Those who are marginalized on government development policies are like strangers in Sierra Leone.
When nation’s budgets are prepared, these people who are regularly margined, don’t have any choices left but to say out their grievances to media houses through journalists who often interview them.
The poor women who work on farms and those who sell small wares to get a living, the disabilities, young school girls who couldn’t afford money to buy sanitary pads, teachers who teach without better payment, junior staff who work in public offices for donkey years but are still receiving poor salaries that are below the country’s minimum wage (Le 1 million).
As the new budget of Sierra Leone was taken to parliament last week Friday 10, November, 2023, most people in Sierra Leone, the disabled people, women in agriculture and business, junior civil servants, teachers, the elderly people in villages and towns, and the long-time retired public servants, and poor school going girls and boys, don’t get to benefit hugely from the country’s main budget.
This is mainly because, in Sierra Leone, successive governments have always been focusing more of their attention in allocating huge funds to only few popular ministries, agencies and departments within the government.
The several groups of people like students, women in business and agriculture in villages are not particularly considered in government policy planning, sometimes.
Most students, especially young girls mostly, if not always, lack the means to take care of their personal body such as buying sanitary pads because they don’t have mini-jobs where they can raise little money after they off from their respective schools.
When will the voices and cries of these marginalized peoples in Sierra Leone be heard in State’s budget planning and implementation?