Tonnes of sugar from Malawi impounded in Tanzania

Tanzanian government has impounded 28.5 tonnes of sugar that was brought into the country illegally from Malawi last year, the Deputy Minister for Agriculture, Food, Security and Cooperatives, Mr Adam Malima, said on Friday.

Mr Malima made the revelation while responding to a supplementary question posed by Prof David Mwakyusa (Rungwe West-CCM) who had wanted to know as why government does not supply the impounded sugar to Rungwe.

Mr Malima who was responding on behalf of the Minister for Trade and Industry, told the National Assembly that the 23 tonnes of sugar were impounded at Mbeya, four tonnes at Rungwe and the rest at Kasulu, and Kyela.

The sugar , according to Mr Malima, is normally sold to government institutions including schools, hospitals and prisons. In a related development, plans are underway to revisit the East African regulations to legalise the transportation of products across borders.

Mr Malima said the move would help ease the supply of products to various areas and control the illegal supply of products from outside the country. He was responding to a basic question asked by Prof Mwakyusa who sought to know government’s plans to ensure that ‘wananchi’ living at borders receive sufficient supplies of sugar.

The MP felt that government should legalise the supply of products across borders. Mr Malima told the National Assembly that plans were underway towards increasing the productions of sugar in the country.

“One of the strategies is to develop sugar processing factories to fulfil the demand in the country,” he said adding that the Ministry in collaboration with the Ministry of Trade has tasked the Board of Sugar to set up a plan aimed at boosting production.