By Amin Kef Sesay
The role of Civil Society Organizations cannot be overemphasized when it comes to the fact that they play an important role in society, serving as the voice of the defenseless and voiceless. It has been established that in the absence of these Non-State actors a lot of human rights abuses would have gone unchecked, and the victims left to wallow in their excruciating sufferings, probably without having anywhere they could turn to in order to seek redress. Even where there are redress mechanisms the red- tapisms sometimes associated with having cases speedily processed are so time-consuming that even, if finally justice is attained, such may have come late not really commensurate to the pain, sufferings and losses already incurred as well as felt. This realistic situation is quite true for individuals as well as entities.
One of the vociferous Civil Society Organizations in this country that have successfully championed just causes with a track record of excellence and positive results is the Civil Rights Coalition-Sierra Leone with Alphonso Manley as its Executive Director.
In a recent engagement with this news medium, the result oriented Executive Director intimated how his organization has of late been inundated with bitter complaints by ordinary traders in the country, who have been persistently complaining that the price at which they are buying packets of butter which is produced by a recently established company in the country, Kissy Industry to be precise, considered to be an Infant industry, is not too different from that of imported butter which he underscored is totally unfair to these traders and is seriously undermining the sustainability of the production of this important food item that many are used to consume in this country.
“If there had been individuals championing the enhancement of the country’s Local Content Policy then they are some discouraged as they see this as an imbalance in the trade arrangement bordering on butter which by all estimation is completely unfair to say the least,” he averred furthering that such is inimical to sound economic development.
When this medium decided to conduct an in-depth investigation into the matter what really surfaced or was unearthed was that customs officers who are part of the National Revenue Authority at the Queen Elizabeth Quay are really and deliberately undervaluing imported containers having packets of butter as their contents.
Since they are being undervalued the importers are therefore at liberty to peg their prices the same way as those manufactured in-country are priced.
Alphonso Manley said as best practice demands it is expected that since the country now has a reputable company, Kissy Industry, which is producing consumable goods, among which there is butter, then customs duties should be peg in ways that should encourage the infant industry to grow. “ Lamentably this is not the case and such is having a negative toll on the country’s Local Content,” he continued maintaining that the Kissy Industry has provided job opportunities for many Sierra Leoneans , whose positions are currently shakable because if the company decides to fold up in the area of butter production that would not only affect the workers who could be laid off but will inevitably lead to an astronomical rise in the prices of imported butter as the infant company could no longer be interested in continuing to manufacture butter.
He added that unlike importers who have no responsibility to honour any form or shape of Corporate Social Responsibility, the Kissy Industry rather has that responsibility also maintaining that they could only continue to effectively promote development activities in its area of operations when it is on a sound footing.
Palm oil is what the company uses in producing butter and such is produced by local farmers. He added that since the company procures such a raw material the current status of the butter trade might only negatively affect them if the company decides to stop the manufacturing of its butter product.
It is against such a backdrop that the Civil Rights Coalition is calling on the authorities concerned to seriously look at the situation in order to take the remedial measures to correct the present imbalance. One way, he says, the organization deems such could be accomplished is to revisit the duties levied on imported butter and do the needful by making the necessary arrangements.
He argued that most people misconstrue the word investor to only mean foreigners saying there are viable local investors that could positively impact the country’s economy only if the right business environment is created by the necessary authorities.
Alphonso said anything shorter than that will kill growth and undermine the economy, asserting that the level of what is produced internally has a direct bearing on a country’s currency in exchange, for example the dollar.
He, however, bemoaned that as the situation now stands the traders are not the only one feeling the crunch but also the general masses, the consumers, who are the ones feeling the heat at the tail end.
