Whilst erstwhile President Koroma and his media team have been strenuously trying to convince the nation that his government in its ten years in power did a very good job of managing the country well politically and economically via wide circulation of handing over note, many of his compatriots think otherwise.

Comparing ex-President Koroma’s handing over note with that of his predecessor, Late President Tejan Kabbah, the first thing that they note is that ex-President Koroma does not say anything about his government leaving the country with a plus balance in the treasury.

On the other hand, citizens note that Pa Kabbah categorically stated in his handing over note that his government left a balance surplus of Le500 billion for use by the Koroma government with very low internal and external debts and inflation in single digit.

Moreover, an official in the Ministry of Finance disclosed that during the SLPP era of President Kabbah, the government never resorted to overdraft borrowing from the Central Bank to pay public sector wages which the Koroma government did.

On assumption of office, this government within the space of one month from plugging leakages in the revenue collection system was able to raise over Le315 billion that enabled it to pay salaries without borrowing as well as pay Le2.5 billion to WAEC for candidates taking the NPSE, as well as start paying backlogs of NASSIT contributions for public sector workers.

Currently, President Bio in his state of the economy address just after taking over power in April said, Sierra Leone has an unwieldy internal debt of Le4.9 trillion and external debt of about $2 billion.

The boast by ex-President Koroma that annual revenue generated by his government increased many fold, monetary economists said should be seen in the light of inflation; adding that in real monetary terms, the increase is specious, given that at the time his government came to power, the dollar was trading at around Le300, 000 per $100.

Therefore, if calculations are made for the rate of inflation over the ten years that APC was in power, there was no real increase in revenue but a marked deterioration in the standard of living of the people judging by price increases for all goods and services in the country including rice and fuel.

On the roads that the ex-President takes pride in, President Bio has looked at them with a quizzical eye, stating that they are the highest priced roads in the world. For example, it is preposterous to think that the 60 kilometer stretch of road from Wellington toll road to Masiaka costs a stupendous $167 million; something the NGC leader had also commented negatively on.

In general, many Sierra Leoneans think that ex-President Koroma’s government failed to deal effectively with corruption, low revenue generation, financial mismanagement and wastage, as well as failing to significantly improve the country’s educational and health systems, as the Ebola outbreak clearly showed in the case of health; hence the deplorable condition that his government left the economy and the country in.