Surprise! As one type of an electrical product is sold in different prices

IMAGINE that it’s your first time to have visited Kariakoo trading hub of the central wholesale and retail market complex for all things in downtown Dar es Salaam, and you tend to walk around for window-shopping along thousand frames selling different types of products mostly electrical goods. It is normal to see that an electrical product of the same type, size and shape such as Circuit breakers, Earth rod and Main switch which are used largely for wiring purposes in residential houses are sold at different price rates. A week long survey carried out by this paper in most wholesale and retail shops selling imported electrical goods around Kariakoo business complex, has discovered that there is an extensive bulk of these products put on display and the price rates is not fixed for each one of them. Interviewed potential buyers of such goods doubt of their low quality standards and durability in terms of use. This is confusing in regard to the normal saying among the people who attributes the fact that, a product which is sold in lower price rate is low in terms of quality, compared to those sold at a higher price rate which buyers assumes to be of good quality. This is a perception which confuses the minds of many buyers and users of such products who together with their inferiority complex towards the general understanding of the concept, scores of them ends up buying counterfeit products lasts within the shortest time after their use. It has been discovered that, most buyers of such electrical products have little knowledge about their technical capability as related to the  nature of their quality standards for most of them absolutely fails to differentiate between the genuine and the counterfeit ones.

Samples of the electric Earth rods

Unless a buyer takes an electrical technician who seem to be familiar with the technical make up of such goods when going to buy such types of products in order to help them verify their best quality design make among the goods displayed by shopkeepers. Juma Hashim (36), a resident of Mwananyamala who was cornered by this writer strolling around in a  shopping spree noted that, he was best preferred to afford highly selling electrical products as he believes that such products are genuine for they are being sold at a higher price rate. However, he is not bothered by the presence of many shops around the area which to some extent he perceives there is a possibility of cheating on these products most of which are imported and are on high supply by some shop owners. But since there is a low demand on such goods, but it should be known that is exacerbated by the high supply an aspect that some traders promises their customers an offer of discount on every bulk purchases made while others describes them the nature of the products on sale. Buyers are openly informed and sometimes briefed to make them be assured of the manufacturing company and their countries of origins, with the poorest and low quality products coming from far East countries mostly China who are the manufacturers and supplying agents. A spot check by this writer around several shops at Kariakoo business area can reveal that, an original earth rod assumed to have longer lifespan is sold at Sh. 45,000 while others with shorter span can be fetched at between Sh. 3,500, Sh. 8,000 and Sh. 15,000 respectively depending on their sizes. The main switch with four way gang is also sold at different price rates although there are only two types available in the market. These are main switch for MCL Co. Ltd based in Dar es Salaam which is the best in quality and can be fetched at Sh. 45,000,  A similar type of the main switch is supplied also by a Dar based TAN-UK firm; this is fetched at Sh. 18,000.
Both of these two types of main switches are imported from China, but the two companies are the main suppliers says one shopkeeper Shomary Khan, a Tanzanian of Asian origin. An electrical circuit breaker which is among important electrical equipment is sold in two different prices, the one for China made is fetched at Sh. 18,000, whereas another one supposed to have been imported from UK is fetched at between Sh. 80,000 and Sh. 100,000 According to shopkeepers, equipments with lowest price rates have shorter lifespan because of their low quality, and for the case of earth rods they lack enough copper materials a mineral substance used for its manufacturing and have thinner width, says one shopkeeper who preferred anonymity when contacted to describe the suitability of earth rods made of copper minerals. For earth rod, have different sizes and quality in such that the highest paying product has a copper lining in it and is easily magnetic in nature while the fake ones do not have copper and are purely made of iron. According to shopkeepers, these products do not last longer in use, hence have shorter lifespan due to their low quality. Payments for such goods to TRA differs as per their bill of lading. Each item is purchased in bulk is given its own quotations according to their price index as indicated in price tags. If shopkeepers confess themselves to be selling products with different levels of quality design standards, what then is the government doing to save consumers in the country? Sospeter Kadama a resident of Buguruni queried? According to him, it seems as if the law enforcers do not take a keen interest on quality of the various products imported for local consumption. Commenting on the quality standards and the durability of such equipment, a long experienced electrical technician working as an agent of TANESCO, a sole power utility firm in the country says that, goods with the lowest price rates do not last longer if used for wiring. Joakim Mtono (35) revealed that, by using such equipment it will require regular replacements in a periodical check up as most of these equipment are not sustainable enough in terms of use for they are prone to leakage and thus causing frequent lose connections in the whole wiring systems. The government through its organ the Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS) has since early this year put down various major strategic measures as precautions in order to curb with the increased phenomenon that caused fear to buyers of such goods in the country. A heated debate ensured parliament early this year as MPs threw a blame to TBS for what it had shown as a total failure of accountability which has ultimately resulted into giving rise to mushrooming of counterfeit products in the country. However, TBS Director of quality control, Kezia Mbwambo was recently quoted by the media as saying that, despite of much efforts spearheaded by TBS, less has been achieved to fully curb the phenomenon by 100 percent rate simply due to the presence of numerous ways used by unscrupulous traders as porous borders better known as “panya routes” within our country’s national frontiers. According to the Executive Director of Tanzania Consumer Society (TCS) Bernard Kihiyo, counterfeit products will stop flowing in the country if there would be a joint collaboration of the stakeholders among the five East African countries. Kihiyo is on the view of the fact that, there should be a mechanism that needs to be established which would be able to destroy syndicate behind the importation, distribution and sale of sub-standards goods. He says controlling the importation of counterfeit goods is not an easy task, because most importers deliberately order cheap products from abroad so as to reap wind fall profits upon selling them. The business of importing counterfeits he said is further complicated by the fact that it is supported and perpetrated by a sophisticated network of persons who know how to evade the law enforcing organs. However, he said adding that, it is a strong network that only the combined force of all relevant government organs can beat as some of the business community members have made it a culture of importing counterfeit products to make easy profit margins. Despite of the government’s efforts over the fight against imported counterfeit products in the country, Most buyers preferred a kind of product bearing a label of their country of origin but this is not the case as all these are tempered by unscrupulous big traders in the country, an international trade expert said.