A new Richmond is coming...

From ThisDay, Dar es Salaam
By ThisDay Reporter

CERTAIN businessmen-cum-politicians implicated in the infamous Richmond deal are now chasing up two brand-new contracts worth more than $100m (approx. 140bn/-) from the state-run Tanzania Electric Supply Company (TANESCO) for the construction of power generating plants in Dar es Salaam and Mwanza, THISDAY can reveal today.

The two separate energy contracts involve the procurement of a 100-megawatts, gas-fired power plant at Ubungo in Dar es Salaam, and the purchase of a 60MW power plant in Nyakato, Mwanza, which will run on heavy fuel oil.

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Region’s Internet and mobile-savvy youth changing meaning of poverty

From The East African, Nairobi, Kenya
By JOHN GITHONGO and JAMES NDUKO

A month ago we spent a few days in Mwanza’s giant informal settlement of Mabatani and Bulamba, a rural fishing village in Bunda District.

Our host in Mabatani was a gregarious primary school teacher, let’s call her Mama Machapu, still mourning the passing of her husband six months earlier; and in Bulamba, Mzee Soja, an elderly ex-serviceman in the Tanzanian army, and his middle-aged wife, Mama Taifa.

Mama Machapu was a mother of seven children, five of them living in various Tanzanian cities.

She lived with her two teenage schoolgoing sons, a shy, polite granddaughter and a young house-help.

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More villagers diagnosed with swine flu as fears rise

From The Citizen Daily, Dar es Salaam
By Frederick Katulanda, Mwanza

Fears of a swine flu spread are rising after eight more villagers were diagnosed with H1N1 at Ilula in Kwimba District on Thursday, bringing to 150 the number of people infected with the virus at the village.

It is also feared that the disese which is thought to spread mainly person-to-person through coughing or sneezing of infected people will reach other areas of Shinyanga, Mwanza and Mara regions.

Most Ilula villagers are unaware of the impact of the disease.

They travel freely in and out of the village using public transport due to lack of a surveillance mechanism. "We will all be infected should one commuter bus conductor contract the disease,"said a Kilima Hewa resident in Mwanza City, Mr Emmanuel Masato.

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Be accountable and transparent, civil servants urged

From ThisDay, Dar es Salaam
By Pendo Ndovie

Civil servants have been challenged to perform their duties accordingly and ensure they are accountable and transparent whenever citizens are in need of basic services and or information.

Managing Director of a non-governmental organization (NGO), Twaweza Rakesh Rajan, made the statement here yesterday during a monthly Policy Forum breakfast debate on : Are policies put into practice? Reflections from nine villages.

From the study carried out in Sengerema, Maswa, Bunda, Mwanza, Kahama, among other districts, the findings have shown that most of the civil servants and particularly those in leadership tend to behave as gods and goddesses, a state of affairs that denies people’s right to information and the right to be served.

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142 contract swine flu in single village

From The Citizen Daily, Dar es Salaam
By Frederick Katulanda, Mwanza

Panic has gripped Mwanza as 142 primary school pupils, teachers and villagers have tested positive to swine flu infection at Ilula village in Kwimba District in the region.

This is the only large sample to be infected at a go since the first case of the disease, that has killed at least one person in Manyara Region, was discovered earlier this year.

Ilula Primary School, where the disease reportedly first broke out before spreading into the surrounding village, has been closed indefinitely.

It has since been quarantined to prevent the spread of the virus to other areas, the Mwanza regional medical officer, Dr Meshack Massi, said yesterday.

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Mwanza college intends to train more doctors

From ThisDay, Dar es Salaam
By Sitta Tumma

A COLLEGE of health sciences, Weill Bugando, in Mwanza has requested the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare to allow the college to use Lake Zone regional hospitals' buildings in training medical doctors.

The college Principal, Prof. Jacob Mtabaji, said this during the second graduation ceremony of the college, adding that the move will enable the country to get many medical doctors to minimise the existing scarcity.

The request has also been floated to the Tanzania Episcopal Conference (TEC), to allow the college to use buildings owned by hospitals under the Catholic Church for the same purpose.

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Tourism tops agenda as stakeholders set to meet

From The Citizen Daily, Dar es Salaam
By Patty Magubira, Mwanza

Mwanza tourism stakeholders will tomorrow converge at Bank of Tanzania (BoT) conference hall to deliberate on strategies to promote tourism in the region whose 68 per cent is constituted of the Lake Victoria water body.

Despite being part of the second largest freshwater body on earth and close to Serengeti National Park, tourism is still at its nascent stage in the region, acting Mwanza regional commissioner, retired Col Serenge Mrengo, admitted yesterday.

Mr Mrengo who doubles as Ilemela district commissioner, said the region is now determined to invest heavily in sustainable tourism to generate more revenue from the emerging sector.

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Activist's plea on albino body parts

From The Citizen Daily, Dar es Salaam
By Patty Magubira, Mwanza

A human rights activist has asked the Government to trace customers of albino organs in order to end witchcraft-associated killings of melanin deficient persons mostly rocking Lake Zone regions.

