By Mohamed Issa

Many Sierra Leoneans hardly convince about the recent SLPP manifesto of using Agriculture as a flagship program which some hungry looking listeners interpreted it as a way to drown the numerous gullible citizens in to an ocean of deception.  In fact, the moment most of them perused it, they bust into a thunderous laughter and were quick to dismiss it and referred to it as a political gimmick full of rhetoric and empty speech-making to woo more political favour. And their tactic worked well as they witnessed it in the past general elections.

Sierra Leoneans are historically conscious of their glorious days when the country used to export rice and hunger for home food products was an imaginable thought as the Tuma Bum, the Rukup rice project coupled with other local rice farm products were in abundant.

Realistically, the notion of saying no Sierra Leoneans will go to bed on an empty stomach was a reality at that time albeit the slogan of late President Ahmed Tejan Kabba.  The fact is Sierra Leoneans have been starving so long which is why they are yearning for a savior that will remove them from the dungeon of depression that is shrouded with forlorn  hope in providing sufficient food for them especially at a very precarious time like this.  Sierra Leoneans can still recall when late President Kabbah assured them about his good intentions to fight hunger in the country. Amidst his good initiative by soliciting assistance from other good well countries like the Libya through their late President Muhammad Gadafi who donated a huge number of Tractors to Sierra Leone plus other Agricultural imputes including other countries the bad situation still remain unabated. Regrettably, most of those items ended in the hands of Paramount Chiefs, senior politicians and other stake-holders in the country who used them for their personal gains at the peril of the general populace. So the good intention of the late president was water down with no benefit to the nation at large, instead he became a laughter leader that was exposed to farrago of public criticism for failing to eradicate hunger as he promised. And when he fully understood the attitude of sierra Leoneans he ended up lambasting that ‘‘Salone man get bad heart’’, meaning his effort was dashed by most of his closed associates.

Nevertheless, the late President Koroma also made some efforts in that direction to salvage the endemic hunger situation in the country but he did not make any significant changes to the old manic because his priority was tailored in other areas of interest to sierra Leoneans including roads, electricity and others. Sierra Leoneans are again opened to another promise by Pa Bio the father of the nation of solving the hunger problem in the country. We hope and pray that it comes to fruition because the promise is old as the time Sierra Leone stated to get democratic leaders. We are not saying that it is impossible but we are curious to see it done because we believe that food sufficiency is one of the major problems in this country that needs sober attention. Yes! We believe that nothing will work well on an empty stomach. There is no doubt to say that any leader of any country that is not capable to feed his people is a big slave to others that fed him and is people. We have no doubt that Agriculture will pave way for food production, economic boost, creation of jobs and many other good things will follow which is why we believe- that’s one positive way if implemented to the expectation of the masses. But what many citizens are also concerned about the prices of this highly touted SLPP agricultural engagement. The fact of the matter is currently our home food products are more costly than the imported ones. And as it is, no one cares about what is sold, who sells and at what cost.

Implicitly, as long as there is no control in the market sierra Leoneans are still oblivious about the cost of what food that will be produced from any quarter; even if is government they  still remain apprehensive about the cost if they will be able to afford the cost of a bag of rice when the time comes.