By Our Staff Writer
In Margibi, so many businesses operating in alleged violation of the Ministry of Commerce’s regulations governing businesses in the country have faced the wrath of the ministry through fines impositions, the senior Commerce Inspector of Margibi, Mitchell Freeman has disclosed.
He said these businesses were discovered to be in non-compliance by an ongoing inspection conducted by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry in Margibi. The inspection which he added is meant to come to a conclusion on November 28, 2025, is a part of a quarterly inspection carried on by commerce and this particular one commenced on September 30, 2025.
The aim of the inspection in his explanation is to make sure that consumers have access to clean and healthy products on the market.
While speaking to reporters recently in Kakata, Mr Freeman who has also served in the positions of deputy county inspector and acting county inspector of Margibi and senior county inspector of Bong County under the auspices of the Commerce Ministry said his leadership is not taking the implementation of the ministry’s mandate lightly as such the ministry has imposed fines, it is still imposing fines and will impose fines continuously on violators.
He spoke, “As I speak to you, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry is dealing with non-compliance. We are not taking it lightly, we have fined enough and we are fining enough and we going to find non-compliance.”
Freeman did not give the names and numbers of businesses with claim that the inspection is still in progress but he also stated that some businesses were caught with unwholesome products and expired goods, missing price tags, and lack of business registrations or failure to show business registrations to the inspection team.
The senior Commerce Inspector of Margibi noted that in line with his term of reference which is to monitor the smooth movement of business between the vendors and consumers and regulate prices in line with government’s order, he has ensured the dumping of unwholesome and expired products, the tagging of prices and seeing into it that the market operates in line with the general business regulation in the county.
According to him, in Margibi, the consumers are the witnesses to the activities of MOCI as prices in regards to rice, egg and flour are tagged and placed out for the public convenience.
He was fast to clarify that the counties cannot impose fines against violators; instead, they issue citations that outline the violations and forward same to the inspectorate division of the Commerce Ministry for appropriate punitive actions.
In his explanation, when this done, the inspectorate division onward imposes fines on the businesses caught in contravention and notifies the county leadership, emphasizing that for the business owners at this point, it becomes obligatory for them to deposit said fine into government revenue and provides flag receipt to the county leadership.
He assured Margibians and Liberians of further update through the media when the inspection is concluded.
As former deputy county inspector for Margibi, Freeman said since taking over as senior county inspector in 2024, he has implemented government policies aimed at eradicating unwholesome products and enforcing compliance.
This, he noted include dumping of more than 80 crates of medium-size beer and conducting two dumping exercises of unwholesome and expired products.
Freeman praised the effectiveness of the president’s mandate in Margibi, emphasizing that prices for three key commodities such as rice, eggs, and flour have not only decreased, but are now tagged and displayed at various businesses across the county.
He urged residents of Margibi and Liberians at large to report any violators of the ministry’s regulations or businesses that are not in compliance with the rules.
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