By Alhaji M. B. Jalloh
The holy month of Ramadan – when Muslims fast from dawn to dusk – is expected to start on March 22nd or 23rd, subject to the sighting of the moon.
Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar and is marked by fasting, charity, prayer, compassion and any other good deeds. It is believed that the first verses of Islam’s Holy Scripture, the Quran, were revealed to Prophet Muhammad during Ramadan.
The month is regarded by Muslims as the best moment of the year, where a Muslim earns multiple rewards and forgiveness from God. But over the years, increasing prices of several basic commodities during the holy month by some business owners is a common practice in many countries, including Sierra Leone.
The high demand by consumers during the holy month for essential goods gives many merchants an opportunity to take advantage of consumers and they increase the prices of goods by two or three folds, if not more. Ironically, consumers have no other option but to purchase these essential goods from merchants.
To hike prices of essentials commodities such as rice, sugar, flour, cooking oil, to name a few, before or during Ramadan for no good reason is absolutely wrong.
For Sierra Leone, the Consumer Protection Agency should liaise with the Ministry of Trade to put a stop to such a profiteering and an insensitive attitude at a time when majority of Sierra Leoneans are experiencing financial hardship.
In fact, it will be even more encouraging to have Ramadan Bonanza than to increase the prices of food items because of Ramadan which have the tendency to affect not only Muslims, but non Muslims as well.
According to some Islamic scholars, charity is one of the deeds highly encouraged in the month of Ramadan. It was narrated by Ibn Abbas that “Prophet Muhammad was the most generous person, he doubled his generosity in the month of Ramadan.”
However, this year’s Ramadan will be observed at a time when the New Leone, SL Currency is fighting for survival under the feet of the US dollar.
As a result, Sierra Leoneans have seen prices of commodities rising to an unprecedented level.
In that regard, pundits are wondering how Sierra Leone Muslims will cope during this year’s fasting; as traders have the propensity to increase prices during the holy month, coupled with the effect of the dollar on goods, you can imagine the effect.
This unreasonable price hike of essential commodities in the market is inflicting untold sufferings on the common man, particularly those from the lower strata.
One of the solutions to overcome the problem of high prices of essential goods would be for the government to reduce custom duties on imported essential commodities, help business people get forex easily at affordable rate, and, bring the importers, wholesalers and even the retailers under a regular consultative process to keep prices from rising.
But what is certain for now is that the prices of basic commodities have gone beyond the reach of many.
