00:00Scrap iron dealers have been granted another year to operate, allowing yards to reopen.
00:06Association President Alan Ferguson says discussions with the authorities intensified over the past two days,
00:13ahead of Cabinet's decision late last evening.
00:17I think Cabinet gave us a next year, and if you look at the ministry website this morning,
00:22you will see that the government, they gave us, they renewed the license, I think late last night,
00:29and we were able to get a new year again for us to run our scrap yarn.
00:36So all scrap yarn now this morning could open up their yard.
00:41Additionally, Ferguson tells the morning edition the Prime Minister is misinformed about the industry.
00:48Her accusations include theft from the state, businesses and ordinary citizens,
00:53but Ferguson insists the actions of some must not be used to condemn the entire sector.
00:59I think the Prime Minister was misinformed in the thing.
01:03I mean, we work with the ministry, we work with a lot of ministry, we work with them,
01:07but if you listen every time in the meeting, we continue asking the police to enforce the laws.
01:13We cannot enforce no laws.
01:15If you want to clean up anything, if you want to straighten up anything,
01:19it's just like they're having crime in the country,
01:22and if the police don't go out and enforce the laws, people will continue doing crime.
01:26Ferguson acknowledges that unscrupulous operators exist and says he will not deny theft is a real problem.
01:34I mean, look how all over the country you could see scrapyards who don't have license.
01:39We cannot go and run into these yards and tell them,
01:45oh, they have to shut down because they don't have a license.
01:48The association, all we could do is try to keep our members in our standard,
01:52but we can't go and shut down other people's yards.
01:55Nevertheless, Ferguson says, the Prime Minister is entitled to her views.
02:00Prime Minister, she has the right to say what she says.
02:05I mean, everybody knows that our industry has some difficulties with some people who want to go and steal.
02:16And she has the right to say that, but I do be involved in stealing.
02:22Prime Minister Kamala Pasad-Bissessa said, among other things,
02:26the reality is the scrap iron has become organized crime, and everyone knows it.
02:33Nicole M. Romany, TV6 News.
