Safari za Ndege Mpya Aina ya Bombardier Jijini Arusha Kuinua Seukta ya Utallii Nchini

Moja ya Ndege mpya ya serikali iliyokodishwa kwa Shirika la Ndege Tanzania (ATCL) aina ya Bombadier  Dash 8 Q400 ikitua kwa mara ya kwanza katika uwanja mdogo wa ndege wa Arusha wakati maafisa wa Mamlaka ya Anga(TCAA) walipokua wakifanya ukaguzi kabla ya kuanza rasmi safari za kibiashara nchini.

Maafisa wa Mamlaka ya Usafiri wa Anga(TCAA)wakilakiwa katika uwanja mdogo wa ndege wa Arusha mara baada ya kuwasili kwa ajili ya kufanya ukaguzi kabla ya safari kwa ndege hizo kuanza.

Mjumbe wa Bodi ya Shirika la Ndege Tanzania (ATCL) ,Ibrahim Mussa ambaye pia ni Mkurugenzi wa Utalii wa Shirika la Hifadhi za Taifa nchini(TANAPA) akizungumza na waandishi wa habari juu ya faida za utalii zitakazotokana na kukua usafiri wa anga nchini.

  Baadhi ya watumishi wa uwanja mdogo wa ndege wa Arusha wakifurahia ndege aina ya Bombadier baada ya kupata nafasi ya kuingia ndani ya ndege hiyo na kujionea mandhari yake.

  Mkuu wa kitengo cha usalama wa Shirika la ndege Tanzania (ATCL) ,John Chaggu akijiandaa kuingia ndani ya  ndege kwa ajili ya kuendelea na ukaguzi katika viwanja vingine nchini ambavyo ndege hiyo itatoa huduma.

  Baadhi ya wananchi waliokua wakipita kando ya barabara walilazimika kuishudia ndege hiyo.

Na Dixon Busagaga wa Globu ya Jamii Kanda ya Kaskazini. 

Kenya, Tanzania Issue Tsunami Warnings!

Wadau, Tsunami iko njiani! Mjihami!

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Kenya, Tanzania Issue Tsunami Warnings

Wed Apr 11, 2012 6:38pm IST

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya and Tanzania issued tsunami warnings along their eastern Indian Ocean coastlines after a powerful 8.6 magnitude earthquake struck off Indonesia on Wednesday.

Some 164 people were killed and more than 2,300 were displaced in Kenya, Tanzania, Madagascar, Seychelles, and Somalia after the disastrous 2004 Asian tsunami.

The waves are expected to hit the Kenyan coast, a popular tourist destination, at about 1700 GMT, officials said. One person in Kenya was killed in the 2004 tsunami.

"The government of Kenya has consequently issued a tsunami warning for the people living along the Kenyan coastline," Esther Murugi, the minister of state for special programmes said in a statement.

"The water levels are expected to rise up to 2 to 3 metres in areas of Malindi, Lamu, up to Kiunga while in Kilifi, Mombasa up to Shimoni, the levels are expected to rise up to 2 metres," she said.

Senior Assistant Director at Kenya's Met office, Ali Mafimbo, said an alert had been issued to keep people on the lookout and to stay out of the sea once they saw water levels receding.

Tanzania said it expected waves of up to 1.5 metres to hit the coastline between 1600 GMT and 1800 GMT.

"There will likely be huge waves in the Indian Ocean � all fishermen and other vessels should keep off the sea," Tanzania's Meteorological Agency director, Agness Kijazi, told Reuters.

"People should evacuate coastlines, especially in northern parts of the country."

Madagascar's National Office for Disaster and Risk Management said they did not expect the tsunami to cause damage on the Indian Ocean island.

"We don't expect the wave to have a big impact on Madagascar. We are not planning to move anybody. We urge people not to panic," Louis de Gonzague Rakotonirainy said, before the latest wave of aftershocks.

"In the event the situation develops, the inhabitants of the east coast will be advised to move to higher ground. A meeting is taking place right now to evaluate the situation."

(Reporting by Humphrey Malalo and Yara Bayoumy in Nairobi; Fumbuka Ng'wanakilala in Dar es Salaam; Alain Iloniaina in Antananarivo; Writing by Yara Bayoumy; Editing by James Macharia)

Tanzania Music Television Iko Hewani!

Tanzania Music Television (TMTV) ni TV ambayo unaweza kuiona Online na pia ktk DECODER . TMTV itazinduliwa hivi karibuni pindi maandalizi yatakapokuwa tayari. Kwasasa waweza kuendelea kuangalia Chanel hii bure kupitia computer yako kwa linki hii http://www.tmtv.co.tz./

Mauzo ya DECODER yataanza pindi decoder zitakapo kamilika.Ili watu waweze kuona TMTV kupitia TV zao za majumbani.

Vile vile ni TV ambayo inarushwa kwa teknonlojia mpya ambayo unaweza kuangalia TMTV kupitia, MOBILE ,GAMES Kama XBOX360,SMATPHONES, aina zote kama za mobile kama Nokia, Motorolla, Samsung, LG Zenye 3G n.k pia kupitia Android na Decoder TRU SATTELITE.

TMTV ni kwa ajili yetu sote, isitoshe ni ya kijanja na imelenga kutuburudisha kokote tulipo kupitia simu zetu na computer zetu. Ikiwa kama MTV chanel.

TMTV ni music chanel ambayo inaonyesha music ya kibongo mchanganyiko 24/7.

TMTV ina vipindi 10,

BENDI ZETU

SWAHILI HIP HOP

ZILIPENDWA

TAARABU

NYIMBO ZA ASILI

NYIMBO ZA DINI

SALAMU BOX

BONGO BOX

TMTV TOP 10

VIPAJI na

MUSIC NEWS.

Tusiogope kuisapoti bidhaa yetu ya nyumbani kabisa. Tuipe ushirikiano wa kutosha

Link http://www.tmtv.co.tz/ Downlod microsoft Silverlight itajitokeza ktk screen,kama haijafunguka yenyewe.

