Uganda: Mukwaya in Battery Row With Traders

	Email This Page Print This Page Comment on this article

The Monitor (Kampala)

23 March 2008
Posted to the web 24 March 2008

Chris Obore
Kampala

AT LEAST 15 companies involved in the importation of Tiger Head Batteries have protested the trade minister's decision to revoke their import licences.

The traders accuse Tourism, Trade and Industry Minister Janat Mukwaya of acting in favour of city businessman Bob Kabonero.

"Some of us have been importing these batteries for 20 years," said one trader who asked not to be named for fear the minister might victimise him. "Why are our licences revoked now? It is a pity that the minister wants to protect the interests of one businessman."

A Kampala traders' group denounced the minister's action as an "injustice committed against business" while Mr Kabonero said it was his good luck that the Chinese manufacturer chose him.

Ms Mukwaya wrote the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs on March 4 asking officials there to draft a statutory instrument declaring M/s White Showmans Ltd, Mr Kabonero's company, as the sole importer of the batteries into Uganda.

"I have decided to revoke licenses to import Tiger Head Batteries which were given to Companies that are not agents of the manufacturer, Ms Guangzhou Tiger Head Battery Group Company in China," reads the letter.

The companies affected are M/s Engule Agencies, M/s Namengo General Merchandise Ltd, M/s Kampala Modernity Ltd, M/s Vision Impex Ltd, M/s Panyahululu Co. Ltd, M/s Bulamu Bwe Buggaga General Enterprises Ltd, M/s Cole International Trading Co Ltd, and M/s Kabale Distributors Ltd.

Others are M/s Cape Van International Ltd, M/s Trade Progress (U) Ltd, M/s Two Ways Import and Export Co. (U) Ltd, M/s M3 Enterprises, M/s Day Time Ltd, M/s Fuelex Uganda Ltd, and M/s Frama Enterprises Ltd.

According to Ms Mukwaya's letter, M/s Guangzhou "in their change of marketing strategy appointed M/s White Showmans Co. ... as the country's sole agent, hence a need to be issued with a Statutory Instrument authorising them to operationalise the Agency".

The traders who are losing their licences said Ms Mukwaya's decision is not in line with the government's policy of free trade.

Asked whether she was not promoting a bad policy, Ms Mukwaya said: "I don't discuss policy matters in newspapers."

One of the traders wondered whether the manufacturer had changed marketing strategy.

"We still buy from the same manufacturer, why haven't they stopped us from buying their goods if they wanted a sole agent?" he said.

Mr Kabonero defended his new status saying M/s Guangzhou appointed him sole agent of the Tiger Head Batteries to stem the flow into the country of imitations of the battery brand.

It is not clear, however, how the manufacturer's new strategy will curb the presence of fake Tiger Heads.

Mr Kabonero said fake batteries were imported from other Asian countries. When informed that if fake products were the basis upon which the manufacturer made the decision, then White Showmans would not have qualified because it was cited last year by the Uganda National Bureau of Standards as an importer of fake goods, Mr Kabonero said: "We made a mistake and settled it. We said it would never happen again."

White Showman's was implicated in the importation of counterfeit Bic pens.

Asked why he would want other traders to stop importing Tiger Head Batteries in a free economy, Mr Kabonero said: "I am stopping them because I am a sole agent."

The other traders, however, argue that other sole agents like Toyota Uganda import the Japanese cars but do not stop others from doing the same.

But Mr Kabonero said it is not the duty of the government to tell the manufacturer what to do. The rest of the traders remain unimpressed.

"I have been battling this for two years until recently when the minister called me that they were to licence one company," said Mr Issa Sekitto, the spokesman of Kampala City Traders Association. "It is injustice committed against business. If that is what the minister thinks is the best for business in Uganda, then we are headed for doom."

Ms Mukwaya said she had held a meeting with the traders, but if they are dissatisfied "let them engage me if they can".

Read comments. Write your own.

AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.

Share this on: Facebook Digg Del.icio.us StumbleUpon Muti

Copyright © 2008 The Monitor. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.

Make allAfrica.com your home page | RSS Feed Sign up for FREE daily 'top headlines' by email >>

Top | Site Guide | Who We Are | Advertising | Search | My Account

Questions or Comments? Contact us. Read our Privacy Statement.