Dean of the University of Cape Coast (UCC) Business School, Prof. John Gatsi is outraged by the Agric Minister’s assertion that the high cost of transportation is not to blame for soaring food prices.

Some Ghanaians say market women have capitalized on the high price of fuel and are selling goods to customers at abnormal prices to make undue profits.

But Dr. Owusu Afriyie while addressing Members of Parliament on Wednesday said that is not the case.

“Some are saying it is the market women who are making supernormal profits, some are saying it is traders. But I definitely know that with this analysis, it is not transportation because transportation is included in the calculations that my Regional Directors of Agriculture have given me,” he said.

Reacting to the comments by the Agric Minister, the Economist said the Minister is rather downplaying the current situation of high food prices.

Prof. Gatsi believes the traders are just rational sellers who are adding up input costs such as transport fares in their pricing.

“I would rather think that the traders are just rational market women and ensuring that their price will reflect their costs. I am not sure what the Minister is saying is rational…For want of a better word, it is like the Minister is trivialising the implications of high food prices and the expression of disgust and hardship by the people of Ghana,” he told Emefa Apawu on Newsnight, Wednesday.

He said the Minister should rather respond to the issues “in a more professional and pathetic and sensitive manner.”

Meanwhile, the Minister says his outfit through its price formation analysis has found no justification for the high retail prices of food across various cities in the country.

He noted that the issues of profiteering by some traders must be investigated.