Kariakoo market boycott a triumph for democracy in Dar
Saturday May 20 2023
Tanzanians going about their business at the famous Kariakoo market in Dar es Salaam. PHOTO | ERICKY BONIPHACE | MWANANCHI
A trading boycott at Dar es Salaam’s Kariakoo market lifted the veil on the rising cost of living in Tanzania, amid a tightening squeeze on incomes by the revenue authority.
This week, business owners in Tanzania’s largest market went on strike, demanding that the government review taxes and levies imposed on them.
They shuttered their shops, calling for removal of what they termed nuisance levies being collected by the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA). An estimated 30,000 middle and small-scale traders on Monday began a protest against red tape at the Dar es Salaam Port, confiscation of goods by TRA officials and a new directive that requires them to register their monthly stock movements with the taxman. The protest continued until Wednesday when a deal was reached.
TRA had supplied electronic fiscal devices (EFDs) to 9,000 traders at Kariakoo, requiring their use when traders issued sales receipts. All traders, even greengrocers, are required to have the EFDs.
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Tax campaign
TRA has been running a taxation campaign at the Kariakoo Market Complex, targeting registration of all traders and also to ensure they have Taxpayer Identification Numbers, and use the EFDs.
Both the TRA and the traders are counting losses after the three-day disruption that culminated in a pledge for action brokered by Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa.
The Kariakoo main market is also a business hub for traders from other East African countries such as Burundi, the DR Congo and Rwanda.
The traders also complained of bureaucracy and corruption at the port, where they say levies and processes are not uniform, forcing them to have differing product costs and prices.
On Wednesday Prime Minister Majaliwa formed a 14-member team from various public institutions and the traders’ representatives to hold talks.
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The protest exposed the opening up of the democratic space in the country as the traders demanded to be addressed by President Samia Suluhu who sent the PM.
Majaliwa, while addressing the traders at Mnazi Mmoja, disowned the tax collection task force, saying it was constituted illegally.
The government team comprises permanent secretaries in the Prime Minister’s Office, Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Investment, Industry and Trade. Others were picked from the Ministry of Community Development, Gender, Women and Special Groups, Dar es Salaam Administrative Secretary and the TRA.