Food product depots in Butembo, North Kivu Province have been closed since Tuesday, January 30 as suppliers and transporters strike to protest the increase and the multiplicity of taxes in their supply zones.
The food suppliers and transporters in Lubero commune of Butembo have expressed their displeasure over the recent increase on several taxes by the new government.
“We have noticed a sudden increase in tax collected by the DGRNK (the general directorate of revenues of North Kivu, editor’s note) of more than 80%, which is why we are observing this strike.
The tax we paid at 90,000 FC but today we are asked to pay it at 400,000 FC for a vehicle load. This is why transporters and depositaries did not want to go to the Masereka, Kipese, Alimbongo and Kitchumbiro region today. We are on strike until the authority gets personally involved because we do not want to work at a loss,” said Kathembo Matsatsa, responsible for transporters and depositaries of food products in the city of Butembo.
Depots which were still open as of Tuesday on Avenue Bukavu, which houses important storage sites, had only around ten bags of food products were noted as the fear stock shortage grips the local population.
“We are going to stay at home until we find a solution to this problem of increasing the price of the tax,” insists Kathembo Matsatsa.
If the strike persists, Butembo, like other consumption centers in the region, could experience a stock shortage of food products, particularly potatoes and onions.
