Tele-companies urged to register at DSE soon

DAILY NEWS Reporter

WITH less than two months left, virtually all mobile telecommunications companies have not abided by provisions of the Finance Act of 2016 that requires companies to list 25 of their shares at the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange (DSE) within six months.

Now the National Economic Empowerment Council (NEEC) wants the companies to list their shares to facilitate public revenue collection and clear the way for interested Tanzanians to buy the shares at the DSE.

NEEC Executive Secretary Beng’i Issa told journalists in Dar es Salaam yesterday that the most rational way for Tanzanians to own part of the shares of the companies was to buy them at DSE. But, she said unhappily, Tanzanians cannot do so unless the shares are put on the stock market.

“Over 20 million Tanzanians for a long time now have been clients of these companies. It is high time these companies listed their shares at DSE as demanded by the law, to allow Tanzanians to buy them and become part of the owners of the companies,” Ms Issa explained in a serious tone, calling on Tanzanians to buy the shares once they are put at the DSE market.

She also called upon National Social Security Funds as a body to ensure their members buy the shares in the mobile telecommunications companies. The companies are obliged, within six months starting July 1, 2016 to offer 25 per cent of their shares and list them at the DSE.

On June 23, this year, the Parliament amended the Electronic and Postal Communications Act, Cap 306, making it mandatory for mobile telecommunications companies operating in Tanzania to offer their shares for public sale at DSE within the prescribed period.

Besides people’s economic empowerment, the Executive Secretary said, the amendments also seek to increase revenue collection and openness in the management of the companies.

The council, she pledged, will launch a sustained public education campaign on the issue. “From today we shall use the mass media to sensitise, encourage and educate our people on the importance of owning these shares and venture into other economic empowerment opportunities that are available in Tanzania.”

She hinted that the council will make a close follow-up to ensure compliance with the provisions of the Finance Act of 2016, though she did not disclose the action that the council will take against companies that will ignore the law.

NEEC was established by law in 2004 to oversee and coordinate implementation of the National Economic Empowerment Policy in the country.