By
Kizito Makoye
The report issued by the Commission for Africa recently has
been met with enthusiasm by renowned economists in the country, though they
express their doubt on the issues being implemented.
The report which promises to be ‘blisteringly honest’ highlights the crucial
issues that the continent is facing, and calls for intervention from rich
countries to inject aid into Africa.
Scholars have in response questioned if the new report will prove more effective
than other reports.
In an interview with The Express on Monday, Prof. Ibrahim Lipumba, economist and
Chairman of Civic United Front Party (CUF), could not conceal his feeling on the
most concrete proposal of getting an extra US$ 25 billion (Tsh. 27,500 billion)
in aid.
“The report has good ideas, but making its recommendations become reality is
very difficult…the report asks for an extra US$ 25 billion a year in aid to
Africa and another US$ 25 billion a year by 2015, the Bush administration is not
very enthusiastic about the proposal,” Lipumba said.
When the Commission for Africa was formed under the British Prime Minister, Tony
Blair, most Africans in poor countries like Tanzania embraced it with a profound
optimism that perhaps the vicious cycle of poverty would ultimately be broken.
A Research Associate with the Economic Research Foundation (ESRF), Prof. Samuel
Wangwe, is hopeful but extremely cautious that if at all Africa is getting
assisted as used to be the case, the money would be well managed.
“In fighting poverty in Africa aid is of crucial significance, but at the same
time it must fall into the hands of good governance… should rich countries
inject aid into Africa there must be a proper system in place to handle it,” he
said.
Wangwe certainly has no doubt whatsoever that the report signals the political
will of rich and influential governments. It has been drafted with the
cooperation of reasonable leaders including President Benjamin Mkapa, whose
active involvement has made a tremendous contribution to the success of the
report
The report calls for an end to rich-world agricultural subsidies, which have
hurt farmers in poor countries, it also asks rich countries to tear down the
trade barriers that keep African goods out of their markets, including tariffs
and rules-of-origin and health-and-safety standards.
He added that market access for commodities is important to the prosperity of
the continent, but in order for Africa to benefit, the produced commodities
should meet international standards.
The report also singles out corruption as hampering African countries’
prospects. “Money and state assets stolen from the people of Africa by corrupt
leaders must be repatriated,” it reads.
It further adds that foreign banks must be obliged by law to inform on
suspicious accounts. Those who give bribes should be dealt with too; and foreign
companies involved in oil, minerals and other extractive industries must make
their payments much more open to public scrutiny.
Wangwe said such decisions are a signal for transparency. “Stealing money and
putting it into overseas accounts is not a solution, I think corrupt leaders got
it wrong… I think it is proper to freeze any international account that might be
found to be suspicious, if such accounts are unjustified then the money can be
returned to Africa for assisting in the fight against poverty,” he said.
In his end-of- the-month address to the nation last week, President Mkapa said
the report explains how the African continent has been massively exploited since
the era of slavery through colonialism, neo-colonialism, cold war and now
globalization. He added that there are people from within and outside Africa who
look askance upon this crucial matter.
“I do not blame my fellow Africans who have received news on the formation of
the Commission for Africa with doubts, because it is true that so many
commissions have passed and many reports have been written. We have had lot of
unfulfilled promises,” he said.
Mkapa added: “The objective is to collect enough means to untie the chains of
poverty, and thereafter cease depending on others by applying sustainable
skills.”
Robert Corcoran a consultant from Aid into Africa, a non-governmental
organisation, says that the money has to be targeted. “If the money is spent
like in the Marshall Plan there is much hope, it involves a common purpose and a
mutual desire to develop.”
Pope’s requiem mass Saturday, DSM
By
Kizito Makoye & agencies
Roman Catholic faithful and well wishers are expected to gather at
Jangwani grounds in Dar es Salaam on Saturday, for a special requiem mass to
honour Pope John Paul II, who died in Rome last week.
On that day, the bells of all the churches across the city will be rung with a
sombre tone for a period of half an hour, starting at 6:00 am, in remembrance of
the great church leader.
According to the Deputy of the Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Dar as Salaam,
Archbishop Methodius Kilaini, Tanzania will join the rest of the world in
mourning the demise of Pope John Paul II, for nine consecutive days. He further
said that the nine days of mourning would be climaxed by a joint requiem mass at
Jangwani grounds in Dar es Salaam, where the Pope conducted a historic mass when
he visited the country in 1990.
The mass will be preceded by a procession, beginning at 6am from St. Joseph’s
Cathedral through Msimbazi Centre to Magomeni ,and finally Jangwani where the
mass will begin around 9:00am. Hundreds of thousands of Catholics worldwide are
making their way to Rome to pay their last respects to Pope John Paul II, before
he is laid to rest. Rome is setting up a defence shield and no-fly zone for an
expected two million pilgrims and an unprecedented number of heads of state at
Friday's funeral.
Friday's funeral is being described as the biggest the world has ever seen.
Some 200 foreign dignitaries will attend. Tanzania will be represented by the
Minister for Cooperatives and Marketing, George Kahama. For the first time in
history a US President will attend. George W Bush, his predecessor Bill Clinton,
the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and British Prime Minister Tony Blair will
be there.
