|
Hargeysa, Somaliland, June 2, 2012 (SL Times) – The head of the agency
that ensures quality control of goods entering Somaliland, Mr Saeed
Suleiman Mire, said people who bring expired goods to the country use
many different tricks.
Speaking about some arrests that were made in Borama, he said the
arrests were related to a car that they caught in Hargeysa for trading
in expired goods, but three other cars managed to escape and had fled,
but then they received information from Borama’s market that the
vehicles were there, however they along with the police were only able
to catch one of the vehicles. He also added that they found children’s
milk and that sort of stuff on the car but no pharmaceuticals.
Mr Saeed Suleiman Mire noted that Borama has become the main place where
fraudsters change the dates of expired goods and that he had gone there
many times to work on issues, and they are making progress in dealing
with this problem.
Asked about allegations that some businessmen bring poor quality food
products such as rice and oil from countries like India, he answered
that it is difficult to prove such allegations without submitting the
goods to laboratory tests. He further stressed the urgent need for a
national laboratory to ascertain the quality of goods. He also added
once a national laboratory establishes that a certain businessman
provides good quality products, then that businessman could receive a
certificate saying so, which he could use as an advertisement for his
business.
Mr Saeed Suleiman Mire concluded by pointing out that no funds were
allocated for the establishment of a national laboratory in the last
budget. Neither has any other source promised to provide us with a
laboratory. He cautioned that even after a laboratory is set up, there
is still a need for a national policy.
|
