TMX LIVESTOCK MOVE HAS COME AT THE RIGHT TIME
The Tanzania Mercantile Exchange (TMX) was launched in 2018 as the country’s first commodity exchange. It was established as a platform where farmers, traders, livestock keepers, exporters and other market actors could access domestic and global markets, and obtain fair prices.
The TMX is an organised marketplace, providing a platform where buyers and sellers come together to trade, assured of quality, quantity, payment, and delivery.
Commodities that have been traded via the platform since its launch include cashew nuts, lentils, green grams, pigeon peas and cotton.
In what should be a new milestone, the TMX now plans to bring together livestock buyers and sellers by providing them with a more convenient marketplace.
We commend this new development being driven by the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries.
The government has shown its commitment to increasing the livestock sector’s contribution to gross domestic product from 7.4 percent currently to 15 percent in the next few years.
Already, trial plans are underway, whereby the first livestock auction is scheduled to take place in Longido District, Arusha Region, next month.
The platform is a big leap forward because it would save herders the trouble of moving from one auction to another in search of favourable prices. Buyers, on the other hand, would be assured or much wider choice, not to mention the time – and money – they would be saving.
However, this development comes with new responsibilities. Livestock keepers should now focus on improving the quality of animals they keep. The days when herders took to auctions scraggly animals on the brink of death are surely coming to an end.
If livestock keepers are to transform their lives and contribute more meaningfully to national development, they need to keep abreast with the best animal husbandry practices. These will help herders improve the grade of their animals, and enable them fetch better prices.
It is time the TMX brought on board more commodities as part of wider efforts to grow the economy and foster socioeconomic development.
COMBAT LOCAL AUTHORITY GRAFT
Corruption has for many years been the biggest hindrance to the efficient implementation of public projects. Vast sums of public funds are lost almost evert year through over-invoicing in the purchase of goods and services.
As indicated in successive annual reports compiled by the Controller and Auditor General (CAG), some local authorities rarely adhere to the procurement law, thus creating fertile ground for unscrupulous staff to engage in dubious deals.
Although it is true that most local authorities lack qualified staff such as accountants, internal auditors or engineers to supervise construction projects, sleaze, irresponsible behaviour and the get-rich-quickly syndrome gripping some executives are squarely to blame.
And it is the poor villagers and urban taxpayers who suffer the most, as this mediocrity and plunder take root.
This is bound to continue if no action is taken against those responsible for the rot highlighted in CAG reports.
