The Civil War in Sierra Leone was a result of economic factors contributing to the wellbeing of the economy as well as political and social disapproval. Sierra Leone’s lack of strong leadership over the past few decades leading up to the Civil War were one of the primary causes for the war. During the British Colonial Rule of the country, they were never able to implement a successful system to rule or govern the nation. As a result, it left the nation very weak upon their independence from the British. The following rulers and governments, principally the Siaka Stevens administration instigated the gradual collapse of the previously unstable system. Under the Stevens’ administration, the diamond mines were privatised …show more content…
Hence, it is clear that the country operated and revolved around a corrupt government which eventually lead to a government spending deficit since the revenue made through the use of the country’s resources were not recognized since the money was stolen. Therefore, the money wasn’t re-invested to build new infrastructure or create jobs for the betterment of the country’s citizens. Following the exchange of power to Joseph Momoh, the problems in Sierra Leone only worsened further. In 1985 the country nearly went bankrupt and were forced to make many spending cuts including major cuts to healthcare and education. From 1974, the percentage of government spending on education gradually decreased from 15.6% to a mere 3% in 1993. The spending cut on education caused the education system to fail as teachers could not be paid and schools cold not operate due to the lack of financial resources. Hence, by 1987 only 30% of youth were registered in a school. As a result of the nation’s contracting economy, many large-scale firms pulled put of Sierra Leone and caused further problems for its citizens. With the absence of large scale companies, unemployment rose sharply and the youth felt marginalized as they could not get an education or find a job since there were very limited