As the Holy Month of Ramadan is fast approaching, The Gambia government has been urged to regulate the high prices of food items to reduce burden on everyone.
The high prices of food items become a great concern for the populace mostly the Muslims community as fasting will kick-start in due time, next week.
Some of the housewives are currently inconvenient with the market price. According to Yam Njie, every year, she said, many people suffer from price hiking during Ramadan and not everyone can afford some items at the price attaches to some of the items in the market.
Supplies are coming into the country before Ramadan but few days to Ramadan “traders will hide commodities just to create scarcity in order to hike price without thinking of vulnerable people. It is high time for the Government to act,” she added.
For the past few months, she said, “People are suffering yet prices remain the same and it is a clear sign that this year Ramadan Muslim Ummah in The Gambia because of the excessive price placing on food items.”
Absa Joof, Ousainou Bah among lots of other people want government to have a price control for items before the commencement of Ramadan and after the Holy Month of Ramadan onward.
They stated that “Ramadan is just one month but people take advantage of the month to make excessive profits even the ice block price increases during Ramadan. If the government is making turns of distributions then they should double it because this is the time people need it the most. Besides, they should even give some cash to the most vulnerable people that I believe will help so many families,” They said.