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Gambia News : Hoarding Prohibition Bill Passed
Members of the National Assembly on Tuesday 23rd June passed the Hoarding Prohibition Bill, 2009.
The Attorney General, who introduced the Bill, said the Bill does
not only prohibit and penalize persons engaged in hoarding and their
accomplices, but also makes it an obligation on every person that knows
of such a practice to report such matter to the police, the failure of
which is an offence punishable by law. Madam Saine-Firdaus asserted
that penalties for violating this law includes fines of not less than
D800,000 and or imprisonment for a term not less than 5 years and not
more than 10 years, as well as forfeiture to the state of the hoarded
goods and premises where the goods are hoarded.
The Bill also gives power to the police to enter any premises to
conduct a search to determine whether any commodity is being hoarded in
such premises contrary to the provisions of the law. She said the
business community should be rest assured that in the application of
the law, due process will be followed.
Tabling the Bill at the National Assembly, the Attorney General and
Minister of Justice Madam Marie Saine-Firdaus indicated that the bill
seeks to repeal the Anti-Hoarding Decree 1995 updates its provisions in
line with current realities.
She asserted that the Government of the Gambia has for more than two
decades maintained a very liberal trade regime, which has enabled the
private sector to rapidly expand and grow. However she said as the
private sector prospers; the need arises to ensure that its growth and
expansion is done in an orderly and beneficial manner. She said that
the resurgence of hoarding, a practice that is of concern to
government, is not only unhealthy for the economy, but also illegal and
violates the provisions of the Anti-hoarding Decree 1995. She asserted
that some traders are in the habit of hoarding essential commodities,
thereby creating artificial shortages and then raising the prices of
these commodities. This, she said, has resulted into a lot of hardship
for Gambians and people living in the Gambia, and has also impacted
negatively on the general welfare of the populace and the economy of
the Gambia.
Madam Saine-Firdaus asserted that by introducing this Bill, it is
not the government's intention to compel business operators to engage
in any trading activity. She said the Gambia is a liberal economy and
operators are free to trade in any legal commodities as long as the
quality and the price are right.
In seconding the motion, the National Assembly Member for Kombo
North Hon. Adama Cham said the legal and moral responsibility of any
government is to protect the wellbeing of its citizenry and in the same
vein, to create the enabling environment to achieve and expedite the
legal and moral responsibility.
On his part, the member for Kiang Central Hon. Babanding Daffeh
indicated that having the bill alone is not enough but that the bill
should be implemented. The object and reason of bill he said has shown
that hoarding is taking place in the Gambia. Hon. Daffeh argued that
Weights and Measures have long been created but that unit is not
functioning now as the rice sold in the Gambia is less than 50kg.
See next issue for the full text of Fabakary Tombong Jatta and Sidia's contribution to the bill.
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