Investigation conducted by the government has established that unscrupulous people have been smuggling sugar, diverting sugar on transit and evading tax. According to research conducted by the Public Accounts Committee, the government loses up to Sh462 billion annually in tax evasion in sugar imports alone.

The government has said, among other things, some people have been using sugar deficit in the country to import the commodity illegally, while others have been diverting industrial sugar and selling it to people.

Sugar consumption in the country, according to deputy minister for Agriculture, Food Security and Cooperatives, Mr Godfrey Zambi, stand at 420,000 metric tonnes annually for normal sugar and 170,000 tonnes for industrial sugar. But local production stands at about 300,000 metric tonnes, thus creating a deficit of 290,000 tonnes.

It is lack of coordination and control of the importation of 290,000 tonnes of sugar that has created problems in the sub sector, according to Mr Zambi and this has forced the government to come up with strategies to contain the problem.

“There are cases, where the price of sugar has been so high in one part of the country, while there are abundant stocks in another part of the country,” said Mr Zambi in a statement he presented to the Parliament. To avert the situation, the government has formed a task force under the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) to supervise and control the importation of sugar in the country.

The government has also imposed strict measures on industries, which use sugar in order to check if all imported industrial sugar is used as intended.

Various government institutions have also been conducting impromptu checks in shops to establish the authenticity of sugar sold in the local market.

SOURCE: THECITIZEN