By Ibrahim Joenal Sesay
FREETOWN, Aug. 27 (232News) – It was yesterday evening rush hour when I joined the queue of those that were returning home after a long working day. I battled with traffic within the Central Business District (CBD) heading for the west end of Freetown.
It was indeed stressful when traversing the CBD to the west end and much more stressful when one wants to go to the east end of Freetown.
Nonetheless, I eventually took a deep breath after reaching the Kingharman road surroundings. At that point, my usual thought of buying bread came when I reached Lodge. When I came down, I first noticed that the usual smiles are not in the faces of the sellers especially those that are selling breads.
I decided to give them my usual smile and they later responded with a quick smile without realising what was going on from my path. As usual, I order for 5 bread and I gave the bread seller Le 10,000 with the expectations of getting 5 bread at a cost of Le 1,000 each and a change of Le 5,000 but she informed me about the increment from Le 1,000 to Le 1,500 for one bread.
Instead for me to buy 5 bread as usual she gave me 4 bread and a change of Le 4,000. I asked her what’s the reason for that, she replied that it is not their own making but that of the bakers who increased the price.
I was quick to informed her about the press release I read from the Sierra Leone National Bakers Union ,debunking the increase in price of bread as not true on the 24th August 2021, signed by the National President and Acting National Secretary General.
I know she is only buying from the bakers through that I was able to reason with her from because she is not a baker but a buyer from the baker. I began to wonder the trend the country is heading in terms of price control. I had the Minister of Trade also said there is no increase in the price of bread.
I now realized that the Government has no control in terms of price these days. The recent increase in fuel was a clear justification. When the Motor Drivers Union and the line government ministries and agency came up with their prices for transportations across the country, the commercial drivers came with their own prices which is far beyond the stipulated government price and nothing was done towards that by the Government.
Now the price of bread has become a debatable issue and has left us wondering and asking who is in charge.
Sometime in February 2019, hundreds of thousands of households were without bread across Freetown, as bakeries complained of sudden huge increase in the cost of flour. Some bakers threatened to go on strike.
Most Sierra Leoneans spend more of their meagre household income on bread and rice than any other food items, which is why the shortage of bread in the shops that morning affected millions of people.
The 2019 crisis which the Bakers’ Association reported to have been caused by an unprecedented increase in the price of a bag of flour.
The two-day s strike which left the entire Freetown without bread prompted Sierra Leone government with no options but to signed a contract with a Guinean business firm for the supply of bread flour which was announced by the Ministry of Trade and Industry.
From opposition and now ruling party, SLPP has been laying emphasis on the bread and butter as a way of addressing the economic demands of the people but the issue of bread is still not addressed and has become a topical issue.
The availability and affordability of rice and bread in Sierra Leone are of national security concerns and must be taken very seriously by government.
It is quite shocking that bakeries should run short of flour so suddenly, without someone in government knowing this was going to happen.
How can a country become a state of “do it your own way” with no proper monitoring or effective market price of basic food items in the country and plan quickly to avert national crisis?
It is time for us to urgently establish a Market Intelligence Unit that will carry out this task and report directly to the President or Vice President for any necessary action if they have the people at heart.
It is good for common sense to prevail, rice, bread and butter issues are matters of national security. Bring back the price of bread down and reduce the suffering of the masses.
TRACE Joenal is a regular column brought to you by Ibrahim Joenal Sesay, Senior Staff Writer of SALONE TIMES NEWSPAPER, Best Human Right Reporting award winner and an Advocate for Change in Sierra Leone. You can follow him on E-mail salonesij@gmail.com/ www.232news.com /Twitter & Facebook @tracejoenal
