Stop grumbling and pay your debts, Tanesco told

Energy and Minerals Minister Sospeter Muhongo Tanesco should honour its contract with power supplier Songas and pay its debts, the government declared yesterday.Speaking on the phone from Britain, Energy and Minerals Minister Sospeter Muhongo expressed surprise that Tanesco had failed to live up to its obligations. “I know Tanesco has a contract with Songas,” Prof Muhongo told The Citizen. “It should stick to it.”Tanesco owes Songas Sh80 billion ($51 million) in outstanding bills covering...

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Tanzania: CRC Issues Constitutional Assemblies Guidelines

THE Constitutional Review Commission (CRC) has issued guidelines to govern the formation of constitutional assemblies which invite qualified Tanzanians who wish to take part in the fora to lodge their applications with the village executive offices starting March 8, this year.The district assemblies, according to the Constitutional Review Act, are aimed at collecting public opinions on the Draft Constitution which will be tabled by the CRC. The Commission has planned to conduct the assemblies for three months beginning June, this year.According to the guidelines published in various newspapers...

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FBI to study Zanzibar insecurity

Experts from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the US and Scotland Yard of the UK will conduct a thorough study on the state of security in Zanzibar and advise the government on the best way forward.        The Deputy Minister for Home Affairs, Mr Pereira Ame Silima, told reporters in Dar es Salaam that the reputed intelligence units are expected in the country by next month to assist local security organs in getting to the bottom of recent killings of...

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Wildlife calving attracts thousands

The whole world seems to be currently gathering in the Serengeti Plains where more than 1.5 million wildebeests are delivering new calves at the rate of 8,000 newborns per day. A wildebeest mother and calf graze on the grassy plains of Serengeti Within less than a month, in this same month of February, a record-breaking total of 16,500 tourists, among them 5,800 domestic visitors, with more still coming, are filling the Serengeti plains targeting to witness the amazing wildebeests’...

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Things getting worse

Dar es Salaam. The quality of life for a large majority of Tanzanians has been growing from bad to worse over the past few years, a situation that poses serious challenges to economic planners and political leaders.Findings in a recently concluded survey show that hunger, high cost of living, religious conflicts, unemployment and education are key problems the people face today. The survey, launched yesterday by Ipsos-Synovate Tanzania, dubbed “The National Spec Barometer” involved some...

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Tazara needs USD4bn to modernise operations

 Tazara Railway The Tanzania-Zambia Railway (Tazara), a joint railway line jointly owned by Tanzania and Zambia, requires about 4 billion US dollars to fully modernise the railway line and its operations, the Times of Zambia reported on Thursday.Akashambatwa Mbikusita-Lewanika, the company's managing director said it would be costly to rebuild the railway line considering that a lot of money would be required to start afresh, adding that it was the reason the two governments have opted...

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Leaders sign DR Congo peace deal

REGIONAL African leaders have signed a deal to try to bring peace to the war-torn east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, with plans to reinforce a UN-led mission to combat rebels.  The UN Security Council is deeply concerned by worsening unrest in eastern DR Congo. Source: AAP But with the ink still wet, the UN Security Council expressed concern at the deepening unrest in the region, once again condemning the mainly Tutsi M23 rebels, who...

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Experts say having own oil wells will reduce costs

Dar es Salaam. As Tanzanians continue to feel the pinch of high fuel prices and the staggering import bill of the commodity, some economists have advised the government to buy oil wells in oil producing countries.The proposal, they argue, could be a long-term solution to fluctuations in global oil prices, which some countries have started to adopt.The arrangement would also have a positive impact on almost every aspect of life in the country, notably helping to deal with the high cost of...

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Tanzania: Peace Must Be Preserved At All Costs

FOR a country that has been enjoying a reputation as an island of peace, it is a travesty that we should give it all away in the name of religious beliefs. From Zanzibar to Geita, what has transpired of late is not only saddening but detrimental to our well-being as a nation. That people should die or be injured because of their faiths is not a matter for frolic. It has been said time and again, those who have done their bit and lost the little peace and tranquility they once enjoyed look...

