Tanzania Blocks Brookside Dairy and 19 Other Companies From Accessing Tanzanian Market

Tanzanian President John Magufuli's government has blocked Brookside Dairy which is linked to President Uhuru Kenyatta's family and 19 other Kenyan companies from accessing the Tanzanian market.

The ban is part of a long-running cross-border trade spat between Kenya and Tanzania.

Last week, Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed and her Tanzanian counterpart Augustine Mahiga signed a deal lifting trade restrictions but Magufuli's government is yet to implement its end of the deal.

In the deal, Tanzania was to lift all restrictions on milk, milk products, and cigarettes while Kenya promised to lift restrictions on wheat flour and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).

The Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) on Thursday noted that Tanzania had still maintained a number of restrictions despite the Sunday deal.

KAM Chief Executive Phyllis Wakiaga stated that Kenyan traders who had set out to test the effectiveness of the deal found that some of the restrictions were still intact.

“We were told to export and see whether the restrictions still exist. We have just done that and found that some products such as margarine, ice cream, and tobacco can still not access the Tanzanian market,” she stated.

Other companies affected by the trade ban include another milk processor New KCC, cigarette manufacturer BAT, all the cement makers, Vivo Lubricants, which markets Shell lubricant brands and Bidco Oil Refineries.

The border woes started after Kenya blocked Tanzanian LPG and wheat flour from accessing the Kenyan market in June 2017.