PCCB warns civil servants against graft

THE Prevention and Combating of Corruption (PCCB) has warned civil servants in municipal councils not to solicit bribes during service delivery.
Head of PCCB in Handeni District, Tanga Region, Esta Mulima made the statement during her address at the ethics seminar for civil servants including councilors and heads of departments. She noted that corruption was rampant at district and municipal level, hence the need to fight the vice.
She asserted that there are civil servants in some municipal councils who cannot offer services to the people without asking for a bribe, which is against the public services ethics. She insisted that it is the right of every citizen to get proper services from public offices.
Mulima said: “I have received complaints from female workers as they are being asked for sexual bribery by their supervisors so they can be promoted, get a job transfer or permission to go for further studies”.
She said the second group of people that have been facing troubles in accessing services are those bidding for tenders at municipal councils, since they have been complaining of being forced to offer bribes to municipal directors and heads of departments to be able to win certain announced tenders.
Deputy Secretary of the Ethics Secretariat in the eastern zone who was coordinating the seminar, Getrude Cyriacus said that apart from engaging in corruption, most of them cannot keep the government secrets.
According to Getrude, some servants have been circulating information discussed in high level meetings of the government. She urged councilors to avoid politicizing some issues something which is against their profession.
Handeni District Commissioner, Godwin Gondwe said in his opening remarks that no civil servant is expected to violate his/her work ethics after the seminar since each of the servants especially directors and heads of departments are now aware of their duties.

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Wednesday, February 22, 2017 No Comments

Mbowe finally shows up

CHADEMA national chairman and official opposition leader in parliament, Freeman Mbowe, yesterday afternoon reported to the Central Police Station in Dar es Salaam for interrogation after initially refusing to heed a controversially-issued summons in connection to allegations of his involvement in illicit drugs.
Mbowe was initially called upon to visit the station by Dar es Salaam regional commissioner Paul Makonda about two weeks ago, after the RC named him in a list of prominent people with alleged links to the narcotics trade.
CHADEMA’s head of communications Tumaini Makene told The Guardian yesterday: “He (Mbowe) was on his way to the Central Police Station when he met the police along the way, and they (police) decided to escort him the rest of the way.”

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Tuesday, February 21, 2017 No Comments

Mbowe finally shows up

CHADEMA national chairman and official opposition leader in parliament, Freeman Mbowe, yesterday afternoon reported to the Central Police Station in Dar es Salaam
for interrogation after initially refusing to heed a controversially-issued summons in connection to allegations of his involvement in illicit drugs.
Mbowe was initially called upon to visit the station by Dar es Salaam regional commissioner Paul Makonda about two weeks ago, after the RC named him in a list of prominent people with alleged links to the narcotics trade.
CHADEMA’s head of communications Tumaini Makene told The Guardian yesterday: “He (Mbowe) was on his way to the Central Police Station when he met the police along the way, and they (police) decided to escort him the rest of the way.”
According to Makene, the police met Mbowe in the Kawe area near Mlalakuwa Bridge.
The Hai member of parliament is among 65 people ‘summoned’ by RC Makonda for police questioning as part of a new crackdown on narcotics use and dealing.
Makonda said the people he named were suspected of being involved in the illegal narcotics trade, either as users, pushers, or contact persons.
Mbowe has several times vehemently denied the allegations, arguing that it is the duty of the authorities to verify such speculations before naming people in public.
Some other prominent people named and ‘summoned’ by Makonda included Bishop Josephat Gwajima of the Glory Christ Church, and local businessman Yusuf Manji.
Both have already reported to the police and undergone interrogation. While
Gwajima was eventually released, Manji was later arraigned in court on charges of using illicit drugs.
Several local entertainment celebrities have also been nabbed in the ongoing anti-narcotics crackdown. They include a former winner of the Miss Tanzania pageant, Wema Issac Sepetu, who was also formally charged in court of being found in possession of narcotics.
President John Magufuli has voiced his support for the latest anti-drugs war, saying nobody should be spared regardless of public status or popularity.
Magufuli recently presided over the establishment of the Drug Control and Enforcement Authority (DCEA), naming seasoned security officer Rogers Sianga as its first commissioner general, in a move obviously aimed at enhancing chances of eventually winning the anti-drugs war.
The new DCEA chief, Sianga, has said the agency’s first move will be to supply the Chief Justice the names of judges and magistrates believed to be undermining the war by mishandling cases that involve narcotics.
Sianga has also been handed a dossier containing 97 new names of suspected drug barons and kingpins within and outside the country, compiled by Dar es Salaam regional authorities under Makonda’s direction.
Unlike Makonda, he has not made the list public.
Tanzania has long been recognised as a major transit point for international drug trafficking activities, but corruption has in the past been an enormous barrier to effective anti-narcotics enforcement
.
Drug traffickers are known to use their considerable financial resources to influence politicians, law enforcement officers, and others in positions of power to turn the other cheek.
Constitutional Affairs and Justice Minister Harrison Mwakyembe has described the current anti-drugs crusade as very tough, noting that given the immense power and resources that drug barons wield, it could definitely turn ugly.

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Govt urged to increase number of the sober homes

Speaking separately with this paper over the weekend, Jonas Kessy, one of the recovering drug addicts said the centres have played crucial roles in doing away with drug addiction and indulgence.
The 30-year-old, who is also a volunteer with Dunia Moja Pamoja (DPM) a Non Government Organisation that creates public awareness on the dangers of drug addiction called on the government to support sober houses in the country.
“Sober homes should never be closed because they have helped us recover from addiction, instead the government needs to support these centres in fighting the vice,” he argued.
Kessy who was addicted at the age of 14, insisted that sober houses were the only solace for drug addicts to recover as they embark on journeys and missions of fighting drug abuse.
Kassim Hashim, another drug addict from DPM said if it was not for the sober houses, he would still be using the outlawed drugs.
“I have been to a sober house before and I can testify how these homes are trying to reshape us,” he said.
According to Kassim, it was easy for a drug addict to change and do away with the addiction when put in a sober house than be put in a jail.
The drug addicts also took time to commend authorities for instituting crackdown on narcotics, urging the national security and defense forces to apprehend all suspects irrespective of their status.
They have also called on the government to increase number of the sober houses in the country.

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Samia to grace historic Nile Day Celebrations