Addressing a press conference last weekend after visiting families which lost their beloved ones to the killings, Mr Peter Ash also appealed to the Government to give priority to the remaining 52 cases piled up in courts.

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Residents lynch 4 for illegal fishing

From The Citizen Daily, Dar es Salaam
By Paulina David, Mwanza

Residents of Sengerema District, Mwanza Region, have lynched four anglers allegedly found using a poisonous chemical known as thionex for fishing in Lake Victoria.

The anglers, who were also caught with banned slot-size nets at Kashea village in the district on Wednesday morning, threatened to kill local guards during interrogations.

Mwanza acting regional police commander Elias Kalinga named the slain anglers, all from Geita District in the region, as Magono Butuba, 35, Mgeta Butuba, 28, Merumba Mahagani, 35, and Mtoka Mchele, 47.

They had travelled to the lakeside village aboard two canoes laden with the chemical and the prohibited slot-size nets to use in fishing, Mr Kalinga explained.

Local guards patrolling the lake suddenly emerged as the illegal anglers poured the poisonous chemical into the lake to kill fish.

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Members of Eala raise concern

From The Citizen Daily, Dar es Salaam
By Zephania Ubwani, Arusha


How old is the vessel purchased by the East African Community three years ago for millions of dollars but has since docked at Mwanza port?

This was the concern of almost all members of the East African Legislative Assembly (Eala) on Wednesday when discussing the EAC audited accounts for the financial year ending June 2008.

The legislators, currently meeting in Arusha, took to task the EAC secretariat for apparently hiding vital information on the ship which once plied Lake Nyasa waters.

Dr Amani Kabourou from Tanzania told the Eala on Wednesday evening that the vessel has remained idle and wondered if ever it was seaworthy.

"How old is it? How and when will it become operational?" he asked as he debated the EAC financial report.

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I heard my albino daughter being hacked to death for her legs

From The Sun, London, UK
By DAVID LOWE

WAKING with a start, Mary Mathias watched in horror as a stranger burst through the darkness and thrust a machete to her husband's throat.
Pleading for him to be left unharmed, the mum-of-seven's thoughts quickly turned to their three vulnerable albino daughters sleeping in the room next door.

The sickening thuds from the other side of the wall made her blood run cold.

In recent years a wave of albino killings has swept Tanzania, fuelled by witch doctors who make potions from the body parts of people with the condition.

After the gang had fled, Mary's worst fears were confirmed - she found her beloved daughter Eunice, 14, lying dead in a pool of blood with both legs hacked off.

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Over 157,000 need food relief

From The Citizen Daily, Dar es Salaam
By Hassan Mghenyi

Over 1.57 million people in 63 districts in 15 regions need free and subsidized food from the government beginning this November, revealed by the September 2009 Rapid Vulnerability Assessment.

According to the report published last October by the Famine Early Warning System Network says that the affected population expected to need food assistance amounting to 56,740 tonnes, from available in-country stocks.

Out of this amount, 5,674 tonnes are recommended for free distribution to 156,989 poor people, and the remaining 51,066 tonnes are for subsidized sales beginning in November 2009 to 1,412,901 people who cannot buy food at market prices.

The most affected regions include Arusha (277,653 people), Manyara (166,093), Dodoma (259,190), Tanga (177,460), Kilimanjaro (122,427), Mtwara (90,135), Mara (98,233, Shinyanga (79,866), Mwanza (71,620) and Morogoro (63,399).

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Diseases affecting cassava production

From New Vision, Kampala, Uganda
By Reuben Olita

Diseases have affected the production of the cassava in the East African region.

A training session on cassava virus that ended in Dar es Salaam last Friday heard that for the past 10 years, white flies that cause cassava mosaic disease had increased in the Lake Zone region.

Tanzania’s daily, the Guardian, recently reported that about 80% of cassava in Ukerewe district, Mwanza region, was affected by the disease.

A researcher from the Lake Zone Agriculture Research and Development Institute, Innocent Ndyetabura, said the major diseases that affected cassava in the region were brown streaks and cassava mosaic.

Ndyetabura said cassava growers needed to be sensitised on preventive measures.

A trainer from the International Institute of Tropical Research, James Legg, said the organisation was supporting locally initiated efforts to stop the spread of the diseases in Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania.

Body ends Swissport monopoly

From The Citizen Daily, Dar es Salaam
By Samuel Kamndaya

The monopoly of Swissport Tanzania on the ground handling services industry is officially over following the licensing of three new players by Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority (TCAA) last month.

The authority formally announced the development early this month naming the new service providers as Precision Air Ground Handling Company Limited, African Ground Handling Company Limited and Zanair.

Companies with the class I licence serve JNIA and those with a class two one can serve Kilimanjaro International Airport, Zanzibar International Airport and Mwanza Airport.

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Brewery to invest $62m in new plant

From The East African, Nairobi, KENYA
Written by EABW Correspondent

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania - Tanzania Breweries Limited (TBL) has announced an expenditure of about US $62 million (Tsh 82 billion) for the construction of a modern facility which is set to boost production capacity by 22 percent.