Email. info@tmtv.co.tz

Serikali Iombe Wananchi Msamaha - Mgao wa Umeme

Nimepata hii kwenye email.

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Imeripotiwa kuwa Waziri wa Afrika Mashariki, Samuel Sitta, ameitaka serikali iwaombe radhi wananchi kwa mgao wa umeme unaoendelea. Kauli hiyo ya Sitta imewafanya maadui wake ndani ya serikali, CCM na baadhi ya vyombo vya habari vinavyotumiwa kuibuka na kumuita waziri huyo kuwa ni msaliti na lazima afukuzwe kazi.Lazima tukubali kuwa tuna tatizo kubwa sana la uwajibikaji katika nchi hii. Ni wajibu wa serikali kuhakikisha kuwa Watanzania wanapata umeme kwa ajili ya kuhakikisha ukuaji wa uchumi, upatikanaji wa huduma za jamii na maisha ya kila siku ya wananchi.

Leo hii, wastani wa asilimia 15 tu ya Watanzania milioni 44 wanapata umeme. Na serikali imeshindwa kuhakikisha kuwa asilimia hiyo ndogo ya wanaopata umeme wanapata huduma ya uhakika. Hapa ndipo dhana ya uwajibikaji inapokuja.

Kitendo cha serikali yenyewe kulazimika kuitoa bajeti ya wizara ya nishati na madini Bungeni ili
wakajipange upya ni ishara nyingine kuwa serikali haiko makini kwenye kutatua mgao wa umeme. Ni baada tu ya kuona kuwa Wabunge wamekuja juu na huenda hawatapitisha bajeti hiyo ndiyo serikali ikashituka usingizini na kusema wanahitaji muda wa kujipanga zaidi.

Wakati serikali imeongeza bajeti ya miundombinu kwa asilimia 85 na kufikia shilingi trilioni 2.78 ($1.73 billion), ilitenga shilingi bilioni 402.4 ($250m) tu kwa wizara ya nishati na madini katika kipindi hiki ambacho taifa liko kwenye janga kubwa la umeme. Ni kweli tunahitaji barabara, bandari, reli na airport, lakini ni lazima tuweke vipaumbele sawa. Kama pesa hazitoshi kufanya vyote kwa wakati mmoja, serikali makini ingetatua tatizo la umeme kwanza ndipo ijenge barabara.

Narudia tena, tatizo la umeme nchini si ukame. Ni matokeo ya serikali kutotoa kipaumbele kwa suala hili tangu ilipoingia madarakani. Ndiyo maana serikali imekiri yenyewe kuwa katika kipindi chake cha kwanza cha miaka mitano, imeongeza megawati 145 tu kwenye gridi ya taifa. Lazima kuwe na hatua za dharura, muda mfupi na muda mrefu (immediate, medium-term na long-term) za kukabiliana na tatizo hili. Serikali inabidi isimamishe safari za nje, posho, semina, manunuzi ya Landruiser VX, na matumizi mengine ya anasa ili pesa zote ziende kwenye umeme. Na ikibidi hata ikope pesa nje ili kuwekeza kwenye umeme. Kwenye global financial crisis, serikali ilitoa 1.7 trillion shillings (over $1 billion) na kugawa pesa hizi kwa kampuni zenye utata. Leo hii serikali inasemaje haina pesa za kuzalisha umeme na kutoa $250m tu? Athari za mgao wa umeme ni kubwa mara dufu kuliko zile za global financial crisis.

Serikali inabidi ifanye budget re-allocation kubwa na kutoa pesa kwenye wizara na mufungu mengine na kuzipeleka kwenye umeme.

Huko Afrika Kusini mwaka 2008 wakati nchi hiyo ilipokutwa na tatizo la umeme, aliyekuwa Rais wa wakati huo, Thabo Mbeki, alikuwa na uungwana wa kwenda mbele ya Bunge la nchi hiyo na kuwaomba radhi wananchi kwa mgao wa umeme. Sijaona mkuu wa nchi yetu akichukua hatua kama hii.

Thabo Mbeki alisema kuwa Eskom (TANESCO ya Afrika Kusini) ilikuwa inaomba pesa serikalini kila siku iwekeze kwenye umeme serikali ikakataa na kuwambia wasubiri mpaka baadae. Mbeki akakiri kuwa Eskom ilikuwa sahihi na serikali ilikosea. Na akaomba radhi. Wataalamu wa TANESCO waliikataa Richmond, vigogo serikalini wakalazimisha wapewe mkataba na matokeo yake tumeyaona. Hakuna aliyeomba radhi, na mhusika kuu akabaki kusema hajutii maamuzi yake na kujisifu kuwa yeye ni hodari wa kufanya maamuzi magumu. TANESCO kila siku imekuwa ikiomba pesa za miradi mikubwa ya umeme lakini serikali imekuwa ikiwaambia waendelee kusubiri tu. Hakuna aliyekiri kosa, kuomba radhi wala
kuwajibika.

Angalia:
http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/Politics/Mbeki-apologises-for-power-cuts-20080208-2
http://www.iol.co.za/news/politics/mbeki-apologises-for-sa-power-cuts-1.382421
http://www.southafrica.info/about/government/stateofnation2008-electricity.htm

Idara ya hali ya hewa iko pale kufanya utabiri wa hali ya hewa. Hivyo basi, tangu mwaka 2005 walitabiri kuwa 2010/11 kutakuwa na upungufu wa mvua. Hata hii leo wanaweza kutoa utabiri wa hali ya hewa ya mwaka 2015/16 itakuwaje. Serikali ilikuwa na taarifa tangu miaka mitano au hata kumi iliyopita kuwa mwaka huu kutakuwa na mvua chache na hii itaathiri uzalishaji wa umeme, upatikanaji wa chakula, mfumuko wa bei, nk. Serikali iache kusingizia ukame. Iombe radhi kwa taifa kuwa mgao huu wa umeme unatokana na serikali yenyewe kutotoa kipaumbele kwa tatizo hili na kutojipanga kukabiliana nalo. Na iseme ukweli chanzo cha mgao ni nini, umeleta athari gani kwa taifa, serikali inafanya nini na tatizo hili litaisha lini. Serikali sikivu ingewaomba radhi wananchi wake. Na wananchi makini na wazalendo wangedai uwajibikaji kutoka serikalini, si visingizio vya ukame!

