The Bread Police is in town, ..and the Meat Police. Perhaps they are
missing the Truth Police, to tell the authorities that using Ramadan as
an excuse to bully vendors and small businesses into giving away their
hard-earned dalasis is even more "unislamic". Pathetic.
Malanding
Courtesy of the Daily Observer :
http://observer.gm/africa/article/2008/9/22/bakers-on-strike-in-brikama
Bakers on strike in Brikama
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Monday, September 22, 2008
Bakers in Brikama and its environs are currently on a sit-down strike
after a confrontation with the police concerning an immediate reduction
in the price of bread, the Daily Observer has reliably gathered.
According to sources, it had been discovered by the police that some
bakers were selling a loaf of bread at D5, prompting the intervention of
the Brikama Police.
When this reporter visited some bakeries in Brikama and its environs, on
Saturday, the majority of the bakers he spoke to described the price
reduction demanded by the police as a threat to their business. A baker
at Brikama Nyambai told the Daily Observer that he buys a bag of flour
at nine hundred dalasis. He indicated that considering the cost of
labour, fire wood and other ingredients used in the process, any move to
reduce the price of bread would jeopardize their business.
The unfortunate development resulted in an acute shortage of bread in
Brikama, especially among the Muslim community, in the face of the Holy
Month of Ramadan. People are said to be commuting to Serekunda to get bread.
As expected, many people described the occurrence as outrageous, some
calling it "unislamic". A shopkeeper at Kuloro said: "I do not dispute
the price of the bread, but rather the size”. He thinks the size of
bread in the area is very small.
But another baker in Brikama said that it was not their wish to keep the
Muslim community starving, they were only concerned about the impact of
any reduction on their business.
However, many consumers accused the bakers of making huge profits out of
their suffering. They argued that even if the price of bread was reduced
and the size increased, the bakers would make an appreciable amount of
profit. "This is out of greediness and lack of mercy for the people,"
one consumer said.
Some people have said that the bakers should be allowed to continue with
their businesses until after the Ramadan, when such a situation might
inflict less harm on the consumers.
"I consume only bread when breaking my fast, and since the sit-down
strike started, I have been taking rice which gives me stomachache,"
said one consumer.
A Mauritanian shopkeeper in Brikama said: "We cannot be blamed for the
high cost of a bag of flour, because no one would want to start their
business only to run into failure”. And he posited: "The fact is that
some bakers are too greedy and have little consideration for their
consumers".
Generally, however, consumers are appealing to the police to allow the
bakers to go on with their businesses until after the month of Ramadan,
as most people depend on bread during the month. Efforts to have the
authorities at the Brikama Police Station to comment on the issue
remained futile as the station officer was reported to have been out of
the office.
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