By Ibraheem Daramy
I remember as a kid, I had one forgettable moment with my brother, three (3) years my senior. As a traditional family alongside our communal upbringing, we were eating from the same bowl when suddenly, in his signing off, because it’s conventional that the younger sibling must remain last on the dish, he took a massive portion of the food, leaving me with just a few grains of rice and the residue of oil to lick. I did not hold back, I poured my frustration on him by sounding unusually loud. He thought the only weapon he had to shut me up was to floor me through multiple punches. And the timing would not have been any better for him, neither our mom nor our grand mother were around. I did not fight back because of the risk of my mom’s wrath. So the only way I figured I could be placated was to ask for divine intervention. The mosque, built by our cleric grand father in our compound was where I headed. Whatever made me believe I could get instant justice, just reinforces the naivety of a helpless kid.
What we are experiencing today with our petroleum products is one, like in the case between me and my senior brother, that we could only hope and pray for God’s mercy. Yes, you heard me, God’s mercy. I don’t expect our gatekeepers to take offense, because they are also fond of mobilising the population to ask for God’s invisible powers. Is it not an admission of failure that our leaders would have to revert to God’s will? We are on record as the most prayerful continent. There is zero chance we could pray ourselves out of poverty, because we never prayed ourselves into it, in the first place.
The ongoing hostilities between the Islamic Republic of Iran and USA/Israel has compounded our misery, because life has never been any better for us. I’m afraid things are going to get really bad. Initially I thought Venezuela, where the president, Nicolas Maduro and his spouse were taken by a so-called American elite force in a commando style kidnapping, was a dress rehearsal for Iran. But this Persian nation has withstood the might of the USA and Israel for about eight (8) months now, she is still intact as a state, albeit the assassination of some members of her leadership. I wonder if there’s anyone who could have bet on that, even if the odds were too tempting. Or could it be a case of being too generous with our assessment of the capabilities of the USA and Israel?
In Sierra Leone, the National Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NPRA), is charged with the regulation of the Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs). We have witnessed several increases in petroleum products in the last couple of years that have profound effect on the population. The justifications have entirely been external factors. Our authorities have been handed such a convenient decoy. Unarguably though. But the indifference, in my opinion, is the fact that, the general population that would be on the receiving end, and without whom, there would never have been a government, barely make it to the negotiating table.
And the other thing that is most betraying of the people’s trust is the unrealistic increament done to the pump. All the increases so far have been predicated on global pricing. But what is almost most disingenuous by the authorities is when the mathematical computations are altered whenever there is a supposed downward adjustment at the source. I remember the most recent decrease was significantly less than what was realistically envisaged. But the reverse is the case when global pricing suggests otherwise.
When I see the Ministry of Transport and Aviation issuing releases about fares on various routes across the country, it just expose the extent at which our government can go in capitulating to big corporations. They are primarily focused on the accompanying windfall. This is nothing but the case of a few privileged individuals cashing in at the expense of the people they vowed to protect at all costs.
daramyibraheem@gmail.com
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