The prices of food items and all other items are blown out of proportion as of late despite the government’s efforts to regulate them. The general populace, with a hand-to mouth life, is so much puzzled that it has no one to turn to for the alleviation of such problem. Now, the scale of the daily price-rise is so enormous that people going to market or shops only come back without buying anything.
Wherever one goes, the sellers simply say that the price has increased; no explanation of any sort provided. To be more specific, three corn cods, a year ago cost ten birr, but today it has unexplainably risen to twenty birr. All, the so called citizens, are not equally affected by the situation. Although the Bible teaches that men are equally created, yet in reality, whether we like it or not, there are those who are less equal than others; they are dehumanized by man-made system, which in clear language is corruption.
In view of this, as a matter of fact, if worse comes to worst, the haves, the lords of corruption, in the face of such economic viruses, can even import (fly it or ship it) for they can afford whatever it costs. The great majority, those below poverty line and the sole victims of the circumstance, keep asking, where is this devastating phenomenon leading to? Nobody comes to their rescue. The voiceless and powerless keep asking the question for which there is no answer and for which nobody cares. It is rather threatening.
Humans jealously claim the state of existence known as life. The existence is tenaciously clung to by all whatever it takes in order not to lose it; it is so precious that nobody wishes to trade it for anything in the world. The ability to stay alive remains the top and the only priority for humans as well as all other living beings, be it plants or animals that claim the ownership they are endowed by the gift of nature, only behind which the creator orchestrates everything that keeps it going. It is natural right that cannot be put on sale or auction of any form.
The continuation of life is unimaginable without the adequate supply of food to keep the body well-nourished for a healthy and strong physical condition. A body without food becomes ill and unless the situation is averted, the person eventually dies because of the illness. Therefore, withholding food is equivalent to homicide that denies a person the right to live. In this particular situation, the killing is not mercy killing; rather it is the type that gradually and agonizingly leads to the victim to grave.
Therefore, the means of earning to keep alive becomes the burning issue in the present world and moreso in Ethiopia. Money, the power that governs every detail in human existence, unconditionally controls life. As our world today is intricately twined, money enthralls the movement of the economic activities allover.
Yet, many of the so called business men often misconstrue the situation by inclining to their own egoistic advantages while disregarding that of the people they claim to serve. These cash-scavengers are let loose on the people without check of any sort. This very situation indicates that they act as if they have legal backup. Incidentally, they have never been accounted for the crimes they continually committed to the people.
The concept that sordid cash is the bond between man and man is the governing rule that facilitates the business activities undertaken between the buyers and the sellers to enhance money and commodity exchanges. The transaction is based on the reciprocity of the cash and c o m m o d i t y / service. The whole issue, in principle, ought to have been in view of the benefits for both parties – buyers and sellers.
The agreement here, the writer believes, is commodity and service supply on the part of the seller and money payment on the part of the buyer. This boils down to the system of goods and service supply and cashpayment. They go hand-in-hand rather inseparably; one cannot occur without the other. By default, they are two sides of a coin. Wherever there is selling, purchasing is obvious.
The socially agreed upon fair business transaction is violated by the service providers, the sellers, bent on outweighing the business balance with the sheer desire of hoarding the undeserving money.
As of the onset of the transitional government of Ethiopia, things pertaining to business have sharply taken the wrong turn to the disadvantage of the ordinary people who are in every measure adversely affected by the ever-rising cost of living. Their meager income, under no circumstance can sufficiently sustain them through the month; it cannot sufficiently pay for bread that they always pray for. Give us this day our daily bread!
Almost all the people living in the lower and the lowest social echelons are challenged by job insecurity and this demands a day-to-day search for work of below-standard salary scale or wage. Those who are employed in the government offices or organizations are underpaid. In both cases, the inability to meet the basic needs is all the same.
In the face of such income inconsistency, the cost of consumers’ goods keeps rising. Evidently in the circumstance where prices are blown out of proportion, buyers are obviously compelled to forfeit food, against their will, the benefit of goods and services that are otherwise crucial for their existence.
Not science, not human law but the natural law dictates the fulfillment of the three basic human needs without any compromise. Food is essential for the holistic development, health and the preservation of the body. Clothing is as much necessary for covering our nakedness and protection against harsh weather. Unlike animals, human beings need shelter to protect themselves against the heat of the sun, rain and danger to keep safe.
The situation does not need legal settlement between man and nature where each gives up something. On the part of man, there is nothing that he gives up: food, clothing and shelter are all equally important and indispensable for his existence and to qualify him for human standard.
The basic human needs, by all means, have to be acquired. To acquire them, money plays a pivotal role indisputably. Goods, commodities and services are obtained through market transaction. Sellers supply their goods and services while byers get the goods and services for the money they pay. In such situation, there should be a fair business transaction where hegemony of only one side is strictly prohibited.
Receiving goods and services proportional to the money paid is the right of the buyer while the seller is entitled to claiming money proportional to the goods supplied and the services rendered. Such process is fair and acceptable transaction by both parties. Anything that breaks such parameter nullifies the agreement upon which both parties base the transaction.
These days, such logical and fair approach to business has lost its essence and as a matter of fact embezzlement has supplanted genuine business. Win-win situation for both parties is pushed aside upon which lose-lose situation is ushered in where only the buyers suffer. The buyers are forsaken to forcefully satisfy the self-seeking greed of the sellers and service renders, who out of the blue and shamelessly set prices that their goods do not deserve.
The day-by-day unjustified rising of the prices has harshly affected the people so much that the predator/ prey human relationship is waged in which business people play the role of devouring and the customers simply falling victims to them. From what is observed, nobody comes to their rescue. Natural state, where the stronger party, do what they want and the weaker suffer what they must, has lately been ascertained.
The Ethiopian Herald Sunday Edition 28 July 2019
BY JOSEPH SOBOKA
