By Musa Paul Feika
The Deputy Speaker in the Sixth Parliament and Chairman of Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Hon. Ibrahim Tawa Conteh has lambasted the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food Security (MAFFS) over the deplorable and dilapidated status of the machinery warehouse at Kissy under its supervision noting that it clearly indicates that the Ministry is messing up with President Bio’s flagship project “Feed Salone”.
According to Hon. Ibrahim Tawa Conteh, considering the quantum of money being spent on agriculture by the Government of Sierra Leone and the reckless manner the MAFFS is handling the Agricultural machines and other equipment therein, there is every indication that the Ministry is not either committed or not sure of viability of the President’s initiative.
Exacerbating the situation, the Deputy Speaker said upon visiting the store, the store looks like “a forest” stressing that most of the farming equipment and machines are covering in grass.
Hon. Tawa Conteh made this statement on Monday, 20th January, 2025 during a Committee hearing at the New Administrative Building in the House of Parliament.
He maintained that officials in the Ministry have kept the machines and equipment under sun and rain causing most of them to become rusty to the point that they cannot be of any productive use again. “These machines and equipment were brought in by Government for distribution to farmers, who are need of it, not to keep them to rust and decay at the expense of Government and the very Feed Salone initiative they are brought in for to be used,” Hon. Tawa Conteh fumed.
He observed that most of the machines including tractors bought by the Government of Sierra Leone to improve the country’s agriculture sector have not been distributed to the farmers by the Ministry. He therefore described the action of the Ministry as “mere wickedness to the highest degree,” adding, “These are the people who go and sit at bars and oppose the Feed Salone initiative that it will not succeed.” The PAC Chairman however insisted that the Feed Salone initiative will succeed at all cost.
It was also disclosed at the hearing that 2, 500 tons of fertilizer and other farming implements are in the store, and the MAFFS has deliberately refused to distribute to farmers to ensure the actualization of the President’s Feed Salone Initiative.
This was adequately captured in the Audit Report under review that the MAFFS has failed woefully to distribute needed inputs to farmers across the country.
Responding, the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry alluded to the fact of Hon, Tawa Conteh’s accusation stating that he failed to notify the Committee about the status of the said store prior to their visit, and noted the store is unkempt because lack of Government funding. He assured that the Ministry is seeking for funding elsewhere to revamp the store.