ELIAS WAMBURA

DAR ES SALAAM, TANZANIA - The Tanzania food and drugs authority (TFDA) has admitted its inability to curb counterfeit goods that have ruined the government revenues while killing competitiveness of the locally produced goods.

Speaking to East African Business Week in an exclusive interview at TFDA's pavilion during the just ended the 34 th Dar es salaam international trade fair, an Official Mr Moses Nandonde said "It is very difficult to recognize and differentiate fake goods from genuine ones by the naked eyes."

He said fake goods which had entered the country are a result of porous borders used by greedy. He said those dealers in fake goods normally imitate the real manufacturers.

Despite all those challenges TFDA has been working tirelessly to ensure that they reduce the inflow of fake products through the cooperation of government law enforcers. "The fight against fake drugs and other products should not be left and considered as a responsibility of TFDA alone but should be a joint fight with other private and government organs," he noted.

TFDA is a regulatory body under the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare which is responsible for controlling the quality and safety of food, drugs cosmetics and medical devices.

Recently, the Minister for Industry, Ms Mary Nagu told visiting Chinese traders that Tanzania was fed up with fake products from Asian countries, particularly China which have flooded their markets.

Last week, the Prime minister of Tanzania, Mr Mizengo Pinda, said counterfeit products were denying the country a lot of money.