{"id":24027,"date":"2011-05-19T09:00:27","date_gmt":"2011-05-19T13:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sierraexpressmedia.com\/?p=24027"},"modified":"2011-05-19T09:00:27","modified_gmt":"2011-05-19T13:00:27","slug":"civil-society-calls-on-the-government-of-sierra-leone-to-immediately-address-the-acute-economic-hardship-particularly-the-momentous-fuel-price-escalation-and-youth-unemployment-in-the-country","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/?p=24027","title":{"rendered":"Civil Society calls on the government of Sierra Leone to immediately address the acute economic hardship particularly the momentous fuel price escalation and youth unemployment in the country"},"content":{"rendered":"

Coalition for Justice and Accountability (COJA) in consultation with the undersigned representatives of civil society wishes to draw the immediate attention of the government of Sierra Leone and its development partners\u00a0 to their dozens of\u00a0 international, regional and sub regional human rights and good governance instruments in particular article 2 of the UN Convention on Economic Social and Cultural Rights which obliges developing countries to seek international assistant in order to achieve economic, social and cultural rights of their peoples<\/p>\n

To this end we laud the effort of the government of Sierra Leone in its strives towards massive infrastructural and social developments in the areas of agriculture, energy and infrastructure. However we appeal that these initiatives as dictated by the agenda for change (PRSP2)<\/strong> be more people centered or driven. For instance the people of this country were taken aback when government announced its decision to simultaneously withdraw all subsidies on petroleum products and that we have changed from a century old imperial system to a new metric.<\/p>\n

We wish to draw the attention of government to the recent developments in the northern African region and in the Middle East where people are agitating the removal of their dictatorial regimes primarily because with all their development strives very little positive impact is felt on the livelihood of the average citizens. In this vein we want to remind the government of the efforts of western powers such as the US, EU etc where billions of dollars have been pumped into the private sector in the name of bail out<\/strong> and compulsory loans or grants<\/strong> to cushion\u00a0 their economies; all in a bid to avert\u00a0 the economic shock\u00a0 by their ordinary citizens. Such approach is clearly provided for in section 2 and 5 of our 1991 constitution which clearly stipulates that Sierra Leone<\/strong> is a sovereign state and that its sovereignty belongs to the people from whom government through the constitution derives its powers, authority and legitimacy.<\/strong><\/p>\n

At this juncture we wish to reiterate our moral obligation as CSOs to empower our people to enjoy this constitutional right in full.<\/p>\n

In the light of the above we urge the government of Sierra Leone to take the following immediate steps:<\/p>\n