Fidelity Investments, which is now importing flour, has accused the National Milling Company of “crying foul” over the new product on the market saying yesterday that its import is legally purchased from Suriname and has been approved for sale by local authorities.
Joshua Safeek
Businessman Joshua Safeek who heads Fidelity Investments called a press conference yesterday to criticize NAMILCO for what he described as a fear of competition. He said no one company owns the right to the flour trade here.
In newspaper advertisements yesterday, NAMILCO warned that the bags did not have the name of the product in English, the name of the manufacturer or distributor, the country of origin and an expiry or manufacture date.
“We are worried that contents of the bags may be re-packaged in unlabeled plastic bags and sold as loose flour and unsuspecting consumers may be under the impression they are buying NAMILCO’s product”.
Safeek made reference to an article which appeared in the Guyana Times yesterday about concerns being raised about the new flour saying he was “shocked” but not surprised that NAMILCO took that step. He said Fidelity’s imported flour is twenty percent cheaper than the flour on the local market, but pointed out that the Surinamese flour is yet to reach local consumers. Safeek said that Fidelity only imported the product a week ago and it has been distributed freely to some businesses for sampling.
A 45kg bag of the imported De Molen flour from Suriname was on display during the press briefing yesterday and according to Safeek, the flour has reached all the required certification processes. He said that Fidelity has no issues with any of the regulatory bodies in Guyana, adding that calls for the Guyana Revenue Authority to inspect the product are belated because the process has already happened.
He charged that NAMILCO has to focus on pricing and properly set prices for its products to stay in the market. Safeek said his product is priced strictly for the Guyanese public because “I’d rather my people stay in Guyana and live here with me than go and live in a basement in New York because the essential commodities are priced out of their hand reach”.
Further, he said that only bakers and a few manufacturers in the country have had access to the flour since its arrival in the country. However, he said a one kg bag of the flour would be available on the market to local consumers in another few days. Safeek also said that the flour has been in Berbice for some time and has only now made it to the city.
NAMILCO’s advertisement said it is an ISO 9001:2008 compliant factory and is committed to the highest quality standards. It called upon the Customs, Food and Drug Department and the Guyana National Bureau of Standards to monitor the importation of flour to ensure compliance with all relevant standards.
Fidelity has also imported cement and polar beer, the latter product recently resulting in a major customs evasion investigation by the Guyana Revenue Authority. Fidelity was subsequently charged but the case was discontinued on the advice of the DPP.
Whoever imports, it is the Guyanese citizen who is helplessly exploited by the bigwigs in this country.
The PPP had better not mess with the availability of flour if they want to keep their voting base happy.
Yes, Bismattie they better not mess with flour, and channa and spit peas, for that is all I eating these days.
Sister I only eat flourless cholate cake.
In addition to labels that are difficult to read you have the situation of expired goods. I know of a place right now that is selling a particular product that is already expired. What they did was rub out the date at the bottom of the tin. I know because I check when I bought before it was expired. Now they are selling it buy one and get the other at half price and none of the tins l checked did not have any dates.
Remember the milk from China? they were selling the tins of evaporated milk(forgot the brand) at Stabroek market really cheap after the melamine scare and before the authoriites acted to freeze the imports. What about the drug store near the other market that was found to be selling expired drugs? They still merrily in operation.
B.R wheather the availabitily of flour or not, the PPP has & will couvered their voting bases. It is so secured that even Samaroo cannot go there.
They have several former government ministers on he board of directors of this company. The government will do nothing about it.
Its a waste of time unles guyanese want to bypass this flour and use locally produced flour……………but u know we guyanese, we want everything that come from foreign……………
ghetto youth,shafeek is more a ghetto man than you, he come out of albouystown and employ over 200 black people.
competition will benefit the consumers. If the label is not in english then it does not meet the required statndard.
Why should guyanese be so stupid to buy foreign products which are a little less expensive but have no guarantee that it is safe for consumption.Namilco should be able to supply the market with cheap and good quality flour,using our own home grown corn and casssava .I have seen that India is producing their own flour by adding corn and it is more healthy than the white flour we Guyanese rush for that comes from abroad.Namilco needs to be more inovative and self reliant on home grown products and keeping the price below the foreign market.
Normally careful about that sort of thing, I really slipped up earlier this year with a nicely packaged milk powder which cost significantly less than the well-known brands. One day after just cutting the package open, i said, lemmee see where this is from. On the back was printed, product of the Netherlands, China and i forget the other country. I didn’t even keep it for the dog, was straight in the rubbish bin.
its called “NO FRILLS”
well if the interest is with the guyanese populace in mind and the relevant authorities give the go ahead i say good fro you.guyanese shouldnt be starving to eat in a country where there is so much food in comparison the the other regions in the caribbean.GET ON WITH THE BUSINESS.GOSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH DAM IT MAN people starving everyday in GT