VICE President Samia Suluhu Hassan is on Wednesday expected to grace the annual Nile Day celebration, to commemorate the establishment of the 18-year-old Nile Basin Initiative (NBI), organisers said over the weekend.
Assistant director of water resources (Transboundary) in the Ministry of Water and Irrigation, Sylvester Matemu said that the day marked a major milestone in the history of Nile Cooperation.
He said that this year’s event is themed: “Our Shared Nile - Source of Energy, Food and Water for All” which links between water-food-energy nexus, livelihoods and economic development are quite visible in the Nile Basin countries.
NBI is an intergovernmental partnership of ten Nile Basin countries, namely Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, and The Sudan.
“This is an important opportunity for NBI to enhance awareness and understanding among participants and Nile Basin citizens about the inter-relatedness as well as the importance of sustainable basin-wide Nile cooperation in ensuring energy, food and water security in the region,” the official said.
According to Matemu, the day also serves as an opportunity to enhance awareness about the benefits of basin-wide Nile cooperation, the challenges as well as consequences of non-cooperation, while searching ways and means to further the cooperation. This is in addition to exposing participants to the rich and varied cultures, which exist within the Nile Basin.
He said that activities will include public speeches, a brass band procession in the commercial capital, Dar es Salaam is expected to be a major attraction.
The event is expected to attract various NBI stakeholders including Ministers in charge of Water Affairs in each Member State, government officials, Members of Parliament, Researchers and Academia. Others are civil society, media, women, youth, children and the general public.
NBI executive director, Innocent Ntabana said: “Celebrated at both regional and national level since 2007, Nile Day provides an opportunity for Nile Basin citizens to come together to exchange on topical issues concerning how to best take care of and use the shared Nile Basin water and related resources for the benefit of current and future generations.”
He said that the day also serves as an opportunity to enhance awareness about the benefits of basin-wide Nile cooperation, the challenges as well as consequences of non-cooperation while searching ways and means to further the cooperation.
On the lighter note, Ntabana said that the day serves to expose participants to the rich and varied cultures, which exist within the Nile Basin.
The regional Nile Day events began in 2007 in Kigali, Rwanda; Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in 2008; Bujumbura, Burundi in 2009; Kabale, Uganda in 2010; Goma, DR Congo in 2011; Jinja, Uganda in 2012; Bahir Dar, Ethiopia in 2013; Kampala, Uganda in 2014; Khartoum, The Sudan in 2015; Vihiga County, Kisumu - Kenya in 2016.

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Monday, February 20, 2017 No Comments

Gold miner, TRA in talks to resolve major tax claim

TANZANIA'S largest gold producer, Acacia Mining Plc (formerly known as African Barrick Gold), is in talks with the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) and other government authorities to try to resolve a major new dispute on whether or not the UK-registered firm has a taxable presence in Tanzania.
The latest tax confusion involving Acacia Mining comes against the backdrop of a robust tax evasion crackdown instigated by President John Magufuli since coming into office in November 2015.
Although all of the mining firm's gold-producing operations are from three large-scale mines in Tanzania - Bulyanhulu, North Mara and Buzwagi, respectively - the company is headquartered in London. TRA is seeking to levy taxes on the company as a resident firm in Tanzania.
Acacia Mining chief executive officer Brad Gordon confirmed the apparent impasse in a statement last week when announcing the company's 2016 financial results, saying:
"We are (…) dealing with claims to levy taxes in Tanzania on the UK-registered Acacia Mining Plc, which we believe have no basis in law given this company is tax resident and permanently established in the UK."
"Given the materiality of the amounts being claimed, we are also addressing a constructive resolution of these issues as part of our ongoing engagement with the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) as well as at a senior level in the government."
According to Gordon, the company has also been embroiled in several other legal tussles with TRA over the past year on claims of back-tax payments.
"During 2016, there have continued to be a number of tax cases that are being dealt with in the court system in Tanzania which we are seeking to resolve," The Acacia Mining CEO said.
He added: "As communicated earlier in the year, we recorded a tax provision of $69.6 million in respect of historic capital deductions at Bulyanhulu, North Mara and Tulawaka as a result of a (Tanzania) Court of Appeal ruling."
In April last year, the Tax Revenue Appeals Tribunal accused Acacia Mining of tax evasion and ordered the company to pay $41.25 million (over 90 billion/-) to TRA in withholding tax.
Acacia vigorously denied the tax-dodging claims, saying the tribunal's judgment was "fundamentally flawed."
Kigoma Urban member of parliament Zitto Kabwe, from the opposition ACT-Wazalendo party, was among the first persons to raise the issue of Acacia's tax residence status in Tanzania.
In a public statement way back in 2011, Zitto asserted that Acacia Mining (then known as African Barrick Gold, or ABG) should pay revenues as a ‘tax resident’ in Tanzania because all its gold-producing operations were within the country.
"You will take a strong note that while all ABG operations are in Tanzania, it is Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (in the UK) collecting its corporate tax," the MP said at the time.
He added: "ABG has designed Tanzania (Dar es Salaam) as a logistics office, while Johannesburg is largely a procurement office and London is the HQ. This structural design is one of the ways used by multi-national corporations (MNCs) to minimise tax payments to developing countries."
Tanzania is Africa's fourth-largest gold producer, and also has vast deposits of natural gas, coal, diamonds, uranium and gemstones.
Addressing members of the judiciary in Dar es Salaam earlier this month, President Magufuli ordered the courts to enforce payment of tax claims worth more than 7.5 trillion/- from big businesses in the country, including mining companies.
Big companies remain the government’s main source of tax revenue because Tanzania’s large informal economy still goes basically untaxed.
Without naming any particular company, Magufuli said: "It is unacceptable that an investor is extracting our minerals but not paying taxes. That investor was taken to court and lost both the case and the appeal, yet still refuses to pay the taxes."
According to the president, the failure by various firms to pay 7.5tr/- worth of taxes even after losing tax claim cases against them in the courts was hurting the country's economy.
But according to Acacia Mining's CEO, the company pays its fair share of taxes in Tanzania.
"As a major contributor to the Tanzanian economy, we were pleased to be able to increase our contribution during 2016 through incurring a corporate tax charge amounting to $55 million," Gordon said in last week's statement.
He added that "this was a result of the strong performance at North Mara”, and included an agreement to pre-pay $20 million of cash corporate taxes.
“Our increase in tax payments, which when added to royalties of $47 million, payroll taxes of $40 million and other taxes of approximately $20 million, provides a significant contribution to the Tanzanian government's aim of self-funding the national budget," Gordon stated.
The international law firm Squire Patton Boggs said in a recent note to clients that where a company is treated as tax resident in two jurisdictions and a double tax treaty between those two jurisdictions exists, the treaty will determine which jurisdiction has the right to tax the company.
"If there is no tax treaty, however, the company could be treated as tax resident in both countries. This resulted in a problem for Acacia as there is no double tax treaty between the UK and Tanzania," said the law firm.
It added: "To show that Acacia was liable to tax in Tanzania, however, the Tanzania Revenue Authority would have to show that the company had a taxable presence in Tanzania.”
“Acacia was not incorporated in Tanzania but, for the purposes of Tanzanian tax law, the company could still be treated as resident if it could be shown to be 'formed under the laws' of Tanzania."

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Mugabe, 93, says Zimbabweans see no replacement for him

ZIMBABWEAN President Robert Mugabe, who turns 93 tomorrow, has no plans to give up power, saying he has no “acceptable” successor in place.
“The call to step down must come from my party, my party at congress, my party at central committee,” Mugabe said in excerpts from a radio broadcast that will air this week and that were printed in the state-owned Sunday Mail newspaper.
“But then what do you see? It’s the opposite. They want me to stand for elections.”
“The majority of the people feel that there is no replacement, a successor who to them is acceptable, as acceptable as I am,” he added.
Mugabe, who has kept an iron grip on power since Zimbabwe declared independence in 1980, has repeatedly denied reports of health problems, fuelled in part by frequent trips to Dubai and Singapore.
He once quipped that he would rule until he turned 100.
“Of course if I feel that I can’t do it any more, I will say so to my party so that they relieve me. But for now, I think I can’t say so,” he said.
But Mugabe, long known for his fiery speeches, has appeared unusually subdued in recent public appearances, speaking slowly and keeping his addresses short.
In September, he read a speech to parliament, apparently unaware that he had delivered the same address a month earlier.
Zimbabwe’s economy has crumbled during Mugabe’s rule, and opponents of his regime are brutally repressed by security forces.
Inflation is rampant, and in recent months the country has experienced cash shortages, with the government struggling to pay civil servants.
In December, however, Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party endorsed him once again as its candidate for 2018 elections, but rival factions in the party are already jostling to succeed him.
He surprised many in the party in 2014 by naming his wife Grace as head of its influential women’s wing, spurring rumours that she could be nursing her own presidential ambitions.
And last week, Grace Mugabe, 51, appeared to dash any opponent’s hopes for succeeding him, saying voters would continue to back Mugabe even when he is dead.
“One day when God decides that Mugabe dies, we will have his corpse appear as a candidate on the ballot paper,” she said.
“You will see people voting for Mugabe as a corpse.”
In the broadcast, Mugabe applauded US President Donald Trump for promoting nationalist policies that he said echoed his “Zimbabwe for Zimbabweans” stance.
“But he is a radical. I don’t know whether the construction of the wall between America and Mexico is feasible, a feasible proposal. It appears quite nasty.”

