The Bishop of Mpapwa, the Rt. Rev. Simon Chiwanga, Chairman of the Anglican Consultative Council made history at the opening service of the Lambeth Conference at Canterbury Cathedral on July 19 when he preached the sermon. On all previous such occasions the sermon has been given by the host, the Archbishop of Canterbury. He told his 800 fellow bishops in the cathedral that the world today is in desperate need of a community of Christ-like ‘believable believers’. Speaking of conflict in many parts of the world, he said that people were hungry for Christ’s love and compassion. The church, he said, needed to turn itself inside out, from inward-looking pastoral concerns to outward-looking missionary activity. The church should reach out to the poor, the lame, the broken-hearted, and the sinner. The service was international in flavour, representing the multicultural nature of Anglicanism, which is established in 160 countries.
There should be an improvement in the state of many of the open spaces in Dar es Salaam following a decision to make the Tanzania Union for the Conservation of Nature (TUCONA) responsible for the rehabilitation, conservation and management of 13 open spaces including Mnazi Mmoja, Jangwani, Tabata, Msasani and the Village Museum.
MP’s have been complaining that a new beer, ‘The Kick’ which has 7% alcohol, instead of the more normal 5%, is too strong for users. Two bottles are said to be equivalent to six bottles of ‘Safari’ beer – the African.
Tanzanian High Commissioner in London, Dr A Shareef, who is a computer expert has congratulated ‘Tanzania Standard Newspapers’ for entering the internet and the ‘fast lane world’. He said that he now felt well informed on current issues in Tanzania and did not have to wait for the arrival of newspapers, sometimes a month late. He revealed that the High Commission’s own web site is: http://www.tanzania-online.gov.uk and invited readers of the ‘Daily News’ to visit the site.
Responding to a question in parliament, Deputy Minister for Home Affairs Major Sigela Mswima, said that he would be prepared to start using horses and donkeys in the fight against crime in rural areas if they were proved to be effective.
The abandoned shipwrecks in Dar es Salaam harbour which have been an eyesore for many years are finally going to be removed. They have been used by drug dealers, for storage of food by street vendors and as living quarters for criminals – East African.
Tanzanian boxer Rashid Matumla defeated German boxer Orhan Ajavzoski in two minutes and 34 seconds of the sixth round on in Dar es Salaam on June 27 and can now claim a match for the World Boxing Union international light middleweight title.
The first ten volumes of ‘Tanzania Law Reports’ covering the period 1983 to 1992 have been launched and are available in print and on CD-rom as a result of a combined effort involving the World Bank, the Law Report Board, the University of Dar es Salaam, Juta and Co. of S. Africa and the Dar es Salaam publisher ‘Mkuki wa Nyota’.
There are 112 Tanzanians and 231 non-Tanzanians working in Tanzanian embassies abroad – answer to a question in parliament – Daily News.
Indonesian administrative attache Sugeng Sugiyono was given 48 hours to leave the country. He was accused of having in his personal effects 19 leopard skins, 12 elephant tusks, a crocodile skin, a python skin and nine objects made from ivory. This is the third time since 1989 that an Indonesian has been found in a similar act – Daily News.
Chief Justice Francis Nyalali has said that the magistrate in Kasanga who sentenced to death the dog ‘immigration’ (TA No 60) erred in law (the magistrate was still on probation) because he had the dog killed before there had been time for an appeal. There was no law in Tanzania on the naming of animals. The Tanzania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals had earlier won an appeal and allowed the dog owner to claim for compensation. Justice Nyalali praised the media for bringing this matter to people’s attention as it concerned people’s rights.
Dar es Salaam has another new hotel of quality. The Hotel Sea Cliff is situated in a spectacular position on top of the cliff at the north eastern point of the Msasani peninsula at the end of Toure Drive, 11 kms from the city centre and 22 kms from the international airport. Beautifully finished, the hotel has 70 rooms and suites; its three conference rooms accommodate up to 100 persons. The attractive garden has a large swimming pool and there is a professionally equipped and expertly managed Fitness Centre. The ‘Dhow Restaurant’ offers international cuisine and there is an Afro-Mediterranean restaurant and bar situated on the edge of the coral cliff overlooking the Indian Ocean.
Abdallah Said Fundikira (38), the son of Tanzania’s first Minister of Justice, Chief Abdallah Said Fundikira, an airport immigration officer, has been acquitted after being accused of forging a Tanzania citizenship certificate for an alleged Shs 200,000. The magistrate said that Fundikira had no case to answer.
District Commissioners came under heavy fire from both the President and the Prime Minister at a recent seminar in Dodoma. President Mkapa accused them of taking no action in the face of humiliation and harassment being suffered by villagers at the hands of ward and village executive officers. He criticised drunkenness, the use of abusive language and promiscuity among their ranks. The following day Prime Minister Sumaye said that the presentations of development reports by DC’s, particularly on agriculture, were grossly unsatisfactory. They lacked clear targets, projections and strategies towards achieving the targets. “We can’t run the government by mere words” he said. Some of the DC’s were reported in the ‘Daily News’ to have been fumbling with their figures, excusing themselves for having no data and sneaking out of the meeting to search for data. The Prime Minister told one DC that what he was presenting was ‘porojo’ (aimless words). The DC for Bukombe said that the civil service was not dogged by its present structure but by hypocrisy, sadism and boot-licking. Leaders who were too loyal and treated their superiors as demigods prospered while competent, firm and ‘unsaying ones’ were frustrated. “Shikamoos are used as criteria to weigh up leaders” he said.
Some 11,000 house crows have been killed in Dar es Salaam during the last 12 months according to the Tanzania Wildlife Conservation Society. But they remained a great threat to people’s health. The Indian crows, which came in the latter part of the 19th century and are estimated to number 400,000, scavenge at rubbish dumps and contaminate water in wells. They are aggressive predators of local birds and domestic poultry – Daily News.
At a meeting on the proposed East African Road Network at Arusha in May, Minister for Works Mrs Anna Abdullah said that her government had increased its revenues for the Road Fund from Shs 3.75 billion in 1991 to Shs 35 billion by the middle of this year. The revenue came from fuel levy and other duties on motor vehicles, licenses, registration and transfer fees. The government would set up in this financial year a National Roads Agency (TANROADS) to undertake management and maintenance of the roads network. It would be monitored by a government/private sector board. Included in the first phase would be the Dar es Salaam-Dodoma-Isaka-Mutukula Corridor.