Editorial

• Do more to tap marine resource
• Port Authority in tune with times

Analysis

• For once, we should blow the trumpet!
• Conflict and role of private sector

Do more to tap marine resource

Tanzania has a plethora of resources that could bring in billions of forex, but the problem is that the potential is not well tapped.
One of the problems that could be a limiting factor to fully tapping these resources is capital. If capital is availed to the majority of players, changes could be seen
Apart from minerals, forests, wildlife and honey, Tanzania has a vast marine resource, which according to the government is yet to be fully tapped.
Recently, when laying the foundation stone for the construction of a multimillion fish market at Kirumba in Mwanza, Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism Zakia Meghji described the fish fillets exported from Tanzania as the best.
Additionally, she said, that Tanzania has a fish reserve of about 730,000 tonnes in the country’s waters, of which Lake Victoria has about 200,000 tones, Lake Tanganyika 300,000 tones and the rest are in the remaining waters.
However, only 350,000 tones are harvested in the country every year, 50 per cent of which come from Lake Victoria. From the Minister, it can be derived that over 50 per cent of the reserve is untapped.
The unexploited potential if harnessed can immensely add to the forex. Since Tanzania’s fish fillets have been accepted by Europe, US and Asia, the market is there waiting for the products.
It is high time the country’s financial institutions concentrate on supporting the fishing sector by providing special financial credits to enable them acquire fishing gear and fish processing equipment.
Tanzania should seize the opportunities that make it a country with a difference. The authorities should not repeat the mistakes they made with tanzanite, gold, diamonds and other precious stones.

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Port Authority in tune with times

Last week, the Tanzanian Parliament passed the Port Bill 2004, which replaces the Tanzania Harbours Authority (THA) with Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA).
Under the new Act, which awaits the President’s signature, TPA acts as landlord only and lets the Ports operations be under private hands through concession.
The Port Bill 2004 contains legislative proposals for enactment of law setting a new institutional and legal framework for regulation of sea and inland water Ports in Mainland Tanzania.
Currently, all sea ports, including the big three — Dar es Salaam, Tanga, Mtwara and six small ones on the east coast of the Indian Ocean serving mostly the coastal traffic — are under THA, but Lake Ports — in Victoria, Tanganyika and Nyasa — are controlled by the Tanzania Railway Corporation (TRC).
Given that the Tanzania Ports were under different authorities, it was difficult to carry out business smoothly. Thus, the coming of TPA should make things better.
The objective, as the Act explains, of placing certain Port operations under the operators is to bring about efficiency in Port management. Under new arrangements, the landlord shall develop short and long term plans for the development of basic Port infrastructure, which will enable Ports to function more efficiently.
The Bill suggests that TPA be responsible for maintenance of infrastructure and superstructure such as access roads, rail, navigational aids and utilities. It shall also be responsible for maintenance of peace and security at the ports and will endeavour to promote economic and commercial activities through good communication network within the Port.
Furthermore, the TPA will be responsible for the promotion and development of surface transport between the hinterland and neighbouring countries.
The Act empowers TPA with “administration of land water within the limits of Ports and the approaches; promoting measures for the safety of life within the Ports, protection of cargo and environment as well as regulating and controlling navigation within limits of the Ports and approaches thereto.”
Talking about empowering TPA, the Act give the Authority: “Powers to require owners of vessels, crafts or other objects that may obscure or obstruct the Port and the approaches thereto to raise, remove or destroy them.”
The Act elaborates clearly the role of TPA, but what worries us is the implementation of the Act. Those chosen and entrusted to head the new Authority should administer TPA according to the ruled, without malice or corruption.

