Tanzania: Privatization at its best

[BAK]

By ALVAR MWAKYUSA, 1st November 2011 @ 12:48,
DAILY NEWS

THE Tanzania-China Friendship Textile Company Limited, popular as Urafiki, is on the verge of collapse, thanks to the investor who is allegedly dismantling machinery at the factory and selling it as scrap metal.

Members of the Parliamentary Committee on Trade and Industry who toured the factory located at Ubungo in Dar es Salaam on Tuesday, were shocked to see what was happening and described the move as 'deliberate sabotage.'

The management of the company failed to explain how it spent some US$27 million that was advanced by the government of Tanzania to renovate the plant.

It also came to light that the Ministry of Industry and Trade plans to present a proposal for the government to relinquish its 49 shares in the company so that it can be sold to another investor.

The MPs said they would summon Deputy Minister in the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Mr Lazaro Nyalandu and Permanent Secretary Ms Joyce Mapunjo, to discuss the worrying situation at the plant.

Urafiki, which was commissioned during fiscal year 1966/67 through a soft loan from the Chinese government, was once a flourishing textile factory, producing high quality fabrics for the local and foreign markets but is now in a shambles.

However, in 1996 the government of Tanzania sold 51 per cent stake to a Chinese investor and remained with 49 per cent.

MPs suspect that the move by the current investor to sell Urafiki machinery aims to facilitate another investor to purchase it at a throw-away price.

Special Seats MP Ms Chiku Abwao, suggested a parliamentary-select committee to thoroughly assess the situation at the plant before it deteriorates further.

"From what we have observed, the current investor has invested nothing... A select committee should be formed to investigate the matter," she said.

She was supported by Kibaha Rural MP, Mr Hamoud Abuu Juma (CCM), who was vividly shocked by the pathetic conditions workers at the factory were forced to grapple with.

"You can tell from the workers' faces and how they are dressed that things are not well," he remarked.

Special Seats MP, Ms Riziki Omar Juma (CUF), was of the view that the facility should be re-designed for other investments.

The leaders of Tanzania Union of Industrial and Commercial Workers (TUICO) at Urafiki wanted workers to be given shares if the factory would be sold to another investor.

Briefing the parliamentarians earlier, Urafiki General Manager, Mr Wu Bin, attributed low productivity at the plant to high cost of production.

He also complained that cotton lint was not sufficient to run the factory.

"The plant is not producing at full capacity presently. For it to run at full capacity it should have 1,200 workers, working in two shifts to be able to operate spinning, weaving and processing at no less than 10 million metres per annum," he elaborated.

Workers who spoke with the 'Daily News' said the factory had been dormant.

"The engineers have just resumed operations today to hoodwink the MPs. The management knew the lawmakers were coming and they decided to put some show-off," said one of the workers.

 

[TIMING]

sometimes i fell like shooting these foreign investors coz majority are bandits

 

[Kichuguu]

Nchi ya wendawazimu inagonzowa kiuendawazimu pia

 

[Gaijin]

sometimes i fell like shooting these foreign investors coz majority are bandits

Uwashoot foreign investors wakati kuna watu kwenye mamlaka wameshindwa kuwasimamia!

Anza na hao. Mtu kutafuta loop hole ya kupata faida ni jambo linalotaajiwa kwenye biashara. Ni upuuzi wa mwenye 49% ya hisa kumruhusu

 

[TIMING]

Uwashoot foreign investors wakati kuna watu kwenye mamlaka wameshindwa kuwasimamia!

Anza na hao. Mtu kutafuta loop hole ya kupata faida ni jambo linalotaajiwa kwenye biashara. Ni upuuzi wa mwenye 49% ya hisa kumruhusu

Coz nikianza kuwashoot hawa fisimaji hawatajifunza... unaanza kuwashoot hao wazungu wanaowatukuza ili waniogope na kuacha zinaa ya kiuchumi

 

[BAK]

Nchi ya wendawazimu inagonzowa kiuendawazimu pia

Naam Mkuu Serikali inayoongozwa na mataahira.

Mchina kapewa $27 million ili afanyie ukarabati kiwanda lakini katia mfukoni na kuzihamisha kwao. Hakuna ufuatialiaji hata kidogo sasa anavuna hapo kiwandani kwake ili akauze mtaani kisha anakiuza "kiwanda" na yeye kutokomea kwao au kuanzisha biashara nyingine Bongo. Alikuja maskini lakini Serikali taahira imemtajirisha kwa kumpa $27million bila hata ya kumtoza riba....

Wajinga ndio waliwao.

 

[Gaijin]

Coz nikianza kuwashoot hawa fisimaji hawatajifunza... unaanza kuwashoot hao wazungu wanaowatukuza ili waniogope na kuacha zinaa ya kiuchumi

Kumshoot Mzungu ni kule kule kukwepa uwajibikaji wa Mtanzania.

Watu wamelitia taifa hasara ya Bilioni 3 Kishapu huko, watakatwa mshahara 15%. Kama si uwehu ni nini?

Mimi nataka wawekezaji watuibie sana tu mpaka tutapopata akili ya kuwawajibisha wa kwetu

 

[Noel Kwai]

Mbona bado, tusubiri kinachokwenda kutokea Mpanda kwa Pinda kuhusu uwekezaji unaotarajiwa kufanyika kwenye Kilimo kwa hiyo ardhi waliyopewa utakuwa msiba muda si mrefu

 

[taffu69]

Nashindwa kuelewa viongozi wetu wanaakili za aina gani, inakuwaje unabinafsishe kiwanda halafu unatoa fedha kwa ajili ya kuendeleza kiwanda hicho hicho; lengo la kubinfsisha ni nini hasa kama sio kutafuta njia ya kukwapua fedha za walipa kodi tu.

Hata hivyo hiyo Kamati ya Bunge inashangaa kitu kwani kinachotokea Urafiki ni mwendelezo wa yaliyotokea sehemu nyingine kama Tanganyika Packers, Sungura Textile, Mutex,Kilimanjaro Machine Tools, Embassy Hotel na kwingineko.

Kila mara tunasema Tanzania ni kama shamba la bibi ambalo halina mwenyewe na kiongozi wa kweli wa kuiongoza Tanzania anatakiwa awe kichaa ama mwehu!

 

[TYRION LANNISTER]

iliishia wapi hii?