The Republican National Independent Party (ReNIP) with Beresford Victor Williams as its leader is one of the political parties coming up to present proposals to Sierra Leoneans for a new political roadmap for prosperity ahead of the June elections.

The Party has its National Delegate Conference in Bo City from the 18th to the 19th of February 2023.

The current leadership is working with his executive members across the country to ensure that the process of electing sets of leaders of the party enjoys a free and fair democratic process, in a friendly and peaceful atmosphere free of violence.

The party January this year went through peaceful lower-level elections across the country.

The current ReNIP leader while speaking to this medium said ReNIP is focused on solving the problems of infrastructure that will enhance an even allocation of resources throughout the country that will be a benchmark for sustainable development and the reduction of poverty.

Critical among what he wants to prioritize is solving the economic debacle which is giving an accelerated advantage to inflation now in double digits. ReNIP Party members are looking forward to stalwarts who will be given the mantle to do exactly what they have vowed to do at the party level for the progress of Sierra Leone as a country when the people shall have given them the mandate to run the country through the June 24 polls.

And now, at a time when the world faces multiple crises—the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and the ongoing challenges of climate change—the need for good governance has become more urgent. It’s about more than wasting money; good governance enables growth.

Bad governance and corruption have had negative impacts on Sierra Leone’s economic growth. Such impacts garble public spending and weaken national revenue mobilization leading to revenue losses. ReNIP has a strategic governance plan to tackle the existing political menace which continuously breeds poor economic governance leaving vulnerable masses in desperation for improved livelihood. This convention will strengthen the Party’s strategy during this period of electioneering.

The ReNIP party is promising Price Control, Hybrid Economy, Job Opportunities, Water and Electricity, and justice for all.

Access to water, sanitation, and hygiene improving the national drive for gender equality, and food security are strategic on ReNIP’s national governance agenda. Weak infrastructure in the areas of roads and electricity, coupled with hiking transportation costs are among the barriers to trade limiting economic growth.

Former World Bank Group President, Robert Zoellick, once noted that addressing poverty in Sierra Leone would help lead to peace.

It could be recalled that during 2021, the Sierra Leone economy grew by 4.1%, supported by a recovery in agriculture, mining, and private consumption demand. In 2022, headline inflation accelerated to a decade-high of 30% (year-on-year) by July, compared to an average of 12% during 2021 (World Bank). Accelerating inflation and escalating financial pressures are posing substantial jeopardies to the medium-term economic outlook leading to spillover effects of social instability.

ReNIP Convention is centered on the party’s election of an official who is expected to present candidates to compete for national and local government positions during the June 24 polls. The team, if voted in on June 24, is expected to tackle the aggravated terms-of-trade shocks which threaten to erode national financial stability and continue to hit the poor disproportionately.

Following the failure of successive governments after the war when the opportunity to redirect the political destiny of the country was at hand, ReNIP wants to, in a democratic process; resolve insistent social challenges with an economic system that is adequate to solve the national economic topsy-turvy.

The current ReNIP Chairman Leader and former Presidential candidate who seeks delegates’ mandate in Bo this weekend says the country’s economic prosperity lies in a hybrid economic system with a price control system backed by an increase in the minimum wage.

He believes that ‘the hybrid economy’ requires multi-actor collaborations—actions and structures pinched from diverse sectors of economic and political governance.

The Next ReNIP manifesto devises means to explore and exploit opportunities for sustainable development involving a more or less equal focus on two different economic styles (details to be provided in the ReNIP Manifesto).

Beresford Victor Williams has been able to convince party members that a hybrid economy that is based primarily on a mix of business and government to be run by less corrupt officials and development-oriented citizens is essential to economic prosperity in Sierra Leone.

According to the ReNIP leadership, in the best of situations, a hybrid economy will draw on the strengths of each of the key constituents of the economy as it also minimizes the weakness intrinsic in any single method.

He reiterated to this medium that an economy rested on a foundation of farming and manufacturing essentials could realize booming economic growth if handled accordingly, in the true spirit of patriotism and national development.

In Bo, ReNIP will elect or re-elect officials to be charged with the responsibilities of manning the affairs of the party as it runs deep into the electioneering to contest with parties that have been established for decades.

To many Sierra Leoneans, it is a herculean task for the leadership of the young party despite its passion for sustainable economic growth which is the bedrock of its political agenda—transforming Sierra Leone’s economy to attain the desired economic prosperity.

ReNIP was the last political party that the Political Parties Registration Commission (PPRC) gave clearance to contest the 2018 elections. It was on January 7th, 2018. ReNIP’s Chairman and Leader Beresford Victor Williams continues to convince Sierra Leoneans that the party is a democratic socialist party that welcomes citizens to join them, and have their say to influence national policies for the good of all including unborn generations.