The winners, losers and shapers of fluctuating fuel prices in Sierra Leone

This paper demonstrates the impacts of fluctuating fuel prices on a diversity of local livelihoods by exploring the local factors influencingincreasingfuel,transport,andagriculturalproducepricesandhowdifferentindividuals alonggender,age,maritalstatus, employment,andrural-urban lines– experienceand respondtothefluctuating price of fuel and food products in different ways in Sierra Leone. The findings are based on ethnographic data from Makeni city in Bombali District, north Sierra Leone, collected between August 2020 and February 2021. Within this time the price of fuel at filling stations in the country rose from the equivalent of $0.50 (Old Le7000) to $0.61 (Old Le8500). The study finds while some individuals, such as Jebou (illegal fuel) sellers and pushcart drivers benefit from rising fuel prices; others, such as okada (commercial motorbike) riders, farmers, market traders and women responsible for feeding their families are negatively affected by the fluctuating price of fuel both economically and socially. Beyond this, the findings show how individuals respond to and shape the effects of increased fuel, transport, and agricultural produce prices. In so doing, the findings contribute to academic debatesby(i)exploringtherelationshipbetweenfuelandfoodpricesatthelocallevel,ratherthanat the global level; and (ii) highlighting the nuanced ways SierraLeoneans experience and respond to unstablefuel costs. In contrast to the dominant narrative that presents Africans as a homogenous group of victims of fluctuating global oil prices, the findings demonstrate the heterogeneity of individual responses.