Dar es Salaam. Since four ministers came out to clarify on levies about electronic transactions and the steps to be taken, Finance and Planning ministry’s permanent secretary Emmanuel Tutuba has revealed that they have started to meet with some banks to discuss the issues.
The government statement comes after a week has already gone by since Finance and Planning minister Mwigulu Nchemba clarified on the levies and made it clear that the government had heard the outcry of the citizens.
Mr Tutuba said as Dr Nchemba had promised, the government has already started by meeting with some financial institutions and he called upon the public to continue to be patient as matters get sorted.
“The things we agreed upon are confidential at the moment. We have given them to address the issues (things) and once everything is in order, more will be done on them before citizens are informed,” said Mr Tutuba.
Last Friday, Dr Nchemba, in the company of three other ministers, said: “We will meet with the financial institutions because we have seen the logic in this matter. This country is ours, so no one should be afraid to express their opinions in area that he sees things are not right. We will meet with these institutions to come up with something tangible.”
Other ministers who were present at the clarification meeting were Mr Innocent Bashungwa (Regional Administration and Local Government), Prof Joyce Ndalichako (Prime Minister’s Office-Labour, Youth, Employment and the Disabled) and Mr George Simbachawene (Prime Minister’s Office-Policy, Parliament and Coordination).
After the meeting, reports say that a committee was formed that included ministries’ officials, lawyers of commercial banks and members of the Tanzania Bankers Association (TBA).
When Yetu Microfinance Bank executive director Altemius Milinga asked if he had participated in the meeting on levies and what the arguments were, he said TBA was the one with the detailed information.
“TBA represents everything related to us, they don’t call all the banks. Even in the ministerial meeting held in Dodoma, we did not attend it because TBA represented us and brought us answers, therefore, TBA are the right people,” said Mr Milinga.
However, TBA executive director Tusekile Mwaikasu said they had not yet received an invitation from the government to discuss the issue.
In his opinion, he said levies were a source of government revenue, so the one with the authority to remove it is the government itself and not the banks.
“However, if the levies are removed, it will help convince the citizens to abandon the procedure of using cash, which is hard for the government to monitor payments made in that way,” he said.
He reminded that the benefit of payments made through electronic systems is to increase transparency and simplify tax collection.
Trade Union Congress of Tanzania (Tucta) secretary general Heri Mkunda said they wrote a letter to the Government to inform it that they do not agree the levies to be imposed on their salaries because Pay-As-You-Earn (Paye) had already been done on their salaries.
“The day we spoke with minister Ndalichako and the minister of Finance and Planning, the chairman was minister George Simbachawene.
“It was a meeting directed by Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa, we made our arguments to show our dissatisfaction with the deductions of Paye and levies.
“The government saw the logic of the arguments we presented and when they went to the top meeting, they came up with a declaration and now we are waiting for its implementation,” he said.
The Government’s response is awaited as the Law and Human Rights Center (LHRC) has already filed a case in court to challenge the rules used to implement the deduction of electronic transaction levies.
The Center is asking the High Court to make a review to revoke the regulations that came into force since July 1, this year.
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