Beyond Efficiency: A Qualitative Inquiry into Port Privatization and Its Socio-Economic Repercussions in Post-Conflict Sierra Leone.

Abstract

This qualitative research paper focuses on exploring the socio-economic and political impacts of privatizing the port in weak, post-conflict West Africa, as illustrated by the Sierra Leone concession of the Freetown Container terminal in 2010. Beyond efficiency-based assessment and a political settlement and institutional hybridity perspective, the study examines the role of privatization in redefining power, equity and the institutional governance. A collection of data was performed in the form of 42 semi-structured interviews, three focus groups discussion, and document analysis with different stakeholders. The results are a two-sided story: although operational gains are recognized, efficiency gains have been monopolized as both private rent and not socialized, thus putting small traders at a disadvantage and the regulation in a poorer position. Regulatory atrophy, social dislocation of port workers and informal workers, and the presence of informal adaptations are found to be the main results of the study. We find that privatization of ports is not merely a technical issue in fragile states but a polarized process with high-trade off distributional and sovereignty as well as argue in favor of evaluative frameworks that would view equity, institutional capacity and social legitimacy, alongside efficiency indicators. This study can be relevant to the field of political economy, development by offering an in-depth, qualitative study of infrastructure privatization in an under-researched setting and providing a contribution to the reconsideration of privatization designs in weak states.