Standards body closes down fake wine factory

A factory that has been making substandard banana wine in Murama cell, Kinyinya sector in Gasabo district has been closed by the Rwanda Bureau of Standards (RBS).About 10,000 litres of Dukeshinkera Banana Wine worth millions of francs were also impounded.Philip Nzaire, the RBS quality assurance director, said the wine produced by Dukeshinkera and Dushime Banana Wines did not meet standards.He added that the managing director of the firm, Beatrice Mukashyaka, was using fake documents she claimed to have obtained from the standards body. “The wine is full of molasses, which makes it unfit for human consumption,” Nzaire said, adding that Mukashyaha would be prosecuted for endangering people’s lives.He warned manufacturers to always observe standards as prescribed by RBS or risk losing their businesses. However, Mukashyaka insisted that she was producing according to standards, arguing that she got the idea of starting up the business from RBS.Selemani Semana, the Murama cell chairman, advised RBS to always engage local authorities if the problem of selling or producing fake goods is to be stopped. “We knew she was selling genuine wine because whenever we came to inspect the factory for hygiene, she would present these documents…since we cannot tell the difference between the fake and genuine ones, there was nothing we could do about it. RBS should sensitise local authorities to understand these issues,” Semana said.He said the factory had been operating for months now.Last month, Mark Cyubahiro Bagabe, the standards body director general, warned importers and makers of fake goods, saying RBS would not allow Rwanda to be turned into a dumping ground of counterfeit products.