By Bill W. Cooper
Nimba County Electoral District #5 Representative, Samuel Kogar has seriously frowned on some business operators in the country, saying their presence is of no help to the citizenry and the economy of the nation.
Rep. Kogar who is also the House’s Committee Chairperson on Commerce and Industry at the House of Representatives, said that as the result of some of the business operators taking huge amount money from the country’s economy, it is somehow impeding the working of the government, noting that at the end, it is the end user, the consumer will have to bear the burden.
Speaking on Wednesday, October 14, during the turning over ceremony of the new Commerce Minister at the Ministerial Complex in Congo Town, the Nimba County lawmaker stated that it is time for the government through the necessary authority to put their feet on the ground to ensure that business operators abide by the procedures, rules and regulations of the country for the betterment of its citizens.
Rep. Kogar however pointed out that BIVA and other companies that were hired by the government to checkmate goods coming into the country for the safety and well-being of its citizens, are no longer doing what they were hired for but are instead only in the habit of collecting money from importers.
The Nimba lawmaker wondered, “Why will government hire institutions to observe goods coming into the country and they are not doing their work but only there collecting fees from business operators for their own profit making?”
He added, “We cannot sit supinely and see these things continue to happen to our people, especially if we say that we cannot be in the backyard of our own economy. It is time that we as policy makers ensure to eradicate bad business practices, as well as business people who come to this country to exploit the Liberian people and get away in the name of doing business.”
“it is time that we as Liberians rise up to speak on this matter to ensure that these issues be curtailed, because these are viruses in our economy today and have now become the menace in the country,” the Nimba lawmaker explained further.
Meanwhile, Rep. Kogar has also urged the new Commerce boos to go beyond words and of more piratical in her workings, emphasizing, “The essence of changes are in two directions, either in the negative or positive form but it’s left with the person that has been changed or the person that is taking over to see whether their function will be in the opposite direction to enhance the smooth running of the institution that its responsibility had been attached to.”
He further stated, “Though you spoke or have spoken well, and these voices and sound speeches had been said on many occasions since the inception of this country but the outcome of these speeches are the paramount reasons for which the citizens elected us to serve them.”