MBS destroys 253 non-trade scales from the Northern region

MALAWI: The Malawi Bureau of Standards - MBS - destroyed at least 253 nontrade scales confiscated from vendors in Malawi's northern region on Thursday.

Monica Khombe, MBS Public Relations Officer (PRO), said that everyday officers from the bureau walk around shops and markets to ensure that scales vendors use are recommended for the sake of the average Malawian buyer.

"As Malawi Bureau of Standards, we had an inspection exercise for measuring instruments in shops and markets here in the northern region. And then we confiscated about 253 scales which we thought to be nontrade scales or were tampered with. So, we confiscated them and then we are having them destroyed today," said Khombe.

Khombe also stated that MBS-recommended scales bear the institution's stickers; therefore, buyers should always look for such stickers before purchasing any commodities weighed on the machines.

In response to the development, the Consumers Association of Malawi (Cama) Executive Director John Kapito stated that the institution is justified in doing what the laws allow.

However, the bureau must then find a long-term solution to the problem.

Kapito explained: "If the scales are not of the right standard, let them do according to the law and that's the duty of Malawi Bureau of Standards. But we must go further to say that what we should be doing is not snatching these weighing machines.

"What we should be doing is to control the importation of the machines so that they do not even come into the country and again make a serious improvement of the law that if anybody is found using nonstandard machines, they should be taken to court or be charged on-spot fines."

For the past two weeks, the bureau has confiscated and destroyed 950 scales across the country, with 357 scales destroyed in the Southern region and 339 destroyed in the Central region.