‘Machinga’ days on the streets are numbered after President’s directive

Dar es Salaam. Days are numbered for hawkers, aka ‘machinga’ who are operating their businesses in the middle of cities and towns without abiding by laws and regulations.  
This comes after President Samia Suluhu Hassan on Monday, September 13, 2021 directed the Regional Commissioners to look for special areas for hawkers.
She said the presence of informal businesses in the middle of traders who pay tax and rent has been a long cry of the business community because it creates unfair competition.
This is because formal traders pay tax while informal ones do not.
“I want RCs to make an arrangement that will neither hurt shop owners nor hawkers themselves,” the Head of State said as he was swearing in the just appointed three ministers and Attorney General (AG).  
“We have given them freedom to do business so that they can get their daily bread. But we have observed laxity among them to the extent that they are now everywhere and block shop owners.”   
As it is, shop owners are now using “Machinga” to operate their businesses so that they could earn their living profitably as informal traders who do not pay tax.  
“This denies the government revenue because machinga does not pay tax, but the shop owners are required to pay tax,” said the President.
He directed hawkers to abide by laws and regulations