Msimbazi street, a wonderful shopping spree for ICT tools in downtown Dar es Salaam

IMAGINE that it is your first time to have visited Msimbazi street in down town Dar es Salaam, geographically the street passes across Kariakoo main commercial suburb. The street forms a boundary of the main business centre to the east and residential houses to the west. It is a famous street with shops selling together with other things different types of communication devices including cell phones one can choose from one of the scattered shops around. In a great astonishment, you might become so excited and rather confused when you happen to walk along the street, you might get some difficulties while trying to force your movement through if in a hurry as the area is overcrowded with people all the time throughout the day. Despite of the story being told now and then about the street, the truth is that, “It is too disturbing to see that people who walk along the street are not happy as they encounters with scores of petty traders some holding their merchandise in hands, while the majority spreads them down on the ground in an unhealthy condition mostly along the pavements full of filthy”. But everyone seems to be busy and never cares about the situation seen around while walking along especially at this time of the year when Christmas occasion, the biggest ever celebrated at the end of the year, is around the corner. The presence of petty traders is a common phenomenon which gives an indication of failure of city askaris in their efforts to remove them from trading in such restricted areas. But because of their increase in number, the city askaris seems most likely to have been overpowered by them.

Their presence along the street and in pavements has become a menace and always inconveniencing passersby who tend to be in a hurry rushing to attend important appointments somewhere in the city. “I compare the area like a famous market square in India near Lajpath Nagaar, the biggest market on the outskirts of the New Delhi city as I can remember, I have ever been in that place about ten years ago”. But the difference in between is that, only the nature of the products being sold in these Msimbazi shops is mostly electronic and communication ICT tools such as handset cell phones, television sets, radio systems, and many other modern DVD compacts that plays music and videos. As you walk along, you will encounter lots of disturbing things. Apart from the vibrations caused by passing vehicles around, one could hear sounds of music opened in large volumes coming out of the shops constructed as though they all belong to one landlord. Apart from such disturbing noise which by all circumstances is unavoidable, one may hear someone touting in a unique voice as though attracting the attention of prospective buyers to attend a shop selling cheap products nearby. These voices are a common style all over the place alerting passersby of cheap selling products, it is purposely for a road side promotion for any product being touted by one who at the end of the day, earns his living on a commission basis. It is sometimes very funny indeed as one can hear the message piercing the air in loud external speakers strategically located at the entrance of a large shop displayed with modern varieties of ICT products. It is a common tale among the residents of most Dar es Salaam city suburbs who maintains the true facts that if you want to buy an electronic gadget, just go along Msimbazi street and visit any shop that would cater for your need. Indeed this is true to the fact, but it is not true that all these products bear the same quality and characteristics as one person remarked one day. Quite a good number of these products especially cell phones do not have long life span. Sospeter Mawala a resident of Vingunguti was happy when he was sure he had bought a cell phone handset NOKIA type at a selling cheap price of Tsh. 25,000 if compared to other types in order to communicate with. But to his great dismay he was surprised to see that within two days' time, his newly bought handset staggered communication system even before the given one week expiry time for its guarantee period. This short period of guarantee must bring a suspicion to a buyer, which ironically is different from other shopkeepers selling the same type of cell phone handset and offers a guarantee of between one and six months. The most amusing thing is that, a buyer who tend to return the handset to owners refuses to refund the money paid and instead advises their customers to exchange with another handset and continue with another time of guarantee, says Sospeter who bought one three weeks ago. Narrating this sad story, after having visited a shop at Msimbazi street he became interested with one handset upon promotion of their cheap prices. Within two day's time, when he had discovered of its defections to communicate he decided to return to the buyer. Upon his arrival with his receipt in his hands, buyers refused to refund him money and instead was forced to replace the defective one with another handset which had the same problem as with the former one. Amir Hamish, a Tanzanian of Asian origin who is an agent trading in cell phones at one of the shops along Msimbazi street said in an interview that, most handsets lacks new batteries and requires regular charging to keep them alive and failure to that most handsets fails to communicate effectively. According to him, most handsets which are sold at the most cheapest prices are prone to blocking the whole system of communication because their internal mechanism is old and already phased out from their country of origin.

As Tanzania is celebrating her 50th anniversary of its independence, various ministries and their agencies have been showing up their achievements and most activities to the general public chanting the slogan “We dared, we succeeded and we are forging ahead”, The slogan seems to be meaningless for local consumers of some imported products which are being sold in the country owing to the fact that, most of them are being checked to conform their fitness and quality standards. Despite of sectoral development initiatives undertaken by other sectors in the country, ICT industry stakeholders are still in a dilemma as they are yet not to be in a position to be assured of their good quality products. This is due to some existing unscrupulous traders who do not value the quality assurance of their products which they sell to the people and instead engage in supplying substandard products to would be their consumers in the market. Investigation can establish that most cheap selling handsets which are displayed on sale in some shops along Msimbazi main shopping centres are counterfeit and do not meet the standards required. Most of these handsets, despite of their attractiveness are unable to smoothen communication. With the advent of mobile telephony in Tanzania that began in mid of 1990s, mobile handsets were expensive with the cheapest costing the upward of Tsh. 1 million. Today some handsets costs as little as Tsh. 9,000 a piece.