VIEWPOINT Double Dippers Invade and Undermine Government Posted by Joe Sawan on Jun 4, 2008, 01:20

One of the obstacles to the generation and realization of revenue for national development is the existence of an underground or subterranean economy.  It is one in which economic activities involving the production of a significant number of goods and services do not go through the formal guidelines of the market system.  As a result, the gross domestic product (GDP) which is the total market value of all goods and services produced for final consumption in a country in a given year is grossly underreported.    The underreporting also impacts negatively on the per capita income calculation of a country which may not be a true representation of the economic situation in that country.  To that extent, the underground economy is not only perceived to be a pickpocket of progress but, also perceived to be a saboteur of prosperity and national development.

The underground economy is robust and vibrant that has plagued Sierra Leone.  Most of the businesses are unregistered and therefore do not pay any taxes to government.  Street vendors, kiosk owners, bar owners; home service providers, street mechanics and some landlords constitute the bulk of the participants in Sierra Leone’s underground economy.

The revenue lost by government from the non-registration and non-tax payment by the participants in the underground economy seriously undermines government’s efforts to provide adequate social services, build appropriate infrastructure and provide economic security for her citizens.

Like the great ideas that shaped the world, Sierra Leone has for sometime now been bedeviled by “ghosts”.  It is a nation of “ghost schools”, “ghost teachers”, “ghost students”, “ghost workers’, “ghost parliamentarians” and “ghost journalists”.

In addition to the above, the latest development malady to surface in Sierra Leone is that of “double-dipping”.

Double dipping, which is normally associated with the robust economic activities of the developed countries of the West, is a situation in which an individual proactively seeks and accepts two full-time jobs at the same time.

In the United States of America the demand for people with computer, information technology, and mathematics, medical, analytic and scientific skills exceeds their supply.  The imbalance that emanates from that shortage creates the opportunity for people with such skills to have two full time jobs.  In the USA, it is the private sector that employs them.

However, the situation in Sierra Leone is quite different in the sense that the government is not only the primary but the major employer.  Public and civil servants are the culprits of double-dipping and in almost all of the situations, the government is the loser.

While the double dippers in government are made better off with remuneration in dollars by international non-governmental organizations (NGO’s), the work of the government and people of Sierra Leone either remains undone or it is unprofessionally done.  Some of these public and civil servants work more in the interest of their international benefactors than in the interest of the government and Sierra Leone.

This is something Sierra Leone cannot afford because it derails the developmental aspirations of the country. Finally, it is absolutely essential for the secretary to the President, Head of the Civil service and the Establishment Secretary to look into this matter as soon as possible.  Violators should be dismissed immediately caught.