Monday 4 November 2013

The time has come for Tanzanians to dream big

Peter shayo 
By Peter Shao,The citizen

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