The nation, especially those who take bread as a staple food have been taken aback by last week’s action by bakers to increase the price of flour from around Le250, 000 to above Le300, 000.

As the nation wondered anxiously what the cause of the sudden increase in the cost of a loaf of bread from Le1, 500 to Le1, 500 was, various stakeholders came out to explain the cause of the increase.

Flour importers alleged that, the import duty on flour had gone up. Bakers said, wholesalers had increased the price of flour in the market.

But when the Director General of the National Revenue Authority, Dr Samuel Jibao went over air to give his own explanation, it was a far cry from what had been given by the importers and wholesalers.

According to the NRA Boss, this government had actually reduced the import tariff on flour from 20% to 10%.

So what clearly emerges from the NRA DG’s version of the truth is that, as has always been pointed out by this press, the principle of having a free open market leaves the country open to the possibility of exploitation through overpricing by monopolistic and oligopolistic forces in the market.

To counter this unhealthy tendency which has the potential to erode the standard of living of the poor suffering masses through inflated prices, since the Ministry of Trade under Peter Bayuku is bungling, government must wake up.

President Bio must rise up to its responsibility of leading the fight against poverty by monitoring and controlling the prices of particularly basic essential goods and services that the poor depend on.