Since Friday 11 June 2021 when President Bio pronounced $34.1 million at the Southern province for Sierra Leone Regional Rice Value Chain Project in Torma Bum, Sierra Leoneans still wait for the proceeds.

He was emphasizing that food security is probably the most critical pillar among the human capital development priorities of his government and for the country. But the reality of the Torma Bum rice project is still a day-dream affair for Sierra Leoneans. It is still pending. Bio had failed a chance in 2022-23 and now has only few years to go. Already most Sierra Leoneans don’t have hope again to see the new in their pots. Women are more particularly unhopeful as they could cook the Tormabom rice President Bio had promised the nation.

In an interview with Mariama Lahai, a resident of Tinkonko Chiefdom, Bo District gave her opinion on this. She said the Torma Bum rice is yet on the market for sale, regardless of the big promised made by the government over the years.

“Many harvest seasons have passed and the  Torma Bum rice is long overdue.”

Over four years now, Sierra Leoneans are unable to eat their staple food the rice; many are in doubt when the harvest month will actualize.

A big bag of rice is now Le 1, 300 and half a bag of rice is Le 660, while monthly salary for workers is Le 800. The cost of living is really tough for the ordinary man in the county; unemployment is on increase on a daily basis.  We are fed up with unfulfilled projects and promises by the government made since 2018,” she said.

Benjamin S. Conteh, a journalist writing for “The Reformer Newspaper” also gave his opinion saying the incumbent governments have misused $4.1 Million dollars on Torma Bum.

Adding that the Torma Bum Rice Project, once heralded as a transformative agricultural initiative in Sierra Leone has come under intense scrutiny due to its apparent lack of its tangible results coupled with growing allegations of corruption in the country.

He said $34.1 million investment, aimed at revitalizing rice production in the Torma Burm area to boost local food security and reduce the country’s dependency on rice imports, but that government has yet to deliver on its promises. Critics have said that points to delays in project implementation, inefficient management, and poor accountability for the funds allocated.

Allegations of corruption have further tainted the project’s reputation, with claims that funds meant for the development of rice farming infrastructure and farmer support have been misappropriated or mismanaged.

Despite initial optimism surrounding the potential to create jobs and strengthen Sierra Leone’s agricultural sector, the locals and industry observers are questioning the transparency of the process, questioning whether the project was a missed opportunity for sustainable development.

“As demands for accountability grow louder, government officials and project stakeholders are under pressure to provide full accounting of the project’s finances and  justifying the lack of progress. The Torma Bum Rice Project is now a focal point in the broader conversation about corruption and mismanagement in Sierra Leone’s public sector, he said.

In a well-attended gathering, four years ago, President Bio told locals, development partners and members of the Diplomatic and Consular Corps, the Islamic Development Bank and BADEA present at the ceremony at Burma Chiefdom, Bonthe District, said that a well-nourished child or adult could stay healthy, live well, learn, fend for himself or herself and live a reasonably good quality of life. “This project directly benefits 7,000 women and youth farmers, along with 35,000 farming families who are growing rice on 35,000 hectares of farmlands in the project locations. I am informed that the beneficiary identification and selection process was above board and merit-based.

“We came into governance to low levels of food security, even though we have vast stretches of arable land in this country, consistent rainfall and rivers and fairly even weather conditions. The price of our staple food, rice has not been stable and consistent on the world market. There had been no well-thought-out and sustainable investments in the agriculture sector. Food insecurity therefore persisted.

“Instead of taking short-term populist actions and granting massive import subsidies at the detriment of the economy or pronouncing an overnight reduction in the price of a bag of rice for political propaganda purposes, we decided to think very closely about a permanent fix.

“In order to strengthen the participation of the private sector, Government, through the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank, has doled out $50million to support private sector investments in agriculture,” he said.

The President also noted that because the country cannot not produce sufficient food for its population, the government  increasingly spends hundreds of millions of dollars every year to procure food from the world market. He added that a huge chunk of the country’s foreign reserves that could have been spent on education and healthcare among other urgent priorities for a developing nation ended up being spent to import expensive food items.

“In our governance assessment for our 2018 Manifesto and in our Medium-Term National Development Plan, we are committed to working toward increasing the domestic production of food to significantly take care of our domestic needs and to ensure that the food produce domestically is available, affordable, and nutritious.

“We, therefore, have decided on a well-thought-out, well-designed, well-implemented project with a sustainable solution. We can transform our vast arable lands into massive food production centres and thus making our nation rice/food self-sufficient and food and nutrition secured,” said President Bio.

According to Abubakarr Turay, an inhabitant of Consistency 114 Freetown West, said the Torma Bum rice is not reflective on the people contrary to the fine promises made by President Bio and politicians, adding that millions of dollars have been wasted on the project but with no positive realities seen on the ground.

“The incumbent Bio administration should be held accountable for poor service delivery, him and his ministers are not doing usa favour. Government  campaigned against corruption when they were in opposition. The exchange rate is skyrocketing every day, one hundred dollar is way above  one million five hundred. The cost of living is highly rough at the moment for the people in the country, he grumbled.