Tag Archives: Tanzania

President Sacks Information Minister

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Tanzania’s President John Magufuli has sacked the country’s information minister, the first cabinet change since taking office in late 2015.

Magufuli, nicknamed “the Bulldozer” for his strict leadership style, launched a reform drive soon after he was elected by dismissing dozens of senior public officials over allegations of corruption and inefficiency.

The president removed Nape Nnauye as the country’s Minister of Information, Culture, Arts and Sports just days after the minister ordered a probe into an alleged raid on a private television station by a senior government official on March 17.

Harrison Mwakyembe was appointed information minister while Palamagamba Kabudi was named justice and constitutional affairs minister, the portfolio previously held by Mwakyembe.

No reason was given for the cabinet changes, but some analysts said there were reports of friction among some government officials over Magufuli’s strict leadership style.

On Thursday, police officers prevented Nnauye from holding a planned press conference at a Dar es Salaam hotel after his sacking.

“I don’t expect to see any major rift that could affect the performance of the government as a result of conflicts between some government officials,” Benson Bans, a Dar es Salaam-based political analyst told Reuters.

“Recent opinion polls give Magufuli an approval rating of over 80 per cent so he is still very popular among Tanzanians and has a mandate to push through his reforms.”

Tanzania bans sachet alcoholic drinks.

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A ban on alcohol sold in plastic sachets will come into force in Tanzania this week, the government said Wednesday, as it seeks to protect the environment and curb youth boozing.

The import, manufacture, sale and consumption of the 50 millilitre alcoholic sachets — the size of a double shot and commonly containing gin, rum, vodka, whisky or other spirits — will be banned with effect from March 2, said environment minister January Makamba.

President John Magufuli announced the ban last year.

The sachet ban is expected to upset businessmen, some of whom make huge profits from their sale, as well as drinkers who will be forced to pay more for bottled alcohol, but will be welcomed by religious leaders, teachers and parents.

The easily-concealed bags of booze are especially popular among school students who can be seen sucking on the sachets between classes or at the start of the school day.

In some places the sachets sell faster than soft drinks or donuts and, when discarded, are an eyesore. When the wind blows they float in the sky like filthy confetti.

The sachet ban comes after the government launched an anti-drugs campaign last month.

Several African countries such as Ivory Coast, Senegal, Malawi and Rwanda have already imposed bans on alcohol sachets.

 

Source: The Guardian

Dangote Cement, Tanzania government haggle over price of natural gas

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Tanzania is in talks with Nigeria’s Dangote Cement on supply of natural gas to a manufacturing plant for building material, but negotiations are held up over prices, said government body.

The $500 million cement factory in the south-eastern Tanzanian town of Mtwara, set up last year with an annual capacity of three million tonnes, runs on expensive diesel generators and has sought government support to reduce costs.

The company, whose majority owner and Chairman is Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, halted production at the plant last week over technical issues.

State-run Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) said talks were expected to conclude in January, with price disagreements yet to be resolved.

“Dangote has held protracted talks with TPDC on the pricing of natural gas.

“The Dangote Cement factory has asked for gas supply at below market prices, equivalent to the price of raw natural gas from producing wells,’’ TPDC said in a statement.

“TPDC cannot sell natural gas to final consumers on at-the-well price because there are additional costs incurred in processing and transporting the gas,” it said.

Tanzania announced in February that it had discovered an additional 2.17 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of possible natural gas deposits in an onshore field, raising its total estimated recoverable natural gas reserves to more than 57 tcf.

Dangote has an annual production capacity of 43.6 million tonnes and targets output of between 74 million and 77 million tonnes by the end of 2019 and 100 million tonnes of capacity by 2020.

It is Africa’s biggest cement producer.

The company plans to roll out plants across Africa. In Tanzania, Dangote seeks to double the country’s annual output of cement to six million tonnes.

Photo Of Jailed Top Tanzanian Govt. Official Carrying Bucket Of Water In Prison

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Pictured is former Tanzanian Revenue Authority boss, Harry Kitilya carrying a bucket of water in prison. He is currently in jail for corruption, money laundering and theft of public funds. He and other public figures are involved in a 600 million US dollar bribery scandal involving London-based ICBC Standard Bank….But who is he waving to, fellow inmates?

Source; Nationalhelm

Tanzania’s President John Magufuli Sweeps The Streets On Independence Day

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Tanzanian President John Pombe Magufuli surprised onlookers Wednesday December 9, 2015 when he walked out of State House to collect rubbish off the streets, after cancelling Independence Day celebrations for a national clean-up.

 

Magufuli, who took power in November after winning the October 25 elections, has introduced a swathe of austerity cuts and crackdowns on public corruption.

 

Dozens of fishermen joined in the clean-up with their president, who shovelled leaves and plastic rubbish close to a fish market near the presidential palace as a crowd of hundreds looked on.

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“Let us work together to keep our country, cities, homes and workplaces clean, safe and healthy,” the smiling Magufuli said, as he picked up litter with his hands.

 

Street cleaning took place across the economic capital Dar es Salaam, with plumes of smoke rising into the sky as residents burned piles of litter.

