The leader of the Gambia’s main opposition United Democratic Party (UDP) has emphasized that no one should be given the latitude to sell cement at prices beyond the reach of citizens.
To the UDP leader Lawyer Ousainou Darboe, the sale of a bag of cement at D500, despite the assurance by principal traders in cement of the availability of sufficient cement stock in the country “is not just unconscionable, but it is reprehensible”.
“The anti-competition commission should look into that. No one should be allowed to sell cement at exorbitant prices to make it unreachable by the people,” Darboe stressed in an exclusive interview with JollofNews at his Pipeline office on Wednesday.
The 180% cement tariffs that The Gambia government introduced last year to ostensibly protect “local cement producers” has been triggering intermittent cement scarcities and price hikes across the land, and the increase of the levy on a bag of imported cement from D30 to D180 has been severely ccriticised n many quarters.
However, Lawyer Darboe believed that every government in any country would protect its local industries, but he demanded an explanation from the Barrow administration as to whether those it refers to as local cement producers pay customs duties or excise duties on imported cement, which they re-bag.
“If it’s local production, what they will pay will be excise duties as opposed to import duty. But I think these are things that the ministry of trade should clarify to Gambians, and we will be in a better position to say these companies are really engaged in production, they are producing cement in the country, not that they are importing and re-bagging. I would like to get that explanation from the minister of trade,” he told this medium.
According to Darboe, The Gambia government cannot claim to be protecting the local cement industry unless it equates re-bagging to production.
“If you equate re-bagging to production, according to their definition, then it’s okay, that’s their definition of industry,” he stated. When asked by JollofNews as to whether the government’s tariff policy was a bad one as it has occasioned on and off nationwide cement shortages and price hikes, causing hardship to the population, Hon. Darboe replied: “Any policy that works contrary to the interest of the people is not a good policy. Obviously, no one can argue in favour of such a policy. So if the government introduces any measure and that measure does not favour the majority of the people, then it’s a bad measure and it should be revised.”
Hon. Darboe was of the thought that the Barrow government owes The Gambian population a duty of care when it comes to cement pricing.
“I think the government owes a duty to The Gambian people to ensure that the people, who re-bag cement, ensure a bag of cement is affordable, people don’t take advantage of the situation and profiteering and just charge any amount,” he explained.
