Junior basketball camp closes in Mwanza

From Daily News, Dar es Salaam
By DAILY NEWS Reporter

THE U-18 youth basketball training camp involving students from various secondary schools in Mwanza came to an end in the city on Thursday.

Mwanza-based Planet Social Development (PSD) had organized the camp in co-operation with a Dar es Salaam firm, Mambo Basketball, with a view to promote the sport in the region.

PSD official, Kizito Bahati, said the event, which had been taking place at the CCM-Kirumba Stadium, involved a total of 81 youngsters, in which the boys totalled 68 and the rest were girls.

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Two drown, several survive in Lake Victoria boat accident

Ftom The Guardian/IPPMedia, Dar es Salaam
By Correspondent

Two people drowned and several others narrowly escaped death last week after a boat they were traveling in capsized in Lake Victoria, Bunda district, Mara region.

The accident occurred on Wednesday night at Kasuguti village in the district as the men were fishing in the lake.

Kasuguti village executive office Kabanja Kabanja named the two fishermen who drowned as Kajeri Simbiti (17) and Hamis Masatu (33).

He said the survivors were rescued by villagers who witnessed them capsizing in the lake.

One reporter who also witnessed the lake accident, Misana Gamba, noted that apart from the rough lake, the boat was overloaded.

The village executive officer said the incident was reported to Bulamba police post and the bodies of the two fishermen were found the following day and buried.

Mara regional police commander Robert Boaz said he was unaware of the accident and promised to follow it up.

Albino child survives by biting assailant’s private parts

From Daily News, Dar es Salaam
By DAILY NEWS Reporter

AN albino child who is admitted to the Geita Hospital in Mwanza Region after he was attacked by a man who was after his body parts said he survived by biting the assailant's private parts.

Adam Robert (14), whose condition is improving said that he managed to bite the man amid the gruesome attack, forcing the goon to run away before cutting his fingers.

"When he was cutting my hand, I was yelling and after a few moment he started preparing to chop off my fingers. That is when I got the chance of biting his private part."

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News of albino killing disturbing

From Daily News, Dar es Salaam
By The Editor

TRAGICALLY, persecution of albinos has resurfaced. It has been years since it was last reported that people with albinism have been attacked or killed solely for their body.

Recently, however, there have emerged reports of an attack on a 14-year-old boy in Geita district, Mwanza Region. The shocking tale of how the boy was attacked, of all people, by a person they had invited to a meal is unfathomable. It is said that the boy was attacked by a man who had gone to their home on the pretext that he had lost his cattle and was looking for them.

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Clan conflicts result in traders leaving district

From The Citizen Daily, Dar es Salaam
By Beldina Nyakeke

Tarime. As a result of perennial clan clashes a number of traders have left Tarime District, many relocating to Mwanza where they have been doing a brisk business.

Briefing the deputy minister for Industries and Trade, Mr Lazaro Nyalandu, who visited the district to inspect the business environment, the Tarime District commissioner, Mr John Henjewele, said security concerns have made many people prefer to perform their activities in the neighbouring region.

He said the recurring clan clashes and cattle theft in the district have made many traders abandon the district and move to Mwanza.

Mr Henjewele said the situation had forced the district’s authorities to come up with strategies to improve the security situation to attract the traders back.

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Fake drugs flood Misungwi district

From The Guardian/IPPMedia, Dar es Salaam
By Edwin Agola

Mwanza’s Misungwi District, in Lake Victoria Basin, is home to many poor farmers who barely manage to grow enough food crops, mainly rice, to live on. Their top government official charged with fighting malaria is Dr Mathias Abuya.

His job includes attending to as many as 10,000 malaria cases a year. His duty is made more challenging by ruthless, increasingly sophisticated drug cartel of counterfeits.

Standing in his small and cluttered laboratory in the provincial hospital, also called Bugando, he holds up a small plastic bag containing two identical blister packs of Artemether Lumefantrine (ALU) coartem, an anti-malarial drug popularly known in Kiswahili as 'dawa mseto,' manufactured by Norvatis Pharmaceuticals of USA, being sold in pharmacies, with altered expiry dates.

The problem according Abuya is threatening hundreds of thousands of people. Worse still it is due to cold, calculated greed. Tanzania is awash in counterfeit medications, none more insidious than those for malaria, a deadly infectious disease that is usually curable if treated early with appropriate drugs.

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Lake Victoria for environment audit

From Daily News, Dar es Salaam
By MARC NKWAME in Arusha

THE Controller and Auditor General, Mr Ludovick Utouh, said here on Monday that his office plans to conduct an environment audit on Lake Victoria.

"The aim is to inspect the lake's condition and determine reasons behind rapid shrinking of fish resources," Mr Utouh said and added that his office in Dar es Salaam would execute the project in collaboration with counterparts in Kenya and Uganda.

He said his office had for long been associated with auditing financial statements, procurement records and expenditure in public and private institutions and not matters related to environment and fishing.

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