 

But this is just what newly elected President John Magufuli did this morning after cancelling today’s usually lavish Independence Day celebrations and ordering Tanzanians to clean-up their neighbourhoods.

 

The scene was replicated across the country, with schools and shops remaining shut as people swept streets, pruned trees, and tidied up their areas from the crack of dawn.

 

Former president Jakaya Kikwete also took part in cleaning in his home town of Chalinze sweeping and gathering rubbish.

 

This is the first time in 54 years that Tanzania has not held celebrations to mark independence from the UK.

 

In many ways, the clean -up exercise was symbolic of President Magufuli’s pledge to remove what many Tanzanians see as the rot in public institutions, and their failure to perform effectively.
Last month, Mr Magufuli said it would be “shameful” to spend huge sums of money on the celebrations when “our people are dying of cholera”.

 

Cholera has killed about 60 people in Tanzania in the last three months – many of them in poor areas which lack proper toilets.

 

Mr Magafuli, nicknamed “The Bulldozer”, was elected in October.

 

 

Credit : Daily Nation

Tanzania’s New President Restricts Foreign Travel For Officials, Cuts Tax Exemptions

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Tanzania’s new President John Magufuli, on Tuesday ordered restrictions on foreign travel by government officials and cuts in tax exemptions, signalling the potential start of fiscal belt-tightening measures by his government.

A statement from the president’s office said that “the president had put a halt to all foreign trips by government officials with immediate effect.

“If there is an urgent need for foreign travel by a public official, approval must be granted by the president himself or the Head of Civil Service.’’

The directive is against the backdrop of abuse of public funds by some officials reputed for making frequent foreign trips and flying in first or business class at taxpayers’ expense in a country that is one of the biggest per-capita aid recipients in Africa.
The statement said Magufuli, 56, had instead, ordered government officials to visit villages and other rural parts of Tanzania to address “grievances and problems of the people’’.

The belt-tightening measures are aimed at raising money to finance the government’s plan of providing primary and secondary education to all Tanzanian children free of charge from January next year, the statement said.

“The president has also instructed the Tanzania Revenue Authority to step up revenue collection from large tax payers and curb tax evasion without fear or favour,’’ it said.

Magufuli, whose supporters call him  “the bulldozer’’ for building desperately needed roads across the large nation in his previous post as a cabinet minister, had pledged to introduce a raft of measures to end government excesses and boost revenue collection.

Magufuli, sworn in on Nov. 5 as Tanzania’s fifth president, had pledged to double the east African country’s monthly revenue collection to 1.8 trillion shillings ($843 million) over the next five years.
He also promised to create a special court to oversee all corruption-related issues and vowed zero tolerance for graft.

 

(Reuters/NAN)

Tanzania’s New President Magufuli Sworn In

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Tanzania’s fifth national leader President John Magufuli was inaugurated on Thursday at the packed Uhuru Stadium in Dar es Salaam.

Magufuli, at the inauguration, made a brief thankful statement on the peaceful succession between himself and his predecessor Jakaya Kikwete.

In spite of the early morning shower which drenched the city and neighbouring regions, thousands of people flocked to the stadium to see the man popularly nicknamed “Hapa Kazi tu” – Kiswahili for “Here work only” – take his oath of office.

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Magufuli coined the slogan for his presidential election campaign to indicate that he is a man who means business in order to bring about change in the people’s life and development in general.

Today’s downpour in Tanzania, according to many people, was a sign of good luck accompanying the new administration.

 

Several heads of state and government from neighbouring countries attended President Magufuli’s inauguration.

They included Presidents Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni of Uganda, Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya, Paul Kagame of Rwanda and Jacob Zuma of South Africa.

Others were Joseph Kabila of DR Congo, Filipe Nyusi of Mozambique and Edgar Lungu of Zambia as well as Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn of Ethiopia.

 

(PANA/NAN)

Tanzania’s Ruling Party Candidate Declared Presidential Vote Winner

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Tanzania’s ruling party candidate, John Magufuli, won the presidential election, the National Electoral Commission announced on Thursday, after the opposition challenged the tallying process and demanded a recount.

National Electoral Commission Chairman Damian Lubuva told a news conference that Magufuli, a minister for public works, secured 58 percent of the votes, beating his main opposition rival, former Prime Minister Edward Lowassa who had 40 percent.

Credit: reuters

Ifreke Inyang: 5 Things We Learnt From Tanzania vs Nigeria

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1. Difficult start for Oliseh

As soon as Sunday Oliseh was announced as Stephen Keshi’s successor, he has been submerged in a giant wave of optimism and goodwill. A lot of people – this writer included – has been genuinely hopeful and excited. Well, it is not as if all that has evaporated, but this is surely not the start he hoped for. He will have more time to work on the squad and the results will start showing soon.

2. Carl I keep your shirt, Vincent?

Amid the inexperience and lack of basic intelligence in the Eagles squad, debutant Carl Ikeme managed to stand out and cover himself in glory. The Wolves goalkeeper, who was called up to replace the bereaved Vincent Enyeama was a commanding presence, calm and classy. Ikeme pulled off some nice stops in the second half, when the Tanzania threatened to shock.

