CONTRADICTION CONTINUES BETWEEN GOVERNMENT AND TRADERS IN KAMPALA - 29th/June/2013 Traders in Kampala resist that they will not call off their strike despite continued government announcement of measures meant to pacify them. This arises after government implementation of the PVoC programme (Pre-export Verification for Conformity), which is aimed at curbing the entry of counterfeit, and substandard goods from entering the country by inspecting commodities in their country of origin. According to the Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS), the programme will enhance and boost the trade industry since trade activities will be up to standard, making it better than the current system where everything (good or bad) is shipped from the country of origin to the Ugandan borders and inspected from here. For four days now, traders in Kampala are protesting against the pre-inspection programme by keeping their shops closed, arguing that the inspection fee of $235 to $2,375 charged on each consignment is too high and will increase the cost of doing business. Speaking to journalists at the media centre in Kampala, Trade Minister Amelia Kyambadde said that, government would renegotiate the pre-inspection charges because they are “unfairly high”. In addition to that, she said; “On July 01, service providers will be here and we are committed to reducing the inspection fee. This programme will also be reviewed after every three months.” However, despite all efforts by government to calm the traders, they have insisted that they would only open their shops once the entire PVoC programme, which is being enforced by UNBS, is suspended. This is backed up by emerging hope that, the Private Sector Foundation (PSFU), the country’s top private sector body, had offered to mediate in the stand-off. According to Uganda Revenue Authority (URA), the strike is causing losses in Tax Collection to the body daily. The government is appealing to traders to call off the strike as it negotiates with the service providers (companies contracted to do the import verification in the country of origin), whereas the traders are preparing to hold another meeting to look for various remedies considering this issue.
Posted on: Sat, 29 Jun 2013 09:55:12 +0000
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