Monrovia – Despite the issue of price control seems unrealistic during the past regime, the Minister of Commerce and Industry, Professor Wilson Tarpeh, has said the Ministry has put down plans to vigorously monitor the prices of various commodities in the country.
Report by J.H. Webster Clayeh – [email protected]
Addressing the journalists at the Ministry of Information regular press briefing for the first time as Minister Thursday, March 22, Prof. Tarpeh said the new regulation will require a “very radical measure”.
According to Minister Tarpeh, most of the commodities prices on the markets are astronomically hard for the ordinary citizens.
The Minster of Commerce assures: “What we are doing is to develop a regime. Now as I tell you there is a regime at the Ministry. We must reactivate.”
“That is, everything you bring into this economy; whether it is an essential commodity, we will tell you what is the maximum way you can sell it and anything above that you are in trouble.”
“This cannot be doing business as usual. The CDC-led government is not a business as usual government. It is not going to happen. We will have people coming into the market, disrupt the market and after disrupting the market they leave.”
According to him, there is a law that states that everything an individual is selling should be tagged with a specified price.
Minister Tarpeh, who did not state the law, however said: “The law states in this Republic that anything you sell to the public must be tagged, you must put a price on them.”
“So, in the next 30 days after consultation, we will make sure that they are all endorsed. We will begin to implement that. And this time the prices will be both in Liberian and United States dollars.”
Regular Inspection to Take Place
In recent time, the Commerce Ministry has been carrying out a lot of raids on businesses.
The most recent was one on the renowned supermarket, the Abid Joudi, on Randall Street.
The Ministry also indicated that it is going to work with the Broad of Pharmacy to get rid of expired goods in the country, adding that the Division of Inspectorate is going to be robust in carrying on regular inspections.
“In fact, in the next 20 days, notices will come out for our general inspection. The inspection that was done occasionally will be a regular thing,” Minister Tarpeh said.
“We will be vigilant to know what is coming in, where it is coming from, the quality it is coming in, to make sure it is fit for human consumption or human use and if it is expired we will tell you to take it off the shelves.
According to him, they have already called on the various pharmacies owners in the country to check in their warehouses and get out every expired drugs.
The Commerce Minister said they are going to partner with the Pharmacy Broad to be able to enforce the regular inspection.
“In the case of pharmaceutical, it is even more dangerous. One mistake can cause a life,” Minister Tarpeh said.
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