April 20, 2021
Albert Baron Ansu
We are in the holy month of Ramandan and folks have assumed a level pof piety that is above the ordinary. In Sierra Leone this is highly important calendar for Muslims and non-Muslims alike. Our religious harmony has been nurtured to the extent even non-Muslims; some Christians do fete their Muslim compatriots with goodies and even money.
From the fact stated above, one sense can be made that Ramandan create needs for goods and services.
At this material time, food is the biggest cash chaser at this material time. The rice, sugar, the oil are imported and the form the core ingredients of every fasters ‘sunakati’, the evening fast breaking food and the sokoli, the morning fast keeping recipe.
What we know until the few days increase of these food stuff is that there has been huge stock in the country. This was a fact that was divulged by no less a person than the Minister of Trade Dr.Edward Hingha Sandy.
When he made wholesale costs determination of items such as cement at LE 60,000 there was murmur of disapproval among those that know that it is actually sold between Le 75,000.
He could not content it but provided the argument that cost of cost of transportation and storage and other labor services incurred in moving the bulky consignments tend to justifies the price hikes from place to place.
Government stipulated prices for goods and services based on bill of sales and bill of laden international market determination are bound to change based on the local dynamics..
So when I hear the wailing of some opposition party proselytes crying that cost of iving is aorsing and citing the rice of in the cost of bag of rice by less 5USD I tried to draw her attention to the reality of the moment.
“You know in Ramadan prices are unduly increased; it is no Maada Bio failure to bring prices down.” This was my quip. It did not appease my neighbor but she seemed convinced that I was saying the truth.
What I was able to do was to cut the throat of polically motivated argument things are getting worse by the failings of government to ontrol price.
Sierra Leone subscirbes to a free economy, where price monitoing especially at the level of the retail is hard to tackle. Economist say the market force regulates itself. If you are selling a cube of season beyond the reasonable profit margin, the person whose table is next to you is going to lower it and you the hiker miss out on customers. That is how it works.
The government says it will rather regulate tsock level; there should be no scarcity is important than telling people what price they need to sell; lest it creates as syndrome of hoarding.
I went around a couple or markets stall and gauge the opinion of marketers about the supposed hike in price which is actually artificial than natural trend of things.
The lady I met at the Congo Market answered my simple question. “Is it true that prices have gone up?” She was quite hesitant assuming that I am a price inspector. I gave her grin to reassure her that I mean no harm. She replied in krio (and I am rephrasing in English): “yes ooo… when we go to the store to buy a bag of rice and notice that that they have added small thing, we ourselves have to add something… ”
Here, in trying to pinpoint who is behind the forced inflationary trend in in Ramadan, we are actually dealing with an interplay of two subjects “we and they”…
The petty traders are the ‘we,’ the mass of small businesses as the first point of contact with the consumers; and ‘they’ are the store owners, relating to importers. The two categories are the biggest mainstay of the local economy. Both groups referred to here wield immense power to make any government look bad by distorting the market reality. Every time they are moaning: “we are not making profit”, yet you see them holding onto their tables and even expanding year in year out.
One proof of the argument that the prevailing market trend is not reflective of reality in the face of the fact there are goods that remain the in the same place as opposed to the politically sensitive food stuff.
So I have news for you all. You are not hearing it now; it has always been around; that there are some marketers with a known partisan leaning who have a way of making one government look bad in spite of the good works that may be there to impact lives.
Call it a de javu, we have seen this before; and it will pass over us when the Ramadan is over….the food prices will assume a human face…