BUSINESS & THE ECONOMY

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Tanzania no longer needs financial support from the International Monetary Fund according to IMF Deputy Managing Director Murilo Portugal quoted in the Guardian. He said that Tanzania had achieved strong growth and low inflation through macroeconomic policies in the past few years. He added that the external position had strengthened in recent years, and debt relief had reduced Tanzania’s external debt burden. He said the role of the Fund now would be to continue supporting Tanzania’s development of a sound macroeconomic policy framework and to encourage reforms in areas that are critical to securing higher and more sustainable growth. Much remained to be done for Tanzania to make greater inroads in reducing poverty and raising living standards especially in creating a business environment conducive to private investment. Continue reading →

THE TABORA GOLD COIN

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CoinThe Tabora Pound

In March 2007 a gold coin minted in German East Africa in 1916 was sold for £1,400 by the London auctioneers Dix Noonan Webb. Sometimes known as the ‘Tabora pound’, this coin has an interesting history.

At the beginning of 1916 the Governor of German East Africa, Dr Heinrich Schnee, was confident that the colony’s small army would continue to hold the Allied forces at bay. His immediate problem was the shortage of metallic currency caused by hoarding and the impossibility of getting fresh supplies of coins from Germany because of the Royal Navy’s blockade. That same blockade prevented the export of gold to Germany and the Governor decided to use Tanganyikan gold to mint coins locally. Continue reading →

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL REPORT

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Extracts from the Tanzanian section of the 2007 Annual Report of Amnesty International:
Journalists writing articles criticizing the government were at times harassed, threatened or arrested. Three journalists of Rai newspaper were arrested and charged in July. In August a Citizen journalist was arrested and threatened with being stripped of his citizenship and expelled from the country on account of an interview he gave in a documentary film about arms trafficking. Three visiting mainland journalists were briefly arrested in Zanzibar in September.

Female genital mutilation continued to be illegally practised in many rural areas on the mainland, with rates of over 80 per cent among some ethnic groups. No prosecutions were reported. The World Health Organization reported a high rate of domestic violence in Tanzania, with 30 per cent of victims suffering serious injuries due to severe beatings.
The government accepted the need to reduce severe overcrowding in prisons but little action was taken. The National Commission for Human Rights and Good Governance inspected mainland prisons and criticized harsh conditions, particularly the holding of juvenile prisoners together with adults. The Commission was still barred by the Zanzibar government from working or opening an office in Zanzibar.

The government ordered the deportation of all illegal immigrants who had failed to register or apply for citizenship. Deportations began of several thousand people originating from neighbouring countries such as Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda and Democratic Republic of the Congo who had lived in Tanzania for up to 15 years or longer. There were a much larger number of such people, some of whom were former refugees integrated into rural communities who had never regularized their status.
In August President Kikwete commuted all death sentences on mainland Tanzania to life imprisonment. The total number of commutations was not officially disclosed, but was estimated to be about 400. At the end of 2006, no one was under sentence of death in Tanzania.

STEALTH VIRUS

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NEW SCIENTIST (April 21) described how a farmer in Zanzibar, had a severe shock four years ago when he went to harvest his cassava (manioc). “The bushes looked healthy” he said, but when he dug up the tubers he found every last one had rotted away. “I had lost my entire crop. And we were hungry and I was desperate”.

What he didn’t know then was that his crop was the first known victim of a plague caused by a new and virulent strain of the ‘cassava brown streak virus’ that is now spreading across eastern and central Africa. Other pests and viruses that afflict cassava – notably the ‘cassava mosaic virus’, which has been advancing across East Africa since the late 1980s, leave visible marks on the foliage but always spare some of the crop.

Brown streak is a stealth virus. It has been known since 1935 when British scientists reported it in coastal Tanganyika but, until recently, it remained largely confined to Tanzania’s low-lying coastal plains. Now it has become much more virulent – apparently starting from this farm in Zanzibar. It is a threat to the whole of sub-Saharan Africa. According to the Institute for Tropical Agriculture’s branch in Dar es Salaam, cassava yield in Tanzania has fallen by between 50 and 80 per cent and during the past five years. The economic damage to farmers is conservatively estimated at more than $50 million a year.

The institute has cross-bred some of the local varieties in Zanzibar with other varieties that seem to tolerate the new virus. The first trials have been successful and some of the new varieties have now been released to farmers in Zanzibar so moving from trials to a fully operational project. Farmers in Zanzibar are clamouring for the new varieties especially a variety called Kiroba which is a favourite because of its sweet taste and smooth texture.
Thank you John Rollinson for sending this news – Editor

EAST AFRICA FEDERATION – A SLOW DOWN?

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As happens from time to time in the European Union, enthusiasts for a ‘fast tracking’ process to expedite progress towards the establishment of an East African Federation, are coming up against more and more opposition. Many Tanzanian MP’s have publicly declared their opposition to the establishment of such a federation by 2013 but, according to East African Cooperation Affairs Minister Ibrahim Msabaha in an interview with The Guardian, they had done so as individuals and not on behalf of the people they represented. Most of the delegates who contributed to a recent debate of legislators in Dodoma rejected the fast-tracking idea as a non-starter, saying the citizenry needed more time to evaluate the process before making a definitive stand that would take the nation’s interests into account. Dr Msabaha explained that the Government was not against legislator’s opinions so long as it was understood that they aired their views in their personal capacities and not by virtue of their being the official legislative representative of the people in their respective constituencies.

The fact that only a fraction of the legislators who gave their views were staunchly against the fast-tracking idea raised many questions. The dominant view among the MPs, just as is the case with the larger public, relates to fear of the possibility of Tanzania becoming a loser after the formation of the proposed federation.
Most people interviewed on the issue have said they do not see the need of having the federation at the moment because Tanzania is still lagging behind Kenya and Uganda in economic development and might end up being little more than a market for the goods they produce. Many recommended that the formation of the federation should get peoples’ consent, preferably through a referendum.

