High inflation! People from all walks of Gambian life have lamented the high price rises of essential commodities like rice, sugar, cooking oil, soap, milk. A random survey conducted by The Independent recently suggests that the escalation in commodity prices is a weekly problem for housewives, husbands, officer workers, students, shopkeepers and even journalists. For Awa Fofana coming to terms with the price rise as a housewife is a daily ordeal. “Women like me are feeling the pressure because every day we go to the market to shop and cook for the family with the little fish money in hand” she said. She said the scenario is doing more harm than good to the less fortune ones in society. “Every where you go people complain about this same thing. I am calling on the president to help us” she said. Kaddy Sawanneh a computer student said: “I don’t know where we are heading to now. Everything is expensive, even the cheapest things are now expensive to buy”. She said she was that when a new government takes over the situation would have improved. “But things are the same. Let the government come with new measures to address the situation” she suggested. Yaya Saho defending the upping of commodity prices by fellow shopkeepers said the situation is due to the fact they were bought at outrageous prices by traders, who have no other alternative if they want to stay in business. “All traders look for profit. It was never our intention for prices to go high” he argued. However, Tapha Gaye a health officer implored traders to show mercy on the majority of poor Gambians who are prone to suffer seriously from the situation. He said the situation is depressingly worrisome and needed a tough intervention from the government. “We are having a soap factory in the country so why the need to increase the price of soap to D3” he lamentably inquired. Juldeh Sowe a journalist also argued that traders should not only follow their interest but should look into the concerns of the masses. “This kind of situation can destroy the Gambian economic” he warned. He said a bag of rice, which initially cost D230 has now been increased to D250. “Definitely the prices are too high,” he said.In a related but separate development, passengers commuting major towns also expressed concern over the “exorbitant” fare increment but called on the government to take action. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~