Zenophobia is the last thing Sierra Leone needs

I am not a businessman, nor am I an importer or exporter. I keep repeating that people are not in business for health reasons; they are there to make profit which is not bad in itself. What is unacceptable is the tendency of some unscrupulous business people to use unethical methods to extract the last cent out of an unsuspecting consumer society. Take the promotion gimmicks of one or two Mobile phone companies. We were lulled into topping up with a 100 units and that allowed us unlimited conversation with similar subscribers between 7 am and 7 pm. It was popular and the company must have raked in a fortune. When the gimmick was repeated, the crafty company reduced the free call time by two hours, that is from 8 am to 6 pm. That is what I refer to as a rip-off.

Just as the traders need profit from their investment, so equally does the government need revenue for its development agenda. What is required here is a reasonable balance which that is in the interest of us poor consumers who are caught in the middle. Decent and considerate importers would not want to kill the consumers with ever escalating prices, nor would a reasonable government want to “kill the goose that lays the golden eggs” by over taxation of the business community. There appears to be much confusion over the proposed GST which the government insists is not a new taxation. The business community and many consumers have not seen it that way. There must in all this muddle be a middle way out instead of shops being closed or business people targeted. The President of the Chamber of Commerce has suggested that government again put the GST on hold and have further discussions with the business community and perhaps with the public as well; after all they constitute the grass that is trampled when two elephants fight.

Sadly, and very sadly, the for di people newspaper doesn’t see things that way. In its usual frenzy to please the government the paper has engaged in a dangerous campaign of zenophobia, targeting the Fullas, the Lebanese and the Indians as deliberately attempting to sabotage the government of President Ernest Bai Koroma. When I began to recognize people as a child, there were Lebanese traders (we called them all Syrians in those days) in my home towns of Kailahun and Pendembu and in many other towns and villages all over the country. They co-existed along European Firms like UAC, CFAO, SCOA, PZ, DKG, GBO and CWS. It was much later, in Bo and in Freetown that I saw other commercial firms like Genet, Jordan Chellaram and Chanrai. The European firms, including Insurance and other companies left a long time ago; leaving the Lebanese, Indians and Fullas, now joined by some Sierra Leonean entrepreneurs to provide the services that we need. But for them where would we be? Many an African venture floundered simply due to lack of business acumen, including proper management. Many of our brothers who went into business and made initial successes were too soon satisfied. Only a few Sierra Leoneans who had worked for the European firms made a success of the businesses which they set up with their gratuities. How many indigenous Sierra Leoneans have been successful in the diamond industry? Our other foreign brother Africans seem to do much better.

What is the justification for whipping up resentment against the Lebanese in particular? Have they ever declared that they would rather have an SLPP rather than an APC government? Do Makuta, Uncle Joe and the others of for di people who are engaged in this dangerous game recall what happened to Uganda when Idi Amin in his madness expelled all the Asian businessmen from that country? Has the Editor of For di people wondered how many businessmen have already left these shores for places like Mozambique, Angola etc? Why do people like to cut their nose simply to spite their face?Â The consolation one has is that in general the friendly and hospitable people of this country will completely ignore the racial hatred that the newspaper is whipping up.

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