By Nasratu Kargbo
The Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in Parliament Ibrahim Tawa Conteh has blamed the staff of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security for the failure of agriculture in the country.
He said his next recommendation to President Julius Maada Bio will be for persons who have worked there for ten years and above to be sent to other ministries and never to work at the Ministry of Agriculture again.
Conteh who is also the Deputy Speaker made this statement on the 24th June 2024 during the Public hearing on the Auditor General’s Report after he observed that the issues highlighted in the report about the ministry were true.
“Let us be real, the Ministry of Agriculture you have failed so many presidents,” he said. He said former presidents made strides to ensure that the country is food-sufficient and stated that the current president is doing the same but that they render his efforts futile. “Somebody has promised to give four hundred million dollars to support agriculture, but am sure it is only fifty million that will go to the field and most of the money will be in people’s pockets, so, I see that the only way for him to succeed in agriculture is to change all of you. How can you fail people in such a deliberate way?” Conteh asked.
The Deputy Speaker cited the Tormabum rice project which has not yielded the desired outcome, noting that the project’s consultant had on several occasions informed them that the project is not progressing; Conteh however noted that even with that they continue paying the consultant. “It is sad that we deliberately conspire to bring our country down, this is a conspiracy against the state”, he charged.
He said that if he had the opportunity to speak to the president about changing all the staff of certain ministries, he would recommend both Ministries of Lands and Agriculture and replace them with new people from the university.
The Chairman added that officials at the agriculture ministry do not supervise or monitor their projects, which he said has allowed other people to claim property and projects that belong to the ministry, adding even after he drew the attention of the ministry to the problem, nothing has been done after six months.
The issues highlighted during scrutiny by PAC include monies spent without supporting documents, issues with tractors, and fertilizers, and problems confronting the palm oil project.
The PAC had set a meeting to be held with the ministry and other stakeholders at another date that will be communicated.
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