The Government is once again being urged to protect local industries.

Though we appreciate the concerns, it's hardly the answer to the challenges being faced by enterprises in a liberalised economy such as ours.

In fact, the focus should otherwise be on the measures that need to be taken to enhance the viability of our industries and protect consumers.

These include preventing the dumping in the local market of cheap sub-standard goods from abroad. Allowing such low quality goods to be sold at below-market prices can only undermine local industries manufacturing similar items.

However, the most effective way to ensure that our industries do well is to empower them to produce goods that can effectively compete with imports in both retail pricing and quality.

We should always ask ourselves why Tanzanians would bother to buy imports of questionable quality, when they can get locally manufactured goods of a higher quality and at significantly lower prices? Industries that are struggling to survive should ask themselves whether their products are competitive.

There are several examples of goods manufactured in Tanzania, whose quality can match the very best made elsewhere. These include dry cell batteries. There is no reason why such industries should not flourish if measures are taken to prevent the dumping of cheap similar goods.