⦁ Prince Macauley Opines
With all the failed policies of the Bank Governor that have wrecked the country’s economy, and barely two months to the General Elections, what positive impact will the sacking of Prof. Kallon bring to the state of the economy? This has been the concerns of most Sierra Leoneans when news of the sacking of Textbook Economist filtered through on social media. Economist Prince Macauley, one of Sierra Leone’s finest Economists, maintained that the Acting Bank Governor cannot perform any miracle now, especially as the economy is on life support.
It could be recalled that since this textbook economist began to institute his failed policies, the media and top notch Economists have condemned his moves, including the World Bank, but President Bio refused to listen to the cries of those experts, who were sounding the alarm bells that those policies will land the country in an economic mess. Today the country’s economy is on life support, and there does not seem to be any idea in the Bio administration to resuscitate it.
As if the comedy is not over, the government has replaced the Bank Governor with his deputy, a man who has always been in the decision making at that institution, who saw eye to eye with the Governor, what difference will he bring, barely two months to elections? Many believe that there will be no difference. The Acting Bank Governor has been in the meeting of his predecessor all throughout these years, and had not seen any reason to advice the governor against some of his failed policies, so, now as Acting, what magic will he play to transform the economy?
Some political and Economic analysts say that the government had been sleeping all through these years to notice that the Bank Governor was not fit for purpose, as a result, failed to show him the exit door long ago, and its decision at this eleventh hour to sack him is counter-productive and will yield no difference. Some of the political analysts say that the government may have been sleep-walking all these years, and had only awaken to the reality on the ground, when the economy has gone into coma.
When this Textbook Economist began auctioning the dollar, the World Bank sounded alarm bells at a conference held at Radisson Blu hotel, attended by top World Bank officials from Sierra Leone and other parts of the country. Governor Kallon was present, as well as the Financial Secretary, when the experts gave their reservations over the auctioning of the dollar. But that was the end of the story, no action was taken to correct the failed policy, instead, Governor Kallon introduced several other failed policies, which, in his lecturer’s mind, were good, but in reality, will end up catapult the country’s economy into the abyss.
One of the finest Economist in Sierra Leone, Prince Jacob Macauley sounded the alarm bells long ago about the negative impact the Bank Governor’s failed policies will bring to the country, but nobody listened. When Governor Kallon introduced the notion of redenomination, Prince Macauley was again on record to advice the government and the Governor that that was a failed policy. He informed the nation on Radio Democracy that the new currency will be dead on arrival, but again, nobody listened, and today we have to contend with two currencies in the market. Prince Macauleycautioned that the conditions for redenomination did not exist, as inflation was very high, and the exercise will result in people swapping their Leone for the dollar, an international tender, and this will result in scarcity of the dollar and an exponential rise of the dollar, which will invariably affect every facet of life. Today, the prices of commodities have risen exponentially; the cost of living has become unbearable, affecting the livelihood of every Sierra Leonean. Businesses are either closing or downsizing, with the cost of production increasing at an astronomical rate.
Prince Macauley furthered that had the government listened to him, we would not have been in this state of economic collapse. Giving his opinion on the removal of the Bank Governor, Prince Macauley stated that it is too little too late, as his replacement cannot perform magic to change the situation overnight. In his view, the Minister of Finance, again, appointed very late to man that Ministry; should look at both the fiscal and monetary policies with a view to develop a policy that will address the situation. But as the country is going into elections soon, much could not be done within this short time to revamp the economy.