EAC Secretary General, Juma Mwapachu, was quoted as saying: “People are completely confused. What we are currently doing is not fast-tracking the East African Federation but fast-tracking the building blocs i.e. the customs union, common market, monetary union, and ultimately, the Federation itself. The time for a full-scale federation may be years ahead. It is something that cannot be decided now.”

CRIME

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Police in Arusha engaged in a six-hour gun battle on July 21 with suspected bandits believed to be behind the killing of a policeman at a bank robbery incident in Mwanga, Kilimanjaro earlier in the month. The gun battle started when police detectives working on a tip off stormed into a villa at around 5:00 am and had to open fire to try and force the bandits to surrender. However the bandits fired back and hundreds of local residents rushed to the scene to witness the battle. The bandits, who wore bullet-proof jackets surrendered six hours later. They begged for mercy and were arrested – Guardian.

Police in Dar es Salaam are holding a person found in possession of 223 elephant tusks apparently harvested from 112 elephants killed by poachers. They were being specially packed for export. In June last year two consignments worth $3,100,778, were traced as having originated from the Dar es Salaam port. They were packed in 18 boxes, loaded in a container and shipped to Korea.

The development came as MP’s, assembled in Dodoma for the National Assembly’s budget meeting, protested over reports of gross violation of hunting laws by both Tanzanians and foreigners and called for immediate intervention by the government to arrest the situation. Opposition MP’s decried what they called palpable lack of transparency and seriousness in the allocation of hunting blocks to local and foreign dealers.

Some MP’s said that the government had endlessly embraced foreign investors in the management of the tourism sector, ignoring local players “who contribute greatly to the sector’s development”.

FAITH NEWS

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According to the Muslim paper An-Nuur a plot has been hatched in the USA to introduce Islamic Studies in schools in such a way as to restrict the interpretation of the Koran. The idea was to turn Muslims into stooges of the West, also known as ‘moderates’. Under the scheme various governments, including the Tanzanian, had been ‘persuaded’ by the USA to adopt the curriculum.

An Nuur has also complained that in the 2007/08 intake for some twenty courses at the state-owned Dar es Salaam, Dodoma and Ardhi Universities not a single Muslim student had been selected. Subjects included were BA (History) and BSc (Computer Science). In the BA (Education) course there are only 26 Muslims out of 107 students. Dodoma University was said to be taking a total of 415 students of whom only 70 were Muslims.

According to Majira Muslims in Tanga are demanding that a secondary school teacher be expelled after controversial remarks he made during a General Study class. It is alleged that while discussing gender and culture with ‘A’ level students he said that Islam oppressed women. Citing an example, he said the Prophet Mohammed had married four wives and had five concubines. Muslim students then walked out and decided to boycott the class. The teacher was transferred.

An alcohol merchant of Asian descent was seriously injured after unknown people sprayed acid on him at his shop in Michenzani, Zanzibar. The assailants had covered their faces with stockings. A manhunt was said to be under way. According to Nipashe the attack was faith-motivated. Recently, Muslim activists have been complaining of ‘moral erosion’ through increasing influx of foreign influences.

NEW ANTI-CORRUPTION ACT

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A new ‘Prevention and Combating of Corruption Act, 2007’ has been passed by parliament and signed by President Kikwete.
The Law Reform Commission had earlier stated that the Prevention of Corruption Bureau (PCB) was not able to combat corruption effectively because of structural weaknesses, lack of government support and inadequacies in the previous Act of 1971. International donor agencies had also been pressing government to take action.

The new Act contains preventive and enforcement measures.
It establishes a new ‘Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau’ (PCCB) whose work will be overseen administratively by a Board comprising members drawn from the private sector, civil society and the general public.
The number of corruption offences which can result in prosecution has been substantially increased and now includes: corrupt contracts, procurement, auctions, employment, and bribery of foreign public officials, sexual favours, embezzlement, and conspiracy. It allows for the freezing of assets, protection of whistle-blowers and protection of witnesses and victims.
But many Tanzanians have been highly critical. Continue reading →

CIRCUMCISION THE SOLUTION ?

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The UN has begun to advocate mass male circumcision in HIV/Aids stricken Southern African nations. Several recent medical studies have confirmed that circumcision cuts the risk of HIV infection among men by 50-60 per cent, and the findings have been backed by UNAIDS.

However, in Tanzania, the Government remained cautious. “We cannot rush into this idea. We want to conduct a thorough study on the suggestions and get clear evidence before incorporating the idea in our HIV/Aids policy framework” said Health and Social Welfare Minister, Prof. David Mwakyusa. He admitted that the prevalence rate in certain coast and central areas in Tanzania was low due to male circumcision. “I am talking to experts who are meeting in Arusha. I hope they will come up with sound suggestions and advise the government accordingly” – Guardian.

The government has assured the public that, Rift Valley Fever, which had been widespread for more than five months, is now under total control.

HE DID NOTHING WRONG

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This is the story of Tanzanian man called Hitler and a place called Upendo.

HitlerHitler at the Upendo Centre in Arusha

Hitler is a gentle man, whose name is just another burden he bares in life. Hitler’s home was on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro. When he first contacted leprosy nobody in his village had any knowledge of what it was. When he started losing fingers and toes the villagers were afraid. Superstitious stories abounded until it all became too much for them. The whispering suddenly stopped as he drew near. His fellow villagers turned their backs. Nobody wanted to drink with him. Few patronised his shop. People who he had known all his life now treated him as a stranger. Continue reading →