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Analysis  

For once, we should blow the trumpet!
By Abduel Kenge

The good thing about the Ministry of Tourism and Natural Resources is their tendency to act fast into formulating ways of wooing tourists. Of course, there are some shortcomings as well.
But all in all, since the appointment of Zakia Meghji to head the ministry, the sector has grown at an amazing pace.
In 2003, wholesale, retail, hotels and restaurant sector, which come under tourism, grew by 6.5 per cent compared to seven per cent in 2002. This can be explained. There are a lot of factors, but the main one is threat of terrorism.
However, in 2003, there was an increase of 0.2 per cent in the number of tourists who came to Tanzania; it stood at 576,198.
According to statistics released by the Ministry, the number of hotels reached 376 in 2003 compared to 201 of 1991. The number of tourists visiting Tanzania has placed the country at the fifth position in sub-Saharan countries.
To further boost the sector, the Ministry now wants to move a Bill before the year end, to declare Saadani Game Reserve in Bagamoyo, Tanzania’s tropical coastline, a national park.
The Bill to upgrade Saadani’s status will also include the conversion of another plateau-game reserve Kitulo, that lies between Iringa and Mbeya regions at the rugged peaks of the Kipengere, Poroto and Livingstone mountains, sprawling over 442 sq km (172 sq miles).
Saadani was protected as a game reserve in 1960s and in 2002 was expanded to cover twice its former area. It now covers an area of 1,100 sq km (430 sq miles).
Saadani is the only wildlife sanctuary in East Africa to boast of an Indian Ocean beachfront; it possesses all the attributes that make Tanzania’s tropical coastline and islands’ silver-sand beaches magnificent.
The game reserve is on the north coast, roughly 100 km (60 miles) northwest of Dar es Salaam, and a similar distance southwest of the port of Tanga. Saadani is between Tanga and Coast Regions.
Kitulo, referred to by the locals as Bustani ya Mungu - The Garden of God – and dubbed by botanists as the Serengeti of Flowers, is host to “one of the great floral spectacles of the world”.
The country has 14 national parks, many of which form the core of a much larger protected ecosystem. They have been set aside to preserve the country’s rich natural heritage, and to provide secure breeding grounds where its fauna and flora can thrive, safe from the conflicting interests of a growing human population.
The Ministry says the transformation of the two national parks will not only add value to Tanzania’s tourist industry but also increase the much-needed revenue to the government coffers.
In spite of population pressures, Tanzania has dedicated more than 42,000 square kilometres to national parks. Including other reserves, conservation areas and marine parks, Tanzania has accorded some form of formal protection to more than one-third of its territory – a far higher proportion than most of the world’s wealthier nations.
The move will most certainly add flavour to the tourism industry and open more doors for tourists to flock to Tanzania. Although the number of 600,000-plus tourists targeted for the next financial year seems small compared to targets achieved by Kenya and South Africa, it is a record for Tanzania. Let’s celebrate the achievement!

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Conflict and role of private sector
By Rupa Parekh

Instability and insecurity, chiefly in the poorest countries, is a fact in many parts of the world. Governments are primarily responsible for preventing conflicts, but because of globalisation, privatisation, technology developments and political transition in many countries, the private sector exercises growing influence.
As part of a new Global Governance Initiative, the World Economic Forum recently brought together an international group of experts, chaired by Australia’s former foreign minister Gareth Evans, to map the state of peace and security in the world. Among other issues, the security group explored this link between business and conflict, and confirmed that there is much that the private sector can do to make things worse - or better.
Even legitimate businesses can contribute to conflict. Companies may make use of revenues that were originally gained by governments or rebel groups to fund wars or to sustain repressive regimes. Engineering corporations may build major resource and infrastructure projects, such as oil fields and dams, that can have disastrous impacts on human rights and the environment. Companies, especially those in mining and energy in troubled parts of the world, often hire security forces to protect company assets - security forces than on occasion turn out to be ill-disciplined and abusive. Private firms may also sell arms, communications equipment and other products that are ultimately used by repressive regimes against their own citizens.
Several projects are under way to tackle those problems.
The Kimberly Process set up in late 2002, for example, seeks to break the link between trade in legitimate diamonds and “conflict diamonds,” - precious gems sold by rebel movements to finance their military activities, including attempts to undermine or overthrow governments. Conflict diamonds have financed wars in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola and Sierra Leone.
Asserting itself, the UN-backed body last week suspended the Republic of Congo from the legitimate diamond trade on accusations the African nation sent millions of dollars in smuggled gems onto the world market.
The suspension followed a May 31-June 4 mission to the Republic of Congo that found the country was dealing in millions of carats of smuggled diamonds from other African countries.
A co-operative effort between the $60 billion diamond industry, NGOs and the governments of more than 50 diamond producing and importing countries, the Kimberley Process aims to provide certification for legal diamonds so that consumers can be clear about what they are buying.
“The findings of the review mission are clear,” Tim Martin, chairman of the Canada-based Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, said in a statement that was released late last Friday night. “The Republic of Congo cannot account for the origin of large quantities of rough diamonds that it is officially exporting.”
The certification programme is the diamond industry’s response to growing world concern about “blood diamonds,” which fuelled and funded 1990s’ wars in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Congo. Forty-five countries have signed on. Suspension closes legitimate diamond-trading channels to Republic of Congo, barring the gems from Kimberley Process signatories including Belgium, the world’s diamond-trading centre, and the United States, which buys two-thirds of the world’s diamonds.
In their report, investigators found that the Republic of Congo was exporting diamonds at a rate “approximately 100 times” its estimated production. Almost all the diamonds it sent to market were therefore smuggled into Republic of Congo illegally, they concluded.
The Republic of Congo denied the allegations. The suspension was the third worldwide from the Kimberley process, and the second active one.
Central African Republic, another of Republic of Congo’s gem-rich neighbours, was suspended last year because of concerns over fighting there, but has since been allowed back in.
Lebanon was suspended in March this year, because its president did not pass into law legislation making the Kimberley Process a legal entity in his country. It remains suspended.
An international diamond embargo still stands on Liberia. The West African nation was a major trafficker in smuggled arms and diamonds under former President Charles Taylor, who fled into exile last August.
Clearly, businesses do have key roles to play in muting and resolving conflicts, and also to mitigate their worst effects. To play those roles is a matter of enlightened self interest. The resulting peace and stability provide a more secure environment for making profits over the long term, to the mutual benefits of capital, labour, state and society.

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