Who will save kuntaur rice mill (krm)?

Go to Kuntaur and see for yourself what I am trying to explain on paper with a pen the state of the Kuntaur Rice Mill (KRM). Not long ago the Kuntaur Rice Mill (KRM) used to be a household name if not in the greater Banjul Area but in the whole of CRR, LRR and beyond.

Our supermarkets were stocked with its rice and then we were eating what we grow and living by the doctrine of growing what we eat. We were better off then and off course we were healthier then too. Not any more as this mighty institution and its great tradition stooped low and on the brink of non existence.

It is suffering form lack of investment. There are spare parts problems, there is a capital problem. There is liquidity problem, there is organization problem coupled with a mandate problem, there is a rice mobilization financing problem, there is operational problem and I wonder whether there is even the will to start again.

I met and interview one member of staff who is the only one there in the group of eight employed there. The other staff are disillusion and on other meaningful mission to make their respective lives worth living. The gentleman in question who preferred not to be named said they are stilling waiting on NADA who assumes the reigns of the past management of the Kuntaur Rice Mill (KRM).

At the premises of the Kuntaur Rice Mill (KRM) there lies one of the great cooperative trucks way back when the Defunct Gambia Cooperative Union (GCU) was at its best. There also lies another Nissan pick-up vehicle registration number ADB 251 TA also gathering dust and forgotten about and it could also be suffering from lack of use, maintenances and spare part to start moving.

These written–off assets and others may be of interest to the scrap metal dealers bring this country’s iron industry to its knees to the detriment of our infant iron (blacksmith) industries.  The magnificent structure lies in wait as the walls and paint suffer from wear and tear from the adverse whether condition pounced on it by the rains. It is the habitat of idle birds and a solace for other animals and free ranging other birds and chicken. The conveyors and other machinery are tuck away into the building housing the mill waiting for investment and government decision.

I would have loved the MP Delegation that was touring the provinces to go there and report to government of the need for urgent attention at Kuntaur Rice Mill. The touring MP would have done a great service and favor to this beautiful nation of ours and to the great people of kuntaur and CRR to report their problems to the top so that solutions could be in place sooner than later. Why this visit did not take place, I do not know.

 As our eyes, hands, feet and mouths I would have definitely expected the Touring Members of Parliament to reach out to Kuntaur Rice Mill and report the state of affairs to the National Assembly. Touring the provinces and CRR for that matter, there could be no other better institutions and places of interest to visit more strategic and important than the Kuntaur Rice Mill. For the sole reason that it is the food basket of CRR and would be an integral component of feed the nation drive and the advocate for food self sufficiency here in The Gambia.

The Kuntaur Rice Mill at its best provided food in the form of rice, employment for the youth and the populace in the area where only the Area Council apart from farming is the major employer, transportation of people and rice in and out of Kuntaur, commerce as people and cars from far and wide come to buy. Some groups from within and outside our borders also do come for under study of the good and great works that is done at Kuntaur Rice Mill. Bring back the glory days of the Kuntaur Rice Mill as so much rest on this mighty institution and it is a national and individual concern for me, for you and I hope the powers that be do something as soon as possible.

Let us all do something individually or severally to save Kuntaur Rice Mill as it is a national treasure worthy to keep. Our food sufficiency drive will only be aided by the presences and operation of the Kuntaur Rice Mill. With five more mills such as the Kuntaur Rice Mill Gambia can start the march to our food self sufficiency in rice. There is already a start in the Kuntaur Rice Mills so why let it die, why let it fail and why let it fade away as other meaningless project.

 Please help save the Kuntaur Rice Mill (KRM) as a matter of a national concern and declaration of Gambia Food Self-Sufficiency.

On the alternative available to the custodians of the Kuntaur Rice Mill (KRM) is the idea of privatization. Privatization may be able to do the trick and save this mighty institution from going down in history as once upon a time…….. I will appeal to the authorities in this case NADA to sell the place and allow foreign and private capital to run the place for more jobs, more food, more taxes and other statutory obligations and  more opportunities for the people of Kuntaur and CRR and Gambia as a whole.

We can learn from Bush for once
This week we have all witnessed the unbelievable networking of policies, brains, lectures and more important of all funding to rescue ailing, battered, threatened and on the brink of collapse of mighty Western Institutions. Congress has to convene, Japan consulted, England paying some lip services, Russia despite confused in its foreign policies and strategies was drafted into talks and understanding because of the oil pipe lines. This is the only week for a very long time in our lives that the War In Iraq is not front page news.

This is all due to the trouble hitting American Financial Institutions notably Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, AIG, Lehman Brothers and the list goes on and on. You can bear me witness that they are about to get the financial mess under control get the uncertainty over and done with for live to move before we will be moved by life.

My reference to this piece here is to remind you of our civil and collective duties as a nation and a people to rise up and solve our national problems if and when they are threaten. We as a people and a nation must be able to learn and emulate good policies and strategies elsewhere in the world for our economic emancipation ands development.

 What is therefore preventing us from rescue institutions like the Kuntaur Rice Mill with a budget of under ten million Dalasi (D10M) which are indeed very pivotal to our national development and the operation back to the land as commanded on us by our president, Dr Yayha Jammeh, I do not know? These are strategic institutions and we must not stand idle and watch as these great ideas and institutions go to ruins. Some money, some guy, some idea, some parliament and some willingness is within the reach of our diverse people and elites to unlock the Kuntaur Rice Mill problem. I hereby summon all and sundry to come to the aid of the Kuntaur Rice Mill in the name of "Help Feed the Gambia Drive".

 We as a nation have the brains, the resources, the drive and there is the need to help bring back the glory days of Kuntaur Rice Mill. If Gambia is to be food sufficient nation that can feed itself then the ball starts roll from Kuntaur Rice Mill. Please help bring back the glory days of Kuntaur Rice Mill. It is Ramadan ending and I am longing for some sweet, sweet kuntaur rice to prepare my peanuts porridge (chura gretteh). However, I have to save my hunger till next year when I think we should by then had the mill up and running.