By Mabinty M.Kamara
One of Sierra Leone’s leading rice importers, the Commodity Trading Company (CTC), has on Wednesday 19th August, distributed measuring scales to retail dealers in Freetown. The beneficiaries are those who deal in rice in bags.
The distribution of the measuring tools was facilitated by the Sierra Leone Standards Bureau (SLSB), which said the goal is to ensure fairness in trade by giving consumers the opportunity to weigh the rice in the shops before buying them.
In a statement at a ceremony marking the commencement of the distribution process, SLSB’s Executive Director, Professor Thomas Yormah, noted that the agency was created by an Act of Parliament to look after the welfare of the people in Sierra Leone.
"Goods and services can be substandard if they are not of the right quality and if they are not of the prescribed quantity. Quality is based on our adopted gazetted National Standards and anything that does not meet those prescriptions is substandard," he said, adding that the standardisation of measurements does not only help save the economy, but it would also help to enhance fair trade and just business practices.
Professor Yormah explained that the distribution of the scales by CTC emanated from a verification exercise that was conducted by the SLSB and that the outcome of that exercise recommended that CTC, one of the leading distributors of rice, purchased scales for the business people they deal with. The SLSB boss went on to reiterate that the regulatory agency was determined to ensure that "there is fairness-in-trade" and that it is determined to ensure that the consumers get value for their money for all goods and services and not necessarily for rice and sugar.
In his statemnet, Mr. Frank Martin, Manager of the Metrology Department, said SLSB embarked on the verification exercise following complaints from the public echoed by the Ministry of Trade and Industry.
He added that during the verification exercise, they discovered that there were some shops without scales to weigh bagged rice and that there was also unscrupulous tampering with bagged CTC rice during the period of transportation from the stores to market places.
Mr Martin urged the recipients of the measuring tools to utilize them for their intended purpose, noting that SLSB will be enforcing the law by end of August this year.
Mr. Bashir Jaward, Operations Manager, CTC, commended the Standards Bureau for facilitating the process, noting that it was a step in the right direction.
He went on to note that the purchase and distribution of the scales to rice dealers was a manifestation of CTC's compliance with the recommendations of the Standards Bureau.
Amadu Jogor Bah, Deputy Director of SLSB, commended CTC for distributing the scales. He added that the distribution of the scales was in conformity with the laws enacted by the Government of Sierra Leone in 2010, which required business people to have scales to weigh the goods they trade in.
He emphasised that both the Quran and the Bible forbid "short measurement" or cheating in trade. He then admonished the business people to be fair in their trading activities.
Danielda Brown of the Danny Tee Investment, in her vote of thanks on behalf of the beneficiaries, commended CTC and the Standards Bureau for the distribution of the tools. She assured CTC and the Bureau that the scales would be utilized for the intended purpose.
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