Current cost of living crisis brings up the issue of ‘kalabule days’; we should look at it – Martin Kpebu

Private legal practitioner, Lawyer Martin Kpebu has waded into the rising cost of living which has left Ghanaians crying over the price of several food items including tomatoes.

He is of the view that things are costly because of the appetite of traders to make super profits in a short time.

According to him, it appears the old days of ‘kalabule’ where traders sold at exorbitant prices to make a profit have returned.

“The plain truth is that a lot of this cost of living crisis can also be attributed to the sellers or the traders. With tomatoes, today when I bought the full box for 1000 Cedis and divided I got one for GHS1.80 pesewas. We are overstretching it, that is where the problem is, that is why I said let us go through gradually and see the price build up. How can one tomato fruit at Railways near CMB cost GHS1.80 pesewas then when I come to Tema Station, less than three Kilometers, and the same fruit is costing 4 Cedis? How? What kind of transport is that?” Lawyer Martin Kpebu bemoaned in an interview with TV3.

Lawyer Kpebu continued, “So the market queens, this then brings up the issue of the Kalabule days, I am not encouraging what Rawlings did with the Makola women but let us look back in our history and ask the psychologist, perhaps there is a research, there is something about the psyche of the Ghanaian trader and supernormal profits. You buy something for One Cedi and they triple it or quadruple, it…The profits they make in trading are beyond reasoning.”

The Private Legal Practitioner further proposed that the Ghana Standard Authority should come up with laws to regulate the pricing of commodities.

“We should be looking at Ghana Standard Authority coming out with laws, of course, it is not a one-day thing, gradually we will educate the market women and men," he stated.

Meanwhile, some economists have attributed the current cost of living crisis to inflation and the cedi’s depreciation against the dollar.

Some players in the agriculture space have argued that the crisis can be linked to factors such as a decline in land for food production.