Earlier this week, we told you about the price controls enacted on general sanitisers and cleaners, including bleach, peroxide, liquid soap, N95 face masks and hand sanitizers.
This was done in response to price gouging and some ridiculous double digit prices being placed on single bottles of hand sanitizer, rubbing alcohol and other cleaning items.
That was put into law by the Ministry of Commerce, but, even before that, many town boards, from Punta Gorda to Corozal went a step further and put out their own releases threatening the trade licenses of businesses who were gouging consumers.
But, the Belize City Council was for more conservative in its pronouncements on the issue. Here's what the Mayor and his Councillor told us on Monday:
Bernard Wagner - Mayor, Belize City
"As it stands right now, the law, we don’t have anything in the laws that gives the teeth or the muscle to the Belize City Council, we will have to try and use some level of moral persuasion. The trade license board is an entity of the council and they run under their own rules and they run under regulations, and I don’t see how a mayor could make that statement instructing business entities to not comply with what they are saying. I believe that is not under our mandate. I saw the price controls but we know that that comes from the Bureau Of Standards in Belmopan which is an office that perhaps does not have the most vigilant oversight or interaction. Like they don’t who would be gouging, or who is reportedly gouging - people look to you all. We want to again encourage the business owners that, listen, this is a crisis, man, we cannot be saying that we care for residents and everyday you make thousands and millions off dollars off these same residents tot take this time to, to engage in an activity as low as that, ahm, it’s every, it’s every, I cannot even describe it, I would really want that out business owners take that responsibility and ensure that pricing remains as is, prices remain as is. It sounds like your brother mayor in Orange Walk has more or teeth than you guys do because he has said, he will act. I am saying that I understand the limitations of the law, people pay for a license you can’t go out there and rescind it. But perhaps you can threaten them that we will not renew it. But you all don’t seem serious, it looks like you all are placing the priority of your revenue over the people’s interest, that’s how it looks. To say that you’re gonna do something and then not have the ability or the legal mandate to do it is another situation. We will be pragmatic, we won’t go overboard we won’t try to earn any brownie points in the media, we will do what is necessary."
The Bureau of Standards Consumer Protection Toll free line is 0-800-283-5587.Â
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