By Jenneh Braima
As early as last January, a 50kg bag of the most expensive imported rice in the local market - Jasmine – cost Le 127, 000. By the second week of this January, it’s Le 190, 000. The difference has accrued over the last 12 months, fuelled by a number of factors affecting this still struggling economy of Sierra Leone. But the last nine months, characterized by the Ebola epidemic, accounts for most of the increment, consumers, business people and government officials say.
The situation, they add, is even worst in terms of some other commodities, like pepper, palm oil and vegetable oil. Pepper for instance has increased up to 200 percent, although it has occasionally come down.
As insignificant as this might appear to some of us, to many Sierra Leoneans, like like Gbassay Banguara, life has been unbearable because of this trend of unpredictability in market prices. The house wife and mother of three who live from hand-to-mouth sells coal at the Model Junction on Circular Road, Freetown. She is worried for the future of her school-going kids.
“I used to buy charcoal coal at 15,000 per bag and sell at 20, 000,” she says. The difference is what she’d spent on feeding her kids. But since the out Ebola outbreak, Bangura says the wholesale cost of a bag of coal increased to 20, 000, forcing her to sell at either 25, 000 or 24, 000 when business is not so good. She says even the plastic she used to buy to put the coal in was 6, 000 but is now 10,000.
Ms Bangura has the decision to make on how much to sell but her buyers` decision matters much to her.
“I am just doing this now to feed my family and if things continue like this, what will become of my poor life and kids,” she laments.
Those familiar with the business blame the Ebola epidemic, and their explanation seem to hold water. But some government and consumer protection officials say there is no justification for price increase as Sierra Leone is currently experiencing.
Yet the government, which, it would appear, has all it takes to regularize the situation, insists it has no control over the situation. Its explanation has become a rather nauseating cliché - Sierra Leone is running a liberal economy.
“In Sierra Leone when prices of things are increased, they don’t come down. They only continue (upwards),” said Charles Merewether Thompson, Director of Domestic Commerce and Industry at the Ministry of Trade.
And at the current pace, we can only predict further increase in the prices. And the real impact of all this is hitting hardest the majority, poor Sierra Leoneans.
Margaret sheriff is a single mother with two kids. She said her husband died when the kids where very young and since then she has being taking care of them through her ‘fry fry’ business –a mixture of fried fish, potato and others.
“I sell it every day. Sometimes it is painful working under the hot burning sun; everyday my head aches. Please look at the middle of my head,” she says, bowing to reveal the middle of her head indicating stunted growth of hair. “I am tired but what can I do, with my children? I sometimes cry in my heart.”
The Ebola epidemic only compounded Margaret`s woes. Her customers are now afraid to buy prepared food because of fear of contamination with the virus, she said.
“So sometimes I return home with the bulk of my ‘fry fry’. I am really praying this thing (Ebola) get to an end because everything in the market is now expensive.” She said the most common commodity she used to buy was oil, which has increased in price by Le500 to Le 2000 from 1,500.
Margaret lamented that some people are taking advantage of the crisis to exploit the poor. In the absence of government`s action, she could only pray for God`s intervention.
Several warnings against such deliberate act of increasing prices of basic commodities have fell on deaf ears, the government say.
However, the deputy secretary at the ministry of Trade and Industry, Gilbert Cooper, said people (wrongly) think the traditional role of the trade ministry is to regulate prices.
He said the world is by level. “If you cannot afford to buy expensive things, go for the less expensive ones,” he said.
Notwithstanding, Mr Cooper added, the government still had concerns for the ordinary people, which was why, he said, they were engaging the consumer association on the prevailing situation.
One of the problems the Trade Ministry official highlighted as contributing factor to the problem was foreign exchange issues. The ministry, he said, has nothing to do about that.
His colleague, Thompson of Domestic Commerce and Industry directorate, said that at the height of the price escalation they issued out a statement to the public warning business enterprises against “unnecessarily” increasing prices.
He also blamed restriction of movement to and from quarantined districts as one of the major problems traders had which might be informing their actions.
“Before now there had being easy means of transporting goods in the cities but now all the major districts that used to produce goods like vegetables’, pepper, palm oil and our native local rice have been quarantined because of Ebola,” he said, prior to last week`s lifting of restriction across the country.
Susan Williams is the coordinator for the Consumer Association of Sierra Leone. She could only restate that anyone found wanting by the law with regards price increases will be dealt with accordingly.
Susan though said that they have held meetings with all the traders on the issues of prices of commodities and said the government did not put tax on rice because it didn’t want to see price increase.
© Politico 28/01/15
