Action Aid a British nongovernmental organization operating in 52 countries in the world to eradicate injustice, hunger and poverty over the weekend launched a score card reporting that the government is doing very little to alleviate the suffering of the people.
The score card was launched at a symposium held at the Atlantic Hall National Stadium in Freetown in the presence of a Government Minister, Members of Parliament, Civil Society groups, FAO and the media.
The score card reported that 50% of the population in Sierra Leone is hungry and 10% of the children are suffering from acute malnutrition and every fourth child dies before the age of five which explains why the country is placed 5th from bottom in Hunger Free campaign score card with an overall score of 30/100.
The Action Aid score card also reports that the government could do more to tackle the horrifically high levels of extreme malnutrition and negligible social protection programmes which leave the country scoring low in the hunger free score card.
The score card also reported that agriculture budgets have risen in recent years from 1.6 to 7.7 percent of the national budget and that progress has also been made on securing women legal rights but sadly implementation has been low.
The score card commented that there is still high prevalence of hunger and lack of legal framework as there is no right to food legislation coupled with low social protection and medium budget to sustainable agriculture.
Chairman of the launching ceremony Hon. Moinina Conteh said “the Government needs to solve the hunger problem in the country by producing more food for the people to eat by ensuring feeder roads are rehabilitated and the land tenure system revisited.
Abdul Deen Sesay of Action Aid Governance and Campaign department said the hunger free campaign was launched in 2007 to follow up the Millennium Development Goals (MDG’s) by looking at policies and conditionality’s of poverty alleviation and injustice.
Kevin Ngalorpan representing the FAO said the Government of Sierra Leone needs to allocate resources for emergencies like flooding, acute shortages of basic food stuff in rural areas, he suggested the formation of a national strategy to alleviate hunger and poverty.
Kevin also said that “most Sierra Leoneans lack vitamin A and Iron because the people cannot afford to buy or grow fruits and vegetables to eat in most homes and called on the government and stakeholders to take action.
Tennyson Williams Director of Action Aid in a brief statement said Sierra Leoneans cannot afford to buy food to eat adding that though the score card will be challenged but the fact of the matter is that “people are very hungry in the homes, hospital, school and the streets which is unacceptable.”
The Keynote speaker Hon. Bernadette Lahai said the Action Aid report card did come as a surprise because it reflects the realities on the ground as there are many set backs in productivity and technologies adding hunger and anger causes instability.
She called on the Government to ensure that citizens are fed and promised to lobby other parliamentarians to join the fight against hunger and poverty by allocating more funds and encouraging the private sector to support economic growth for poverty alleviation.
Hon. Lahai commended Action Aid for the bold step in launching the score card and urged others to advocate for more support.
By Saidu Bah
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