Albino society appeals for help

From The Citizen Daily, Dar es Salaam
By Melard Karoza

The public has been urged to support people with albinism, especially school age children to access

education.

The chairman of the Tanzania Albino Society (Tas) in Mwanza Region, Mr Alfred Kapole, said pupils and students with albinism often fail to attend classes due to their decreased visual acuity.

“I appeal to the public to support people with albinism as most of them are from poor families and cannot afford to get their needs as required,” he said in an interview with The Citizen.Mr Kapole, said apart from sight problems, people with albinism have been suffering from photophobia, extreme sun sensitivity and skin cancer.

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SAUT don sees no point in special probe on F4 exam fiasco

From The Citizen Daily, Dar es Salaam
By Anthon Mayunga

The Saint Augustine University of Tanzania (Saut) Vice Chancellor, Dr Charles Kitime, has challenged the government on the formation of the team to probe reasons behind mass failures in the last year Form Four examinations.

Dr Kitime said the formation of the team that will spend taxpayers’ money was meaningless because the cause of the problem was well known.

Speaking to journalists who attended a special training on business reporting in Mwanza, Dr Kitime said the decision shows how the government was not focused on improving the education sector in the country.

“I am surprised to see the Prime Minister forming a special team to probe the reason behind the mass failures in the 2012 Form Four examinations. I think it is well known that we have an acute shortage of teachers, poor learning environments and lack of books just to mention a few,” said Dr Kitime.

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Firm opens new route to Mwanza

From The Citizen Daily, Dar es Salaam
By the Citizen Reporter

Passengers and traders in the Lake Zone region are set to benefit from direct bus transport services connecting Mwanza and the neighbouring Burundi’s capital city Bujumbura.

Burundi’s transport giant, Otraco, has recently opened a Mwanza-Bujumbura bus service route in its efforts to establish closer business ties between Tanzania and Burundi traders.

Otraco, which stands for Office Transport en Commun, becomes the first Burundian firm to offer the services, as it has been vice-versa for years.

One of the bus operators, Mr Phillip Pascal, told The Citizen they travel twice a week to and from Bujumbura.

However, he urges Burundian traders to explore the opportunity as the business between the two cities is almost a one-way-traffic as Burundian traders imports more from Mwanza while exports hardly nothing to the Lake Zone region.

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Bus, train fares to increase by up to 40 per cent from next week

From The Citizen Daily, Dar es Salaam
By Ludger Kasumuni

Daladala, bus and train fares will increase by up to over 40 per cent next week.

Commuters using daladalas will from April 12 pay between Sh400 and Sh700 per trip, up from Sh300 and Sh650 respectively, depending on the distance travelled, the Surface and Marine Transport Regulatory Authority (Sumatra) said yesterday.

Schoolchildren will pay a flat rate of Sh200 instead of Sh150.

Fares for long-distance buses will rise by 20.3 per cent, 16.9 per cent and 13.2 per cent for standard, semi-luxury and luxury buses, respectively, according to Sumatra acting director general Ahmad Kilima.

Third-class train fares will go up by 44.1 per cent while second and first-class tickets will cost 25 per cent more.

Mr Kilima said bus travellers will pay Sh58 per kilometre instead of Sh51.64 for luxury buses, while those using semi-luxury and standard buses will pay Sh53 and Sh46.11, respectively, instead of Sh45.53.

For example, the luxury bus fare between Dar es Salaam and Arusha will be Sh36,000 instead of Sh32,000, while travellers using semi-luxury buses between Dar es Salaam and Mwanza will pay Sh61,400, up from Sh53,000.

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TZ losing its wildlife to cash-rich Asia, Far East as demand buoys local poaching

From The Citizen Daily, Dar es Salaam
By The Citizen Reporter

Mwanza. The presence of lucrative markets for game has been pointed to foster poaching that endangers wild animals.

Speaking during an official opening of a workshop organised by Tanzania National Park Authority (Tanapa) and attended by stakeholders from natural reserve conservation areas at Gold Crest, Mwanza Regional commissioner, Evarist Ndikilo, called for intervention from the international community to stop those markets and save wildlife and natural attractions from extermination.

Various countries in southern Asia and Far East have been alleged to provide good markets for game products, the leading of them being elephant tusks, rhino trophies, skin products and other forest products.

Photo by: Hans Kristoffersen (COPYRIGHT). Location: Rubondo Island National Park

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462 fake nurses flee Bugando Hospital, Mwanza

From The Citizen Daily, Dar es Salaam
By The Citizen's Reporters

The Pharmacy Board of Tanzania has caught 462 nurses working in the Lake Zone’s major health facilities with fake certificates.

The board’s crackdown aimed at nabbing people who illegally run medical and pharmacy businesses, also impounded 76 fake certificates, according to the board’s public announcement to the press yesterday.

The exercise’s coordinator from the board, Richard Selumbe, told The Citizen that during the exercise they carried out inspections on 1,206 assistant nurses serving at Bugando Hospital, the Lake Zone’s biggest referral centre, where they found only 743 nurses with genuine certificates. The remaining 386 who were suspected to have fake certificates fled their work stations fearing the board’s test.

“We are holding 76 fake certificates owned by those who were inspected, but we couldn’t get 386 others since their owners fled. The total number of owners of the fake certificates reached 462,” noted Serumbe.

He said most of the fake certificates show the nurses studied at the African Inland Church’s medical school, whose location Serumbe said was still undisclosed.

“Its location is said to be in Mwanza, but conflicting reports say it is in Magu while others claim the college is in Shinyanga,” noted Serumbe.

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Mwanza embarks on campaign against gender-based violence

From The Citizen Daily, Dar es Salaam

Forty six policewomen from Ilemela and Nyamagana districts in Mwanza Region yesterday attended a daylong training in techniques for fighting against gender-based violence (GBV).

Conducted by experts from GG Trust, the training provided free self-defence training in response to increasing GBV incidents in the Lake Zone regions.

GG Trust president, Ms Stella Mathias, who led the experts, said that the policewomen would impart the learned defence skills and techniques to women in other parts of the region.

“After in-depth research, it was established that most women in poor rural areas are vulnerable to rape and other forms of gender-based violence. This training aims to give them best techniques against the molesters,” she said.

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