Monrovia – President George Manneh Weah has begun a dangerous game with the country’s most political commodity – rice.
Report by Lennart Dodoo, [email protected]
Rice and its demand have left indelible marks on the Liberian body politic. Some political scientists say events of the past may come back hunting the future if similar missteps occur.
In 1979, then President William R. Tolbert increased the price of a bag of rice from $22 to $30 triggering a riot in which hundreds of demonstrators were killed.
The following year, Tolbert was executed in a coup led by Master Sergeant Samuel Kanyon Doe.
Today, Liberians still pine for the days of warlord-turned President Charles Taylor, when a 50kg bag of rice sold for US$22 a bag – about half the price it sells today (though double its value on the world market).
Fast track to 2018, President George Manneh Weah’s administration now faces a compounded task of reducing the price of rice in an economy massively dominated by foreigners.
On Thursday, February 1st, Mr. Weah met with the association of rice importers, also dominated by foreign investors.
The purpose of the meeting, according to an Executive Mansion release, was to step up efforts to ensure the price of the nation’s staple food is substantially reduced and made affordable for ordinary Liberians.
President Weah, according to the Executive Mansion release, said his government was fully prepared to work with rice importers in every way possible to reduce the price of rice.
President Weah said it was intolerable that in the midst of acute hardship and mass unemployment the price of nation’s staple continues to increase.
“I am ready to work with you and resolve all the issues that underpin the galloping price of rice so that our people will afford to buy.”
“If government-imposed tax is an issue, you can rest assure that my government is more than ready to grant reasonable adjustments in the tax regime to make the reduction of rice price possible,” the President said.
But the President’s move is not all about ensuring affordability of rice, as FrontPageAfrica has gathered that the move is also part of a payback plan to some major importers including George Nehme, CEO of Supplying West Africa Trader Inc. (SWAT) and the Harbel Supermarket Corporation.
Multiple sources have confirmed to FrontPageAfrica that the businessman was a key financier of President Weah’s election campaign that led to his massive victory.
Political pundits and some local importers wanting anonymity are querying the President’s meeting with the giant importers when they had expected him to be considering empowering Liberians to match up the foreigners in the import of major commodities.
This, in their view, runs contrary to his pledge in his inaugural address where he said he would ensure that Liberians would no longer be spectators in their own economy.
Pres. Weah said in the inaugural speech: “We will do all that is within our power to provide an environment that will be conducive for the conduct of honest and transparent business. We will remove unnecessary regulatory constraints that tend to impede the establishment and operation of business in a profitable and predictable manner.”
“As we open our doors to all foreign direct investments, we will not permit Liberian-owned businesses to be marginalized. We cannot remain spectators in our own economy. My government will prioritize the interests of Liberian-owned businesses and offer programs to help them become more competitive and offer services that international investors seek as partners.”
But the honest and transparent business spoken of by the President is not what is currently being witnessed in the rice import sector.
For example, the quality of rice supplied by Mr. Nehme’s SWAT company supplies is 50% rice and 5% kernel.
The company has stood several allegations of importing very low grade.
Last year, SWAT faced several allegations ranging from importing a consignment of contaminated Bella Luna parboiled long grain rice. Another brand of the rice imported by SWAT – BB Rice – was widely believed by the public to be synthetic rice (plastic rice).
However, a test conducted by the National Standards Laboratory proved that BB Rice is indeed real rice, but very poor in quality.
Currently, there are four companies licensed to import rice by the vessel load.
They account for about 95% of all rice imports (SWAT and UCI each bring in over 100,000 metric tons (MT) per year and the third company, Fouta Corporation, does about 70,000 MT.
K&K is the fourth licensed importer and does only about two vessels (40,000 MT) per year. Small traders, who import rice in 20- foot ocean containers, apparently have different licensing requirements.
“What we had expected of the President isn’t to continue strengthening these powerful importers. What we expected from him is to bring all the local importers together and find out our challenges in maximizing our imports. Foreigners must not feed our people, we must,” said one local importer.
The Lebanese national, Nehme, almost has monopoly over the rice market in Liberia and has been solidifying ties with President Weah in an effort to expand his businesses in Liberia, this paper has gathered.