President Julius Maada Bio made a promise to the people of this country that he is going to fight to curb on lawlessness, poverty and corruption which he said are the three major causes responsible for the underdevelopment of Sierra Leone.

In the area of corruption, President Bio said he is going to make sure that corruption becomes a thing of the past as his administration will left no stone unturned in eradicating the menace. He described how corruption has eaten into the fabrics of the society and has left an indelible scar in the country’s image. Transparency and accountability are two key words that President Bio said his administration will be accountable and transparent to the citizens. He said if a nation wants to thrive with development then corruption should be abolished in the hearts and minds of state officials serving the people.

If really President Bio was serious about the fight in graft, the first port of call should have been the police. The police are believed to be the most corrupt institution with high extortion of bribery from the populace. The President in his wisdom should set up an independent body that should be tasked with the onus of appointing the Inspector General and his subordinates so that they will serve and work for the people and not personal individuals.

Another department of corruption is the judiciary. The type of corruption practice within the court system is too appalling because it rolls down from senior Law officers to other ranks. President Bio, if he was serious about eradicating this menace must not be seen selecting judges. The best practice should have been an independent commission to appoint these judges so that they will not be remote controlled by the executive.

One sign of weakness from president Bio in fighting corruption is the partial fight from the Anti-Corruption Commission Boss who roped past government officials and gave blind eyes to the obnoxious corrupt practices by officials of the current regime. There are more sacred cows in president Bio’s regime because most of the corruption done by the current officials is swept under the carpet. While the people wallow in abject poverty, Ministers keep on looting state funds and are seen transferred from one ministry to another enjoying heyday in corrupt practices.

Another fight that President Maada Bio woefully failed to win is the fight on lawlessness. The society is bound with lawlessness to the highest extreme and its ranges from all spheres of the society. To start with, ministers are among the top lawless people in the country. Most of them barely spend five hours in their offices in doing what they were entrusted to do. These ministers are always late for work because they are not answerable to anyone at their ministries.

When president Bio took up office, he was conducting inspection check on all ministries to see and know for himself the ministers who are always late for work or do not take their appointments with utmost seriousness. Lawlessness is rife in Sierra Leone and lives within the midst of the society.

The police are also recognized to be a lawless institution that encourages bribery because they extort monies from commercial drives and encourage them to embark on half way driving with no recourse for the law. Illegal drug peddlers are not afraid of the law because they know bribing the police will make crimes smoothly for them. Business people are lawless because they hike prices of their goods to make double profit. Political analyzers have said that President Bio could not control the internal lawlessness in his government and party and therefore could not eradicate lawlessness in the midst of Sierra Leoneans.

President Bio should not be told that he duped the people in believing that he is going to exterminate poverty. Poverty is the order of the day as citizens could hardly get round square meal per day. The less privilege homes are finding it very hard and painful to provide food their children. Some homes are run dry while some go two to three days with barely some food at homes. Parents are perplexed about the situation and what lies ahead of their untold sufferings. Massive youth unemployment has added more salt to the injuries as there are hundreds and thousands of university graduates who living a squalid life style. Youths have given up to excessive drug abuse as they foresee the future as bleak with no hope for them.

The sacked Bank Governor and his pile of failed Economic and fiscal theories have added more struggles to the suffering populace due to the redenomination of the local currency that has caused an upsurge in the rapid increase and change of prices for basic services and commodities.

Having a military mind and background, the people were expecting President Bio to be a man of his words in making sure he wins the fight on corruption, lawlessness and poverty. But now his name has been splashed in the mud as a one term leader that did not live up to the expectation of those who voted him as president and now that he and his party are facing the exit door there nothing more left to do.

All the promises of president Bio and the New Direction administrators were said on mere fantasies to fool the people and get their votes.

Farewell Maada Bio.