Mdau

Gaddfafi Yuko Bongo!

Eti ni kweli Col. Muammar Gaddafi wa Libya amekimbilia Tanzania?! Au wanadhani tumesahau kuwa Leo ni April 1, 2011 aka. April Fools Day! *************************************************************

Thursday, 31 March 2011 23:21

By The Citizen Correspondent
and Lipra Loof Dar es Salaam.

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is in Tanzania, after fleeing his war ravaged country.The Libyan strongman sneaked out of his country yesterday, as his government crumbled with more dissenting ministers defecting, while the Western-supported rebel forces overcame units loyal to him.

Impeccable sources said that Col Gaddafi had escaped from Tripoli in a private jet that landed at the Julius Nyerere International Airport under the cover of darkness last night.He was soon whisked away and was spotted by our team in one of the five-star hotels in the city centre, where security cordon was immediately thrown.

With him were scores of close family members and aides, including a team of his familiar heavily armed, high-heeled female bodyguards. The embattled leader apparently violated the non-fly zone imposed by Nato over Libyan, and made his daring escape.

It wasn’t clear why he chose Tanzania for refuge, but sources in the government team assigned to him revealed that his second wife, Safia al-Gaddafi, was the one who had convinced them to seek refuge in the city popularly known as the Haven of Peace.

The family of the man who has ruled Libya with an iron grip for over 40 years felt they would be safer in Tanzania, ignoring an earlier offer of asylum by his former ally, Uganda President Yoweri Museveni.
However, Col Gaddafi was said to be somewhat unsure about how the Tanzanians would receive him.

“He was happy to hear that a mammoth demonstration in support of him and Libya was held last week in Dar, but he was also inquisitive over whether many still remembered that he sent troops to fight alongside Ugandan dictator Idi Amin during the 1978-79 Kagera War,” said an intelligence officer assigned to watch the hotel.

Col Gaddafi’s regime has come under attack from rebels and Western allies, who accuse him of turning guns on his own people after they revolted against his four-decade leadership in a fashion that has so far brought down two former presidents in North Africa, Mr Ben Ali of Tunisia and Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak.

Efforts to get a comment from the government over the unexpected arrival of the visitor and how long he would be staying in Dar es Salaam were fruitless by the time of filling this report.But we reliably learnt that an official announcement to this effect from State House could be made today, April 1.

MTanzania Apata Kifungo cha Maisha Marekani

Kwa vile picha haziruhusiwi kupigwa katika mahakama za serikali ya Marekani (Federal Court) kuna wachoraji maalum ambao wanachora picha. pichani Ghailani akiwa mahakamani hivi karibuni.
Ghailani mwaka 1998 picha hii ilitolewa na FBI wakiwa wanamtafuta.

MTanzania Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani leo amehukuhumiwa kifungo cha maisha ma mahakama ya serikali ya Marekani huko New York. Ghailani alishiriki katika ugaidi uliyofanywa Tanzania na Kenya mwaka 1998. Katika tukio hiyo Ubalozi za Marekani Nairobi na Dar es Salaam zililipuliwa. Magari kadhaa yakiwa na mabomu yaliegeshwa nje ya Ubalozi hizo. Watu 224 walipoteza maisha yao. Ilikuwa njama ya Al Qaeda na Osama bin Laden.

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Plotter in U.S. embassy bombings sentenced to life in prison

By Geraldine Baum and Richard A. Serrano, Los Angeles Times

January 25, 2011

Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani was sentenced Tuesday in New York to life in prison for his role in the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in East Africa, making him the first terrorist to be plucked from the prison camp at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and successfully prosecuted in a civilian court.

The term of life without parole probably will boost the position of the Obama administration, eager to close the Caribbean military prison and move prisoners to civilian courts in the U.S. The administration argues that suspected terrorists can safely be tried, convicted and sentenced in a U.S. civilian courtroom — including Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the self-proclaimed Sept. 11 mastermind, and other alleged plotters in the attacks.

It has been more than a year since Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. postponed plans for a New York trial for the Sept. 11 plotters, and now with the Ghailani trial over and the midterm elections done, a decision is likely to come soon on where that larger trial is held.

"Hundreds of individuals have now been convicted in federal court of terrorism or terrorism-related crimes since Sept. 11, 2001," Holder said. "As this case demonstrates, we will not rest in bringing to justice terrorists who seek to harm the American people, and we will use every tool available to the government to do so."

Hina Shamsi, director of the ACLU National Security Project, said the life sentence proved that "federal courts work, military commissions don't."

The jury in the Ghailani trial, convened in the same courthouse where the Department of Justice had hoped to try the top five alleged Sept. 11 plotters, acquitted him last fall of 284 counts of murder and conspiracy, and convicted him of only a single charge of conspiracy to damage or destroy U.S. government buildings and property.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) called the case a "near disaster" in that U.S. prosecutors "barely won a guilty verdict. The trial proved what Republicans have been saying all along: that civilian trials grant foreign terrorists the same rights as U.S. citizens. This makes it harder for prosecutors to obtain a conviction."

U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan cast aside suggestions that Ghailani should receive a lesser sentence, perhaps 20 years, because he was tortured by U.S. agents and acquitted of so many charges.

"Whatever Mr. Ghailani suffered at the hands of the CIA and others in our government, the impact on him pales in comparison to the suffering" of the victims, the judge said.

He called the bombings "a cold-blooded killing and maiming of innocent people on an enormous scale.... It wrecked the lives of thousands of others.... The very purpose of it was to create terror."

In all, 224 people, including 12 Americans, were killed in the August 1998 embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya.

Because the 36-year-old Tanzanian was acquitted on all but the one count, his defense lawyers had urged Kaplan to overturn the single guilty count. But with government evidence that Ghailani had purchased the TNT and the truck that carried the bomb to the U.S. Embassy in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, the judge refused.

