Africa-Press – Tanzania. THE Immigration Department has quashed what they termed as false claims by a local newspaper that also went viral on social media, that some private-sector employers were employing foreign expatriates with questionable work permits.
In an interview with the ‘Daily News’ Immigration Department Spokesperson, Mr Paul Mselle described the claims as misleading, baseless, unfounded and only meant to tarnish the country’s image globally.
He was reacting to a report that cited SBC Tanzania Limited as one of the companies with foreign expatriates holding doubtful work permits.
“The department calls for responsible reporting… there are no foreign employees withinSBC Tanzania Limited that produces cold beverages or any other company working while holding a controversal or doubtful work permits.
“Such claims are aimed at sabotaging the country’s economy by lowering investors’ confidence,” he said. However, he pointed out that the right information should always be verified with parties involved to be balanced, before release to public as responsible media ethics require.
The Immigration Spokesperson added that spreading misleading information was not acceptable, because it is not friendly to the government’s efforts of wooing investors to create local jobs and boosting the economy.
Elaborating, Mr Mselle described the case of SBC Tanzania Limited that it had only three foreign staff, who had their permits revoked in February this year by the labor commission over various disciplinary issues.
He said the trio were subsequently extradited from the country but one of them appealed and was re-permitted lawfully to work after the Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office (Labor Youth and Disabled) Mr Patrobas Katambi granted his appeal.
“The deputy minister granted the appeal and this employee was allowed to work in the country holding the same position at the company,” he added.
Commenting, Head of Corporate Affairs Department at SBC Tanzania Alexander Nyirenda said that the report was misleading and intended to tarnish the company’s name, yet the company is in business legally.
“To date, we have already invested around 250 Million US dollars in business and our company is part of a global value chain of trades…such misleading nefarious-driven pronouncement in media outlets has negative impact to our partners within and outside Tanzania.
“In the year 2020-2021, the company paid taxes to the government amounting to 51bn/- and that there was no way it could risk its credibility by indulging in unlawful acts,” he pointed out.
