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Minister calls for review of Union trade laws
2006-01-17 08:52:24
By Mwinyi Sadallah, Zanzibar
Zanzibar Minister for Trade, Tourism, and Investment, Samia Suluhu Hassan has called for review of trade laws to protect local businesspeople against exploitation at the behest of problematic Union issues.
The minister said some laws made by the Union, contributed to the weakening of Zanzibar’s economy.
She said for example, the Union policy that disallows Zanzibaris from importing cement from countries of their choice was detrimental to the development of the infrastructure.
She pledged to forward the issue to the Union government for reconsideration.
’We don’t want restrictive Union laws as they revert us back to the old days of centrally controlled economy. We are in the open market regime,’ she said.
She said it was only Tanga Cement, which is allowed to bring in cement to the isles.
’This is a problem, which must be discussed at length by both sides of the Union,’ the minister said.
Zanzibar market depends on imported goods and implementation of protective laws was detrimental, she said.
’We hope most of the Union problems will be resolved as per President Jakaya Kikwete’s promise,’ Hassan said.
The minister’s lamentation comes in the wake of drastic rise of prices of customer goods, including cement.
At the moment, a bag of cement is selling at 9,500/-, up fromb 8,000/-.
Before the introduction of regulation giving Tanga Cement monopoly, Zanzibaris were importing cement from Oman and other countries.
Interviewed business people are of the view that imported cement is cheap and of higher quality than what is available in the market.
Hassan said the isles government was aware that some unscrupulous businesspersons were taking advantage of the drought to hike prices of consumer goods unnecessarily.
’We are checking on the individuals involved. Very soon we will cancel business licences that are shortchanging the people,’ she said.
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