And prosecutors stressed that Ghailani hurriedly left Nairobi, Kenya, the site of the second bombing, carrying multiple passports and a cellphone shared by other conspirators — all signs, they said, that he was deeply involved in planning the attacks. There also was evidence indicating that he had served as a bodyguard to Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and had met with some of the men who became the Sept. 11 hijackers.

But lead defense attorney Peter Quijano, in a newly unsealed court filing, said his client deserved a lighter sentence because he provided information to U.S. agents and was repeatedly tortured "at the hands of the United States government" — shaved, stripped, diapered, hooded, strip-searched and deprived of sleep.

Ghailani did not address the court, nor did he look at any of the survivors or victims' relatives, including 11 who testified about the blasts and their shattered lives. Dressed in a light blue button-down shirt and gray slacks, the defendant simply stared down at his hands.

James Ndeda, a Nairobi embassy worker whose skull was fractured in the attack, asked for a 224-year sentence, one year for each of the dead. "I know he may not live for that 224 years," Ndeda said, "but I know if a [criminal] dies in prison in Africa, his grave is chained until the period elapses."

Yasmin Pressley and her husband, Frank, were both injured in the Nairobi bombing. He has undergone surgeries to repair his jaw and still lives in agony. She turned toward Ghailani and said, "If we are going to live with pain, also should he."

Copyright © 2011, Los Angeles Times
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-embassy-bombings-20110126,0,5049862.story

WikiLeaks na Tanzania

DUH!

Kutoka:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/19/wikileaks-cables-tanzania-bae-fears

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WikiLeaks cables: Tanzania official investigating BAE 'fears for his life'

Prosecutor Edward Hoseah voiced safety fears over inquiry into 'dirty deal' involving sale of radar system to government

Sunday 19 December 2010 21.30 GMT

President Jakaya Kikwete, pictured with George Bush in 2008, had his commitment to fighting corruption questioned, according to the cables. Photograph: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images

The Tanzanian prosecutor investigating worldwide misconduct by BAE, Britain's biggest arms company, confided to US diplomats that "his life may be in danger" and senior politicians in his small African country were "untouchable".

A leaked account of what the head of Tanzania's anti-corruption bureau, Edward Hoseah, termed the "dirty deal" by BAE to sell Tanzania an overpriced radar system, is revealed in the US embassy cables.

BAE is to appear in court in London tomorrow, when their system of making secret payments to secure arms contracts, exposed by the Guardian, will be officially detailed for the first time.

Every individual involved in the BAE scandal in Britain and Tanzania has escaped prosecution.

But the arms giant agreed with the UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO) to pay £30m in corporate reparations and fines, provided the word "corruption" did not appear on the indictment. A corruption conviction would debar the company from EU contracts.

The former overseas development secretary, Clare Short, said at the time: "It was always obvious that this useless project was corrupt."

Hoseah met a US diplomat, Purnell Delly, in Dar es Salaam in July 2007, and claimed (unrealistically it turned out) he would be able to prosecute guilty individuals in the BAE case. The US cable reports: "He called the deal 'dirty' and said it involved officials from the Ministry of Defence and at least one or two senior level military officers."

Hoseah spoke gloomily about the prospects for Tanzania's anti-corruption struggle and his original hopes to prosecute the "big fish" of corruption.

"He told us point blank ... that cases against the prime minister or the president were off the table ..." The cable then details allegations against former leaders and their inner circles, saying they would be "untouchable".

"He noted that President Kikwete does not appear comfortable letting the law handle corruption cases which might implicate top-level officials." The cable then says Kwitke "does not want to set a precedent" by going after any of his predecessors.

There were "widespread rumours of corruption within the Bank of Tanzania", Hoseah said, and the island region of Zanzibar was also "rife with corruption".

The diplomat noted: "Hoseah reiterated concern for his personal security ... saying he believed his life may be in danger ... He had received threatening text messages and letters and was reminded every day that he was fighting the 'rich and powerful'."

He might have to flee the country. He warned: "He said quietly: 'If you attend meetings of the inner-circle, people want you to feel as if they have put you there. If they see that you are uncompromising, there is a risk.' "

The US embassy noted in a "cynical" aside, that probably the only reason Hoseah felt obliged to attempt a BAE prosecution was because the SFO had presented him with "a fully developed case file, brimming with detailed evidence".

Today's court appearance by BAE is the culmination of lengthy attempts to bring the company to justice since the Guardian exposed its worldwide secret payment system.

The prime minister at the time, Tony Blair, intervened in 2006 to halt an SFO investigation into payments to members of the Saudi royal family.

The US department of justice has had more success than the SFO, forcing BAE to pay $400m (£260m) in penalties under the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

£28m radar deal 'stank'


Tanzania, on Africa's east coast, is one of the poorest states in the world, formerly controlled in turn by Arab slavers, German colonists and the British.

At the time of the radar deal, life expectancy was 45.

Tanzania was forced to apply for debt relief from the west and was heavily dependent on aid. It is ravaged by HIV/Aids and its GDP per head is just $723 (£465).

President Benjamin Mkapa, whose regime did the deal, was succeeded in 2004 by his political colleague Jakaya Kikwete.

Tanzania, which has no air force, bought the military air defence radar from BAE in 2001 for £28m.

It was claimed the Commander system, which was portable and festooned with anti-jamming devices, could also be used for civilian air traffic control.

The country borrowed the cost from Barclays, adding to its debt burden. Both the World Bank and the International Civil Aviation Organisation called the purchase unnecessary and overpriced.

In London, the then development secretary, Clare Short, temporarily blocked aid payments in protest. "It stank," she now says of the sale.

She urged an export licence be withheld, but was overruled by Tony Blair himself. Robin Cook, then foreign secretary, recorded bitterly in his diary that Dick Evans [of BAE] seemed to have "the key to the garden door of No 10 [Downing St]".

In January 2007 the Guardian disclosed that BAE had used an offshore front company, Red Diamond, to secretly pay £8.4m, 30% of the radar's ostensible price, into a Swiss account.

