Residents in the Eastern Capital, Koforidua have been fear gripped as the deadly coronavirus disease is gradually taking over the country by storm. This fright which has engulfed the residents in the city has seen them engage in panic buying as they believe the country will soon face a total lockdown as the country keeps recording higher cases as the day goes by.
Speaking to some of these purchasers, even though they are going by the directives given by health practitioners and the government there is a need for them to get some more groceries as they are scared the country might face a total lockdown as done in many countries across the globe.
“I have a strong feeling the government will soon come out and declare a total lockdown of the country because the coronavirus disease is widely spreading across the country and who knows what will happen next? If the lockdown comes and there is no food at home, I will face a lot of challenges, so I’m doing all my necessary shopping now before the ‘dark’ days come”. A purchaser revealed.
Touching on the prices of goods in the market, the purchasers disclosed that, prices of foodstuffs have tremendously shot up which amazes them. According to them, a half-sack of onion which was sold at GH₵ 150 is now being sold at GH₵ 200, a 5kg bag of rice which was sold at GH₵ 30 is now being sold at GH₵ 40 which wows them as purchasers but since there isn’t an option for them, they end up patronizing the product without any hesitation.
“The traders are using this avenue to make abnormal profits for themselves which is not fair to us. We understand they want to profit as they sell but gaining huge profit in this way is absurd. The funny thing is it’s as though they’ve held a meeting because the prices of goods are hiked and are the same, which is bad”. Another purchaser cried.
“Not all of us can patronize goods at such prices which isn’t reasonable to me. This is because a trader shouldn’t just wake up one day and decide to sell their product at a certain price which other traders astonishingly follow the trend which to me as a purchaser is criminal. The amount I always use for foodstuffs can’t get me what I used to get from the market anymore due to this overpricing”. Said another
Talking to some of these traders in the Koforidua central market, they unveiled that, the relatively high prices labeled on their items aren’t their fault, but rather do so depending on the prices at which they get their goods.
“Prices on goods keep increasing as the day goes by and it isn’t our fault the prices keep going up. We sell based on the price we get our products and we cannot sell products without getting a dime as profit. We do this business to make a profit not to run at a loss. They (purchasers) make it seem we are duping them of their money which isn’t so.” A trader said.
Other traders who were interviewed added that there is no way they as traders will add unimaginable profit to their goods as they believe it isn’t religious for one to do that.
“Most of us here are Christians and just like the way we preach against corruption in our churches there isn’t any way we would go contrary to what we preach against by cheating our customers which we indeed know it isn’t right in the sight of God. We believe every trader here in the market will get their share at the end of the day. There is no point in overpricing your products and later reduce it drastically when we are done with coronavirus”. Some traders averred.
However, the Ghana Medical Association has recently called on the government to lock down the country as the association believes; a total lockdown will go a long way to help the country as the country battles with the coronavirus pandemic.
Source: Mybrytfmonline/Joseph Asare
