Benjamin Davies Rejects Shipload of Rotten Rice

Newly appointed General Manager of the Sierra Leone Ports Authority has ordered the captain of a ship loaded with rotten rice to take his cargo elsewhere and not to discharge it here in Sierra Leone.

The ship, the Mount Athos, and carrying a Panamanian flag had brought the rotten rice into the ports on Wednesday morning with the intention of offloading it at the Queen Elizabeth II Quay to be sold on the market. On examination, health and sanitation officers discovered that the rice was rotten and smelling in the hold of the ship. They immediately alerted the no-nonsense Captain Benjamin Davies who wasted no time in giving orders that the ship take its cargo back to the sender with immediate effect.

The rice, weighing a whooping 5,700 tons was all rotten and unfit for human consumption. “This rice is not even fit for pigs to consume not to talk of human beings,” said one health officer yesterday at the ports.

The decision by Captain Benjamin Davies to refuse the ship crew discharge the rotten rice has been seen as the right action. “For once the Sierra Leone Ports Authority is operating properly, because in the past, you will be surprised to realise that every type of food was allowed into the country without any concern for its effect on the health of the people, as long as money was passing underground,” said Inspector Lebbie, a ports security officer.

The practice of allowing ships with rotten cargoes of rice onboard discharging was the usual order of the day under the past management of the ports.

According to investigations carried out by Sierra Express Media, various types of expired foods and medicines had been passing through the ports with no control under past management.

The ports before the assumption of Captain Davies was run like a cabal with no restriction on the movement of people as well as concern for safety.

Currently, new regulations have made the ports a controllable place. People are now restricted from wondering aimlessly about the premises of the ports. Safety measures, including muster parades have also been introduced, more than twenty years since they were once observed. Safety dresses are also now a part of safety measures and safety drills have also been instituted to prepare for any emergency as occurred when a ship crashed into the administrative building of the port, taking workers unprepared.

It has also been revealed that the Sierra Leone Ports Authority was on the verge of closing up because of the inefficient workings in the place. The state of the ports, before the coming of Davies was a total mess, and corruption was a pandemic.

The SLPA was also lacking in much needed equipment, including tractors and spreaders which have to be rented whenever ships deliver goods. “It is a big disgrace that a whole Port does not even have a single fork life, and instead has to depend on private individuals,” said a businessman who was trying to take away his goods.

The rotten rice is said to have been imported by Mackie, a Lebanese business concern. Mackie is said to have ordered for the rotten rice into the country with the intention of packaging it into new bags and selling it off to the general public, but it proved futile when a well coordinated investigation mounted by the Ports management in close coordination with the health officials stopped the cargo to ensure that the rice is not discharged in the country.

Meanwhile the Ports management continues to bring sanity into what was one of the most corrupt and inefficient sectors in the government of Sierra Leone.

The last time a consignment of rotten rice was brought into the ports by mostly Lebanese entrepreneurs, it was allowed to be discharged and sold to petty traders.

“I will never allow this type of activity under my watch,” said Captain Davies.

Meanwhile restructuring continues in the ports with people who were formerly engaged in taking part in corrupt deals being removed for more service oriented and patriotic as well as trained personnel taking over.

Authors: Richard Bockarie – SEM Â and Tatafway Tumoe – SEM

Stay with Sierra Express Media, for your trusted place in news!