Govt now loses patience with Urafiki investor

What you need to know:

  • The Prime Minister, Mr Kassim Majaliwa, made the remark when addressing staff during his tour at the factory on Friday, a statement from his communications unit disclosed. The factory is a joint investment between the government and Changzhou State owned Textile Assets Operations in which the government of China owns the factory by 51 per cent.

Dar es Salaam. The government has expressed its dissatisfaction over a joint investment with shareholders of Tanzania China-Friendships Co. Ltd (Urafiki).

The Prime Minister, Mr Kassim Majaliwa, made the remark when addressing staff during his tour at the factory on Friday, a statement from his communications unit disclosed. The factory is a joint investment between the government and Changzhou State owned Textile Assets Operations in which the government of China owns the factory by 51 per cent.

However, the Tanzanian government announced recently that it was planning to reclaim its major share holding at the factory from the current 49 to 75 per cent shares. “The government is not satisfied with the existing joint investment. Therefore, we want to make it clear that we are not happy with the way the factory’s operations,” said the minister amid cheers from the Tanzanian workers.

The Premier also instructed minister for Trade, Industries and Investment Charles Mwijage to resolve the matter and submit feedback to him soon. He further faulted the factory management of failing to create enough employment opportunities for Tanzanians.

“We are running out of patience now. Our expectation was that the investor would create jobs for our people, but they have failed to do so. We want them to leave so that we can find other investors who will take this factory to greater heights,” he said.

Furthermore, the Premier said the government will hold talks with the Chinese Embassy to in order to reach an amicable decision.

Meanwhile, the Premier instructed the factory’s Human Resources officer, Mr Edwin Nkwanga, to prepare and submit to his office a detailed list of workers and their salaries.

For his part, factory’s Deputy General Manager Mr Shadrack Nkelebe at same occasion revealed that the factory halted production since December 2017 to pave a way for rehabilitation, citing also the factory was in debt.