By Joseph Sherman, Editor, Salone Monitor newspaper, USA.
Reports reaching the Salone Monitor from APC Headquarters in Freetown confirmed this morning that former Minister of Agriculture, Food and Security until 2012 and a Member of Parliament representing Tonkilili district, Hon. Alhaji Mohamed Sufian Kargbo has died.
Honorable Mohamed Suffian Kargbo (photo) was Chairperson, Agriculture and Food Security. He holds a Bachelor’s degree (Hons.) and MSC in soil fertility and plant mineral nutrition. Prior to his appointment as Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, he was Project Co- Manager FAO/Land Resources Survey project in Sierra Leone, Deputy Minister and later Minister of Agriculture and Food Security.
Honorable Alhaji Suffian Kargbo during his time as Minister of Agriculture and Food security said that “Traditional farming as we know it has never been enough to feed our people. Perhaps, during the colonial days when the population was so small and farmers could produce so much, one could easily feed his/her family and still have more for the next year. Today, the population is such that those who are engaged in production are not sufficient enough to feed the nation. It is here that the private sector comes in and we desperately seek their investments. Unfortunately, the private sector in Sierra Leone is not easily attracted into the agricultural sector. Thus, we have to find ways and means to attract them. The private sector should be adequately induced through improved marketing facilities, production incentives and ban financing through commercial or rural banks. And in terms of how differently I might handle the ministry, this can only be determined on the desk because I believe the present minister is doing his best.”
It can be recalled that Hon. Suffian Kargbo one time Minister of Agriculture in the APC. He later joined the late Dr. John Karefa-Smart’s UNPP. He later relinquished his position from the rival UNPP and re-joined the APC. In his letter of resignation, Mr. Kargbo stated, “I have taken this decision purely for personal motives and to allow someone to hold the fort."
Mr. Kargbo said he was applying to re-register as a full-fledged member of the APC. He highlighted that he had been APC since the 1960s. According to him, he will work hard for the APC and has accepted to uphold the aims, objectives, policies, programs and discipline of the party.
Editor’s Note: Honourable Suffian Kargbo resigned from what is now known as the Old APC under Joseph Saidu Momoh because he was deeply troubled by the blatant ethnocentrism of the Momoh regime. Other prominent APC politicians that left the party at that time were the late Thaimu Bangura, the late Musa Kabia and the late Dr. Sheka Kanu.
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