By JUDITH NAMUTOWE –

ROLAND Imperial Tobacco Company Limited  has bemoaned that the high Excise Duty and lack of separation between locally produced cigarettes and imported cigarettes have caused disinvestment in the local manufacture of cigarettes.
This has also affected the investments in the upstream tobacco processing infrastructure in Zambia.  Whilst the neighbouring countries boast of abundant tobacco processing facilities, Zambia had none.
General manager manufacturing division Aliport Ngoma  said the growth of the illicit trade in tobacco products has increased alarmingly from non-existent a decade ago to the current levels in the industry.
Mr Ngoma said the Excise Duty increase to 145 per cent had resulted in the decline of the legal market by a significant amount and a rapid growth of the illegal market which was still growing.
“In neighboring countries, where the Excise Duty on imported cigarettes  are as lower than in Zambia and even much lower on locally produced cigarettes, the illicit trade or illegal market is less prevalent, compared to Zambia,” Mr Ngoma explained.
He noted that the issue of smuggling of cigarettes was of great concern to the company and its’ investments in this country.
“Some of the multinationals in the industry are masquerading as advisors to Government on illicit trade, have themselves been cited for the same in countries such as South Africa and the United Kingdom and there is documented evidence,” he said.
Mr Ngoma said a review of the tax applicable to locally produced and imported cigarettes be undertaken in order for Government to avoid being misled by such institutions.
He said Government should not to be blinded by current tax revenues on cigarettes but to adopt a strategic growth tax policy that will promote or encourage investment in the tobacco processing infrastructure, and abandon the current consumption tax policy which only encourages and protects the interests of traders, both small and multinational.
He said this only serves to create jobs in countries where the cigarettes are produced at the expense of Zambians.