The account was controlled by Tanzanian middleman Sailesh Vithlani. His "consultancy" agreement was, it is alleged, formally signed off in London by Evans.

Uchaguzi Tanzania

Leo ni siku ya Uchaguzi Tanzania. Baada ya siku chache naona tutajua nani ameshinda.

May the Best Man for Tanzania win.

Air Tanzania Kuachisha Nusu ya Wafanyakazi Wake

Samahani, lakini nashindwa kuelewa sababu ya Air Tanzania kuwa na wafanyakazi zaidi ya 300 wakati wana ndege mbili tu! Kuna efficiency hapo kweli?

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Kutoka ippmedia.com

9th October 2009

After over a week of dead silence, the Air Tanzania Company Limited (ATCL) management came out of its shell yesterday to confirm exclusive reports published by The Guardian about plans by the firm to retrench at least half its workforce.

Chief executive officer William Haji budged to pressure from journalists who had camped at the company’s offices in Dar es Salaam and swiftly called a news conference at which he shed light on the saga over the layoff plans.

He was forced to adjourn a meeting with representatives of the ATCL branch of the Communication and Transport Workers’ Union (Cotwu) on reports reaching this paper on Wednesday that it was likely that 181 workers lined up for retrenchment would be issued with “termination of services” letters yesterday.

In a statement, his first official response to the media inquiries since The Guardian broke the news about the retrenchment plan last week, CEO Haji said the issuance of the letters wasn’t possible yesterday “because the management and representatives of the trade union (Cotwu) are still finalising deliberations on a few important things that are still pending”.

He said issues on which agreement had not been reached by yesterday afternoon included details on terminal packages and the exact number of workers to be offloaded.

“It is true that there is an ongoing restructuring process at ATCL which will see some members of the workforce retrenched. The aim is to remain with reasonable team of staff which will make the airline perform more efficiently,” added a highly co-operative CEO Haji.

He was emphatic that the layoffs were inevitable and would touch practically the entire company, and hoped all those on whom the axe would fall would take things in their stride.

Haji resisted all attempts to draw him into giving the exact number of workers to be served with retrenchment letters, only saying: “The restructuring exercise seeks to make the company remain with only a reasonable number of employees…It is just one of several measures aimed at cutting operational costs.”

He was quick to add that the restructuring would follow the rules, regulations and guidelines stipulated by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).

He said retrenchment exercises usually require huge amount of money in terminal benefits for those affected, adding: “This touches people’s lives and so the way the exercises are carried out means one must be especially keen to avoid needless harm to those retrenched. Besides, there are legal technicalities that must be considered.”

The ATCL chief also explained that it was evident that the airline stood to benefit from restructuring “since the size of our workforce doesn’t match with our operations”.

The cash-strapped airline currently operates only two Dash-8 Bombardier aircrafts, but it is understood to have a 337-strong workforce.

It other two planes - a Boeing 737 and a leased 150-seater Airbus (A320) - are undergoing a mandatory ‘C’ check maintenance in Mozambique and France, respectively.

According to the CEO, the layoffs were coming at an especially awkward time “because we have only 14 qualified pilots and licensed aircraft engineers, when the minimum needed for a two-aircraft fleet is 18 pilots”.

“Still, this should not be taken to mean that there is any sector or department that will not be touched by the job cut exercise,” he warned.

Authoritative sources within ATCL intimated to this paper earlier this week that the firm would “bid farewell” to more than half its workers in an impending layoff exercise.

Meanwhile, an enraged woman who vaguely identified herself as an ATCL employee, yesterday morning called the editor of this paper on his mobile phone swearing that The Guardian was peddling untruths about what was going on at the airline “and you will end up disgraced because no ATCL employee is being laid off and no retrenchment letter will be issued”.

Her surprise call came just hours before her CEO called the media to confirm the reports. Efforts to contact her by phone later in the day through the number she had used failed.

Scores of well-placed sources within the company, including senior pilots and junior staff who have repeatedly talked to this paper separately, said they knew their days at ATCL were over and they were just waiting for official notification to confirm their worst fears.

They said the decision to proceed with the staff ‘pruning’ exercise was reached late Tuesday after a daylong consultative meeting in Dar es Salaam between the ATCL management and officials from the firm’s parent ministry - Infrastructure Development.

The state-run airline is surviving on government subsidy, and sources say the downsizing of the workforce was the least painful way to save on unnecessary expenditure and help it possibly run off life support.

The exercise was earlier planned for October 1 (Thursday last week) but the company’s top officials and trade union representatives were still locked in an extended meeting for about a week because there were still “certain unresolved disagreements.”

Sources close to representatives attending the closed-door talks said the meeting this week was aimed at keeping the dialogue going after formal talks on retrenchment plans ended prematurely on Friday last week.

The formal talks, the sources said, were due to be followed by a meeting between ATCL workers and their management.

Should the layoff plan materialise, meaning that 181 workers will lose jobs, ATCL will remain with a staff of only 150.

In January this year, the government rescued the national flag carrier from financial doldrums with the disbursement of a second bailout package to the tune of 4.5bn/-.

The firm has experienced a series of problems since its marriage with “strategic investor” South African Airline (SAA) collapsed in 2006.

The problems included the December 8, 2008 decision by the Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority (TCAA) to revoke the new-look airline’s Air Operating Certificate over faulty documentation.

TCAA imposed the ban after the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) threatened to rate Tanzania as not airworthy.

The airline fulfilled TCAA’s requirements three weeks later (December 30) and its planes were allowed to start flying again. However, financial difficulties made it impossible for the flights to actually resume.

Just recently, well-placed sources intimated to The Guardian that ATCL was currently being investigated in connection with the reported purchase of more than 15 posh vehicles despite the crippling financial problems it was facing.

The sources said the four-wheel-drive vehicles were bought with money forming part of the rescue package the corporation has been receiving from the government.

It is reported that the vehicles cost over 2bn/- and that the decision to buy them was made by the firm’s management and endorsed by the board of directors.