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Tabora youths now eye business opportunities in E. Africa region

A NUMBER of youths around the country are involved in various productive activities, but they always find it hard to find business opportunities that will link them to the East African region.
But in Tabora municipality youths have begun responding positively to the challenge that implores them to rise up and exploit business opportunities found in the East African region, thanks to the Foundation for Civil Society (FCS) sensitization campaigns.
Among the beneficiaries of the non government organization FCS lessons includes Juma Mlanda, Halima Ally and Mariam Ibrahim who are currently in the process of registering their businesses with Business Registrations and Licensing Agency (BRELA) to formalize their activities.
The three business people deals in processing honey, moringa leaves and seeds, coffee, growing and processing mushrooms, making mango peaco, and peanut plus a retailing shop.
Halima Ally says preparations were also underway to certify their products with Tanzania Foods and Drugs Authority (TFDA), and Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS).
They also include securing Barcode labels to enable people to identify proprietors of the products.
"The Seminar conducted by FCS has transformed us and we now aim higher by ensuring that we take our products to East African regional market," explains Halima.
However, Mlanda hinted that plans were underway to establish a special small-scale honey processing section, adding that they had plans to approach SIDO management for financial and technical assistance.
According to the upcoming entrepreneurs, future plans include securing their own beehives for beekeeping, instead of buying honey from beekeepers who have been registered with the Ministry of Natural Resources.
However, Ibrahim said the challenge ahead was that many youths in Tabora were quite unaware on the available EAC business and trade opportunities.
"We, as young people have said we should not give up; we should start with ourselves to show an example by improving our business. In so doing it will be easier to convince other youths to come out and share experience," says Ibrahim.
This has been made possible by the Foundation for Civil Society (FCS) through sensitising campaigns on the trade related issues.
A quick assessment carried out recently by the Foundation in the region has noted that beneficiaries of the training have begun improving their ways of doing business.
The aim of the FCS seminar held in Dar es salaam from October 21-25, 2016 and attended by youth representatives from all over the country was to enable young people to understand the importance of formalizing their businesses, a step that would also help them access East African market easily.
The youths attended the seminar through the invitation of Tanzania Women Chamber of Commerce (TWCC) and another Non -Governmental Organization registered as KijaniKibichi.
According to Ms Ibrahim, they reached a decision to join forces with other members to have stronger voice in trade negotiation.
"When we join forces to become a strong group it is easier for us to access bank loan that will enable us raise enough capital for our business, because the serious challenge we face right now is how to raise capital," Ibrahim says.
Ibrahim said as part of improving their ways of doing business they have gone an extra step to employ a person who manages all activities as opposed to the past when everything came to a standstill and office closed when they travelled outside their area.

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Mbowe make the History to police station

This is so because things like cars are such scarce commodity that you only get to see one when some regional officials decide to visit your village probably rarely.

 People call you primitive and backward, but you take courage because in reality you are very informed of what goes on around the other parts of the country and the world from the radio.
So informed that you at the end of the day make it big in school and end up as with a PhD and land a job as a Director General of a public broadcasting Corporation, living long enough to tell the story.
Thanks to the power of the radio, one of the most affordable and reachable media outlet for the underprivileged, marginalized and what have you.
This narration is one of the many good things shared during the commemoration of the World Radio Day at a ceremony organized by UNESCO in Dar es Salaam recently. In there, was the TBC DG Dr. Ayoub Rioba to share his story over how as a young boy he had gone grazing with the radio with its listeners banking to it by 100 percent.

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Gambling fever grips Tanzania

