Tanzania govt starts harmonisation of regulatory authorities’ roles

Dar es Salaam. The government has started harmonising regulatory bodies roles in an effort to create friendly environment of investors, The Citizen has learnt.

This was revealed yesterday during a sideline interview of the meeting organised by the Tanzania Food and Drugs Authority (TFDA) in collaboration with Tanzania Private Sector Foundation (TPSF) to discuss challenges impeding food processing sub-sector.

The Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS) director general, Mr Yusuf Ngenya, said his authority had already signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with TFDA to harmonise some of their roles. He also said that plans were on course for them to sign another MoU with the Chief Government Chemist Office.

“Talks are on progress. The only remaining task ahead of us is to formalise the initiatives by documenting them,” said Dr Ngenya. He also said they were conducting regular meetings with other regulatory bodies to discuss how they can harmonise their roles.

“Previously, there were no good communications between one regulatory body and another. This caused many problems for investors,” said Dr Ngenya.

TFDA acting director general Agnes Kijo said lack of harmonisation was attributed to weaknesses in the country’s laws.

“All of us have legal mandate. It is not that one body is encroaching on other authorities roles,” she said. Banking her hopes on the blueprint, a document which was meant to improve business environment and attract investors, she is optimistic that the challenge will be a thing of the past in the near future. She said heads of government institutions under the chairmanship of the Tanzania Investment Centre (TIC) executive director, Mr Geoffrey Mwambe, have started discussing, among other things, ways of implementing the blueprint.

In May, the cabinet approved the blueprint, a document that aimed at addressing the challenges impeding businesses in the country.

The challenges include, but are not limited to, harmonisation of the role by regulatory bodies, multiplicity of taxes and policies unpredictability. “We started meeting last Friday under the chairmanship of TIC executive director to discuss among other things, the implementation of the blueprint, to address the challenges impeding businesses,”

Speaking earlier during the meeting Industry, Trade and Investment minister Charles Mwijage directed the regulatory bodies to speed up the process of harmonisation.

“I am aware that regulatory bodies do not listen to each other. They should stop that, if we are to match the industrialisation drive pace,” noted Mr Mwijage.

He called on them to treat the investors in a manner that would not scare them away.

“Don’t police investors, coach them,” urged Mr Mwijage.

‘This will bolster investors’ confidence and enhance competitiveness of locally produced products.”

He was echoed by Health, Community Development, Gender, the Elderly and Children minister Ummy Mwalimu, who asked the regulatory bodies not to be investment obstacles.

She called on investors to invest in the food processing sub-sector, to cut down or rather stop importation of food products that can be produced locally. In the 2017/18 financial year, some Sh505 billion was used for importation of food products, including fruit juices, tomato sauce, cooking oil and candy.

“To improve the business environments, we vow to be flexible. However, we will be strict on quality,” Ms Mwalimu responded to a call from the TPSF executive director, Mr Godfrey Simbeye.

who urged regulatory bodies to be flexible to changes in favour of investors.

Mr Simbeye also reiterated that the private sector’s call for establishment of Industrial Bank, to address the challenge of capital.

“It is hard for investors especially start-ups to access loan from commercial banks. As a matter of fact, an Industrial Bank is of paramount importance or we will fail to establish new industries and expand the available ones,” said Mr Simbeye.

He also called TFDA to establish a consultation department for new investors to understand well the sector before entering the market.