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Tanzania: Court Differs On Sheikh Ponda's Case

 The Secretary General of the Islamic Council Organization, Sheikh Ponda Issa Ponda LAWYERS and a prosecution witness on Thursday locked horns at the Kisutu Resident Magistrate's Court in Dar es Salaam on whether the case against Secretary General of the Council of Islamic Organization, Sheikh Ponda Issa Ponda and his colleagues, was criminal or civil. While advocates Juma Nassoro and Tahaya Njama, for the accused, claimed that the case had all elements of civil by its nature, the witness,...

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Attackers hack hand off Tanzanian child

ATTACKERS collecting body parts of albinos for witchcraft have hacked off the hand of a seven-year old boy in Tanzania, in the latest in a series of bloody assaults, officials say."The boy was attacked on Saturday by three people as he walked home with his four school friends," said Apolinary Macheta, the local government leader in Tanzania's southwestern Milepa district.The boy, Mwigulu Magessa, is recovering in hospital, Macheta added.The attack came just days after an albino mother of four had her arm chopped off by machete-wielding men. Police on Saturday said they had arrested five men after...

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Priest Shot Dead In Zanzibar; Pastor Beheaded On Mainland

                                                  Christians in Zanzibar face Islamic violence  A Catholic priest was shot dead Sunday, February 17, on his way to church in Tanzania's semi-autonomous island of Zanzibar, just days after a pastor...

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TPSF urges govt to set up special court to handle corruption cases

                                                         TPSF Executive Director, Godfrey Simbeye Tanzania Private Sector Foundation (TPSF) has recommended the government to establish a special court that will be dealing...

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Gangs terrorise people with albinism

 Gama Zengabuyanga (L) in a sombre mood after losing her grandson, Lugolola Bunzari (7), who was murdered by criminals in cold blood and his left arm later chopped off. Zengabuyanga Meli (95), a resident of Kanoge village in Tabora Region, was murdered recently while defending Lugolola Bunzari (7), his great grandson with albinism from being chopped to death by gangsters after human parts. The attackers killed Lugolola and later fled with his arm leaving the torso inside the...

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shock and disbelief as Pope Benedict XVI set to resign

 The handout picture release by the Vatican press office on february 11, 2013 shows pope Benedict XVI (C) attending an ordinary consistory at the Vatican the same day pope Benedict XVI announced he will resign on february 28, a Vatican spokesman told AFP, which will make him the first pope to do so in centuries Pope Benedict XVI’s announcement yesterday that he will resign at the end of this month sent shock waves across the globe, leaving four unanswered questions.Roman...

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East Africa: Tanzania, Kenya Ports Move to Cut Congestion

Dar es Salaam — The Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) and Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) are weighing a partnership that will address congestion at their principal ports, as well as to foster clearing of cargos and speed up the East African region's economies.After protracted complaints from the business community, the Port of Mombasa has set out to reclaim its appeal and regain its position as the gateway to East Africa with the joint venture.Speaking in Dar es Salaam last week, the Kenya High Commissioner to Tanzania, Mr. Mutinda Mutiso said that the two ports are in keen at collaborating to end congestion...

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Tanzania: 'Arusha Protocol' Enables UDSM to Produce Gas, Oil Experts

Newly discovered gas reserves in the Indian Ocean shores may be causing uproar in Mtwara but a Memorandum of Understanding signed in Arusha will enable the University of Dar-Es-Salaam to start working on special programs to churn out experts in the field of gas and oil.Last weekend UDSM management inked a special 'Trinity Memorandum of Understanding,' to be known as the 'Arusha Protocol' with the Augustino Neto University of Angola and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), which will assist the country's leading academic brain trust to groom and produce highly qualified experts...

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