Opposition Leader, Aubrey Norton yesterday lashed out at the government’s decision to place a ban on the importation of poultry and poultry products, as according to him it has not taken into consideration that the stricture will likely trigger a surge in prices.
At his party’s press conference yesterday, Norton pointed out that there were different reasons given by government officials for the ban “from health concerns to smuggling to the need to protect local farmers from competition”, however, he added that nowhere in the various explanations “do we detect any concern for the likely surge in chicken prices on the local market that a ban on imports would trigger.”
According to him, “banning by itself cannot solve the problem”, adding that “the government’s stand-alone ban on imported chicken is a manifestation of its incompetence and confused policy-making.”