formal state institutions, while it also reinforces high dependence on foreign aid and investments. Simultaneously, policy communication channels also become disrupted and unreliable. The existing BER literature remains generally insensitive to these peculiarities. Drawing on a case study of Sierra Leone, this article explores the implications of these omissions and shows that BER may even bring about adverse effects when the peculiarities of these conflict-generated market distortions are neglected. In order to avoid negative repercussions, conflict-sensitive BER needs to take into account the multiplicity of business environments and the heterogeneity of business actors operating within conflict-affected nations.
Sierra Leone Telegraph Article: Hold the Office of the Attorney General Accountable
We must hold the office of the Attorney General accountable for wrongful prosecutions July 12, 2020 Abdul Rashid Thomas4 Basita Michael: Sierra Leone Telegraph: 12 July 2020: “Not Guilty.” Two powerful words spoken by the foreman of the jury that brought a sense of relief and feelings of vindication to three accused persons in the […]
The Chicken and the Egg Conundrum
Implementing property tax reform in Freetown As with many cities in sub-Sahara Africa, Freetown has been suffering from inadequate municipal services largely due to low revenues collected, in turn explained by weak tax collection and extremely low property taxes. And like all other cities, Freetown has been searching for innovative methods to improve both as a […]
Containing COVID19: implications for the private sector in Sierra Leone
As at 23 March, there is no known case of COVID19 infection in Sierra Leone, but this is unlikely to remain so as all other countries in the MRU basin (Liberia, Ivory Coast, and Guinea) and most member states from ECOWAS have reported positive cases, mostly arriving travellers. Notwithstanding local challenges and limitations, the pre-emptive […]
Response to COVID 19 Pt 2
Still intrigued by the response of the West to COVID 19 as compared to China. Would love to get help in answering the following:1. China with a population of 1.32 billion, and was the guinea pig for the virus, has reported under 3,500 deaths so far. The US has a population of 350 million but […]
FALAMAKATA
Lockdowns will not halt the transmission as long as there are carriers who do not show any symptom but who continue to spread the virus. Other measures such as prohibiting mass gatherings of more than 10 persons are far more effective in a low income country where the average household numbers more than 15 in urban areas. Members of large households are usually together only at night/bedtime. A lockdown forcing them to be together for 14 or 28 days is far more likely to accelerate transmission within the household and thus produce a cumulative effect worse than controlling the congregation of people.