ATCL, formerly Air Tanzania Corporation (ATC), was established in March 1977 after the collapse of East African Airways and other regional institutions previously under the ill-fated first-phase East African Community.

ATC was taken over by SAA in 2002 and renamed ATCL, before the government reclaimed all its shares in the firm four years later.


SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN

Uzazi Tanzania Part II - Utoaji Mimba

A woman in Berega, Tanzania, who sought care after a botched abortion. In Tanzania, where abortion is illegal, the maternal death rate is high in part because of failed abortions.

Wadau, hebu tuwe wakweli. Sheria Tanzania inasema kuwa ni mwiko kutoa mimba. Inaruhusiwa tu kama maisha ya mama iko hatarini. Lakini ukweli mimba zinatolewa kila siku. Wasichana wadogo na wakina mama wanakufa kutokana na madhara ya kutolewa mimba na watu wasiojua wanafanya nini!

Nilipokuwa nasoma Sekondari, nakumbuka wasichana watatu waliokufa kutoka na kutoa mimba. 'septic abortion'. Mara kizazi kinatobolewa, yaani acheni tu.

Na huwa nalaumu sana wanaume wanapenda wanawake wakilalamika 'utamu' kwenye mambo. Lakini hebu wanawake hao wakilalamika 'uchungu' wanaume wanakimbia! HEBO!

Haya someni Denise Grady wa New York Times alivyotuchora.

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By DENISE GRADY
Published: June 1, 2009

BEREGA, Tanzania — A handwritten ledger at the hospital tells a grim story. For the month of January, 17 of the 31 minor surgical procedures here were done to repair the results of “incomplete abortions.” A few may have been miscarriages, but most were botched operations by untrained, clumsy hands.

More than half a million women a year die during pregnancy and in childbirth, largely from problems that can be treated or prevented. This is the second of three articles on efforts to lower the death rate in one African country, Tanzania.

Abortion is illegal in Tanzania (except to save the mother’s life or health), so women and girls turn to amateurs, who may dose them with herbs or other concoctions, pummel their bellies or insert objects vaginally. Infections, bleeding and punctures of the uterus or bowel can result, and can be fatal. Doctors treating women after these bungled attempts sometimes have no choice but to remove the uterus.

Pregnancy and childbirth are among the greatest dangers that women face in Africa, which has the world’s highest rates of maternal mortality — at least 100 times those in developed countries. Abortion accounts for a significant part of the death toll.

Maternal mortality is high in Tanzania: for every 100,000 births, 950 women die. In the United States, the figure is 11, and it is even lower in other developed countries. But Tanzania’s record is neither the best nor the worst in Africa. Many other countries have similar statistics; quite a few do better and a handful do markedly worse.

Eighty percent of Tanzanians live in rural areas, and the hospital in Berega — miles from paved roads and electric poles — is a typical rural hospital, struggling to deal with the same problems faced by hospitals and clinics in much of the country. Abortion is a constant worry.

Worldwide, there are 19 million unsafe abortions a year, and they kill 70,000 women (accounting for 13 percent of maternal deaths), mostly in poor countries like Tanzania where abortion is illegal, according to the World Health Organization. More than two million women a year suffer serious complications. According to Unicef, unsafe abortions cause 4 percent of deaths among pregnant women in Africa, 6 percent in Asia and 12 percent in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Reliable figures on abortion in Tanzania are hard to come by, but the World Health Organization reports that its region, Eastern Africa, has the world’s second-highest rate of unsafe abortions (only South America is higher). And Africa as a whole has the highest proportion of teenagers — 25 percent — among women having unsafe abortions.

The 120-bed hospital in Berega depends on solar panels and a generator, which is run for only a few hours a day. Short on staff members, supplies and even water, the hospital puts a lot of its scarce resources into cleaning up after failed abortions.

The medical director, Dr. Paschal Mdoe, 30, said many patients who had had the unsafe abortions were 16 to 20 years old, and four months pregnant. He said there was a steady stream of cases, much as he had seen in hospitals in other parts of the country.

“It’s the same everywhere,” he said.

On a Friday in January, 6 of 20 patients in the women’s ward were recovering from attempted abortions. One, a 25-year-old schoolteacher, lay in bed moaning and writhing. She had been treated at the hospital a week earlier for an incomplete abortion and now was back, bleeding and in severe pain. She was taken to the operating room once again and anesthetized, and Emmanuel Makanza, who had treated her the first time, discovered that he had failed to remove all the membranes formed during the pregnancy. Once again, he scraped the inside of her womb with a curet, a metal instrument. It was a vigorous, bloody procedure. This time, he said, it was complete.

Mr. Makanza is an assistant medical officer, not a fully trained physician. Assistant medical officers have education similar to that of physician assistants in the United States, but with additional training in surgery. They are Tanzania’s solution to a severe shortage of doctors, and they perform many basic operations, like Caesareans and appendectomies. The hospital in Berega has two.

Abortions in Berega come in seasonal waves — March and April, August and September — in sync with planting and harvests, when a lot of socializing goes on, Dr. Mdoe said. He said rumor had it that many abortions were done by a man in Gairo, a town west of Berega. In some cases, he said, the abortionist only started the procedure, knowing that doctors would have to finish the job.

Dr. Mdoe said he suspected that some of the other illegal abortionists were hospital workers with delusions of surgical skill.

“They just poke, poke, poke,” he said. “And then the woman has to come here.” Sometimes the doctors find fragments of sticks left inside the uterus, an invitation to sepsis.

In the past some hospitals threatened to withhold care until a woman identified the abortionist (performing abortions can bring a 14-year prison term), but that practice was abandoned in favor of simply providing postabortal treatment. Still, women do not want to discuss what happened or even admit that they had anything other than a miscarriage, because in theory they can be prosecuted for having abortions. The law calls for seven years in prison for the woman. So doctors generally do not ask questions.

“They are supposed to be arrested,” Dr. Mdoe said. “Our work as physicians is just to help and make sure they get healed.”

He went on, “We as medical personnel think abortion should be legal so a qualified person can do it and you can have safe abortion.” There are no plans in Tanzania to change the law.

