The Revolutionary United Front-led rebellion not only put the final nail in Sierra Leone' s ailing economy, but also seriously wounded the military regime of Captain Valentine Strasser. The West rushed in with a directive that the solution to Sierra Leone's unfortunate plight was democracy. Never mind the fact that it was in no state for elections. The country was devastated and its people exhausted. Many others were starving.
Economic marginalisation leads to political marginalisation.
Under these difficult circumstances, last year, Ahmed Tejan Kabbah was elected president of Sierra Leone. Once the elections were over, it was business as usual for Sierra Leone's elite and its Western backers. No provisions were made for the eradication of poverty or for the reconstruction of the shattered infrastructure. Instead, the new government called in the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, which were quick to impose their discredited structural adjustment programme. The poor continue to wallow in their misery.