VIDEO: Kariakoo traders await to meet with Prime Minister

Dar es Salaam. Kariakoo traders have gathered outside the Arnaoutoglou Hall, waiting for Prime Minister, Kassim Majaliwa, who is set to meet them today to resolve challenges facing them.

The traders are demanding that they should all be involved in the meeting instead of a few representatives.

The issues at hand include the taxes, levies and the imposition of the storage law.

The traders announced early yesterday that their shops would remain closed until the government works on their grievances which included bureaucracy at the Dar es Salaam port and seizure of their goods as Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) implements the new legal provision on registration of storage facilities.

They also demand that they be granted the freedom to do business and thus pay the right amount in tax without being coaxed into bribing TRA officials.

Under new law any person who establishes a storage facility with the aim of keeping goods for business purposes to register the facility with the Commissioner General of TRA.

On May 17, the traders were told by the then Dar es Salaam Regional Commissioner, Mr Amos Makalla, to go to Dodoma if they wanted to meet the PM, but they turned down the request.

After the RC left, the traders said they wanted to meet President Samia Suluhu Hassan to express their, insisting that their shops would remain closed until then.

Following the demand, Majaliwa arrived at the Kariakoo market to talk to the traders whose shops remained closed, calling for the removal of some government taxes that they claim are oppressive.

Mr Majaliwa finally agreed with traders that businesses will resume to normalcy immediately after the meeting pending the Wednesday meeting that should also include leaders of traders from Mbeya, Arusha, Tanga, Mwanza and Dodoma regions.

“Open the shops on two grounds. The first is that this is an international market, therefore, we should avoid discouraging foreign traders as we internally resolve our challenges,” he said.

“Leave to the government all the challenges that are caused by our people in government. The government aims at ensuring that every Tanzanian who has decided to invest in business is facilitated to do business,” he added.

During Wednesday's (today) meeting, Mr Majaliwa said he will be accompanied by the minister of Finance and Planning Mwigulu Nchemba, Industry, Trade and Investment minister Ashatu Kijaji and several others. However, The Citizen’s team in Kariakoo has seen various shops are still closed, with a few opening, as the traders strike enters day three.