Over a period, people residing in the Bolgatanga Municipality have lamented about the increasing cost of goods and services, especially within the municipality.
Residents are dissatisfied that the cost of living in Bolgatanga a place believed to be one of the poorest regions in the country is robbing the shoulder with to the cost of living with those in Accra the nation’s capital.
Meanwhile, there are perceptions that a few business moguls in the Municipality are taking the advantage of the vulnerable business atmosphere to increase their goods and services triple from the original price sold somewhere in Walewale or even Navrongo a nearby municipality.
Foodstuffs in the Bolgatanga market have seen a massive increase between October 2022 and till date. Their simple excuse is the dollar, but when they are told that Cedis has started appreciating against the dollar since December 2022, their response will be like, those they are buying the goods from still sell at a high to them.
Indeed, this has become a worry. A vegetable seller in the Bolgatanga market, will openly tell you that she increased her price of vegetables from Ghc2 to Ghc5,00 because of the dollar, then the question begging for an answer is, what is the link between a vegetable seller, a cassava dough seller popularly known moli to the dollar?
However, when Ngamegbulam Chidozie Stephen visited the Bolgatanga Municipal Chief (MCE) Mr. Rex Asanga as the father of the municipality on the unfortunate developing culture in the Bolgtanaga market with regards to the unfortunate increment of goods and services, he admitted that prices of goods are skyrocketing in the Municipality. But insisting that the Assembly didn’t have the power to control goods in the market.
“It is true that if you look at things like building materials and all that within the municipality, they are a bit higher than other areas. People prefer to even go to Walewale to go and buy building materials and other things. In fact, in our market food stuff are a bit higher than other markets. But you know we are dealing with a free market economy and Assembly, we don’t have that power to go after people saying reduce your things and then ordering them how much to sell”.
He appealed to the business community within the municipality to temper justice with mercy because the Cedis has started gaining grounds against the dollar.
“I want to believe that, we can appeal to the consciences of people for them to know that we are all in this together. So, I will like to use this opportunity to appeal to our business community within the municipality. We know this is a regional capital, so demand for things like building materials turns out to be high and when there is so much demand for goods and services people can use that as an opportunity to increase their prices. So, I think that is what is happening, especially since we are a very fast-growing municipality and the demand for goods and services is skyrocketing and so that is the reason people are taking advantage and selling goods at high prices and I think that is not fair and I will appeal to the business community to do something about it”. He appealed
Source: Apexnewsgh.com/Ghana
For publication please kindly contact us on 0256336062 or Email apexnewsgh@gmail.com
