Expired products, greater harm
There have been reports, particularly in the dailies, that our local market has been flooded with expired food products as well as drugs and no one seems to be bothered by the ugly development.
Stories about traders selling expired food stuffs or drugs in the open market are not new. In extreme cases, for want of quick profit and the urgent need to dispose of the rotten items, the wicket traders will stop at nothing in their nefarious game to deceive the public by contaminating the said products.
There had been instances where traders who deal in food stuffs such as palm oil adulterate them with the sole purpose of increasing the quantity, thereby sacrificing quality for money.
Cola nut, for example, is said to be blended with pepper to give it a pleasant flavour or colour and in the process cheating the consumers.
At the height of their dishonesty, the unscrupulous business men and women will charge exorbitant prices for the contaminated products.
Sometimes one is at a loss to discern the motive behind the satanic attitude of our traders. Whether their action is driven by abject poverty or a blatant act of dishonesty is hard to decipher.
Otherwise, why do they resort to the ungodly act? Is hardship the driving force to a point that we have lost the spirit of love for one another? Or is it the sheer attempt at wickedness?
We raise this concern based on the belief that Sierra Leoneans are generally God-fearing people. If so why then do we behave to others they way we do?
On their part, commercial drivers continue to extort passengers, especially ‘okada’ riders who refused to pipe down with regard price reduction, just like the traders.
It will be recalled that when the President of the republic ordered prices to scale down in the wake of the slight reduction in the price of fuel, not many heeded the president’s call. Prices are still generally high despite the president’s dramatic intervention at the time. This state of affairs has indeed intensified the cost of living for the average man amidst the many consumer protection agencies in the country.
It’s like no one cares for the poor man. These consumer agencies are mere appendages of the present dispensation. They can only bark but remain toothless, just as in the case of the so-called civil society organizations, many of who have mortgaged their credibility.
Talking about expired or contaminated food items, we must not lose sight of the fact that drugs peddlers are equally causing more harm to members of the public by selling fake or counterfeit drugs.
We have heard of many monitoring organizations across the country which are said to be monitoring the sale of expired drugs to the unsuspecting members of the public. If ever they exist, their presence is not being felt as there are more expired drugs in circulation than one could imagine.
One thing we must take into account as we end this issue, and that is, expired or contaminated food stuffs have the potential to cause disaster in society just as expired drugs can do to a man’s health.
So the sooner we stop the bad practice, the better,
That’s the way we see it as a medium.
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