Opinion
Analysis
Tanzania Care deserves a pat on the beck
On Tuesday this week the Ministry of Health
received an important visitor from the US. The Health and Human Services
Secretary, Tommy Thompson travelled to Tanzania to see for himself the care of
those on need, and certainly to give moral support to those suffering.
The Minister, among other things, aimed to visit the Tanzania Care programme; a
multi year initiative that is focused on modernising the healthcare facilities
and improving services and access to care for people living with HIV/AIDS
throughout Tanzania.
His brilliant and spontaneous speech delivered at Muhimbili National Hospital
tells it all and is enough evidence that the Minister himself is deeply
committed to help people who have been or are still suffering. In his own words,
he stressed collective efforts and cooperation in the community.
Tanzania is amongst those developing countries which have been hit hard by
HIV/AIDS, and up to now about 1.6 million people are reportedly living with the
disease. This is a significant challenge the country is facing.
Despite the gravity of the situation it is quite impressive to learn that
friends of Tanzania, especially the US Government stand shoulder to shoulder
with our government in fighting the deadly disease.
The US$ 49 million injected to Tanzania recently as part of President Bush’s
emergence plan for AIDS Relief is enough evidence that the US Government is
fighting hard for Tanzania and Africa in general.
Care Tanzania has done a commendable job which we must comment, particularly the
building of a modern three-storey outpatient centre at Muhimbili National
Hospital, which will house 26 examination rooms, a pharmacy and training
facility for healthcare professionals.
The good news is that when the building is completed over 400 patients will be
able to receive services daily. Other developments include training staff on HIV
care and treatment, strengthening the healthcare management administration and
systems and increase the access to HIV testing throughout Tanzania. Such
initiatives are good for the sake of the wellbeing of the nation.
The Government of Tanzania, through its Health Minister is also fighting hard
for its citizens, it is our hope that it will continue the fight in the same
vigour.
Games that determine nation’s sports prowess
The 2004 edition of Tanzania Armed Forces Games
takes off this Sunday at the grand official opening at Amaan Stadium in Zanzibar
November 21.
The two-week games, according to organisers, Council of Armed Forces Games in
Tanzania (BAMMATA), will end December 3 at the same venue.
The newest thing in this year’s Games is that Zanzibar will host all events,
except boxing, which will be held in Dar es Salaam as the Zanzibar Government
has banned the sport in the Isles.
As we bank on the success of the event as we have done in the past, it is hoped
it will produce new stars for Tanzania, who will represent the country in big
events such as Olympics and Club Games.
Despite its importance, the Games get little attention from the public and
companies to back the events financially.
In recent years, Armed Forces teams have taken a leading role in all sports -
soccer, basketball, handball, netball, squash and now hockey.
Charles Makene or Evodia Kazinja of JKT basketball men’s and women’s teams,
super boxers, Petro Mtagwa, Karim Matumla, Hashim Simon and all Tanzania boxers
in the national team come from JKT, Ngome and Prisons.
In netball and basketball, Jeshi Stars have been Tanzanian and East African
champions for about three decades and Magereza (Prisons)have an unbeaten record
in handball for East and Central African countries.
It is a well-known fact that the Games deserve to be the most important sporting
event, probably far superior to the Vodacom Premier League, as it is superior to
other events in terms of discipline, management and facilities availed to
participating sports persons.
Also worth mentioning is that the country’s top sportsmen and women from Armed
Forces teams have outclassed those from civilian institutions in commitment,
vigour and patriotism in their sporting ventures in and outside the country.
Athletics, the only sport that produces world-class sports persons, will be the
event to look out for, as it will be featuring those athletes with the vast
knowledge in international fields. As a challenge to those international stars,
we expect the upcoming athletes to make their mark by beating the super stars in
this event.
Filbert Bayi, who owns national 1500m, 3000 steeple chase and one mile records,
legendary marathon stars Juma Ikangaa, Simon Mrashani, the late Simon Roberts
and field events record holders, Zakayo Marekwa and Matilda Kisava, came from
the Armed Forces - TPDF, Police and JKT.
