POLITICS-SIERRA LEONE: Task Force Paints Gloomy Picture

By Lansana Fofana Reprint | | Print |

Lansana Fofana

FREETOWN, Feb 27 1998 (IPS) - After an intensive week-long assessment of the socio-economic and political situation in Sierra Leone, a 10-member Task Force appointed by former President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah Friday presented a gloomy picture of the country.

“The entire revenue base of the country was destroyed by the junta(military), which was recklessly spending government funds without accounting for them,” said Momoh Pujeh, Kabbah’s Deputy Finance Minister and a member of the Task Force.

Pujeh told journalists Friday that the nine-month rule of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) left the inflation rate at 40 percent.

“The country’s economy is in a state of total mess. External debt now stands at 1.2 billion U.S. Dollars and the government is going to find it extremely difficult redressing the problem,” Pujeh added.

Attorney-General Solomon Berewa gave journalists a report on the numbers of AFRC members and civilian collaborators who have been detained by the Nigerian-led West African Peacekeeping Force(ECOMOG), following the junta’s ouster earlier this month.

More than 150 civilian collaborators have been picked up for their roles in the destruction of the state and more than 200 military personnel, including AFRC officials, are being detained at the Pademba Road Maximum Security Prison in Freetown.

“Once President Kabbah returns on Mar. 10, we will speed up the process of investigating the suspects and putting them on trial,” Berewa said. Kabbah and members of his government have been exiled in Conakry, Guinea since he was overthrown by junior military officers last May.

The Kabbah administration, the Attorney General said, is not out to seek revenge, adding that all the detainess will receive a fair trial.

The Task Force also listed various areas of concern, including health care, food supplies and the rehabilitation of Sierra Leone’s infrastructure.

“Even schools and higher educational institutions were not spared by the AFRC vandals,” said Kanja Sesay, Kabbah’s Minister of Rehabilitation and Reconstruction.

Sesay said school furniture was stolen and used as fuelwood for cooking, while a number of buildings were gutted down.

Although the Task Force, which is operating like an interim government, has succeeded in restoring electricity, water supplies and telephone service to the capital, it still faces the problem of providing food to the people and paying workers outstanding (four-months) salaries.

The Task Force Friday also accused the deposed junta of looting millions of dollars from the Central Bank during its nine-month reign and of “tampering with the forex reserves”.

Despite this, according to Prince Harding, the Minister of Mines and also a Task Force member, the returning government is in good shape to pay workers salaries for February.

Kabbah is expected to return to the country on Mar. 10, and according to the Task Force, he will be accompanied by over 10 Heads of States in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). The Nigerian President General Sani Abacha is expected to be among the leaders.