3. Beginning of the end for Haruna

One of the major talking points of the game, was Oliseh pulling out Haruna Lukman in the 35th minute of the game. The Anzhi midfielder looked lethargic prior to that, playing with little or no energy and enthusiasm. It is one thing to have ability. It is not thing to use it well. Once again, we saw that the line between arrogance and confidence is painfully blur. For someone who had been in the international wilderness for five years, he should have grabbed this opportunity with both hands.

4. Emenike, Musa don’t do enough

For a team that was sprinkled with debutants and a lot of inexperienced heads, the more experienced players did not come to the party. Emmanuel Emenike was a bit average and did not link up play as well as he can. CSKA Moscow winger, Ahmed Musa, sparkled in bursts – and it was really more about his pace than end product.

5. Tanzania give good account of themselves

Most pundits expected the Eagles to impose themselves on their hosts and claim another routine victory in Dar es Salaam. That was not the case. Tanzania provided real threat all through the game and if not for Ikeme and some wayward finishing, they should have scored a goal or two, especially in the second half.

‘Ifreke Inyang tweets via @Ifreke

Views expressed are solely that of author and does not represent views of www.omojuwa.com nor its associates

Men Suspected To Have Killed 148 Kenyan Students in Terror Attack Denied Bail In Court

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Five suspects arrested in connection with a terror attack at a Kenyan university that killed 148 people were denied bail yesterday when they appeared before a court in Nairobi for the mention of their case.

Police had accused the suspects of supplying guns to the four gunmen who carried out the deadly attack in April.

The accused, Mohamed Ali Abdikar, Hassan Aden Hassan, Sahal Diriye and Osman Abdi who are thought to be Kenyan or Somali nationals, and Rashid Charles, a Tanzanian national, have denied the charges and were remanded in custody until later in the month when their trial is expected to commence.

While making the ruling, the chief magistrate said granting bail would compromise investigations as security officials were still compiling evidence.

The prosecution has said it intends to call more than 30 witnesses to testify in the case, and the trial is scheduled to begin in earnest on June 24.

After the attack, officials announced five arrests, including three alleged “coordinators” captured as they fled towards Somalia and two others seized at the university compound.

The two arrested on campus included a security guard and a Tanzanian found hiding in the ceiling holding grenades.

It will be recalled during the university attack, the extremists lined up non-Muslim students for execution while Muslim students were spared.

Only One Candidate Shows up For Tanzania’s Presidential Election Debate

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The CEO roundtable (CEOrt) (an elite political forum in Tanzania) was forced to adjourn the first presidential aspirants’ debate it had organised for the Presidential hopefuls last night in the city after the aspirants failed to show up for the earlier confirmed dialogue.

The invitees to the platform debate were former Prime Minister Fredrick Sumaye, Minister for Tourism and Natural Resources Lazaro Nyalandu, Deputy Minister for Science, Communication and Technology January Makamba and Deputy Minister for Finance Mwigulu Nchemba.

Among the five invited, only the African Union Permanent Ambassador in the United States, Amina Salum Ali, attended. All aspirants have already picked up nomination forms.
Announcing the postponement of the debate, CEO rt Chairman Ali Mufuruki did not find a word with which to convince the audiences, who already had secured their seats waiting anxiously for the aspirants to come and start the debate on straight.

In his introductory speech he expressed his disappointment on the decisions made by the aspirants who at that moment had sent him messages to inform that they couldn’t attend the debate with no reasons whatsoever

Tanzania Bans “Dangerous” Dance

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Kigodoro, a traditional dance in Tanzania that’s gaining wider attention on social media, is facing increased restrictions from the government. The dance involves women exuberantly shaking their bodies, and, in recent years for some performers, it involves stripping completely naked.

Police cracking down on Kigodoro dances performed in weddings and social gatherings say they attract muggers and criminal gangs, putting attendees at risk.

Herman Mwansoko, Director of Culture Development in the ministry of information, youth, culture and sport, says the government has declared this dance illegal.

Credit: Aljazeera

23 Arrested Over Killing Witches in Tanzania

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Tanzanian police have charged 23 people with murder after seven villagers were burned alive on suspicion of witchcraft. Five of those killed were aged over 60, the other two were over 40.

A Tanzanian human rights group estimates that 500 suspected witches are killed in Tanzania annually.

The suspects were arraigned in court on Friday and accused of murder. They remain in custody. Of the detained, at least one is a local leader, according to Kigoma police commander Jafari Mohammed.

Witnesses say some of the victims were attacked with machetes and their homes burned.

The son of one of the victims, Josephat John, told Tanzania’s Mwananchi newspaper: “When I returned home in the evening, I found the body of my mother lying 10 metres away from our house, while the body of my father was burnt inside the house.”

Hamisi Richard, the leader of Murufiti village, told the BBC: “Men and women have run away from the village. Even children are not there… Everyone was scared of that event, and others feared police search.”

Belief in witchcraft is prevalent in many parts of Tanzania.