The recent scandals involving sugar and coconut oil should point the country to the dangers of private sector mafias and rent seekers. These are not your typical consumer goods: they are fast moving necessities, consumed by every class, from every income level. In the hands of racketeers and rent seekers, ensuring the most rudimentary health and safety checks for such necessities seems to have taken a backseat to profiteering off them. While it is unfair to take the government to task over such failings, it is the government that has the final discretion in rectifying those failings. And yet, the question can (validly) be raised whether public perceptions of these scandals reflect what’s really going on. For obvious reasons, it is the government that’s accused of being complicit with and profiteering from alliances with dubious interests in the sugar and coconut oil import mafia. Such allegations, for me at least, limit these scandals to two frames: the present government and the public sector. To put it simply, much of the backlash against the sugar tax fraud and the adulteration of imported oil seems to be directed generally to the public sector, and specifically to the present administration.