Peter shayo
By Peter Shao,The citizen
Posted Sunday, November 3 2013 at 11:07
Posted Sunday, November 3 2013 at 11:07
In Summary
Free trade requires us to allow these other
countries to reach customers with their products in our country. We
cannot disallow them to hold such fairs.
Slowly Tanzanians, especially those based in Dar
es Salaam, are getting used to commercial exhibitions from different
countries. Companies from China, India and Syria have recently displayed
their wares for Tanzanians in a bid to convince local consumers to buy
from them.
These people come here to sell, and to expand
production in their countries. They come to look for areas in which to
dump the excess products from their economies.
Many people visit the shows and buy high quality
goods fairly cheaply. At one of the fairs, I bought kitchen wares while
others bought clothes and still others went for small machines. It was
an enjoyable experience generally and some of us hope a repeat will
occur in the near future.
Can our country produce so much to sell elsewhere?
Nowhere in the halls did I see maps showing areas with mineral deposits
inviting Tanzanian investors to extract.
The exhibitors were here to sell products with
value added. Even when they were selling rice, it was rice in the right
packages. There was no cotton, but trousers and skirts; no sisal but
well-designed door mats and carpets.
The companies had satisfied their domestic markets
and were looking for avenues to expand production. Can any of our
companies boast of the same?
We are told that the imperialist nations came to
Africa to look for markets for their industrial goods, to look for new
sources of raw materials and areas to dump the excess/unwanted
population.
We fought for independence to oppose our country being a dumping site for colonists.
It is unfortunate that over fifty years after
independence, this country is so willingly submitting to the colonial
wishes of becoming a market for the excess products of others and even
inviting the excess foreign population to settle in our country to
produce needed raw materials for companies in their lands of origin.
Free trade requires us to allow these other
countries to reach customers with their products in our country. We
cannot disallow them to hold such fairs.
The past style of banning what you do not like is
not feasible any more. The alternative is to act in such a way that we
close the opportunity for attracting the unwanted in our midst.
We ought to then look at our history carefully,
decide on the future we want and do the things which will enable us to
produce enough to compete with these foreign companies, not only in our
country but in theirs too.
SOURCE: THE CITIZEN
SOURCE: THE CITIZEN
