By Aruna Rashed Toma Bangura

Back then in 2018, it was the bread and butter issue of the economy that President Bio was elected as President of Sierra Leone, because he prioritized agriculture and free learning. Voters saw the need to vote him as His Excellency to bolster the economy at the time which was shrinking at a faster pace.

President Bio in his campaign manifesto of 2018 promised to solve the bread and butter issue that was affecting citizens as price for a bag of rice together with other food stuffs was soaring rapidly and the people entrusted their confidence in the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) to steer the affairs of the State by putting in control food price as every business person will show their own prices.

President Bio described the economy as a bread and butter one that his government will tackle by blocking wastages and leakages  and promised to run taxpayers money in a Single Treasury Account (STA), adding that within his one year term, ’no salone man’ will go to bed hungry  because there will be food on the table for all and sundry.

He continued that his government will provide free school feeding programme for primary school pupils as that will encourage parents to release their children to school. One of the difficult thing in the country at the time was food, people were hungry because a price for a plate of cookery was Le10, 000 (NLe10) with a handful of rice and tasteless sauce.

This bored citizens against the APC regime as they could no longer feed ‘the house.’

Then Bio came in with full vigor to make the country’s staple diet, rice to be available for all, but along the way implemented tax laws that affected his ambition, by bloating taxes on imported food items owned by foreign nationals shipping in the staple food.

Sharply, the price for a bag of rice shot up at an unprecedented price, leaving citizens stunned, even some appointed officials could no longer able to defend the prices of basic food stuffs. Rice donated for the school feeding programme got missing in a broad day light that helped again to backfire Bio’s school feeding agenda, thanks to the Catholic Relief Services (CRS) for feeding school children in Koinadugu, Kabala.

The Tormabom rice project rice project to feed the nation was soon launched, promising rice food-self and that the government will cut down spending on rice importation. This also quickly became a shattered dream.

Now, in 2023, President Bio campaigned again on a new phrase, ‘Food self-sufficiency’ that he will embark on agriculture and make sure that Sierra Leoneans are food up and food to become a less talked about political issue.

It is just a let wait and see situation.