THE Deputy Minister for Livestock and Fisheries, Mr Abdallah Ulega has said there is possible sabotage of local industries.
Mr Ulega made the remarks when he toured
the Arusha-based Sunflag plant and found a big stock of fishing nets
even as fishermen face artificial shortages.
He also found out that indicative prices
differed greatly in comparison to actual prices in the market; while
the industry indicates the nets for small fish should be sold at
21,200/-, the Minister said the same were being sold at between
150,000/- and 200,000/- across the Lake Zone.
Apparently, that’s why he made an
impromptu visit at the Arusha plant to find out the reason behind
Sunflag’s failure to produce enough nets to satisfy the market, only to
learn a different story altogether.
“… available reports show you have
failed to produce enough nets … I’ve also learnt that fishermen are
having a lot of trouble sourcing these nets … so I decided to come here
as a means to establishing the truth and charting the way forward,” he
said.
The Sunflag Administration Manager, Mr
Magesa Mgunda told the Minister that the plant had such a huge stock of
the nets that they had since decided to stop production temporarily --
and that some clients had ordered nets but had not called to collect
them.
Mr Mgunda thanked the government for the
trust it put in the industry and issuing it with a permit to produce
the nets, but expressed concern that they were facing a lot of market
challenges, alluding to some ‘dirty game.’
He added that some of their detractors
were currently circulating ‘information’ that the quality of the nets
was poor, which he said wasn’t true.
He said some had since begun importing
nets while the country has enough from the local industry. The Minister
pledged to make a further follow-up and take necessary measures to
ensure local industries were protected.
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