Viroba ban subjects TDL to 10bn/- loss
TANZANIA Distillers Limited (TDL) was yesterday barred from distributing over 100,000 cartons of the sachet-packed liquor, with an estimated street value of over 10bn/-.
The National Task Force entrusted with the enforcement of the ban on sachet-packed liquor restricted the distribution of the products in the company’s warehouses, citing the environmental legislation.
Speaking to reporters after the Temeke inspection yesterday, the Tanzania Food and Drugs Authority (TFDA) Inspector, Mr Aaron Nzallah, said the products will remain in the watch of its owner, pending further directives.
“The restriction is within the National Environmental and Management Act No 76 of 2017,” said Mr Nzallah, a member of the Task Force that draws members from the Police, TFDA, the Tanzania Revenue Authority, Fair Competition Commission and other stakeholders. “Our operation has started today (yesterday) in Dar es Salaam’s three municipalities, Temeke, Ilala and Kinondoni.
We have decided to begin today as a wake-up call in other parts of the country where the exercise will be rolled out,” he When the team arrived at the factory, the security guards were reluctant to open the gates for the officials to access the premises.
Upon their arrival at the reception, the team was received by the factory management and started inspections. TDL produces and distributes hard liquor in plastic sachets, trading in Konyagi and Valeur brands.
The team found nine abandoned cartons of Konyagi and one carton of Valeur as production had already ceased.
The team’s further inspection found that, according to the log book, production had continued to around 2 am yesterday and one of the machine seemed to have been running.
The search moved further to two warehouses of the factory and found many cartons packed in the building bearing signs that the products were on hold.
In an interview, TDL General Manager Devis Deogratius, said although the government directive indicated that the ban was effected yesterday, the company hoped there would be an extension.
“We continued with production believing that there would be an extension based on the application we had filed to the ministry,” said Mr Deogratius.
Report of :
02 MARCH 2017
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