A PARLIAMENTARY committee for Agriculture, Livestock and Water has asked President John Magufuli to lift a ban on importation of sugar, saying there was a deficit in the country.
The committee chairperson, Mary Nagu,
said in Dar es Salaam that after a meeting with officials from the Sugar
Board of Tanzania (SBT) on March 24, her committee was informed that
there was a deficit of between 80,000 and 100,000 tons of sugar.
She said the government should order
importation of sugar at the right time so as the majority Tanzanians are
not affected by that shortage. “We understand that Muslims will soon
start fasting and they will need that commodity, including many other
families in the country,” she added.
Last month, President Magufuli warned
dishonest traders who he said were colluding with corrupt public
servants to import superfluous sugar in the country, saying he would
endorse import permits for the sweetener himself.
“You find, for instance, an officer
issuing permits for sugar imports when local producers have sugar that
is enough for the market for that period in time,” he observed, adding
it was high time the country treasured local production.
Dr Magufuli pointed an accusing finger
at some corrupt officials whom he blamed for issuing such permits even
when the country had enough sugar stocks. The permits are normally
coordinated by SBT.
Yesterday, Ms Nagu said her committee
was supporting Dr Magufuli’s directive on the importation of sugar, but
added that there should be proper mechanism that would ensure that there
was enough sugar in the country so that the price of the commodity is
not increasing.
According to her, the sugar board
informed her committee that currently Tanzania was able to produce
320,000 tons of sugar but the country’s demand stood at 420,000.
“Our duty as legislators is to advise
the government accordingly and we believe that if the government will
grant permits for importation of 100,000 other tons from outside, we
will not experience any sugar shortage
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