GAMBLING on football has become a huge and growing industry in Tanzania worth billions of shillings per year, but there are now serious concerns over how the youth are getting addicted to sports betting with devastating consequences.
A survey by The Guardian on Sunday has revealed that sports betting shops are cropping up rapidly in all the country’s major urban centres as more and more Tanzanians, especially young males below the age of 30, get hooked to gambling.
Tanzania has a strong football fan base, making it a potentially huge market for sports betting. Gambling activities usually peak during weekends when popular football leagues around the world such as the English Premier League, Spain's La Liga and the German Bundesliga host soccer matches.
Driven by their love for foreign football leagues and high poverty and unemployment levels, thousands of youths across Tanzania are increasingly turning to gambling.
Some of the companies that offer sports betting services in Tanzania include PremierBet, Supabets, M-Bet, MkekaBet, William Hill and other firms.
A member of Parliament, Asha Abdullah Juma, warned the government in the recently-concluded parliamentary session that gambling addiction among youths has now become a national crisis.
The MP wanted to know what the government was doing to curtail the ongoing rapid proliferation of sports betting shops. She noted that gambling addiction was wrecking havoc in many families in the country, where parents are having to deal with increasingly anti-social behaviour of their children as a result of betting.
The lawmaker said the country's youths, mostly young men, were spending too much time in sports betting shops instead of engaging themselves in education or some productive activity.
However, Deputy Minister for Finance and Planning Dr Ashatu Kijaji defended sports betting shops, casinos and slot machines, saying they were licensed to operate in the country by the Gaming Board of Tanzania.
According to results of the national 2012 census, a staggering 80 per cent of Tanzania’s estimated population of 50 million is aged 35 years or below.
This means that given the massive popularity of European football leagues in the country, potentially millions of Tanzanians are at risk of becoming sports betting addicts. These favourable demographics have enticed dozens of international and local companies to open all manner of gambling businesses in the country targeting youths and middle class Tanzanians.
An addictive game
Some of the sports betting companies in Tanzania post photos at their establishments of youths who bet a few thousand shillings on football matches but ended up winning tens of millions of shillings.
They also do publicity campaigns in the local media whenever someone wins a big amount of money to entice more Tanzanians to start gambling. But what they don't say is that the incidents where lucky few punters win millions of shillings are actually few and far between.
But such rags-to-riches stories lure dozens of youths to spend their meagre income on sports betting. However, for every single punter who wins, thousands more across Tanzania lose the bets and their incomes.
Huruka Suleiman, a 30-year-old resident of Kijitonyama suburb in Dar es Salaam told The Guardian on Sunday that he has become addicted to sports betting along with many of his friends, forcing him to spend a major segment of his income on the game of chance of predicting the outcome of football matches.
“A friend of mine taught me how to do it. He once bet for European premier league matches and won a huge sum of money,” he said, adding:
“Since then the cash that my friend won has always tempted me to go to betting shops every week to try my luck.”
However, for Suleiman the gambling activity has left him with constant disappointment from one day to the next.
“I only win a few shillings once in a while, but I have lost so much money from gambling. I still continue to gamble even today because I know one day I will win big - just like my friend,” he said.
He said he was now spending up to three-quarters of his monthly income on gambling, especially during English Premier League football matches on weekends.
Suleiman admits that his sports gambling addiction has denied his family money for upkeep and development, saying he often quarrels with his wife over finances.
“My wife often inquires how I have spent my salary, because it hardly reaches mid-month due to the money I invest in sports betting,” he said.
The self-confessed sports addict cautions other youths like him to be very careful before they decide to involve themselves in gambling because it can ruin their lives and their future.
“Youths need to focus their minds on studies and development initiatives and not on gambling like I do,” he said, adding that without proper guidance gambling is very dangerous to their lives.
Another Dar es Salaam resident, John Makungwa, said he too spends thousands of shillings of his income each week on sports betting, but was yet to win any big amount of money.
Money spinner
Despite complaints that gambling addiction was potentially ruining the lives of many young Tanzanians, sports betting is said to be contributing about Sh1.6 billion each month to government coffers in terms of taxes.
Acting Director General of the Gaming Board of Tanzania James Mbalwe told the Guardian on Sunday that revenue collections from casinos, slot machines and sports betting have been booming, often times surpassing targets.
“Previously, at least 80 per cent of the total revenues from gaming would come from casinos, but it has since been overtaken by sports betting,” he said.
Mbalwe said gaming activities were contributing around Sh2 billion per month in revenue, adding that there were currently at least 13 registered sports betting operators in the country.
He said the registered firms have at least 231 registered sports betting centres across Tanzania, of which 178 operate in Dar es Salaam. This effectively makes Dar es Salaam the gambling capital of Tanzania.
“Sports betting is not only about income; it is used as a type of recreation as well,” he said while encouraging operators to open up more centres in rural areas.
Critics of gambling said sports betting and other games of chance had become like a sort of tax on Tanzanians, exacerbating their already difficult financial situations.
A lecturer from the Institute of Social Work in Dar es Salaam, MinaniNtahosanzwe, said gambling addiction can cause youths to lack creativity and innovation on how to improve their lives.
Ntahosanzwe said since the inception of sports betting activities in the city a few years ago, several youths have been reluctant to engage themselves in gainful activities on the hopes that they will one day get rich quickly through betting.
“Some young lads wrongly think that betting is the easiest way to get them quick cash. They do not want to earn their income the hard way through working,” he said.
He said betting activities were twisting the way of thinking in some youths, hence ruining both their education prospects and future ambitions in the long run.
The lecturer called for efforts from the society to educate youths and counsel them against the problem of gambling addiction.
“When a person loses money in sports betting, he or she suffers both economic and psychological torture, and this may negatively affect them in both their academic performance and general life,” he said.
Ntahosanzwe advised the government to closely regulate sports betting activities in the country, including ensuring that they do not open centres close to schools and universities and forbid underage people below 18 to play.
“The Gaming Board of Tanzania should relocate or shut down all sports betting centres operating in close proximity to residential neighbourhoods, univesities and schoolchildren for the greater interest of the public," he said.
Global phenomenon
Sports betting and other forms of gambling are becoming a phenomenon across Africa. Betting over which sports team might win has become a multimillion-dollar industry. By 2022, the global gambling market could be worth $635 billion, according to new findings by Dublin-based Research and Markets.
In Africa, countries like Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa are also witnessing a huge expansion in sports betting and other forms of gambling. Lotteries, poker, sport bets, slot machines, casino games and online gambling are the new trend. Many entrepreneurs and foreign companies are pocketing millions of shillings thanks to the gambling boom.
In neighbouring Kenya, SportPesa is taking gamblers by storm. Young Kenyan football lovers are betting heavily, leading to a boom in gambling across the nation. SportPesa, which was launched in 2013, boasts over one million registered users who can easily bet using their smartphones.
SportPesa requires individuals to register as a member, with their phone numbers as their user name. Members can then start placing bets on the team they think will win in a particular match, or predict a draw before the game starts.
Chezafutaa, Betway, Betin, Elitebet, Betyetu, Justbet, Easybet, Lucky to You and KenyaSportsBet are some of the companies that allow gamblers to use mobile phones and redeem their prizes through mobile money transfers.
Proponents of gambling argue that the industry comes with some benefits to the economy. Gambling activities serve as a recreational enjoyment to the majority of youths who also get safe places to pass time. The government earns revenue from the centres, and for those without a solid source of livelihood, the wins could also count as benefits for the participants.
Reports estimate that SportPesa earns at least 40 million euros (about Sh95 billion) in revenue. The same can be said of betting companies in Ghana, which rake in millions in revenue.
Gambling in some African countries has attracted Chinese businesspeople who run some of the centres.
An influx of Chinese goods in many African countries has allowed the entry of cheap internet-enabled mobile phones and slot machines. In Kenya, one can purchase a slot machine for as little as 100 euros directly from the manufacturers. Some of these cheap slot machines are situated in the slums or in middle class neighbourhoods.
Except for South Africa, which is a more established gambling market, betting laws in most other African countries are quite recent, and regulation is still poor.
A new GeoPollsurbey released last week revealed that gambling is becoming popular among male African millennials (those born after 1980) in sub-Saharan Africa due to their high affinity to sports and the proliferation of local sports betting centres.
"There are knowledge gaps among African millennials on areas such as effective saving plans, wise investments and financial management," said part of the GeoPoll report, adding:
"When asked, many would like to better understand asset financing, entrepreneurship and investment opportunities available in their respective countries. This is proof that young Africans are striving for financial independence, prosperity and belief in their own ability to charter their own course."

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Sunday, February 19, 2017 No Comments

Manji in court for alleged heroin use, secures bail

Prominent Dar es Salaam business tycoon Yusuf Manji was yesterday arraigned before the Kisutu resident magistrate’s court to answer a charge of using illegal drugs contrary to section 17 (a) (1) of the Drug Control and Enforcement Act of 2015.

Prosecutors alleged before presiding resident magistrate Cyprian Mkeha that between February 6 and 9 this year, Manji used the heroin drug (diacefly-morphine) in the Upanga Sea View area of the city.
A team of three state attorneys, led by Shadrack Kimaro made their submission before the Kisutu Resident Magistrates Court.
The chairman of Quality Group Limited – one of the country’s leading business enterprises - pleaded not guilty. Defence lawyers Alex Mgongolwa, Hudson Ndusyepo and Jeremiah Mtobesya requested the court to grant him bail on the grounds that he is a public figure serving as Mbagala Kuu ward councilor, as well as a prominent businessman.
Magistrate Mkeha granted the bail request and Manji was released after meeting bail conditions which included one guarantor to sign a 10 million/- bond and another 10m/- bond signed by the accused himself, totaling 20m/-.
The guarantor bond was signed by Charles Boniface Mkwasa, secretary general of Dar Young Africans Sports Club, of which Manji is also chairman and chief financier. Mkwasa introduced himself as a resident of Dar es Salaam.
Magistrate Mkeha adjourned the case to March 16 this year when it comes up for mention.

