Remove duties on basic foodstuff

THE EDITOR: In a recent news release, Legal Affairs Minister Camille Robinson-Regis stated that her Ministry is leading an initiative to reduce the price on basic foods in Trinidad and especially Tobago, particularly in rice, flour and oil.

To the Minister, let me offer a helping hand in this respect. The blatant facts are as follows: flour, oil, rice and macaroni all attract huge duties of 25, 40, 25 and 40 percent respectively. Importers of these products pay the necessary duties, and are still able to sell these items cheaper than the protected local manufacturers of these said products. This is the reality of the situation, and you very well know this. Why, in God’s name, are you protecting these people? When consumers buy these products, these duties are included in the prices they pay, so implicitly, it is really the poor who pay these duties to the Government. What a shame.

All you have to do is simply remove these duties, and after old stocks have been disposed of, prices will automatically fall. The poverty line (37 percent) will also fall. Is this not what good governance is all about? People must always come first, profits and shareholders must take a back seat. Duties and surcharges should only be levied on luxury goods. Why did the Government bail out BWIA for a second time and did not force its shareholders to contribute its share? In the end almost 950 workers lost their jobs. This is a classic case of cliquism, aided and abetted by a government, which is doing exactly the opposite of what it has been elected to do.

DOODNATH MAHARAJ
Arima