Godlove Bainkong
1 July 2009
Vendors as at yesterday were struggling to dispose of old stock while consumers await with anxiety the respect of the new prices.
Today is July 1 and the homologated prices of basic commodities like rice, fish, bread and milk, among others, are expected to go operational. This follows an accord reached recently between the Ministry of Trade and dealers in these commodities. The aim is to put food on many tables and ease hardship faced by the population.
In Yaounde like elsewhere, expectations are high as consumers await the new prices and vendors are doing all to live up to their promise. Ebouma Ketty is a retailer of rice among other commodities. She told CT at her Melen shop yesterday that she is working hard to dispose of the old stock and buy at reduced prices so that she could in turn retail to customers. She qualifies government continuous action to reduce prices as good. “It shows that the government has the interest of its citizens at heart”, she said, advocating government’s surveillance so that wholesalers respect the prices at their level for the effect to trickle down to the man on the street.
Another retailer, Ma Joan, corroborated Ebouma’s view and said it would be difficult if not impossible for retailers to sell at reduced prices when wholesale prices are not checked. “If wholesalers reduce the price at which they give these commodities to us, we would obviously reduce the price to consumers”, she said.
While dealers in rice, bread and other commodities are still counting on reduction from wholesalers to take the queue, dealers in fish are already applying the new prices and even selling below the homologated rates. Tamenguhe Fidelle, an official of CONGELCAM Mvog-Betsi, said they are even selling below government prices. She said the price of big maqurel fish which government fixed at CFA 900 a kilogram is sold in their cool store at CFA 800. Kemda Justin of Poisonnerie Aqua-Mar, Mvog-Mbi agrees with Fidelle and attributes the beforehand reduction to increase in the supply of fish in the market.
Some consumers, on their part, say the new prices will step up their standards of living especially now that students and pupils are on holidays. Aba’a Abate Fidel, consumer, sees in the new prices a better life for him and his family. He says it has not been easy as children eat a lot and “I have been forced to spend twice what I usually spend when schools are on”.
However other consumers are skeptical that if not carefully checked, dealers in these commodities would continue to sell at cut-throat prices. They say there are unscrupulous business people who would seek to feed fat on consumers in spite of everything They advocate government’s supervision through the Price Control Brigade of the Ministry of Trade to make sure that sellers don’t play what they termed “hide and seek game”.
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