Malawi Bureau of Standards bemoans porous borders
The Malawi Bureau of Standards (MBS) has said Malawi’s markets are still infested with non-trade scales which come from neighbouring Zambia and Tanzania through unchartered routes.
This is despite the bureau’s numerous campaigns to flush the scales out.
MBS Director General, Davlin Chokazinga, has decried the development saying Malawians continue to be ripped-off of their hard earned money through such illicit trade.
He was speaking in Mzuzu when he presided over the launch of awareness campaigns at the main market.
According to Chokazinga, the prevalence of the non-calibrated scales impacts negatively on the country’s economy and thus called on consumers to report such unscrupulous traders to the bureau for action.
“What this means is that consumers do not get the value for their money; they pay more for less. Unfortunately, Malawian consumers are somehow passive. People don’t invest some time in knowing what a standard scale looks like so that they are able to tell the difference when confronted with counterfeit scales,” Chokazinga said.
He further raised concern over the influx of uncertified products from the two neighbouring countries through illegal routes in the border districts of Karonga and Chitipa.
“Our inspectors have faced challenges at the borders because it is fellow Malawian who aid entry of such products. However, I want to report that the bureau has traced a number of such routes and our officers will be there to intercept such cross-border traders,” Chokazinga said.
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