The Deputy Leader of Government Business in Parliament, Hon. Bashiru Silikie, has revealed that most of the supermarkets workers are selling expired goods to buyers and that present enormous threats to the lives of Sierra Leoneans.
“When you go to the supermarkets and streets across the country, all you can see are expired goods.
“There is no institution that does prior-tests on the standard of these imported goods shipped into the country,” he said.
The MP made his submission on Thursday 14 December, 2023 in Sierra Leone’s Well of Parliament.
The Deputy Leader made the disclosure while making his contributions to the Committee Group 5’s report on Standards Bureau current challenges.
Hon. Silikie said goods coming into the country are not tested and serves as a threat to the well-being of the people.
In her presentation, the Chairman of Sub-appropriation Committee Group 5 in Parliament, Hon. Neneh Lebbie, said Standards Bureau has lots of challenges which needed the attention of Ministry of Finance.
Neneh Lebbie’s Committee observed that the Standards Burea lacks testing kits and funds to carry out their duties and responsibilities but that the help is not forthcoming from the Finance Ministry.
The MPs said there are lots of goods entering into the country lacking quality, adding that these goods are sold to the public without testing.
She also spoke about the sale of Coco Samba herbal products which are so rampant in the markets but without going through the testing system.
As a result, she said, this practice represents a threat to the lives of the product consumers.
She pleaded with the Minister of Finance to hold talks with authorities of Standards Bureau in order to know their challenges and work towards ameliorating them.
In her submission, the MP from Bombali District, Hon. Catherine Tarawally said the challenges of Standards Bureau are enormous which needed finance ministry’s attention.
She spoke about lack of vehicles, testing kits and other equipment by the country’s food safety institution.
The Deputy Speaker who presided over the sitting urged the Minister of Finance to engage with Standards Bureau, map out their challenges and remedy their porous situation.
He urged for food safety measures in supermarkets and business places to be met.
The Minister of Finance, Sheku Fatamadi Bangura, assured Parliament that he would soon engage the Standards Bureau and Trade Ministry to know what challenges are actually confronting their institutions, adding that Standards Bureau in particular is an income generating administration and it must be seeing that it assiduously works to help government in income mobilization in order to be able fund government’s projects.
Hon. Abdul Karim Kamara spoke on the dilapidated state of Standards Bureau and observed that the institution only has 90 staff serving the country.
He urged the Ministry of Finance to capacitate the Standards Bureau for effective and efficient service delivery.