The plenary of the House of Representatives has mandated its Committee on Commerce and Industry to investigate both rice importers and the Ministry of Commerce and Industry over a claim made by a member of the House that business people are restricted on which quantities of rice to buy in a day’s time, coupled with the difficulties encountered during purchasing.
On Tuesday, August 23, 2022 during the 4th day special sitting of the 5th session of the House of Representatives of the 54th Legislature, Nimba County’s district #2 Representative, Prince O. S. Tokpah, wrote the plenary of the concerns raised by some business people over the past months in getting the country’s staple food (rice). Representative Tokpah sought the indulgence of his colleagues to have rice importers and authorities of the Commerce Ministry appear before the full plenary to address the concerns.
“Honorable Speaker and distinguished colleagues, our business people across Liberia are complaining of the restriction posed by rice importers. Rice dealers from far distances who purchase for retail purposes have been restricted to undesired quantities, which has negative impact on the growth of their businesses,” he told his colleagues.
The Nimba County district #2 lawmaker informed the plenary that business people who have gone to rice importers to buy only rice have been compelled to buy other commodities before they can be served. According to him, the imposition of additional commodities on business people as a pre-requirement before buying rice is causing serious embarrassment for the struggling business people.
The House’s Agriculture, Fishery and Forestry Committee Chairman also alleged that based on the mentioned restriction, employees working in those companies are also secretly demanding money from the buyers to enable them to get the number of bags of rice they had gone to purchase. He alleged that importers have started re-bagging of expired rice for profiteering purpose. He appealed to his colleagues to attach importance to his concerns because thousands of business people are affected daily as a result of the acts.
Following the reading of the Nimba lawmaker’s letter, the plenary, through a motion made by Maryland County’s district #3 Representative, Isaac B. Roland, reached a decision to have the rice importers and Ministry of Commerce authorities appear before the House’s Committee on Commerce and Industry, headed by Nimba County’s district #5 lawmaker, Samuel G. Kogar, to address the concerns.