Over and over again, the Minister of Information and Communications in his press briefings has intimated members of the press that the government of President Koroma has not come to power to inflict hardship on Sierra Leoneans because the government love the people of Sierra Leone and actually want to improve the lives of the citizens as quickly as possible.
The expression of the government’s desire, however to improve the lot of Sierra Leoneans has not convinced some Sierra Leoneans of the sincerity of the government largely due to ignorance of the reality on the ground.

The attempt to blame the government for not controlling the price of rice is borne out of the fact that trade liberalization which has its origins at international conventions cannot allow the government to control the prices of anything as it is contrary to international protocols.

It is therefore in the interest of those who are asking for a respite from soaring prices to realize that what operates in Sierra Leone are market forces over which no government has control.

Market forces are influenced mostly by demand and supply, which in economic terms means that no government has the power to intervene in order to bring prices down so as to give respite to consumers.

The only way prices can come down is the abundance of goods in the market which would allow market forces to dictate a downward trend for the cost of commodities.

This is not yet the case as our farmers have not produced enough food to create a surplus that will eventually force the prices down.

It is for this reason that the government of President Ernest Bai Koroma in order to control prices indirectly is embarking on massive production of our staple food, creating a surplus that would make it possible for the price of the commodity to go down.

Those who are asking for price control are attempting to say that Sierra Leone is not living in a global village where there are rules and laws negotiated in international settings and that these international norms of operating the economy cannot be set aside temporarily to please Sierra Leoneans.

The only way therefore to bring down prices of commodities is through massive production of all the commodities whose prices are steadily rising.

An exception to this rule is petroleum products because while Sierra Leone can be a rice producing country, it is not yet an oil producing country.

However, it is certain that if we can do well what we know how to do, that is farming, we can still bring down the cost of rice and everyone would become happy.

But bringing down the prices of rice cannot come from the government because the government is part of the international community which has agreed that price control is outdated and can no longer be practiced in a democracy like ours.

We have already been commended by the international community for our democratic dispensation and this must be the case with a refusal to arbitrarily control the prices of commodities as this is conflicting with international norms and practices which require that market forces determine the price of the commodity.

The first requirement is for us to stop being consumers and become producers and produce enough to influence a drop in the cost of commodities. See the rising cost of food.