THE ODOUR emanating from the Consumer Affairs Commission (CAC) is worse than that of spoilt fruits and vegetables. The series of memoranda that have come to light in the wake of last week's apology by Phillip Paulwell, Minister of Commerce, Science and Technology, and the subsequent resignation of Raymond Pryce as the agency's director of research, information and communication, indicate a rotten state of affairs.
Clearly, concerns had been raised internally about the integrity of the surveys done in relation to the prices of fruits and vegetables imported post-Hurricane Ivan. Yet, senior officers of the CAC persisted in their defence of faulty data findings and published reports damning retail outlets with charges of price gouging.
As we had already noted in our editorial of December 2, senior officers of the CAC seemed propelled either by hubris or carelessness. The upshot is that they have severely undermined and compromised confidence in the consumer watchdog agency.
The internal memoranda that have come to light in the past few days indicate that concerns over the CAC's surveys pre-date the price gouging controversy. It has now emerged that there were earlier problems with the conduct of the surveys in relation to the prices of textbooks prior to the start of the new school year.
We note that the Prime Minister has appointed a four-member Cabinet committee to probe the controversy at the CAC specifically as it relates to the charges of price gouging and the rejection of those claims by retailers. Normally, the public should be able to take some comfort from the wider government committee's intervention. Unfortunately, this administration has established an unenviable reputation of appointing committees, ostensibly to probe matters of public concern but which, in the end, serve little purpose except to defuse the immediate controversy.
The public should insist that a full report be published as to what went wrong and steps to be implemented to prevent a recurrence.
The present evidence suggests that persons other than Mr. Pryce should pack their bags and head for the exit door of the CAC.
THE OPINIONS ON THIS PAGE, EXCEPT FOR THE ABOVE, DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE GLEANER.