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Friday, February 17, 2017 No Comments

From my own experience, war on drugs no easy ride

CONSTITUTIONAL and Legal Affairs Minister Dr Harrison Mwakyembe has described the fifth phase government’s war against illegal drugs in the country as very tough, but says it must be won this time round.
This is in effect turning out to be Tanzania’s second real ‘war’ after the 1978–1979 confrontation with the Ugandan army troops under Idi Amin, Mwakyembe asserted yesterday during a live interview with East Africa Radio in Dar es Salaam.
Sharing his own experiences in tackling the national narcotics scourge as a cabinet minister in the previous (fourth phase) government, he noted that given the immense power and resources that drug barons wield, the anti-drugs war is definitely going to turn ugly.
For the current government to emerge victorious, all citizens of goodwill must stand behind it, he said.
Mwakyembe described how, during his stint as transport minister in the fourth phase administration of ex-president Jakaya Kikwete, he came face-to-face with the extent of the powers that drug traffickers yield.
He recalled specifically a 2013 incident in which a Tanzanian woman managed to smuggle more than 100 kilogrammes of a banned substance used to make methamphetamine drugs onto a flight to South Africa through the Julius Nyerere International Airport (JNIA) in the city.
According to Mwakyembe, drug lords were most likely behind the security glitches that allowed the consignment to pass through all luggage checks at the airport.
“Curiously, CCTV cameras later revealed that sniffer dogs were very conveniently delayed to allow the consignment to pass through, and at the very minute it was going through the scanner, the person on duty was busy speaking on the phone,” he said.
The consignment was later impounded upon arrival at O.R. Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Mwakyembe said that particular incident happened even after security was supposedly tightened at JNIA following a formal International Police (Interpol) notification that the airport had become a virtual gateway for international drug trafficking.
But he applauded the government’s recent formation of a formal Drug Control and Enforcement Agency (DCEA) and appointment of seasoned security officer Rodgers Sianga as its commissioner general, saying this move has greatly enhanced chances of Tanzania eventually winning the anti-drugs war.
“We can’t afford to lose this war… we are going to defeat drug dealers the same way we defeated the people behind the murder of people with albinism,” the current justice minister insisted.
The new DCEA chief, Sianga, has said the agency’s first move will be to supply the Chief Justice the names of judges and magistrates believed to be undermining the anti-drugs war by mishandling cases that involve narcotics.
“We will show no mercy to anyone,” he said at a recent public event, pointing out that society at large is suffering from the effects of narcotics use and the high cost it is inflicting on individual users and their families.
The event saw Sianga receive a dossier containing a total of 97 new names of suspected drug barons and kingpins within and outside the country compiled by Dar es Salaam regional authorities.
Two other lists - of people suspected to be linked to the country’s narcotics trade, either as users, dealers or just contact persons – have already been made public in recent weeks.
The first contained some well-known local movie and music entertainers, while the second implicated a number of prominent local politicians, businessmen, and clerics.

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Tanzania moves to clear air over Mozambique ejections

RELATIONS between Tanzania and Mozambique will remain cordial and cooperative, the foreign ministry has asserted amid reports of Tanzanians living illegally in Mozambique being forcibly deported and,
in some cases, allegedly mistreated by local police officers in the process.
At least 132 Tanzanian nationals, most of whom were reportedly living without proper documentation in Mozambique’s northern Monte Puez district, Cabo Delgado province, have so far been sent home over the past few days as part of a major new Mozambican government crackdown on illegal immigrants in general.
According to a statement issued yesterday by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, East Africa, Regional and International Cooperation in Dar es Salaam, the repatriation exercise being deployed by Mozambican authorities involves the arrest and subsequent ejection of all foreigners residing in the country illegally, regardless of original nationalities.
“The Mozambican government has admitted to have launched a special crackdown on illegal migrants only in Monte Puez, since that is where there is a larger number of foreigners compared to elsewhere in Mozambique. The operation targets those living without legal immigration credentials,” the ministry’s statement said.
It is estimated that there are over 3,000 Tanzanians living and engaging in various social-economic activities in Monte Puez. Since the current crackdown began, several of them have been deported in groups, beginning with the first batch of 58 Tanzanians last Sunday, 24 more on Tuesday, and 50 others just yesterday.
There have also been unconfirmed reports of some Tanzanians earmarked for deportation allegedly being systematically mistreated in a physical manner by Mozambican police officers, including lurid tales of women being beaten up and sometimes raped.
“They have closed all the borders and seized our travel documents,” Angel John, one of the affected Tanzanians, was quoted as lamenting while also calling for top Tanzanian government intervention in the matter.
But the ministry’s statement made a point of stressing that the repatriation exercise won’t be allowed to dent long-time bilateral ties between Tanzania and Mozambique, stretching back to the latter country’s pre-independence, freedom struggle years.
It noted that only last December, government representatives from both countries held a meeting specifically aimed at strengthening existing relations even further.
“During the meeting held in Pemba town, Cabo Delgado province, both government delegations identified new areas of cooperation which include improving mutual cross-border trade and immigration issues,” the ministry statement said.
According to the ministry, the Tanzanian consulate in Mozambique is closely following up on the repatriation exercise to ensure the safety of those being sent back to Tanzania, along with their properties.
Officials from the Tanzanian embassy in the capital Maputo have been dispatched to Monte Puez for the purpose, the statement said.
On a visit to Mozambique in 2015, then-president Jakaya Kikwete and his Mozambican counterpart Felipe Nyusi agreed to put in place stronger mechanisms to record cross-border trade volumes that were said to be huge but had previously remained unofficial.
Kikwete noted that a number of factors had contributed to the phenomenon of such enormous unofficial cross-border trade.

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Thursday, February 16, 2017 No Comments

WB advises reducing global fishing in oceans

A new World Bank (WB) report has advised for reducing fishing in oceans to generate an additional USD 83 billion each year for the fisheries sector and creating a much-needed revenue stream in developing countries.
Fishing less is also likely to improve global food security as fish stocks are under pressure from pollution, coastal development, and the impacts of climate change.
The WB study shows that reducing the global fishing effort would allow fish stocks to recover from overexploitation and lead to increases in the weight, value and price of fish landed, boosting the profitability of the fisheries sector to USD 86 billion from an estimated USD 3 billion a year.
“This study confirms what we have seen in different countries. Giving the oceans a break pays off”, said Laura Tuck, World Bank Vice President for Sustainable Development.
Tuck said, “Moving towards more sustainable fisheries management, through approaches that are tailored to local conditions, can yield significant benefits for food security, poverty reduction and long-term growth”.
According to the report, the above mentioned moves would also lead to more fish being caught and landed, because stocks would have recovered to healthier levels, thus helping meet growing global demand for seafood and improving food security in many countries around the world.
The bio-economic model used in The Sunken Billions Revisited - developed by Ragnar Arnason, Professor in the Faculty of Economics at the University of Iceland - treats the world's marine fisheries as one large fishery.
It examines the mismatch between the increasingly high level of effort put into fishing and stagnant or even declining fish catches, and calculates the incremental benefits that could be derived from global fisheries reform.
The analysis reveals foregone economic benefits of about USD 83 billion in 2012, compared with what could be generated under the optimal scenario.
This result is not statistically different from the sunken billions estimated for 2004, which were revised from an estimated USD 50 billion in the 2009 study to USD 88 billion in The Sunken Billions Revisited based on improvements in the model, better data, and adjustment to 2012 dollars.
It said that reducing the global fishing effort would allow biological processes to reverse the long term decline in fish stocks in many parts of the world.
About 90 percent of marine fisheries monitored by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) are fully fished or overfished, up from about 75 percent in 2005.
The World Bank helps countries improve the management of their fisheries, invest in sustainable aquaculture and manage competing pressures on coasts and oceans to improve the livelihoods of coastal communities and put growth on a more sustainable and resilient footing.

