{"id":407707,"date":"2011-04-29T13:45:00","date_gmt":"2011-04-29T13:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/04\/29\/will-general-tyre-regain-its-lost-glory\/"},"modified":"2011-04-29T13:45:00","modified_gmt":"2011-04-29T13:45:00","slug":"will-general-tyre-regain-its-lost-glory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/29\/will-general-tyre-regain-its-lost-glory\/","title":{"rendered":"Will General Tyre Regain Its Lost Glory?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n

Tanzania Daily News<\/a> (Dar\u00a0es\u00a0Salaam)<\/p>\n

Alvar Mwakyusa<\/p>\n

28 April 2011<\/p>\n

\n

analysis<\/p>\n

“THE Closure of General Tyre East Africa Limited was due to corruption and negligence; all those behind the swindling of this factory should be dealt with accordingly,” charges Arusha Urban Member of Parliament, Mr Godbless Lema.<\/p>\n

Contributing to three reports presented to the House by three parliamentary oversight committees namely the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Local Authorities Accounts Committee (LAAC) and Parastatal Organizations Accounts Committee (POAC), the MP was bitter that no actions have been taken against people behind the collapse of the factory.<\/p>\n

The company was in the 1970s and 1980s one of the largest employers and commanded respect for its contribution to socio-economic development of Arusha and Tanzania in general. It was established in 1969 under a partnership between the government of Tanzania and General Tyre USA before the latter sold its shares to Continental AG of German.<\/p>\n

The government holds 74 per cent with the investor holding the remaining 26 per cent shares. It started production in 1971, becoming the first tyre making firm in East Africa. During its peak it made about 1,000 tyres a day. The once giant motor vehicle tyre manufacturing company used to supply its products to the Eastern and Central Africa before closing down.<\/p>\n

Mr Lema argued that with the increasing demand for tyres in the country, the factory should turnedaround to its glorious days, expressing fears that the facility might be sold to recover debts it owes to National Social Security Fund (NSSF) amounting to a whooping 10 million US Dollars approximately 15bn\/-).<\/p>\n

If it starts production, the plant has the capacity of employing between 400 and 700 workers, according to the lawmaker. It closed production in 1997 at the height of privatisation of the state-owned firms. In 2002, Continental Tyres was advanced 10 million US Dollars by the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) under a guarantee from the government to put the plant back into production.<\/p>\n

However, the plant suspended production again in 2007 when the same German firm demanded another 2 million dollars from the government which turned down the request. The German firm has apparently refused to re-invest in the company, saying that tyre manufacturing was no longer its priority.<\/p>\n

According to Industry and Trade Minister Cyril Chami, productivity at the factory started to deteriorate at the end of 1990\u00e2-‘s because of both importation of second- hand tyres and an increase in tyre vendors who provided cheaper options to customers. But Mr Lema argued that if competition from imported tyres was a problem, then the government should put in a place a mechanism that will require all public institutions to purchase tyres from the company.<\/p>\n

“If all government ministries, departments and agencies are to be directed to buy tyres from General Tyre they will enable it to remain in production,” he said. Dr Chami told the House since the investor acquired the loan from NSSF in 2005 under guarantee from the government he did not furnish the guarantor with information as earlier agreed.<\/p>\n

“The investor was supposed to provide the financial information of the company after every three months to the government and after six months to NSSF but did not do so,” he said. As a result, the government decided to revoke the partnership with the investor and is now looking for a new investor, according to Dr Chami.<\/p>\n

However, as the government wait for an investor to inject money in the ailing firm, NSSF and other creditors are “baying for its blood.” Briefing members of POAC, Managing Director of NSSF, Mr Ramadhan Dau, said the fund is contemplating selling the outfit to recover the 15bn\/- debt.<\/p>\n

“We want to safeguard our members’ interests; we cannot achieve this if General Tyre is not delivering,” he told the members of the committee. According to Dr Dau, the fund had tried to seek an investor to take over the industrial plant but all in vain.The parliamentary committee’s Chairman, Mr Kabwe was against the idea, stressing that reviving all public companies rather than selling them is the way forward.<\/p>\n

His committee proposed formation of a parliamentary sub-committee to investigate misuse of the loan. “They have already been issued with terms of reference and they are expected to complete the investigation in two weeks. Their recommendations will be presented to the National Assembly during the next session,” said the Kigoma North legislator on Chadema ticket in a telephone interview.<\/p>\n

The committee will be chaired by Mr Muhammad Amour Chomboh (Magomeni-CCM). Its members include Mr Godbless Lema (Arusha Urban-Chadema), Ms Easter Matiko (Special Seats-Chadema) in addition to Mr Gaudence Kayombo (Mbinga East-CCM) and Mr<\/p>\n

