"Africa dumping ground" for substandard goods--UNIDO
The Director General of the UN Industrial Development Organization, UNIDO, Kandeh Yumkella has said “Africa is becoming the dumping ground” for every product that is bad and substandard.
“Africa is becoming the dumping ground for everything that is bad. They sell fake medication here. They sell fake lubricants. They sell products. They sell products when they one week to expire, they dump them here,” Yumkella said.
Speaking during his visit to Sierra Leone as part of his West African tour, Mr. Kandeh Yumkella said one reason for African being used as a dumping ground for substandard/bad industrial or other products is the lack of testing equipment.
“Without a laboratory you can’t test. Without a laboratory you can’t certify,” the head of UNIDO pointed out.
The UNIDO Director General was speaking in Sierra Leone, where he graced ceremony marking the handing over of testing equipment for the Chemical and Microbiology laboratory at the national Standards Bureau in Freetown.
The project has been funded by the European Union, within the framework of the 9th competitiveness and harmonization of Technical Barriers to Trade.
During his visit, the head of UNIDO also commissioned a hydroelectric dam in the Port Lokko district in northern Sierra Leone and the Firshries training institute in the capital, Freetown.
WADR’s Freetown Correspondent Mohamed Konneh reports.
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On his just-ended visit to Guinea, the Director General of UNIDO said his agency was committed to helping Africa’s Least Developed Countries reduce poverty through sustainable industrial development.
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