The construction of TBL's modern facility in Mbeya will make this Tanzania's fourth SAB Miller factory. SAB Miller is now ranked second among the largest beer producers in the world.
Other plants owned by SAB Miller, a South African company, which are operated by its local subsidiary Tanzania Breweries Ltd, are located in the lake zones of Mwanza and Arusha. The main plant is located in Dar es Salaam.

Speaking to East African Business Week in Mbeya last week during the event where President Jakaya Kikwete laid a foundation stone to symbolize the construction of the facility, Mr. Robin Goetzsche, TBL Managing Director, said that construction of the modern facility will not only add the number of factories in the country but it would be used to boost the production capacity of beer to 350 million hectolitres per year.

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$20m plan to improve Tanzania’s key airports

From The East African, Nairobi, KENYA
By PHILIP NGUNJIRI

Tanzania will benefit from a $20 million, multi-airport systems integration project that will bring many world class services to its three major airports.

The project will be undertaken by the Tanzania Airports Authority and aviation IT giant SITA.

The company specialises in air transport, communication and information technology solutions.

For the first time, Tanzania will witness self-service check-in, baggage reconciliation, sophisticated flight information displays and other improvements.

In the seven-year deal, SITA will provide systems for Terminals 1 and 2 at Julius Nyerere International Airport and at Mwanza and Arusha airports.

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Barclays Tz employees give back to the community

From East African Business Week, Nairobi, Kenya
Written by JAMES MWAKISYALA

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania: Barclays Bank Tanzania employees and customers on October 31st participated in 23 projects in Dar es Salaam, Morogoro, Mwanza, Mbeya, Arusha and Zanzibar as they marked the 14th year of 'Make a Difference Day', organized globally by Community Service Volunteers (CSV). SCV is an international charity set up to promote volunteering action in the communities they serve.

Barclays has been involved in the campaign as an integral part of the employee community programme since 2000. It is the single biggest driver of the Bank's employee volunteering initiatives globally.

Barclays Bank Managing Director Rished Bade said the aim of 'Make a Difference Day' is to encourage people to devote time to volunteering.

"It is not about donations or fundraising. It is all about choice and volunteering their time,” he said.

Red Cross moves to address humanitarian aftermath of albino killings

From Reuters, London, UK
By Alex Wynter in Dar es Salaam and Stella Marealla Masonu in Kasulu, Tanzania

It was the news all Tanzania had dreaded - especially the country's albinos and their families, supporters, neighbours and friends who live near the Great Lakes of Victoria and Tanganyika.

After a three-month hiatus in the occult-based killings in the north-west, hunters seized a ten-year-old albino boy, Gasper Elikana, in the Geita district of Mwanza region last month and hacked him to death in front of his black father and neighbours, who had risked their lives to try to save him.

The men fled with Gasper's severed leg having first beheaded him to stop him screaming.

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Tanzania’s albinos celebrate death sentences for body part killers

From The Times, London, UK
By Jonathan Clayton, Africa Correspondent and Erick Kabendera Mwanza in Tanzania

Ngeme Luhagula has not had a peaceful night’s sleep since she saw her daughter hacked to death before her eyes two years ago.

“I have endured the torture of living with that pain ever since. The images come and haunt me every night,” she told The Times at her village home on the shores of Lake Victoria.

Yesterday she could not suppress a smile when informed that four men had been sentenced to hang for killing a 50-year-old man - an albino who had the same condition as her 18-year-old daughter, Vumilia.

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High court sentences for to death over murder of albino

From The Citizen Daily, Dar es Salaam

By Herman Meza, Shinyanga
The High Court of Tanzania Shinyanga yesterday sentenced to death four residents of Bariadi district after convicting them of first degree murder of a 50-year old albino.

The four suspects were Mboje Mawe, 49, Nchenyenye Kishiwa, 65, Sayi Gamaya, 48, and Sayi mafizi, 33. They were found guilty of murdering Lyaku Willy at Kidamlinda River situated at Nkindabiye village between November and December last year.
Reading the four-hour judgement in a packed courtroom, Justice Gadi Mjemas, said the evidence given at the court had proven beyond doubt that the convicts had murdered the melanin deficient person, who was also mentally retarded.

Amongst 14 key witnesses on the prosecution side led by state attorney Edwin Kakolaki from Mwanza City included the Government Chief Chemist; police officers; sub-village, village and ward executive officers and Mwaubingi ward councilor.

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Gunmen stage daring raid on petrol station

From The Citizen Daily, Dar es Salaam

By Patty Magubira
Armed robbers raided GBP petrol station at Nyakato are on the outskirts of Mwanza City and made away with unspecified amount of daily sales of the station on Saturnday night.

The armed bandits opened fire in the air eight times to scare away passers- by at around 7:00 pm when it was raining cats and dogs in the city, Mwanza region police commander, Jamal Rwambow, confirmed yesterday.

Rwambow, who could not divulge details on the incident because he is in the Vice-President's entourage, said the police force in the region was holding five suspects in connection with the incident.

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