In Kambia Central – The Rokupr Rice Research Station – Eyes For Director
Believe it or not, critics may have been rumor mongering in saying that, the Rokupr Rice Research Station is a Technical Institution and that politics should not interfere with the choice of a Director or Deputy Director. My salient and foremost advice is this. Both technically and theoretically, this is not true. Politically, Kambia Central, where this facility occupies, is a strategic part of the country. It is traditionally an APC stronghold and it is a border town. The station employs over 400 personnel; it is the main employing concern in the entire district. This means that almost every family in the entire constituency is represented at the Rice Research Station, Rokupr. Workers in the station can therefore be considered as political emissaries. The station had tremendous influence on activities in Kambia Central. The office of the Director, who controls the institutional cog or component of this powerful establishment therefore in principle head, is without exaggeration the most important, dignified and august personality in Kambia Central. It is my humble opinion that whoever becomes the Director or Deputy Director of the Rokupr Rice Research Station in theory becomes ambassador of the flag bearer in Kambia Central. APC need this seat and the entire Kambia District. (Photo: Essa Thaim Kurugba)
In 1982 I spearheaded, systematized and bring together youths and young voters from the shadows to the light (APC) to vote for candidate Ibrahim Sorie. My position at Rice Research Station as an Administrative Accountant coupled with my political leadership with the youths both in Rokupr and Kambia helped Comrade Ibrahim Sorie ascend to power.
Hon. Ibrahim Sorie was able to keep his political seat in spite of an SLPP government and most certainly there was a SLPP Director who became the Minister of Agriculture. Currently in Diaspora all these years, I was able to rejuvenate the youths with financial and moral support on their annual Christmas masquerade parade for over ten years.
During the 2007 electioneering, I relentlessly, inexorably and insistently tried to galvanize and fire up the support from all the youths in and around Rokupr and its townships to go to the polling stations and vote the APC for a change. The youths in Rokupr still eavesdrop to me. During my tenure in the Finance Department at this institution, I built sufficient momentum over all the years at Rokupr, Kambia and Rokupr Rice Research Station is one and the same. And technically, rice being a very sensitive commodity particularly in the current global economy, Rice Research continues to be in the sport light. Having said this, the Minister of Agriculture should consider qualified APCier who will be collaborating with APC leadership’s agenda, to head this facility.
As an institution, Rokupr Rice Research has professionally had a history of failure due to its negligence to justify itself as an indispensable and viable entity. Being the custodian of the secret rice production in Sierra Leone, Rice Research Station has its big share of failing the nation. To put it bluntly, Rice Research’s existence has been marred and mottled by dissatisfaction and discontentment due to its inability to institutionalize and influence technological change. This is evidenced by the prevailing primitive and traditional farming method still prevalent all over the country, a factor highly consistent with the poor agricultural returns.
Sierra Leone, a country of a little over five million people with a very attractive ecological landscape for food production has either relied on food aid or imports. The problem facing food production in Sierra Leone is monumental, epic and gargantuan but it is a naked fact if we are to succeed in food production, it will have to depend on the researchers. The failure of this 70 year old institute to meet its objectives is sadly expressive of the public disappointment with its role of promoting self sufficiency and its inability to avert crop failures in farmer’s fields. Such an assessment does not provide a promising background for past and future performance of this institution.
My presentation here is not assuming that Rice Research is squarely responsible for the inability of the country to feed itself. Of course, Rice Research may argue that its mandate is to do the research findings. There is sense in this argument. There are a lot of issues when put together that are collectively stalling the progress of agriculture in the country.
Having said all this, with the dismal failure of Rokupr Rice Research Station, I believe the government should set a monitoring group divisor form the Board of Management that should not act on a technical watchdog that should ensure that the Rice Research continues to justify its very existence. As of now, the Board of Management is mainly administrative and is mainly a rubber stamping group, most of whom are not agricultural scientists and do not question the institution in its technical operation.
The political standpoints of the RRS, its professional and technical operation, are all interwoven and need to be considered in choosing the next director and deputy director. The APC government does not need a Director that would sabotage the aspirations of RRS in its new beginnings to promote rice production. More than ever, the criteria of a new director need to pass not only the academic qualification and experience test but also the political test.
Stay with Sierra Express Media, for your trusted place in news!
© 2011, https:. All rights reserved.
