–Says ‘Mere Rumors and ‘Street Noise’
IPNEWS: There is a saying by Liberians that rice is a ‘political commodity’ that no government of Liberia should ignore whenever reports that there is a real or artificial shortage of the country’s staple food.
The rice problem is raising eyebrows yet once again because the price of a 25kg long grain parboiled rice has gone up from US$13 to US$25.
This means that when nearly all of the employed people cannot afford to buy the rice at the previous price and nearly all of the employable people remain unemployed, violence-oriented poverty is worsening, and violence is threatening.
In April of the year, the President of Liberia, George Weah was seen on LNTV, the National Broadcaster, inspecting the NPA warehouses, walking by much rice to the point that he said: “There is enough rice, and the price of rice would never rise.”
But the price of rice has risen from US$14 to US$20. The rice sellers have appealed to the GOL for an increase in the official rice price, but the Government of Liberia (GOL) has refused, citing that there is no more stock of rice. So, the rice sellers have embarked upon a go-slow action, refusing to sell rice.
Earlier, when the GOL said that there was enough rice, the sellers held a protest, blocking the Vai Town area because they said that they had no access to the rice. Once again, this shortage of rice is artificial and not real because of the powers that have access to the rice.
Liberian president George Weah has described “mere rumors and street noise” reports of the scarcity of rice in the country, stressing that there is sufficient food in the country to serve Liberians.
“We need not always listen to the street gossip. This is not the first time it has happened. Those responsible for importing rice say we have rice up to next year. I don’t believe there’s rice scarcity I believe there is rice. We will verify it again. Don’t listen to the noise in the street,” President Weah said when quizzed by journalists upon arrival in the country from the United States where he attended the United Nations General Assembly about his knowledge of the looming rice shortage being faced in the country.
The president said the information he has gathered from rice importers means there’s no need to worry.
President thrashed the current scarcity of rice on the Liberian market, the country’s staple terming the information upon arrival here from the 77th United Nations General Assembly as “news in the street.”
Distributors and retailers have been encountering difficulties for the past two to three weeks in buying rice from wholesalers, who demand distributors to buy other items before being served due to scarcity that has led the price to skyrocket from the official retail price of US$13.00 or its equivalent of 2,250 Liberian Dollars for a 25kg bag to about US$25 or nearly 4,000 Liberian Dollars.
The president has urged Liberians to keep calm and promises to verify the information that has become a rising concern to the public. Mr. Weah reassures the Liberian public there’s sufficient rice in the country that will last until next year.
At the same time, he says government will work closely with importers to resolve the rising concern of shortage of the staple food that is dubbed as a political commodity in Liberia.
However, an investigation conducted by IPNEWS hours after President Weah described the reported rice shortage as ‘Mere Rumors and ‘Street Noise’, established that currently the only importer with limited quantity of rice in its stock are FOUANI Brothers, and FOUTA.
FOUANI Brothers, according to IPNEWS investigation has a total of 240, 000 bags or 6000 metric tons, while FOUTA, has 60,000 bags or 1500 metric tons, that is expected to address the rice shortage for about 5million people.
The FOUANI Brothers, quantity of 24, 000 bags or 6000 metric tons of rice is currently being offloaded from the MV MARO K, since July 20, 2022, as part of its initial consignment of its 34,000 metric tons of rice brought into the country, due to heavy downpour of rain over the last three months.
Sources tell IPNEWS that FOUANI Brothers, since July 24, 2022, has sold out of its initial 34,000 metric tons at least 27,000 metric tons of rice out of its total consignment brought into the country.
On April 14, 1979, an infamous rice riot in Monrovia turned bloody with bodies littered in the streets and properties valued at millions of dollars destroyed under the administration of late William R. Tolbert, Jr. The crisis led the late President to invite troops from neighboring Guinea to help restore calm.
However, President Weah, who had earlier vowed months back that under his Presidency, there would be no rice shortage, says he will visit various warehouses at the Freeport of Monrovia to verify whether there’s a shortage in the country and to find means of addressing it.