Alphaxard Kangi Lugola (Mwibara- CCM).<\/p>\n

“Due to failed efforts to revive the plant and the fact that a lot of public funds have been injected into it, my committee finds it wise to form a sub-committee to find out what transpired in the factory,” Mr Zitto told the National Assembly during the session that ended recently. Adding; “The committee will cooperate with experts from the treasury and Consolidated Holdings Corporation (CHC) to find out the truth.”<\/p>\n

The team will find out whether the 15bn\/- loan extended to the plant was used for the intended purpose and if so, what made it to halt production shortly after receiving the funds, according to Mr Zitto. It will also investigate the reasons for the factory to be run on losses, the current status of its assets and eventually present its recommendations to the house for implementation.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\nMore News on allAfrica.com<\/strong><\/legend>\n<\/fieldset>\n

AllAfrica – All the Time<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n

Read the original post:
\nWill General Tyre Regain Its Lost Glory?<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tanzania Daily News (Dar\u00a0es\u00a0Salaam) Alvar Mwakyusa 28 April 2011 analysis “THE Closure of General Tyre East Africa Limited was due to corruption and negligence; all those behind the swindling of this factory should be dealt with accordingly,” charges Arusha Urban Member of Parliament, Mr Godbless Lema. Contributing to three reports presented to the House by three parliamentary oversight committees namely the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Local Authorities Accounts Committee (LAAC) and Parastatal Organizations Accounts Committee (POAC), the MP was bitter that no actions have been taken against people behind the collapse of the factory. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-407707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\nWill General Tyre Regain Its Lost Glory? - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/29\/will-general-tyre-regain-its-lost-glory\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Will General Tyre Regain Its Lost Glory? - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Tanzania Daily News (Dar\u00a0es\u00a0Salaam) Alvar Mwakyusa 28 April 2011 analysis "THE Closure of General Tyre East Africa Limited was due to corruption and negligence; all those behind the swindling of this factory should be dealt with accordingly," charges Arusha Urban Member of Parliament, Mr Godbless Lema. Contributing to three reports presented to the House by three parliamentary oversight committees namely the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Local Authorities Accounts Committee (LAAC) and Parastatal Organizations Accounts Committee (POAC), the MP was bitter that no actions have been taken against people behind the collapse of the factory.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/29\/will-general-tyre-regain-its-lost-glory\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/29\/will-general-tyre-regain-its-lost-glory\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Will General Tyre Regain Its Lost Glory?\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-04-29T13:45:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/29\/will-general-tyre-regain-its-lost-glory\/\"},\"wordCount\":935,\"commentCount\":0,\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/29\/will-general-tyre-regain-its-lost-glory\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/29\/will-general-tyre-regain-its-lost-glory\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/29\/will-general-tyre-regain-its-lost-glory\/\",\"name\":\"Will General Tyre Regain Its Lost Glory? - Ghanamma.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-04-29T13:45:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/29\/will-general-tyre-regain-its-lost-glory\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/\",\"name\":\"Ghanamma.com\",\"description\":\"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Will General Tyre Regain Its Lost Glory? - Ghanamma.com","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/29\/will-general-tyre-regain-its-lost-glory\/","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Will General Tyre Regain Its Lost Glory? - Ghanamma.com","twitter_description":"Tanzania Daily News (Dar\u00a0es\u00a0Salaam) Alvar Mwakyusa 28 April 2011 analysis \"THE Closure of General Tyre East Africa Limited was due to corruption and negligence; all those behind the swindling of this factory should be dealt with accordingly,\" charges Arusha Urban Member of Parliament, Mr Godbless Lema. Contributing to three reports presented to the House by three parliamentary oversight committees namely the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Local Authorities Accounts Committee (LAAC) and Parastatal Organizations Accounts Committee (POAC), the MP was bitter that no actions have been taken against people behind the collapse of the factory.","twitter_creator":"@ghanamma","twitter_site":"@ghanamma","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/29\/will-general-tyre-regain-its-lost-glory\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/29\/will-general-tyre-regain-its-lost-glory\/"},"author":{"name":"","@id":""},"headline":"Will General Tyre Regain Its Lost Glory?","datePublished":"2011-04-29T13:45:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/29\/will-general-tyre-regain-its-lost-glory\/"},"wordCount":935,"commentCount":0,"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/29\/will-general-tyre-regain-its-lost-glory\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/29\/will-general-tyre-regain-its-lost-glory\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/29\/will-general-tyre-regain-its-lost-glory\/","name":"Will General Tyre Regain Its Lost Glory? - Ghanamma.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-04-29T13:45:00+00:00","author":{"@id":""},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/29\/will-general-tyre-regain-its-lost-glory\/"]}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/","name":"Ghanamma.com","description":"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407707","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=407707"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407707\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=407707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=407707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=407707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}