The Member of Parliament for Bole in the North Region, Yusif Sulemana, says that the import restriction bill goes against the conditions set by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

According to him, the IMF specifies that there should be no restrictions on such commodities.

Mr. Sulemana claimed that the World Bank requested the government not to pass the restriction bill, but the government countered, stating that the bill had not even been presented to parliament yet.

"They are telling the World Bank that they have not laid it when in fact, even yesterday, the Minister was on the floor trying to lay this. Again, we are saying that we can't produce this commodity we are talking about for instance, take rice, and today as we speak our local production is about 4 %," he said on JoyNews' AM Show.

Member of the Trade Committee of Parliament, Yusif Sulemana, has expressed fear about the repercussions of the import restriction regulation if it is passed in its current state.

Trade Minister K.T. Hammond has, on multiple occasions, faced strong resistance in his attempts to lay it before Parliament.

The L.I. means the Minister will be charged with the authority to allow or disallow the importation of some 24 items, including poultry, rice, sugar, diapers, and tripe (yemuadie).

Speaking on the show, Yusif Sulemana said this modality is a recipe for corruption.

The Bole MP also insists that the Trade Minister’s refusal to consult the Trade Committee in parliament to make significant changes makes the process even more suspicious.

“If you look at Section 13 of it, is the only person who has the right to give a permit, grant a permit or to refuse a permit, even though he's going to set up 11 member community. And that 11-member committee, he is the one to appoint all of them. And that 11-member committee, 4 of them form a quorum to be able to make decisions.

“Now that committee is just an advisory committee. After they have gone to the applications and made their recommendations to him, the minister can decide to say, I will take your recommendations.

"If you say I shouldn't give, I will give if you say I should give for this particular person, I wouldn't give. Clearly, there's no need even setting up that committee. And so we were saying that is going to give you so much powers, and once you have such powers, the next thing is corruption.”

According to Sulemana, this bill aside from breeding orruption, will leave consumers in a compromising position as businesses may pass on costs incurred during the application process down to them.