Focus Media (Kigali)
Timothy Kisambira
21 October 2008
The Rwanda Bureau of Standards often has to reject foreign donations because the goods are expired or inappropriately packed.
"Rice, 10 kg" is scribbled on the dusty lid of the container; the label, on the other hand, says "Joint cement ready mix". It is part of a food donation coming from the United Kingdom and destined for the Episcopal Church in Kibungo that was rejected by the Rwandan Bureau of Standards (RBS).
Other items in the Episcopal Church donation were put in inappropriate jerrycans or plastic bags. Everything was covered with dust. Most of the rice was expired.
According to Justine Mukayigire, an inspector at the Bureau, it is not uncommon. Regularly, donations coming into the country are expired, and packed in wrong containers.
She says that although RBS is a young organization, they are trying to do there best to see that what comes in the country is of standard. Yet she points out that the mission of the Bureau is often still misunderstood.
"We don't deal with quality, but with standards. People often complain that we are not doing our work, but this is not true," Mukayigire says.
"For example, there was a businessman dealing in Bic pens, who came complaining about a competitor selling similar pens which don't carry the Bic brand. But that does not concern us; we tested the duplicated pens and found that they met our standards, so for us there is no problem in importing them."
Eric Migaba, the head of inspection at RBS explains that every time an importer wants to bring a product into the country for the first time, he has to get approval from the agency.
"We first test the product, and once it is approved we don't intervene anymore unless we have suspicions or complaints," he says.
However, he explains that they distinguish two categories, mandatory goods and voluntary ones. Mandatory goods concern safety and protection of human beings like medicine, chemicals etc., and are always tested. Voluntary goods, on the other hand, have no big potential to be harmful, and are tested only the first time.
However, on occasion there might be strong suspicions about voluntary goods, and then they are tested again and if found defaulting might become mandatory ones. This was the case, for example, when certain baby dolls were banned from the international market because it was found they contained harmful chemicals. It might also have been the case for the recent scandal of tainted Chinese milk powder, yet the affected brands are not imported in Rwanda.
Importers whose goods do not pass the test will receive a warning letter requesting them to make sure that they meet the required standards. The affected goods are destroyed.
Inspector Justine Mukayigire recognizes, however, that RBS has not yet the capacity to carry out all tests. However, the agency has collaboration agreements with counterparts in other countries who have more sophisticated equipment, and who do the testing for the RBS. For example, she explains that last year there was a problem with Royco curry powder, which had to be sent to South Africa for testing.
As for the procedure for setting the standards, Mukayigire explains that given the fact that RBS is still developing its human and technical capacity, their first references are often systems used in countries such as Kenya which have a longer history of implementing standards.
Chief inspector Eric Migaba adds that obviously there are also international agreements and standards, to which Rwanda is signatory, which have to be considered.
Last but not least, he says, RBS does not determine standards in an autocratic way, but through consultations with the sector in question.
For example, when it came to setting the standard for white sugar, they took into account a certain World Trade Organization agreement, used the Kenyan standard as a reference, and held consultations with the National University of Rwanda, Kabuye Sugar Works, the ministry of agriculture and Sulfo Rwanda.
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