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Free education policy needs to be tightened - new report

A new report has commended the fifth phase government for introducing free secondary education, describing it as a ‘huge step’ towards enhancing access to quality learning despite a few hiccups that need to be addressed.
But the 109-page report points out that despite the move, more than 40 per cent of Tanzanian primary school leavers are still left out of quality lower secondary school education.
Dubbed ‘I Had a Dream to Finish School’, the report released by the international Human Rights Watch (HRW) organisation says some obstacles rooted in outmoded government policies are preventing more than 1.5 million adolescents from attending secondary school and causing many students to drop out because of poor quality education.
“Tanzania’s abolition of secondary school fees and contributions has been a huge step towards improving access to secondary education, but the government should do more to address the crowded classrooms, discrimination, and abuse that undermine many adolescents’ education,” said HRW children’s rights researcher Elin Martinez, who authored the report.
Some of the obstacles outlined in the report include a shortage of secondary schools in rural areas, primary school examination policy which limits access to secondary education, and a discriminatory government policy to expel pregnant or married female students.
Others include the abolition of school fees which the report said has left significant gaps in school budgets, and sexual harassment and discrimination suffered by girl students at the hands of their teachers.
According to the report, despite the introduction of free lower secondary education, many students face significant financial barriers such as transport to school, uniforms, and additional school materials such as textbooks.
The report recommends that the government should develop concrete plans to tackle these remaining barriers over time by adopting measures - in line with national resources and international financial support - to ensure more children access free secondary education.
It also recommends that the government should increase school budgets for all education matters out of its own pocket, including the construction or renovation of school buildings, teacher housing facilities, and learning and teaching facilities and materials.
The government should also phase out the use of exams as a filter to select students for secondary education, introduce “partial or fully subsidized transport programmes” for students in urban areas, and “ensure bus drivers are compensated to pick up student passengers,” the HRW report furthermore asserts.
The report comes after Human Rights Watch last year interviewed more than 200 secondary school students, out-of-school adolescents, parents, education experts, local activists, development partners, and national and local government officials in eight districts in four regions of the country.
Responding to the findings, a representative for the director of education in the President’s Office, Regional and Local Administration, Juma Kaponda, told the Guardian the report should have included “figures as to what extent the issues raised in the study are affecting the learning and teaching environment in schools.”
About 22 per cent of the 2016-2017 national budget has been set aside for the education sector.
According to a World Bank report published in December last year, all primary and secondary schools have been receiving monthly capitation grants in a ‘timely manner’ since December 2015, under the government’s free education policy.
The amount of the grant for each school is linked to their enrolment rates, and currently there are 10.7 million beneficiaries, of which 50 per cent are female.

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Wednesday, February 15, 2017 No Comments

Ndugai: News from Dodoma about RC Makonda

But the 109-page report points out that despite the move, more than 40 per cent of Tanzanian primary school leavers are still left out of quality lower secondary school education.

Dubbed ‘I Had a Dream to Finish School’, the report released by the international Human Rights Watch (HRW) organisation says some obstacles rooted in outmoded government policies are preventing more than 1.5 million adolescents from attending secondary school and causing many students to drop out because of poor quality education.
“Tanzania’s abolition of secondary school fees and contributions has been a huge step towards improving access to secondary education, but the government should do more to address the crowded classrooms, discrimination, and abuse that undermine many adolescents’ education,” said HRW children’s rights researcher Elin Martinez, who authored the report.
Some of the obstacles outlined in the report include a shortage of secondary schools in rural areas, primary school examination policy which limits access to secondary education, and a discriminatory government policy to expel pregnant or married female students.
Others include the abolition of school fees which the report said has left significant gaps in school budgets, and sexual harassment and discrimination suffered by girl students at the hands of their teachers.
According to the report, despite the introduction of free lower secondary education, many students face significant financial barriers such as transport to school, uniforms, and additional school materials such as textbooks.

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Dar among African cities will remain 'closed to the world'

The report said that those cities will remain “closed to the world” unless policymakers reform urban land markets and invest in infrastructure.

The number of people living in sub-Saharan African cities is growing rapidly: An additional 187 million people are expected to live in urban areas by 2025, the equivalent of the entire population of Nigeria.
However, the economies in these cities are not keeping pace because they are crowded, disconnected and costly, according to “Africa’s Cities: Opening Doors to the World,” a report published today.
These factors make cities such as Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, and Kampala in Uganda relatively unattractive to investors and Lagos in Nigeria, entrepreneurs, meaning they produce few goods and services for trade on global and regional markets, the report finds.
“What Africa needs are more affordable, connected, and livable cities,” said Makhtar Diop, World Bank vice president for Africa. “Improving the economic and social dividends from urbanisation will be critical as better developed cities could transform Africa’s economies.”
The report proposes a number of reforms, including formalising land markets, clarifying property rights and instituting effective urban planning, as well as investing more in physical and institutional infrastructure.

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Anti-drugs boss: We’ll start by cleaning up the courts…

THE head of the government’s newly-established anti-narcotics body yesterday outlined his plans and strategies for the highly sensitive job at hand,
pledging to start by handing over to the Chief Justice the names of judges and magistrates who are reportedly undermining national efforts to fight the vice by mishandling cases that involve illegal drugs.
Speaking in public for the first time since his official swearing in by President John Magufuli as commissioner general of the Drug Control and Enforcement Authority (DCEA) on Sunday, Rogers Sianga pledged to maintain the same tempo used by Dar es Salaam regional authorities in the latest anti-drugs crusade.
“We will show no mercy to anyone, because the effects of illicit narcotics use are there for all to see as well as the high cost it is inflicting on individual users, their families, and society at large,” Sianga told a large gathering at an event where he received a fresh dossier of suspected drug barons and kingpins from Dar es Salaam regional commissioner Paul Makonda.
According to RC Makonda, the dossier contains a total of 97 new names of people both within and outside the country. This is a third list of names of people suspected to be linked to the country’s narcotics trade, either as users, dealers or just contact persons.
The first list, released two weeks ago, contained some well-known local movie and music entertainers, while the second included a number of prominent local politicians, businessmen, and clerics.
However, Makonda this time around desisted from revealing the latest names in public, saying instead that would be the prerogative of the new DCEA boss.
Sianga, on his part, said the DCEA will approach the anti-drugs war by addressing key issues like disconnecting the demand and supply chain, and setting up effective harm reduction mechanisms.
He took time to elaborate how narcotic drugs can destroy the physical, mental and psychological health of individuals, and how they (drugs) are known to find their way into the country.
According to Sianga, some 20 tonnes of heroin were seized in the East African region last year alone. He described the situation as an alarming “wake-up call” and everybody needs to wake up to address it.
It is estimated that 10 kilogrammes of cocaine is consumed in Dar es Salaam on a daily basis.
Noting that the anti-drugs war has often been undermined by magistrates and judges mishandling related cases, he said:
“We are often surprised when someone is arrested with over 50 kilogrammes of drugs, and a judge in his ruling lets the suspect go free because he (judge) doesn’t see any wrong-doing in the case.”
The DCEA has already prepared a list of judges and magistrates suspected of such ethics-bending, and the list will be handed to the CJ for further action, Sianga said.
Earlier, delivering a progress briefing on the latest anti-drugs crackdown in the city, Dar es Salaam Special Zone police commander Simon Sirro said so far 311 people have been arrested and 544 grams of cocaine has been seized since the operation started.
He said out of a total of 67 people already named by the RC, only 32 have reported to the police for questioning. Those who haven’t turned up so far will be hunted down wherever they are, Sirro asserted.
President Magufuli recently gave the anti-drugs crusade a public thumbs-up, saying nobody will be spared regardless of public status or popularity.
He also asserted that his government won’t lift a finger to defend any Tanzanian jailed in foreign countries for drug trafficking offences. Currently there are about 68 Tanzanians on death row in China after being convicted of such offences.
The 2013 report of the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC) indicates that East Africa is a major target for drug traffickers wishing to enter African markets because of its unprotected coastline, insecure seaports and airports, and porous land borders, all of which provide multiple entry and exit points.
Also attractive to international drug syndicates are inadequate customs controls and cross-border cooperation, as well as what the report describes as a weak criminal justice system.
Heroin is imported to East Africa directly from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Burma through Thailand. Much of it finds its way to South Africa, but there is also a reverse movement of drugs from South Africa to Tanzania and Kenya.
A UNODC map shows that heroin and cocaine also filter across Tanzania's borders into Mozambique, Malawi and Zambia. Some of it is shifted onwards to the United States and Western Europe.

