Saturday 29 November 2014

Few register for local govt polls in Mwanza, Tarime

From The Citizen Daily, Dar es Salaam
By Ngollo John and Dinna Maningo

MWANZA/TARIME.The registration of voters for the forthcoming local government elections scheduled for December 14 this year is poor.

This is attributed to rains and poor sensitisation of people on the importance of registering.

An observation by The Citizen on Saturday in various areas of Tarime Town and Mwanza City has shown that some people were neither aware of the voters’ registration nor local government elections.

“Many people know nothing about the registration which started last Sunday and ends tomorrow [today]. Therefore, the turnout is very poor. Either there was not enough sensitisation or people do just ignore the elections, something which is very bad. Some people said they got the information from neighbours,” Mr Mwita Marwa, the registrar at Songambele A registration station in Tarime township said yesterday.

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Sunday 23 November 2014

Mwanza City Council to answer corruption charges in parliament

From IPP Media/The Guardian, Dar es Salaam
By Correspondent 

Officials of the Mwanza City Council have been ordered to appear before parliament to answer allegations of pervasive mismanagement of public funds in the 2010-2012 fiscal years that was discovered by the Local Authority Audit Committee (LAAC).

Speaking in an exclusive interview with The Guardian yesterday, Mwanza Resident Auditor, Hemed Chuma confirmed the development saying implicated officers in the embezzlement of billions of public funds have been summoned to appear before the Parliamentary committee in Dodoma.

"All council officers of Mwanza City whom the Controller Audit General's Office singled out to have mismanaged public funds that was to implement development projects in the 2010/11 and 2011/12 financial years have been ordered to go to Dodoma to answer the charges," said Chuma who is already in Dodoma.

According to the LAAC Chairman, Rajab Mbarouk Mohamed more that 40bn/- that was allocated for development projects in Mwanza was embezzled.
The committee which visited Mwanza last October reached that decision after the responsible officers led by the former Mwanza City District Executive Director Wilson Kabwe, failed to show up for the scheduled meeting.

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Monday 10 November 2014

A night at the Speke Bay Lodge

From The Citizen Daily, Dar es Salaam
By Elisha Mayallah

Speke Bay Lodge (Photo by: Hans Kristoffersen) 
We recently passed through the southeastern shore of Lake Victoria to explore all the alluring locations and facilities. There was just one spot on our list of places to go to that we had heard much about. This place was touted as a must go to place where many visitors in need of where to stay or break the journey, are said to visit. This is no other than the Speke Bay Lodge.

So we veered off the Musoma - Mwanza highway to find the Speke Bay Lodge, one of those better-known spots situated on Lake Victoria.

We didn’t have any expectations. What we’d seen in a write-up looked good, but as we’d learned in the week of travelling through the Lake Zone, someone else’s ideas and experiences are often vastly different from your own.

Sunset at Speke Bay (Photo by: Hans Kristoffersen)
Aside from wanting to visit the Speke Bay Lodge, I had stumbled upon some enticing photos of the lodge. Based on those pictures alone, I thought that there was no way we could miss such a destination, regardless of the fact that it was only one of two reasons we would drive off the highway.

Yet, just as we arrived, Mr Elirehema Maturo from the Tanzania Tourist Board (TTB) proclaimed that this may be his best place so far to bring his family during the end-of-the-year holidays. On hand to meet us was Mr Jan Scholing, the manager.

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Saturday 8 November 2014

Lake Zone schools top Std Seven exam

From The Citizen Daily, Dar es Salaam
By Saumu Mwalimu

Dar es Salaam. Eight private schools in the Lake Zone featured in the list of Top 10 performers in the 2014 national Standard Seven examination.

The results released yesterday saw private schools from Mara, Mwanza, Shinyanga and Kagera take up the first seven positions in the ranking. The other two schools that complete the top 10 were from Dar es Salaam and Kilimanjaro regions.

The results cast doubt on the future of public primary schools, which are overcrowded, understaffed and lack qualified teachers. But such schools remain the only choice for the poor, who cannot afford the expensive English-medium schools.

The results announced by the executive secretary of the National Examination Council of Tanzania (Necta), Dr Charles Msonde, reflect the usual pattern - with private schools holding on to their dominance over public schools.

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World Bank, Denmark promise $56m for urban project

From The Citizen Daily, Dar es Salaam
By Samuel Kamndaya

Dar es Salaam. The World Bank and Denmark have pledged to make available a total of $56 million (about Sh92.4 billion) in support of a project that seeks to improve infrastructure in urban areas in Tanzania.

Denmark will support Tanzania through the Danish International Development Agency (Danida).

The project, known as Tanzania Strategic Cities Project (TSCP), is carried out in eight urban centres of Tanga, Arusha, Mwanza, Ilemela, Kigoma, Dodoma, Mbeya and Mtwara.

However, in Dodoma, the project is implemented by the Dodoma Municipal Council and the Capital Development Authority.

The project was officially launched in September 2010 for implementation in five years. However, the project was successfully implemented in four years (2010 to 2014).

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