TANZANIA has vehemently dismissed claims making rounds in social media that it improperly handles hazardous chemicals while transporting them from the Dar es Salaam Port to neighbouring countries.
The voice note recorded and doing rounds in the social media platforms by, apparently a national of neighbouring country as he identified himself, claimed that poor handling of such chemicals, mostly for mining activities in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has led to deaths of drivers of trucks transporting the consignments.
The man further claimed that the harmful chemicals have been transported without an escort of experts of chemicals from state agencies responsible for controlling any effects that may occur in event of transporting the chemicals.
He made comparison with his country, arguing that the dangerous chemicals are transported in containers in a fleet of between 20 and 30 trucks with an escort of experts, while that was not the case in Tanzania where few trucks transport chemicals as 'loose cargo'.
Reacting to the claims, the Government Chemist Laboratory Authority (GCLA) on Saturday was quick to trash the claims, saying they were unfortunate and baseless given by someone who is unaware of how the country handles such chemicals.
GCLA's Director of Regulatory Services, Mr Daniel Ndiyo, who spoke on behalf of the Chief Government Chemist, said: "These baseless claims have caused panic in the public. In Tanzania such chemicals are transported as per international and national laws and guidelines."
Mentioning some of conditions for ferrying chemicals, Mr Ndiyo said a transporter must have been registered; trucks should also have met required criteria and a driver must be trained on transporting hazardous chemicals.
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The law also stipulates that dangerous chemicals should be transported in a convoy of not more than 10 trucks.
"There are some chemicals, such as Ammonium Nitrate, that are transported as loose cargo to avoid heating due to their explosive nature," he clarified.
Since transportation of chemicals involve different stakeholders, the GCLA also invited officials from different institutions to respond to the claims, including the Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA), Dry Ports and Logistics companies unanimously refuting the claims.
Mr Musa Biboze, a senior official from the TPA, who spoke on behalf of the authority's Director General, said the country's ports adhere to guidelines of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) for loading and offloading of dangerous chemicals onto and from the vessels.
"Usually, consignment of dangerous cargo does not stay at the port once offloaded from the docked ship," Mr Biboze stated.
On his part, Mr Sadick Yusuph, representing country's transporters, said: "Transportation of chemicals in our country is effectively supervised and we have never recorded any death of driver as a result of improper handling of dangerous chemicals."
He assured that the transportation of such chemicals was safe and drivers were safe too, suggesting that the claims on social media were meant to tarnish the image of the country for the business interests.