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Tuesday, February 14, 2017 No Comments

CCM expels over 1,500 members over sabotage

THE ruling party’s regional executive committee yesterday expelled 1,520 members over alleged betrayal and sabotage of the party in the 2015 General Election.
CCM also issued a stern warning against members plotting to sabotage and derail the party’s activities in the region.
Those shown the exit door include member of the national Executive Committee (NEC) and close ally to former Prime Minister Edward Lowassa, Mathias Manga, and the party’s chairman for Arusha Urban District, Wilfred ole Soilel.
This is the second time the prominent businessman has had to come to terms with the party’s wrath.
Last year, the prominent gemstone dealer was stripped of his post as CCM’s youth commander over alleged betrayal in the run up to the 2015 General Election.
Manga was accused of using his financial might to divide CCM members with the aim of assisting the opposition.
Announcing the decision yesterday, CCM’s regional secretary Omari Davies Billaly said the party was left with no option after scrutinising the cadres’ conduct during the 2015 General Election.
“The executive committee has unanimously decided to drop the cadres for sabotaging our party and colluding with the opposition during the election,” explained the party official.
Referring to Section 8(ix) (a) of the party’s election standing orders, Bilally said it was unlawful for any party member to either sabotage or collude with the opposition, especially when CCM was faced with a crucial election.
Bilally, however, said those expelled still had a chance to appeal against the decision to the party’s central executive committee in Dodoma.
Other expelled members who will have to appeal to be reinstated in their positions include Julius Mungure, Bibiana Nanyaro and Ebastiana Massay.Others are Evaline Nanjway and William Ndewoya Sarakikya.
Meru District Council leads the pack with the most expelled members at 769, followed by Ngorongoro district with 254, while 202 party cadres in Monduli District were given the boot, according to Billaly.
The cleanup also saw Arusha District Council lose 172 members, followed by Longido District which saw 64 members shown the exit door while Arumeru lost 58 members.

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Let them hang, JPM tells 68 Tanzanians in Chinese jails

“If any Tanzanian has been sentenced to hang in a foreign country after being convicted in court of drug trafficking, let them hang," President Magufuli declared at State House after swearing in the country’s new drug czar, Rogers Siyanga, and other top officials.

"My government will not do anything to defend them ... and I am saying this without mincing any words."
Magufuli revealed that there were more than 1,000 Tanzanians currently languishing in jails in foreign soils for drug trafficking, but insisted that his government would not seek to negotiate the release of any citizen convicted in narcotics cases.
"There are 265 Tanzanians jailed in China alone for drug trafficking -- 68 of them have been convicted to death by hanging," he said.
"For those (Tanzanians) who have been convicted to death by hanging or to life sentences in prison, I hereby instruct the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and all Tanzanian ambassadors accredited abroad not to do anything to defend them. Let them meet their fate."
Magufuli named other countries with the biggest number of Tanzanians jailed for drug trafficking as South Africa (296), Brazil (120), Iran (63), Turkey (30), India (26) and Greece (25).

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Monday, February 13, 2017 No Comments

Economists advocate anti-poverty policies to avert swelling national

Interviewed economists yesterday warned against arbitrary ‘absorption’ of misleading financial guidance by international institutions which push to the bottom of the list of highly indebted countries index.

Until December, 2016, Tanzania’s national debt stock stood at US dollars 19,021 million, equivalent to a 3 per cent increase in June of the same year, which was US dollars 18,459.3 million. This combines both local and foreign debt.
Unfortunately, only a third of donor funds for development projects requested for this financial year has been disbursed, a situation leading to uncertainties in government financing of the projects.
President John Magufuli was recently quoted as saying that last month the government paid Sh955billion as part of debt servicing while the average monthly collection ranges between Sh1.2trillion and Sh1.3trillion.
This indicates that the govt spends nearly 80 per cent of its total monthly revenue collections to pay debts, a situation that caught the attention of the interviewed economists.

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Activist urges anti-GBV curriculum in schools

The government has been challenged to incorporate issues of gender-based violence (GBV) in the education curriculum for primary school children to grow while being well informed about the matters and how to tackle them.
Speaking at a GBV public sensitization forum in Dar es Salaam this week, the head of the Social Welfare Department at the Royal College of Tanzania (RCT), Fortunata Mtobi said that by incorporating the matter in school curriculum it will help in eliminating habits of gender violence in the country.
Organised by the Women’s Legal Aid Centre (WLAC), the forum was aimed at discussing issues of GBV with RCT students to enable them be well informed about the matter and how they can contribute in the war against BGV in the country.
“Various forms of gender-based violence are deeply rooted in our communities and now the menace is growing in schools, so the matter should be incorporated in the curriculum alongside issues of sexuality so as to help fight the tendency right from early stages,” she said.
If the education is provided in schools, children especially girls who are the most vulnerable to GBV will be able to take good care of themselves and be more confident, she stated.
“Children will also freely report any such case were they to fall victim to GBV whether in school, home or elsewhere,” the presenter noted.
She said some people fear to speak out if they are faced with inhuman actions hence end up suffering silently, cautioning that silence fuels gender-based violence. “Such fears will be effectively gotten rid of if children are empowered on these issues at early stages,” the told the audience.
She also underscored the need for more coordinated and strengthened efforts in fighting gender based violence in every area, including schools.
For her part, WLAC Programme Coordinator Abiah Richard said that due to violence that girls experience in schools, it eventually makes them lack confidence in anything especially participating in classroom work and tackling assignments.
She described school-related GBV as encompassing several aspects including sexual, physical and psychological violence occurring at school and on the journey to and from school. “It is violence that is perpetrated as a result of gender stereotyping, discriminatory practices and unequal gender relations,” she elaborated.
“In this area, girls are often at greater risk of sexual violence. GBV in schools has serious consequences for student’s physical and mental health and well-being. It has been shown to adversely impact learning, school attendance and completion thus ruining a student’s future,” the coordinator underlined.
She urged the general public to encourage te habit of reporting to appropriate authorities whenever they witness GBV incident in their area.
“In case of any GBV incident, report it very fast to the police and to local authorities. This will help to engender fear among perpetrators who continue with such actions owing to a feeling of impunity,” she said.
People should not wait for gender-based violence to happen so as to seek help from the police, hospitals or lawyers but should instead unite to eliminate the illicit acts, she added.

