“Mchina kazua balaa” is
the term in Swahili which means the Chinese has caused disasters; recently the
saying has been common among Tanzanians. I remember it was back in 2007 it was
the first time to witness my first counterfeit phone. It was the final of the
Europe champion’s league final the football match of Manchester United Vs
Chelsea. We just lost the power in the whole city of Dar es salaam and everyone
was anxious to see the match. Just outside the place I was watching football,
there was this guy standing with a Nokia phone having a TV channel on it which
was showing the football match live. Actually it was not a Nokia phone since I
googled all the Nokia products which were launched that time and even the
previous versions but I didn’t manage to get it. That was my first experience
of the so called “Mchina phones” meaning the Chinese phone officially
counterfeit phones.
These day the counterfeits phones
have become a normal thing in cities and rural areas for all those people who
cannot afford to by original phones are going for the fake phones which look
exactly like the original phones in terms of shape and appearance the only
difference most of the time being the mobile phone content.
I was
shocked when I heard that Kenya are in the war with counterfeit phone at least
they wake me up and realize these stuffs are illegal and most of us frankly
speaking we don’t know, especially local people in our towns and cities. A
normal person in the street doesn’t know how much the government is lost in
terms of revenue due to these phones existence in the market and the problems
which might come out while using these phones.
Nokia: Fake mobile phones glut Ugandan market - Independent http://bit.ly/P7MWS1
Actually in
Tanzania no one has come out in public and condemn the usage of these phones to
the public. I don’t the reason why but I believe we have the responsibility to
help the communities to realize the trap they are falling into. For us, guys
with tech background are so difficult to fall in the trap. Most of us we know
the secret codes to test wither the phone is genuine or not.
Kenya is
intending to remove all counterfeit phones from the market by September 2012
and awareness campaigns have been conducted to help people to migrate from
these fake phones including helping them to realize the difference between the
fake phones and original ones. 3 million mobile phones in Kenya are counterfeit
phones this means that 10 percent of all the phones available in the local
mobile phone market is counterfeit phones according to Communication Commission
for Kenya (CCK). The movement “Pata Ukweli wa Mtambo” has been established
the Swahili terms meaning “Get the truth about the gadget” have been conducted
in the cities to help people to be aware about the counterfeit phones and be
able to fight against them.
The phones
have been infringing the manufacturer copy rights and also leaving the
government broke since there is a loss of income due to these phones. According
to Kenya anti counterfeit act it is an offence to manufacture, produce, sell,
hire out, barter or exchange a counterfeit item. It is also an offence to exhibit,
distribute or import counterfeit phone. We play for the laws to be implemented
and work practically so has to protect the market and ensure us with more safe
and reliable product. If I were to give the advice to the government of
Tanzania about these fake phones on where to start, I could have told them
first go to Kariakoo and close all those shop which are selling fake phones.