East African Business Week (Kampala)
Stephen Nuwagira
12 November 2007
Kampala — It gets worse by the day. A premier exhibition held in Uganda's official trade exhibition grounds, UMA, last week to promote Ugandan made goods and services, identified the proliferation of counterfeit products into the local markets as a major economic threat.
The country's manufacturers and industrialists led by the Private Sector Foundation Uganda (PSFU), an apex body of Ugandan business people, says some unscrupulous businessmen are colluding with foreigners to make counterfeit goods with similar labels and trade names as those made by Ugandan manufacturers.
PSFU is irked by the absence of a law that can protect them from unscrupulous individuals who duplicate their products.
Addressing the opening ceremony of the exhibition code named; "Buy Ugandan, Buy Quality," PSFU vice chairperson Mrs. Ida Wanendeya called upon the government to urgently put a law in place so the private sector can take on counterfeit.
"Parliament should quickly enact a punitive law so that those who counterfeit our products are arrested and given heavy sentences. Without an empowering law we are helpless and can not take action against the culprits," she said.
But although the Ugandan government agrees with the manufactures that the vice should not be left unchecked, it blames the business community for the increase of the vice accusing them of shielding the counterfeiters.
Uganda's state minister for trade and technology Prof. Ephrahim Kamuntu said that the business community was not collaborating with government to apprehend the culprits.
"There is need for joint efforts between the private sector and government to solve this problem, otherwise such acts can turn out to be very expensive for the country," Kamuntu said. "If we have to tackle this vice properly, we must start with your members; do intelligence on your colleagues and point out those suspected to be involved in counterfeit," he told the businessmen.
Mean while Kelvin Magwar form Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, reports that the East African Community (EAC) and the Investment Climate for Africa (ICF) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU)to take on issue of counterfeit and piracy in the EA region.
Signed in Tanzania's capital Dar es Salaam last week, the MOU marks the launch of a major project to establish a robust and coherent policy on anti-counterfeiting and piracy.
The project aims at assessing the scale of the problem within EAC, evaluate existing policies and recommend uniform laws, regulations and enforcement mechanisms to combat counterfeit trading and protect intellectual property rights.
The project will be funded and coordinated by IFC, a public-private partnership working to improve governance, legal systems and infrastructure across the continent as a means of attracting investment.
The IFC development and private sector partners among others include Norway, Britain, Department for International Development and the International Finance Corporation of the World Bank Group.
Discussing the issue at a meeting with the Secretary General of the East African Community Ambassador Juma Mwapachu, Baroness Linda Choker, and a renowned former British Minister of Oversees Development said;
"In the past ten years counterfeits have grown from a small scale problem on luxury goods to one which now encompasses virtually every product category, including pharmaceuticals, car parts, agricultural chemicals, foods, electronics to soap and tooth paste. More and more counterfeit manufacturers are now targeting developing markets where enforcement and resources are weakest."
Ambassador Mwapachu said counterfeits were affecting governments, businesses, and population of the developing countries.
He said that Governments are loosing far greater revenue due to lower tax revenues particularly on Import Duties, VAT, and Company Taxes.
"Of far greater concern is that consumers are increasingly exposed to major health and safety risks citing examples of counterfeited electrical conductors and cables which catch fire, fertilizers which could result to a total loss of crops, batteries which explode or leak, personal care products which can cause skin and mouth irritation as well as food products and medicine which have exposed EAC populations to great health risks," he said.
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