SHOPS REOPEN AFTER ELECTRONIC FISCAL DEVICES STRIKE

SHOPS REOPEN: Congo Street in the Dar es Salaam’s central business district as captured on Thursday last week. This was after shops in the area reopened following reports that the strike had ended. The leader of the traders, Mr Johnson Minja, who is facing charges of inciting traders to reject Electronic Fiscal Devices (EFDs), was released on bail on Wednesday. The traders have been striking for days to push for his release.

April 3, 2015, Dar es Salaam. A traders’ association claims the government may have lost up to Sh9 billion in uncollected tax during the past three days when shops remained closed in various parts of the country over a business dispute with the taxman.

Traders closed shops for over a week to show solidarity with their leader who was remanded after his bail was abruptly cancelled by a Dodoma court where he is charged with inciting traders to reject EFDs.

Mr Johnson Minja, who is the chairman of the Tanzania Traders Association, is facing charges of inciting traders not to pay tax using Electronic Fiscal Devices (EFDs).

Mr Minja was arrested in January in Dar es Salaam and charged in Dodoma over the allegations. His Sh4 million bail was reinstated on Wednesday, paving the way for re-opening of the shops.

The traders have also opened up talks with the government and Parliament to sort out the standoff once and for all.

Speaking in Dar es Salaam yesterday, the embattled Minja said basically, the government loses at least Sh3 billion in revenues each day when shops remain closed.

He said, “The misunderstanding between the government and traders was a result of an opaque system in the taxation process.”

Much more revenue, he said, is lost through unscrupulous TRA officials at the port of Dar es Salaam. The huge loss, would add to the knock in collections by TRA that has only managed to collect Sh4.9 trillion of the anticipated Sh5.6 trillion during the first half of the current financial year.

The loss would also complicate the budget crisis more as the government is already facing a huge deficit that was exacerbated by the donors’ move to withhold funds over corruption.

The business community association’s general secretary, the Rev Sylvester Kiondo, said he was confident that the government would be working on their issues of concern as directed recently by the Prime Minister, Mr Mizengo Pinda.

The news may come as a big relief to business operators from Tanzania’s landlocked neighbours who have been calling upon the country to find a lasting solution to the problem during the past three days.

Businesspeople from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Zambia, Burundi, Rwanda, Malawi and Zimbabwe – who use the port of Dar es Salaam as their source of trading items – saw their expenditures rise steadily between Monday and Wednesday when most shops were closed due to the misunderstanding. Those that spoke with The Citizen threatened to stop buying their wholesale goods from Dar es Salaam and opt for importing directly from China or turn to other countries.

They said, the two parties had to do that for them to avoid inconveniences they would get or else they would stop coming to Tanzania and opt for the other countries, including China.

Business had and still has for the most part been disrupted as traders joined efforts to press for the release of their national chairman.

“The two parties must reach an amicable solution on the matter so that businesses can go back to normal,” said Mr Mwenge Daly, a Congolese trader who was forced to extend his stay at a Dar es Salaam hotel for an additional four days – incurring him extra costs in the process.

He claimed to have lost business of up to $600,000 during the days that he was stranded in Dar es Salaam. Mr Daly sells suits in Lubumbashi – the DRC’s second largest city after Kinshasa.

Normally, he spends three days. “I came here 11 days ago, but the shops where I buy my suits have been closing for over a week now and this is why I am still here with no clue of when this will end,” he said.

Ms Ngoyi Odeti, also a DRC national shared similar sentiments – pointing an accusing finger at the government.

“I have been paying for accommodation in this hotel for one week now and this is not economically viable….I have spent not less than Sh350,000 so far,” she lamented.

Two Zambian women - Ms Msunda Maloba and Mrs Kalutwa Chrintrine – and their Zimbabwean counterpart, Ms Patience Mudzongo were not spared either in the hiccup that stemmed from misunderstandings between TRA and traders over the use of EFDs.

The three arrived in Dar es Salaam on Sunday, March 29 only to find that the situation in Tanzania’s commercial city was not as they had anticipated.

“I am tired of this matter….the economic impact of the time that I have overstayed here is immense…I am paying extra costs here and the business opportunities that I lose at home are beyond explanation,” she said.

The Citizen