Local attorney, Kgosi Ngakaage has called on stakeholders to act swiftly to address abuse of dominance in the poultry market.
Speaking in an interview this week, Ngakaagae said several studies carried out in the past have indicated that the playing field in the industry was not level, but authorities have been reluctant to act on the recommendations of those studies.
“No one has bothered to act on those studies or their recommendations,” said Ngakaagae, speculating that this can only mean that authorities are scared of dominant players in the poultry industry.
The prominent attorney said the Competition and Consumer Tribunal is empowered by the Act to rectify all the issues bedeviling the poultry sector, but as it stands, nothing has been done.
Ngakaagae is of the view that the poultry market has been monopolized, especially in the supply of day-old chicks, adding that those who have licenses to supply day-old chicks have a dominant position over small-scale producers.
He urged the Competition and Consumer Tribunal to act because they know what needs to be done to correct the situation.
“No one cannot pretend not to know what is happening, the national leadership, I am talking about the President to direct ministries of trade and agriculture to engage with other stakeholders to address this,” said Ngakaagae.
The attorney said there did also the Ministry of Trade commission a study in 2005, which revealed things were not right in the poultry industry, but still nothing was done.
“Batswana should be able to buy day-old chicks at competitive prices, it is not enough to say there should be standards, we should be told what those standards are then we can try and fail on our own,” said the outspoken lawyer.
Ngakaagae spoke out after an outcry from local producers that there has been a shortage of day-old chicks in the market; something, which monopolized industry, has been blamed for.