The steady stream of cases reflects widespread ignorance about contraception. Young people in the region do not seem to know much or care much about birth control or safe sex, Dr. Mdoe said.

In most countries the rates of abortion, whether legal or illegal — and abortion-related deaths — tend to decrease when the use of birth control increases. But only about a quarter of Tanzanians use contraception. In South Africa, the rate of contraception use is 60 percent, and in Kenya 39 percent. Both have lower rates of maternal mortality than does Tanzania. South Africa also allows abortion on request.

But in other African nations like Sierra Leone and Nigeria, abortion is not available on request, and the figures on contraceptive use are even lower than Tanzania’s and maternal mortality is higher. Nonprofit groups are working with the Tanzanian government to provide family planning, but the country is vast, and the widely distributed rural populations makes many people extremely hard to reach.

Geography is not the only obstacle. An assistant medical officer, Telesphory Kaneno, said: “Talking about sexuality and the sex organs is still a taboo in our community. For a woman, if it is known that she is taking contraceptives, there is a fear of being called promiscuous.”

In interviews, some young women from the area who had given birth as teenagers said they had not used birth control because they did not know about it or thought it was unsafe: they had heard that condoms were unsanitary and that birth control pills and other hormonal contraceptives could cause cancer.

Mr. Kaneno said the doctors were trying to dispel those taboos and convince women that it was a good thing to be able to choose whether and when to get pregnant.

“It is still a long way to go,” he said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/02/health/02abort.html?_r=2&ref=science

WaTanzania na Kodi

Changes in Citizens’ Perceptions of the Local Taxation System
in Tanzania

by Odd-Helge Fjeldstad, Erasto Ngalewa and Lucas Katera

Brief 12 from REPOA examines citizens’ perceptions of local taxation, investigating why residents do or do not pay local taxes, and their perceptions of misuse of tax revenue. Respondents’ opinions are given on:

- why people pay local taxes;

- their perception of the provision of public services which are financed by tax revenue collection;

- perceptions of misuse of tax revenues, and

- reporting corruption within local taxation systems.

The conclusion is that improved tax compliance is dependent upon citizens perceiving that their local government is trustworthy, and that the taxes are appropriately collected and used to provide public services. Administrative and legal measures are needed to ensure transparency in the collection and disbursement of tax revenues at the local level, to enable citizens to confidently report official misuse of revenue, and to address cases of corruption.

You can access the electronic copy of this brief on REPOA’s website, or please contact REPOA if you would like to receive a printed copy.

You will find further material on accountability and corruption on pages 55 to 58 of the recently released report: ‘The Views of the People 2007’. This is a large report to download, but the pages I am referring to are in chapter 13 of part III, so you can just download this section. The printed copy of this report is also available from REPOA.

The brief is based on the findings from two surveys conducted in 2003 and 2006 of 1,260 respondents from the Bagamoyo, Iringa, Kilosa and Moshi District Councils, as well as Ilala Municipal Council and the Mwanza City Council. This brief has been produced as part of REPOA’s Local Government Reform Formative Research Programme. This research study of six councils, which has been running since 2002, documents the processes of change and impacts of the Local Government Reform Programme in Tanzania .

I would appreciate it if you would let me know if you use this brief or report in an item your produce. This means that I can let others know to look out for the item, and where possible, circulate a copy of the article to those who may have missed seeing your article.

Thank you

Sonja

Sonja Tiscenko
Communications Manager
For Executive Director

Tel.: +255(0) (22) 270 00 83 Fax: +255(0)(22) 277 57 38
Mobile: +255 (0) 754 864 438 Email: sonja@repoa.or.tz
P.O. Box 33223 , Dar es Salaam , Tanzania
Plot 157 Mgombani Street , Regent Estate, Dar es Salaam
Website: http://www.repoa.or.tz/

Research on Poverty Alleviation, REPOA, undertakes and facilitates research, conducts and coordinates training, and promotes dialogue and development of policy for pro-poor growth and poverty reduction.

Mnakumbuka?

Nani anakumbuka enzi za Mwalimu mtu akitaka kusafiri nje ya nchi?

1) Uombe STATE HOUSE CLEARANCE (bahati yako ukipata)

2) Upate kibali cha INCOME TAX

3) Uwe na kibali cha kununua fedha za kigeni. Mara nyingi unaruhusiwa dola $70 tu! Yaani wabongo walikuwa wanasafiri kimaskini kweli! Na mtu anayekupangia utapata ngapi, una bahati ukiambulia dola $40!

4) Ukitaka kununua tiketi ya ndege mpaka upate ruhusa. Kama unaletewa kutoka nje ni sawa.

5) Na ukirudi hizo harassment airport! Wakati huo vitu adimu hivyo sharti/kiatu mpya mali, sabuni/dawa ya mswaki mali.

Ni kweli vijana walikuwa hawatoki nje ya nchi kirahisi. Wakati huo kuzamia meli ndo fesheni.

Bongo kuna stories si mchezo. Kweli ilikuwa ukitoka njea ya nchi lazima watu wakuonee wivu.

President Bush Visit to Tanzania in Pics III

President Bush at Amana Hospital in Ilala District,Dar es Salaam.

President Bush waves to well wishers in Dar es Salaam

President Bush greets a patient at Amana Hospital in Ilala Districti, Dar es Salaam

President Bush is entertained by traditional dancers. This time his photo is on their chests.

President Bush waves to a crowd of wellwishers at the Tanzanian State House

President Bush speaks outside the historical Tanzanian State House

Kuna Slideshow Bofya Hapa:

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We Tanzanians can be proud that our country is trustworthy when it comes to donated dollars. President Bush praised Tanzania for putting the money donated to battle AIDS to work in the country and save lives.

From AP Article:

It's the largest deal under a Bush program that offers economic aid to countries that treat their people fairly, rule justly and root out corruption.

"I'll just put it bluntly, America doesn't want to spend money on people who steal the money from the people," Bush said. "We like dealing with honest people, and compassionate people. We want our money to go to help human condition and to lift human lives as well as fighting corruption in marketplace economies."

