Traders want EFDs' performance probed

By Correspondent David

Industry and Trade minister Dr Abdallah Kigoda (C) arrives at Diamond Jubilee Hall in Dar es Salaam yesterday. (Photo: Tryphone Mweji)

 

Shops at Kariakoo in Dar es Salaam remained closed yesterday as traders met with the Minister of Industry and Trade Dr Abdalah Kigoda to discuss their misgivings about electronic fiscal devices.


During the meeting traders maintained their stand of rejecting the EFDs and insisted that President Jakaya Kikwete should form a Commission to investigate the gadgets efficiency.

Traders complained against the EFDs’ software saying it allows unfaithful people from government departments including Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) to spy on their businesses.
The traders told the Minister that they don’t want the gadgets and were ready to pay tax if the government came up with another system.

Kariakoo Business Community (JWK) advisor Johnson Minja said in order resolve the problem President Kikwete should form a commission to investigate the performance of the machines. He claimed that it has been revealed that a few government officials are benefiting while business people are incurring losses.

Minja said the software of the machines does not offer clear picture of their business operations, giving only sales records.

He said traders were not involved in the introduction of the machines. Only the Tanzania Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture (TCCIA) and TRA were involved, he said.

Minja said resisting the EFDs, did not imply that traders are not ready to pay tax. They just wanted the government to come up with a clear system of taxation that would do justice to both sides.

Chairperson for Tax Payers Association in Tanzania, Otieno Igogo said introduction of the EFDs has violated the TRA Act which requires a tax payer to be audited before paying any tax. Igogo said that police officers have come to be another challenge in their businesses, demanding bribes especially from foreign traders. As a result many of these traders have stopped trading with Tanzania.

Responding to the complaints, minister Kigoda said he will take their complaints to the relevant authorities for solutions.

Dr Kigoda faulted government leaders he said were calling traders thugs, saying all business people at all levels are treated equally.

Meanwhile a survey by The Guardian in some streets of the Tanzania’s main market found customers and shop attendants seated outside the closed shops with no hope of getting any service.

Salehe Shemahonge, a customer said the decision by traders to close the shops has affected youths who earn their daily income by carrying customer’s cargo from the market to transportation centres.

For her part Careen Edward expressed disappointment at the traders’ decision to close their shops because it has caused unnecessary inconvenience to customers.
According to her, they could open the shops leaving workers providing services as was done for previously while they met with the minister.

Most of the closed shops were those selling electronic equipment and hardware material along Uhuru Swahili, Narung’ombe/ Sikukuu, Aggrey/Sikukuu, Uhuru/Swahili and Uhuru/Kongo and Paradise/Msimbazi streets.

However clothes, home utensils and motorcycle shops, mostly owned by Chinese were in operation as normal.

In November last year, traders closed their shops protesting against the use of EFDs arguing that the gadgets are expensive and not convenient due to unreliable power. 

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN