The pace to stop the importation of needless second-hand items flooding our market has been a snail-like one. 

It beats imagination that for over a decade now there have been varied voices, calling for a ban on certain second-hand imported items breaching the health and safety protocols of the people, yet, we have not moved much with it.

Like the cha-cha-cha dance steps of the 1970s, the music for a ban on certain imported items has been playing on and on, but the dance steps do not move far. They go one step forward and two steps back.  We do not seem to have gone anywhere with a definite ban on any imported second-hand goods.

Yet the quality of some imported second-hand items brought into the country is not only eyesores and in some cases, garbage. They are embarrassing, degrading and sometimes very injurious to the health and safety of users. 

Health and Safety

Why are we allowing used goods as intimate as underwear, socks, and bedding into the country? Why do we still bring electrical appliances which do not conform to health, safety and environmental standards into our country? And why oh why, above all else, do we continue to bring in used worn-out vehicle tyres?

How committed are our gatekeepers and institutions mandated to ensure safety standards and protect our country from being a dumping ground for other countries’ rejects and abandoned goods?  One does not see much action from our regulators and other gatekeepers. 

What one continues to see is the shifting of the goalpost when it comes to taking a firm step to move forward on harmful second-hand goods.

Electrical appliances

Is it not a worry that the Energy Commission is still issuing Press Releases and negotiating on the importation of used electrical appliances?  How incredible the Commission can even be, talking now, in 2023, of an “intended” ban on the importation of used electrical appliances.

In a recent Press Release a copy of which was published in the Graphic Business on February 14, the Commission sought to correct “an erroneous impression created by a group calling itself concerned importers of used appliances”. And yet over a decade ago, that same Commission talked about a ban to protect users, conform to safety regulations and encourage the use of electrical gadgets that promoted efficient use of electricity. 

How ironic that now we have a group who call themselves concerned importers of used electrical appliances. How concerned are they about global standards and the damage such imports cause to the environment, consumers and a country’s economy? 

With the substandard used electrical appliances dumped on us by those importers, who in the system, are even checking on whether as a country, we are conforming to the expectations of the Paris Agreement of 2015 on climate change and our commitment to transition to net zero carbon emissions by the set date of 2070? 

The kind of used electrical appliances piled up in shops all around us does not in the least show that there is any seriousness given to what we allow into the country in terms of used appliances.

Vehicle tyres

The equally dangerous second-hand importation we have been allowing even though there had been serious arguments about their ban as far back as 2011, if not before, is that of used vehicle tyres.

In 2011, there was a research report on work done by the then National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) which said that out of the causes of road accidents witnessed in the country, second-hand vehicle tyres accounted for 30 per cent.

The study was commissioned by the NRSC with the aim to establish the magnitude of used tyres imported into the country and their impact on road safety.

According to the research, approximately 75 per cent of tyres imported into the country were second-hand. The study also found that some of the used imported tyres were not road worthy as their service lives had either expired or labelled “snow tyres” which obviously were not suitable for a tropical environment such as ours.

Based on the study, back then, the NRSC proposed the need for the country to consider a ban on the importation of used tyres which were more than six years or labelled as “snow tyres”. 

The Commission provided available statistics which showed that the national freight tonnage was 96 per cent and 97 per cent for passenger traffic. And so based on those figures, the Commission concluded that apart from claiming lives and leaving many more injured, road accidents caused the nation, $165 million per year.

We seem to have danced around the ban on some used imported items. We should definitely not be allowing compromises on the health and safety of our consumers. Yes, a small minority may have found cool employment in and made riches and wealth out of those imports. 

Unfortunately, however, their trade, according to research and or local and global standards, is a danger to the health and safety of the majority.  

Can we, therefore, stop the cha-cha-cha dance and pace up with serious business such as a complete ban on needless and harmful second-hand imports?