Rais Bush atatembelea Bongo mwezi ujao!

President Bush does the so-called Malaria Dance

Haya! Rais Bush wa Marekani atatembelea nchi tano za Afrika ikiwemo Tanzania mwezi ujao!

WaBongo mkaribishe kwa vigelegle za shangwe. Anataka kuona maendeleo katika mapambano dhidi ya UKIMWI na Malaria. Alitoa dola $15bilioni za kusaidia Afrika katika mapambano dhidi ya hayo magonjwa.

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Bush Visit to Africa Feb. 15-21
By TERENCE HUNT

WASHINGTON (AP) — A month after returning from the Middle East, President Bush will travel to Africa in February on a five-country tour.

The president, accompanied by his wife, Laura, will visit Benin, Tanzania, Rwanda, Ghana and Liberia, the White House announced on Friday.

"This trip will be an opportunity for the president to review firsthand the significant progress since his last visit in 2003 in efforts to increase economic development and fight HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other treatable diseases, as a result of the United States robust programs in these areas," a White House statement said.

It said Bush also would talk with leaders about how the United States can help promote democratic reform, respect for human rights, free trade, open investment regimes and economic opportunity across the continent.

Bush returned Jan. 16 from an eight-day trip to Israel, the Palestinian-governed West Bank, Kuwait, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. He plans at least a half dozen more trips to the Middle East, Asia, Europe and South America before leaving office next January.

Bush in November urged Congress to double U.S. money for the global fight against HIV/AIDS, to $30 billion over the next five years. In 2003 Congress approved $15 billion for the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). The program is active in 120 countries, with a concentrated focus on 15, including Namibia, in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and the Caribbean.

As of the end of September, 1.36 million people in those focus countries had received antiretroviral treatment through the program, with a focus on averting infant infections by treating pregnant women. Others receive testing and counseling.

Doubling the funding for PEPFAR would provide treatment for 2.5 million people, the White House said.

Mahujaji wakwama Dar!

Mama Kikwete akiongea na kuwafariji baadhi ya mahujaji waliokwama uwanja wa ndege mjini Dar es Salaam

(Photo from Michuzi blog)

Navyofahamu ni wajibu wa kila mwislamu kwenda Mecca kuhiji japo mara moja maishani mwake. Na pia nakumbuka kuona waislamu wakijiandaa kwenda kuhiji kila mwaka. Mahujaji wanaorudi wanaitwa Al-Haj na Al-Hajjat.

Nimesikitika sana kuona kuwa mwaka huu ni Air Tanzania ndo imeangusha mahujaji zaidi ya 300 waliokuwa wamejiandaa kwenda Mecca. Picha nilizoona za mahujaji waliokwama uwanja wa ndege Dar zaidi ya wiki moja zinasikitisha. Nakubaliana kabisa kuwa hao mahujaji wapewe fidia.

Kama ATC walikuwa hawana ndege si ni wajibu wao kukodi ndege kutoka shirika lingine la kuwasafirisha?

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From ippmedia.com

ATC aibu!

2007-12-10

Shirika la Ndege nchini, ATC limelaumiwa kwa kufanya kitendo cha aibu ya mwaka kwa kuwasotesha kwa wiki nzima mahujaji zaidi ya 300 ambao wameshakamilisha taratibu zote za safari. Aidha, Shirika hilo limetakiwa kuwalipa fidia mahujaji hao kutokana na gharama walizoingia mara kadhaa wakati wakifika uwanjani hapo ili wasafiri, na kisha kuishiwa kupewa kauli za ‘njooni kesho, rudini kesho kutwa.

Aliyetoa kauli hiyo ya kulaani kitendo cha ATC na kukiita kuwa ni cha aibu ni Kiongozi wa Kamati ya Kutetea Haki za Waislamu nchini, Sheikh Ponda Issa Ponda. Ni aibu na fedheha... Serikali inapaswa kuwajibika kwa sababu, kama ndege iliyotegemewa imeharibika, ni yenyewe ndiyo inayopaswa kuingilia kati na kuokoa adha wanayoipata waisilam hawa ambao wameshalipia kila kitu, akasema Sheikh Ponda.

Kama si Serikali kuingilia, nani sasa atakayewezesha mahujaji hawa kulipia gharama kubwa walizoingia kwa kukaa jijini zaidi ya wiki sasa, wakiishia kila siku kusoteshwa Airport kwa kuahidiwa safari?

Ni vyema gharama hizi zikafidiwa na wahusika wanaotoa taarifa zisizokuwa na ukweli, tena zaidi ya mara moja, wawajibishwe, akaongeza Sheikh Ponda. Aidha, katika orodha ya mahujaji waliosoteshwa zaidi ya wiki moja sasa pale katika Uwanja wa Ndege wa Kimataifa wa Julius Nyerere, inaelezwa yumo baba mkwe wa Rais wa Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania, Bw. Jakaya Kikwete na mashemeji zake kadhaa.

Kwa mujibu wa taarifa hizo, ni kwamba, kama walivyo mahujaji wengine, ba`mkwe huyo mzaa chema wa Rais Kikwete aitwaye Mzee Rashid Yusuph Mkwachu, ametaabika mno na njoo kesho ya ATC. Pia waliokumbwa na adha hiyo inayodaiwa kusababishwa na ubovu wa ndege iliyotegemewa kusafirisha mahujaji hao huku zikitolewa ahadi hewa za kila mara ni shemejie Rais Kikwete aitwaye Mwanakombo Bakari na ndugu wengine ambao ni Hassan Mohamed na Jamillah Omar.

Imedaiwa kuwa mahujaji hao walikuwa wasafirishwe wiki iliyopita na ATC, lakini wakaishia kurudishwa na kuahidiwa kila mara kuwa watasafirishwa, lakini bila ya mafanikio. Jana usiku, imeelezwa na Sheikh Ponda kuwa taarifa walizopelekewa na Mwenyekiti wa Bodi ya ATC ni kwamba sasa, safari hiyo iliyoahirishwa tena jana, itakuwa leo jioni.