“We continue our efforts to resolve the issues; this issue is not the first time and I was told the last time when I visited the Freeport of Monrovia that rice is in the country and can serve the population up till next year. However, where there is smoke, there is fire, so I will make some interventions with another visitation to the Freeport and other warehouses in the country to verify whether there’s a shortage and we can resolve it”, Mr. Weah disclosed.
“Greed Is Plunging Liberia into Rice Crisis” Part IV
It can recall IPNEWS quoting a political pundit, who has been following the so-called Liberian government rice subsidy scheme, published an article on September 23, 2022 highlighting how greedy officials are leading Liberia into another round of crisis.
The pundit’s name withheld placed the current rice shortage squarely at the feet of Finance Minister Samuel D. Tweah, Commerce Minister Mawine G. Diggs, and former Minister of State for Presidential Affairs, Nathaniel McGill.
According to our source, the three officials allegedly abused the subsidy scheme by tricking and bullying the rice importers.
Earlier report gathered that President George Weah approved the initial USS$14 million as a subsidy to rice importers after the importers requested an increment in the price of rice on the local market, citing a hike in the cost of freight for shipment of goods worldwide during the COVID-19 period.
Between 2020 and 2021, there was a large swing in containerized trade flows which was met with supply-side capacity constraints, including container ship carrying capacity, container shortages, labor shortages, continued on and off COVID-19 restrictions across port regions, and congestion at ports.
This mismatch between surging demand and de facto reduced supply capacity then led to record container freight rates on practically all container trade routes.
This prompted Liberian rice importers to request an increment in the price of the commodity on the local market. They claimed the high cost of freight was hurting their businesses.
They expressed fears that there would have been a shortage of rice on the market if there was no increment in the price.
This prompted the Liberian leader to hold a meeting with the Rice Importers Association to actually hear from themselves.
In the meeting which was attended by UCI, SWAT, Fouta, K and K, and Fouani, President Weah insisted Government would not allow an increase in the price of the country’s staple food and therefore pledged the government’s commitment to underwrite the extra cost in the freight.
At the time, he requested the Ministries of Commerce and Finance to work with importers and experts in the government to find out how much it would cost the government to cover the additional charges to ensure the unhindered supply of rice to Liberia.
However, the investigation found out that without dealing with the experts and not doing a proper analysis of the issue, the Ministers of Finance Samuel Tweah, Commerce Minister Mawine G. Diggs, and Nathaniel McGill, then Minister of States, unilaterally imagined a US$14 Million figure which was presented to President Weah and approved. However, it is alleged the supervisors of the subsidy, the three officials did not release the money to the importers in full.
Some importers were given some money while others did not or received little amounts. According to documents seen by Journalists, rice importers who did not receive their share of the US$14m got angry and started to default on meeting the one million bags reserved in their warehouses as required by government regulations.
While the US$14m issue was not clear by the three officials, they prevailed on the Legislature to approve additional funds in the National Budget as subsidies to rice importers, according to other sources, who said the importers were not impressed because the three officials did not disburse the full US$14m which was earlier approved by President Weah. The importers are demanding that the three officials (Nathaniel McGill has since resigned) provide the entire US$14m which was earlier approved by the President.
Since that time, sources said the three have allegedly been pushing the importers around threatening and bullying them to back off from their demands. And sources maintained that failure to pay Importers prompted their refusal to order a new consignment of rice until President Weah acts against the three officials.
Efforts made by this medium to speak to the Government on the usage of the US$14 million failed.
Information Minister Ledgerhood Rennie who was contacted at the time said he could not get the relevant information on the rice subsidy issue as those who were involved were not responding to his inquiry.
When further pressed to provide a comprehensive report on those who actually benefited and how much each importer received, Rennie added: “Those who were involved with the subsidy issue refused to cooperate with me on this.”
According to sources, the alleged mismanagement of the first US$14m is the root cause of the present shortage of the country’s staple food.
Rice, the staple food of Liberia is a political commodity, due to the 1979 riot that caused the death of dozens of people. That riot started after the Tolbert government announced it would increase the price of a bag of rice on the local market.
Mr. Nathaniel McGill has resigned after being designated by the United States Government for official corruption, while Ministers Samuel Tweah and Mawine G. Diggs have just returned to the country from the United States attending United Nations General Assembly.
