Wendy Lee Yuen will lead the board, which includes
Economist Indira Sagewan-Ali who is the deputy chair.
The other six members are Balliram Maharaj, former president of the Supermarkets Association, Arlene Job-Thomas; the Tobago House of Assembly representative, Sati Gajadhar-Innis, Debora Cumberbatch, Raymond Aaron and Dr Sharon Hutchinson.
Shortly after receiving her instrument of appointment at the ministry of legal affairs, Lee Yuen said her board will work to make sure that the private sector doesn't exploit consumers.
She said while the council cannot control market forces it will adopt "a name and shame strategy" toward local suppliers in a bid to control the price of goods.
“We want to examine that chain and where profits are being added, we want to see how we could help to bring those down," she said.
"We know that a certain amount of cost is added because of the the port. Also, if a product is not being produced locally, why are we putting a duty onto the item? Is that necessary?" she asked, noting that these are "things we want to investigate.”
She also said the council plans to review the operation of monopolies and companies “that dominate the market and artificially inflate the prices. We will expose that through a ‘‘Name and Shame’’ programme (and) a Consumers’ Corner in newspapers, in the media. Where John Public can make comments on or make suggestions about how we could mitigate prices.”
Lee Yuen also said the council intends to forge a close working relationship with the Ministry of Food Production and the Ministry of Works and Transport, since many of the State agencies under their control have a significant impact on food supplies, prices and distribution methods.
She gave a glimpse of the council's vision, which is to have a local superstore, where customers can buy everything produced in Trinidad and Tobago. She said this would require close collaboration with the ministry of food production.
1 comment:
Congratulations Wendy.
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