| CAG sounds alarm on ‘poisonous’ goods | Send to a friend |
| Saturday, 11 February 2012 23:49 |
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The Citizen Chief Reporter Dodoma. The Controller and Auditor General (CAG) has appealed to the government to protect Tanzanians from eating or using hundreds of thousands of tonnes of imported substandard goods, including margarine, condoms, fertilizers, tyres and gas oil, worth Sh1.8billion that are reportedly in the market. In its report submitted to three parliamentary oversight committees on Friday, the CAG has unearthed spine-chilling negligence indicating that although the goods had been tested by the Tanzania Bureau of Standard (TBS) and declared unfit for human use, most of them are still in the market after failure by TBS to oversee their destruction or ensuring that they were returned to countries of origin. “The government should take urgent measures to protect unsuspecting Tanzanians from eating or using substandard foodstuffs and goods,” warns the report dated February 10, 2012. “Our report shows that there is no evidence indicating that most of the goods declared substandard have been either destroyed or returned to countries of production,” says the report signed by Mr Athanas Pius on behalf of the CAG, Mr Ludovick Utouh. The report was presented to the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Public Organisations Accounts Committee (POAC) and Parliamentary Committee for Industry and Trade. In July 2011, the POAC and PAC directed the CAG to investigate TBS after they questioned the professional conduct of the standards watchdog firm. The two watchdog parliamentary committees also directed CAG to probe TBS vehicle inspection offices abroad, saying reports indicated that a lot of rot was manifest. Sources told The Citizen On Sunday that the presentation of the CAG findings held at the Msekwa Hall here was also attended by senior officials from the ministry of Industry, Trade and Marketing and the TBS director general, Mr Charles Ekelege, and his lieutenants. Contacted for comment, the permanent secretary in the ministry of Industry, Trade and Marketing, Ms Joyce Mapunjo, confirmed the submission of the report by the CAG but could not delve into details. Our sources said during the submission of the CAG’s report, the TBS director general submitted responses showing that the substandard goods had been destroyed or returned to their countries of origin. When contacted yesterday, the POAC chairman, Mr Zitto Kabwe, said he had asked the CAG to verify the responses submitted by TBS. “We have also asked the government to suspend the TBS chief executive officer pending the authentication of the responses by the CAG,” said Mr Zitto, when reached by phone. At the same time, according to the CAG report seen by The Citizen On Sunday, the CAG has also advised the government to appoint a new chief executive officer for TBS and overhaul the entire management team. The report said this will create room for the new management to review inspection of imported used vehicles. The CAG report says the current vehicle inspection system abroad has lots of weaknesses. The CAG has listed substandard goods that have either not been destroyed or returned to their countries of origin, their importers and cost. They include 1,140 pneumatic tyres worth Sh299,910,900 imported by Africa Warehouses (T) Ltd, 830 plough shears worth Sh52,898,863 imported by Noble Enterprise Ltd, 3,180 cartons of roofing nails worth Sh92,694,951 and 279,408 litres of gas oil imported by Hass Petroleum whose cost was not established. Other substandard goods, according to the CAG, are 4,800 bags of calcium nitrate (fertilizer) worth Sh105,541,219, 4,000 bags of potassium nitrate worth Sh242,170,200 and 2,000 bags of mono potassium phosphate worth Sh242,581,625, all imported by Tanzania Crop Care. Others are 331,200 pieces of Ayu beauty soap worth Sh30,829,500 imported by Murtaza P. Sikiladha, 24,400 dry cell batteries worth Sh14,538,554 imported by Paulo Asanterabi and 20,040 kilogrammes of Omo detergent worth Sh41,995,419 imported by Alpha Group Ltd. The list also mentions Blueband margarine, Sunflower seed oil, energy drink, foam mattresses, Moringa shampoo, motor engine oil, Eva toilet soap, galvanized corrugated sheet, Muarubaini herbal soap, vacuum flasks and Sunlight dishwash liquid. Last year, POAC acting chairman Deo Filikunjombe claimed that TBS, under the leadership of Mr Ekelege, had lied to the House committee by telling it that it (TBS) owned and operated vehicle inspection offices abroad. “We travelled abroad to inspect those vehicle inspection offices - going to Singapore, Hong Kong and in China - as per information from the bureau’s management, but what we saw were worlds different from what we had been told (by TBS),” he said. Meanwhile, PAC chairman John Cheyo said Ekelege once took them to an office that was not meant for vehicle inspection. He said that happened when members of the two oversight committees went to Singapore and Hong Kong where, after questioning Mr Ekelege, he said that it was only a temporary office. Mr Cheyo subsequently turned down the 2011 TBS report, saying it was full of errors, some of which were in relation to the number of vehicles inspected and the amount of money collected during the period. Ends/subbed/wk Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites           |
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