Finally, unscrupulous suppliers of goods, who put unreasonably high prices on food and building materials, will be exposed, via a stringent tracking system to be set up by the new Prices Council. Further, Prices Council chairman, Wendy Lee Yuen, vowed to implement a "name and shame" policy, to actually expose the identities of dishonest suppliers. Parliamentary secretary in the Ministry of Legal Affairs, Jairam Seemungal, yesterday made the disclosure as he handed out instruments of appointment to the new Prices Council in the Division of Consumer Affairs, at Crowne Plaza, Port-of-Spain. Seemungal was substituting for Minister of Legal Affairs Prakash Ramadar who was delayed at another function.
He said the Prices Council, established in May 2008 during the Patrick Manning regime, would be empowered to examine prices at their points of origin and track increases at every stage thereafter. He added: "Members (of the council) will consider every input, from transport, insurance, freight, port and customs charges, domestic transport, stocking, a reasonable mark-up and everything in between. "This will allow the council to say to consumers, 'based on all the cost inputs, we believe this would be a fair price for product x or product y.'" He said consumers would then be left to make responsible purchasing decisions.
The Prices Council, which will serve for two years, effective October 7, 2010, will submit reports and recommendations to the minister. The ministry also intended to embark on a vigorous public education campaign to keep consumers abreast of the latest information, Seemungal said. He added: "Today's simple function is important in the context of the pain being felt by our population owing to high prices, particularly food prices, and, perhaps, the cost of building materials. "The Government of the People's Partnership came into office on the basis of a promise, among other things, to find a solution to this problem. "The appointment of a new Prices Council is only a part of that solution." Seemungal said the ministry also was putting the final touches on consumer protection legislation that promised to be among the most comprehensive and up-to-date in the world. In a separate matter, Seemungal said the ministry appointed a committee to make recommendations for the regularisation of land titles in Tobago.
Further, tomorrow the ministry would distribute letters of appointment to three committees under the Intellectual Property Office to protect the original works of artistes and sportsmen, he said. The previous prices council under the Manning administration was also mandated to address price increases in the food and construction sectors. They were supposed to report findings and make recommendations to then legal affairs minister, Peter Taylor. The names of members of that prices council, which includes some present members, was announced by Manning after a 2007 national food consultation.
Members of the new Prices Council:
Wendy Lee Yuen-chairman;
Indira Sagewan-Alli-deputy chairman;
Dr Sharon Hutchinson;
Raymond Aaron;
Deborah Cumberbatch;
Balliram Maharaj;
Arlene Job-Thomas-representing the Tobago House of Assembly; and,
Sati Gajadhar-Innis.
The council will be supported by a technical secretariat.