Sierra Leoneans to vote as economic crisis hits hard

Freetown, Sierra Leone (AFP):

Sierra Leoneans will vote in tense elections on Saturday, with President Julius Maada Bio hoping to secure a second term despite a crippling economic crisis which sparked deadly protests last year.

The West African country, which never fully recovered economically from a 1991-2002 civil war and the Ebola epidemic a decade later, was further pummelled by the Covid pandemic and fallout from the war in Ukraine.

There are 13 candidates in the race for the top office, but Bio’s main rival is Samura Kamara, a bookish technocrat with the opposition All People’s Congress (APC), who came second in the last election in 2018.

This time around, however, the country of eight million is gripped by a dire cost-of-living crisis which contributed to riots last August that left more than 30 dead.

As of March, the latest month on record, yearly inflation stood at 41.5 percent.

Bio the favourite 

At the helm of the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP), Bio, 59 -– a former coup leader who spent three months as head of state in the 1990s — championed education and women’s rights during his first mandate.

In an interview, he said he would prioritise agriculture and reducing food imports next.

Kamara, 72 — a former finance and foreign minister who lost to Bio in a 2018 runoff — said he would restore confidence in the country’s economic institutions and bring in foreign direct investment.

He is currently on trial for embezzling public funds while he was foreign minister, in a case his supporters believe is politically motivated.

Most Sierra Leoneans vote on longstanding regional allegiances, and there is a perception that jobs and benefits will flow to regions whose politicians are in power.