Government auctions impounded palm oil

Throngs of people lined up at Guy Street, via Krootown Road, with empty jerry cans to pay the cheapest price for a five-gallon palm oil which is being auctioned by the government defying the current price which is Le80, 000.According to the public relations officer of the ministry of Trade and Industry, Lansana Bayoh Sesay, the government impounded 2500 jerry cans that contained palm oil which were being smuggled out of the country by two Sierra Leoneans which he refused to identify.He said before now the government had ban the export of essential commodities like rice and palm oil from leaving the country, but that the ban had been continually flouted by business people.The public relations officer related that the Sierra Leone Police in December impounded two trucks filled with palm oil bearing Guinean registration number at the Guinea-Sierra Leone border.He said the government set up a national task force on essential commodities which comprised of the ministry of Trade, Office of National Security, Consumer Protection Agency and the Sierra Leone Police.Mr Bayoh said this committee decided to sell the products at a low cost of Le55000 to the public. The palm oil was sold at East end Police and Krootown Road in the West end of Freetown.