IPNEWS: Greedy officials are leading Liberia into another round of crisis, says a political pundit who has been following the so-called Liberian government rice subsidy scheme. 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 Farlo 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 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 disburse the full US$14m which was earlier approves by President Weah. The importers are demanding that the three officials 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 Lergerhood 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 are in the U.S attending United Nations General Assembly.