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Bishop Josephat Gwajima is set free by police after 3 days of questioning, but the fate of business tycoon Yusuf Manji remains uncertain

Dar es Salaam Zonal Police Commander Simon Sirro told journalists that police were holding for questioning a well-known cleric, Bishop Josephat Gwajima, and business tycoon Yusuf Manji, along with several other suspects.

Both Gwajima and Manji have vigorously denied any allegations of involvement in drug trafficking and have accused Makonda of personal vendetta.
"After cooperating with the police, I will go to court to sue Makonda for defamation," Manji told journalists before reporting to the central police station on Thursday.
Similarly, Gwajima, when dismissing allegations of involvement in illicit drugs trade, accused the Dar es Salaam RC of a smear campaign.
"Makonda's intention is to tarnish my name. Law-enforcement officers know that Gwajima is not involved in drug trafficking," he told his followers before turning himself in to the police.
Gwajima and Manji have already spent several days in police detention. While Gwajima was released yesterday evening, it could not be immediately established if Manji was still in detention.
National chairman of the opposition CHADEMA party Freeman Mbowe, who was also named by Makonda in his list of persons of interest wanted by the police for questioning over drug trafficking allegations, refuted any involvement in narcotics.
Mbowe, who is also a prominent businessman and Member of Parliament, dismissed the move as political witch-hunt.
"I deny in the strongest terms any involvement in drug trafficking or abuse," Mbowe told journalists earlier this week, saying he would also sue Makonda for defamation of his character.

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LHRC researcher faults media over bias coverage

The Legal Human Right Center (LHRC) has faulted the local media for bias coverage, saying it favours the political elite to the detriment of the popular poverty eradication agenda.
A research by Ananilea Nkya, a member to the civil advocacy group has revealed the media to have failed to effectively contribute to poverty eradication as it confines its coverage in politics, those who make it, the urban elite and public officials.
“Most of the news being reported are urban centric and focused on public officialdom,” Nkya said in Dar es Salaam yesterday while revealing the findings to the reporters.
The research, according to Nkya examined 10,317 news items run over 15 media outlets including daily newspapers, Television and Radio stations for the whole month of February in 2014.
She said the research that was aimed at establishing development issues and perspectives from which they are covered by Tanzania news media, probed 9,607 articles in 11 newspapers out of the 10,371-strong sample of news items including 4,750 (52.8 per cent) from Dar es Salaam region and 5,621 (54.2 per cent) from 24 regions on the Mainland and the Isles.
She said if all news items were considered as valuable development resources or opportunities and equally distributed, each region would enjoy a fair share of 368 opportunities to discuss social, economical and political development issues.
“In so doing, development stakeholders including the government, Non Government Organization (NGO’s) and citizens themselves would take actions to bring solutions to developmental challenges facing the regions,” says part of her report.
“It is high time for Tanzania’s media to change and write news stories that reflect the life of people to fast-track their development in their respective areas,” she said.
She said the political related news stories in the context of her research were those that quoted politicians during political activities such as meeting, public rallies, election campaigns as well as through interviews, press conferences and press discourse.
News under economy category included those that dwelt on issues such as corruption scandals, embezzlement and mismanagement of public funds and the challenges in tax collection using electronic Fiscal Devices (EFD’s), she said.
She said out of 411 news items published as lead stories in the 15 media, 234 (57 per cent) were about politics, whereas 12 (29 per cent) discussed social issues and 56 (14 per cent) covered economic issues.
The number of political related news framed as lead stories were higher in newspapers, as out of the 411 lead news items, 307 (74.7 per cent) were published in the eleven newspapers.

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Sunday, February 12, 2017 No Comments

Handeni style: A chicken for annual health insurance

VOLUNTARY community-based health insurance in low-income settings can prove challenging such that millions of families in Tanzania still consider health care an expensive endeavour
However, villagers in Handeni district in Tanga Region have a reason to wear a smile on learning that a chicken could be dear enough to guarantee a six-member family medical care for a year.
Gone were the days when the Handeni villagers had to brave the hard-earned Sh10,000 to cover family health insurance for the annual duration. Payment in financial terms for the residents of a community where financial circulation is nearly stagnant proved too hard to afford, according to Handeni District Commissioner, Godwin Gondwe.
“It is the perception that unfortunately hampered most of the people from joining the nationwide health scheme,” he said, adding; “Handeni district is inhabited by more than 430,000 people whose families own an average of 20 fowls each, but they were not aware that a simple chicken could provide them with health security for twelve months.”
But thanks to house-to-house community awareness campaign are the amazingly positive results in such a way that between July and December 2016 a total of 35,286 people were registered for the community health insurance scheme as opposed to the past that had seen only 5,881 villagers having their health insured, he said.
Describing the approach adopted, the DC said he did not invent the wheel but rather looked around and discovered the unexplored resources was just in abundance. They included the dormant fowl industry that either produced chickens for sale or for domestic consumption.
“The people had been traditionally resistant to pay Sh10,000 for health insurance, until when they were told they could give a chicken for sale at the village administrative office and immediately get the cash.
Many have turned up for registration and the district can now boast of making headway to have family members linked to community health fund,” he said in an overtone of pride.
Citing an example of Mwinjuma Seleman, a resident of Mkata ward who had expressed regrets over delay in joining the scheme owing to high expenses, the DC said Mwinjuma’s was a reflection of the public sentiments.
“When villagers discovered that fees for doctor’s consultation, medicines at designated pharmaceutical stores, among others was covered by a mere chicken for six family members for 12-strong months, they were overwhelmed with enthusiasm,” Gondwe said.
It was made clear that the intention was to have all family members registered to community health fund at their own convenience.
However, having all residents in the area connected to the health scheme was not the end of a far-sighted health services improvement plan in Handeni as availability of medicine was an equal priority.
“We (district authority) have formed a departmental coordination network to make sure that every sector delivered accordingly. For example, the District Medical Officer has the responsibility to make sure that drugs from medical stores department (msd) are available and accessible to the people,” he said.
“Team-work spirit continues to yield positive results. For example, care of patients is highly encouraged among doctors and nurses such that when any prescribed antibiotics is not in stock, an alternative is immediately administered instead of callously sending away the sick in despair. Mother and child mortality must come under control,” said Gondwe in a boastful gesture.
To confirm that collective decision always remained the right leadership avenue, Gondwe said councillors had jointly agreed that due to rising operation costs, effective this year the villagers would contribute Sh20,000 worth of two roosters for community health fund. The consensus was endorsed and embraced by the villagers.
In 2009 the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) took over the management of the Community Health Fund (CHF) to increase insurance coverage, efficiency, supervision and access to services.
The NHIF is a compulsory insurance scheme for the formal sector offering extensive benefits to members.
The Community Health Fund (CHF) is a voluntary scheme established by the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (MoHSW) for the informal sector with premiums fixed at between Sh5,000 to Sh30,000 for care in public primary facilities. Both schemes have been in operation since 2001.
Key achievements include successful integration of CHF within the NHIF organisational structure, improved reporting systems and growing awareness of the reform since 2011.

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