Time for the President to give his four-year-term report of the performance management contract he signed with the Sierra Leone people- polls in 2012

As Sierra Leone teeters on the verge of economic collapse, should any serious debate on Ernest Koroma's second term centered on the economy? Or indeed, is it "the economy stupid?"

Presently, media houses sympathetic to the government are inundated with over-enthusiastic praise singers preaching hatred and intolerance under the guise of criticizing the opposition party.

Yet this contributes nothing to Sierra Leone's gross domestic product, which continues to decline precipitously. Gross domestic product (GDP) per capita has dropped to an all time low of 300 US dollars as the rate of inflation has risen to an all time high of 18%.

This is expected to rise even higher in 2012. Agriculture, which until recently, was recognized as the engine of growth, has suffered a serious setback as much needed funds have been directed to botched infrastructure-related developments.

Prices of basic food have skyrocketed and have become unaffordable to the average family as the unemployment rate gradually approaches the highest in the world.

Education at all levels has collapsed as colleges have even had to cancel exams for inexcusable reasons as the lack of stationery. Closely associated with this neglect is the pathetic situation of government-sponsored students living in squalor and neglect. Additionally, below the tertiary level, threats by teachers to boycott classes in September for lack of payment of salaries now hang around the neck of a failed presidency.

When the most recent Mo Ibrahim Index Report ranked Sierra Leone 33rd out of 53 African countries in sustainable economic development, safety and the rule of law, and participation and human rights; APC media houses declared it a victory for the president.

But what was lost in this premature euphoria was the key knowledge that most of the countries that Sierra Leone outranked were failed states that were going through civil conflict and wanton bloodshed.

Generally, the more chaotic a country's political and social situation is, the more likely it is that data collected from such an environment may not show any signs of lucidity or growth.

On the other hand, ranking 33rd out of 53 in a continent universally known for extreme forms of poverty, poor governance and laggard economic growth is nothing to be proud of.

Yet another worrying aspect of the Sierra Leonean situation can be found in various Human Development Index (HDI) records released by multilateral institutions. Since the HDI measures the very basic ingredient of human well-being – health, education and income – Sierra Leone's ranking as the worst in Africa and the world is extremely disturbing.

But as disturbing as this may be, it must be taken into account that a country's HDI is the direct outcome of its quality of governance, which in the case of Sierra Leone, is low by almost any standard.

Expectedly then, no where else can the deepest source of our national malady be found than in the impunity for the powerful, which is fostered by corruption in high places.

Furthermore, there is the dysfunctional justice system, which is operated by remote control from the presidency; poor property rights, which are nourished by greed and recklessness in the corridors of power; maximized resource wastage, which is the outcome of inefficiency and patrimonial liabilities; and finally, escalating violence and crime, which are mainly perpetrated by thugs with a life support from the APC Secretariat.

The foregoing explains why the state cannot deliver the core functions of the state. And this notwithstanding, it also tells us that Sierra Leone is poorly governed not because it is poor but that it is poor because it is poorly governed.

Yet this situation, as atrocious as it is, it is by no means irrevocable if we can establish the state of the economy and not feckless smear campaigns as the basis for electing the man who should lead us for another five years.

No one is saying that a man running for the presidency cannot be held to public scrutiny. Retired Brigadier-General Julius Maada Bio, like Koroma and other party candidates must be ready to answer difficult questions from Sierra Leoneans.

However, the fear mongering strategy that the APC has chosen is counterproductive with the potential of destabilizing a country with a very precarious existence.

Let us have a debate about job creation, youth unemployment, education and other important issues that are critical in getting us out of the abyss of despondency and economic neglect.