We hope, as a measure of the Games’s success, the sports persons will fight hard
to shatter as many records as possible. Elses the country will never produce
medal-winning athletes in big games like Olympics.
The loss of the symbol of Palestinian statehood
By Evarist Kagaruki
The tragic demise of the Palestinian Authority, Yasser Arafat, has
shocked and saddened the whole world, except those who loved to hate him,
labelled him a “terrorist” and wished him death. It is a huge, irreplaceable
loss of a revolutionary of gigantic stature, an indefatigable figure for
Palestinian self-determination, and a man of high conviction. This is a loss not
only for the Palestinians, but all those who cherished the principles of human
dignity, freedom and independence. The Palestinian people, who have struggled
for decades, under Arafat’s leadership, to end Israeli occupation and
oppression, will definitely take long to come to terms with the reality of the
beloved leader’s death.
This is precisely because Arafat was synonymous with the long and difficult
Palestinian struggle – the man who, like the “North Star”, shone constantly on
the path of that struggle. The Palestinians (be they in the occupied territories
of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, in the refugee camps or in the diaspora) have
all known one person, Arafat, as the source of inspiration for their resistance
against occupation, and as the incarnation of hope for, and symbol of,
Palestinian statehood.
Arafat is no more, but the Palestinians must, without him, keep the hope alive.
And perhaps the best way to mourn his death is for them to turn grief into
strength and resolve to carry their departed leader’s mantle and push the
struggle forward to its logical conclusion. The body of Arafat has been
interred, but not with his spirit which lies at the core of the principles for
which he unswervingly stood for. This spirit lives on.
In all revolutionary struggles it is the spirit of the people that fights;
indeed, it is the spirit which lies at the heart of the martyrdom that
symbolises the sacrifices Palestinians have made, and must continue to bear, as
they pursue their noble cause. No Israeli fighter-jets, bombs, tanks or
bulldozers can kill this spirit.
The Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, is certainly relieved and happy that
his most implacable enemy is gone. At one time he publicly expressed regret to
have made “the mistake” of not killing Arafat during the 1982 Israeli invasion
of Lebanon which, he, as Defence Minister, orchestrated. The invasion led to the
massacre of thousands of Palestinian refugees in their camps in Sabra and
Shitila in south Lebanon.
And as recently as three months ago, Sharon was quoted by the media as saying
that among his options on how “to deal with Arafat” was killing him! For a
person with a lot of Palestinian blood on his hands, that was not an empty
threat. If it were not for the restraining hand of his masters in the White
House, Sharon, could have assassinated Arafat the same way he did the Hamas
spiritual leader, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.
What was very sickening about that threat was the conspiracy of silence of the
international community which had also unimaginably failed to protect Arafat
against the more than three years of siege, incarceration and humiliation at his
Ramallah headquarters by the Israeli Prime Minister!
While it may serve no useful purpose at this juncture to get engrossed in
speculations about what was the real cause of Arafat’s death (the doctors who
diagnosed and treated him at a military French hospital in Paris are nor
divulging that vital information!), the horrible conditions under which he was
held virtual prisoner could not have been conducive to a healthy life. The
environment was specially designed by the Sharon regime, with the support of the
Bush administration, with the sole objective of breaking Arafat’s spirit and
body. The latter they have achieved! But even if one wishes to disagree with my
hypothesis and all the speculations that we have heard concerning the
Palestinian leader’s death, at least one thing remains absolutely clear: that,
those who have always maintained that Arafat was “a terrorist” and “an obstacle
to peace” in the Middle East, are rejoicing at his death! We have heard comments
like “this is an end of an era”, or “the world is better without Arafat”, or “a
new chapter is unfolding in the Middle East”, and so forth. All these are
euphemisms by Arafat’s enemies (and their quislings) who think that with
Arafat’s death, Israel and the US are now going to dictate the terms in any
Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations.
At the White House, last week, President Bush and the British Prime Minister,
Tony Blair (who is no longer the Blair that we all knew during the Clinton
administration), jovially appeared at a press briefing where, in typical
fashion, they made a joint promise to “revive” the peace process “now that the
obstacle (Arafat) was gone”. But was Arafat a hindrance to peace in the Middle
East? Let us think together next week.