The Vatican said a million people filed past the cream bier, on which the Pope
lies, on Monday and Tuesday.
A Vatican spokesman said yesterday that the grand gathering of cardinals, known
as a conclave, that meets to pick a new Pope, will meet on April 18.
He said they had read a testament left behind by the Pope. Contrary to
speculations it did not contain the name of a "secret" cardinal he appointed two
years ago. The testament will be published today.
The naming of the new Pope will be announced by bells in addition to the
customary plume of white-smoke. Black smoke shows that no one has been selected.
The grey smoke that sometimes has been seen has led to different interpretations
by the gathered press.
The Pope is expected to be buried alongside his immediate predecessors, in the
crypt under the main altar of St Peter's Basilica. There have been rumours that
he wanted to be buried in Poland, but experts say this is unlikely.
Other reports say officials in Poland want the Pope's heart to be extracted and
buried in Krakow, where the Pope was once a cardinal. It was the custom until
the late 19th Century to bury the pope's heart separately, but analysts do not
expect the tradition to be revived.
Each pope is able to specify his own funeral arrangements. This time, the
Vatican will be working to a blueprint drawn up by Pope John Paul II in 1996. In
his Universi Dominici Gregis document, the Pope said funeral rites should be
celebrated for nine consecutive days and that burial should be between the
fourth and sixth day after death.
The work to choose a successor begins between 15 and 20 days after a pope's
death, and only cardinals under the age of 80 may cast a vote.
Previously a new pope had to be chosen by a two-thirds majority of cardinals. In
his 1996 apostolic constitution, John Paul II put forward changes that would
allow the election of a pope by a simple majority, but only if no successor had
been agreed after about 30 ballots.
For 455 years before the election of Pope John Paul II, all popes had been
Italian. But many Vatican watchers are far from convinced Italy will get the
papacy back, for the simple reason that the proportion of Italians in the
electoral body has declined in recent years.
Much more likely, they believe, is that the next pope will be from the
developing world - and most likely from Latin America, whose cardinals now form
a powerful voting bloc. One name that is being talked about is Cardinal Claudio
Hummes, Archbishop of Sao Paulo in Brazil.
There is a chance that an African pope could emerge from the conclave. Cardinal
Francis Arinze is a Nigerian who has long been regarded as a serious contender.
Tanzania magnet pulling
refugees
By Angela Mazula
The Great Lakes Regions (GLR) and Tanzania in particular continue to hold the
unenviable record of being a major attraction for refugees both on the continent
and globally, a survey has shown.
According to a report on Magnitude and Scope of Forced Migration in the Great
Lakes Regions currently done by Khoti Kamanga, a Senior Lecture of the
University of Dar as Salaam, Tanzania is estimated to host about 1 million
refugees, mostly from Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Kamanga said in the report that Kenya, for its part, hosts about 430,000
refugees and Internally Displaced Person (IDPs). Although with a comparatively
lower refugee population of 204,933, Uganda hosts far more IDPs (854,148).
He added that a major country itself, DRC, has an IDP population of 2,335,000
that is about 7 times larger than the refugee population. As well as being a
country of origin of refugees, Burundi like the DRC is a major host with an IDP
problem of some magnitude.
He said that studies and experience show that, addressing the humanitarian
problems, including forced migration arising from armed conflict, requires one
set of measures, while resolving the underlying causes of the armed conflict
itself, demands a fundamentally different approach and tools.
He said challenges imposed by forced migration are of limited duration, and
therefore interventions should be ‘transitional’ with emphasis on immediate,
humanitarian needs such as food, shelter and medical care.
Bandits and
highway robbery
By Kim Aidan, Kilosa
Residents of Gairo Division in Kilosa District, Morogoro Region,
have asked the police to find a solution to the incidence of violent robbery
occurring on the Dodoma Highway.
Talking to The Express in Gairo last week, the residents reported that there had
been an increase of robberies, including the hijacking of motor vehicles,
especially at night, on the way from Dumila area to Gairo minor settlement.
The residents claim that these incidents take place because there are no police
patrols along the highway during the night. This gives attackers ample
opportunity to pile logs and stones along the highway and then rob passers by.
One Gairo resident, who identified himself as Simon, said it would be better if
the Ministry of Home Affairs provided military vehicles, for the policing of
road posts in the most robbery-prone areas, to combat the crimes.
Cultivation
near waters harmful says DC
By Sebastian Gabunga, Sengerema
Sengerema District Commissioner in Mwanza Region, Esther Malyeta,
has directed residents to stop cultivating near water sources as it has damaging
effects on the environment.
She gave the order during a sitting of Sengerema District Council councillors
recently.
Cultivation near water sources, she said, causes water to be spoiled by poison
coming from the insecticides sprinkled on the crops and plants.
Many times, when rains fall, the insecticides are washed away and enter water
sources, causing people to use contaminated water, Malyeta observed.
She directed the councillors of the District Council to educate people on the
effects of cultivating near water sources, and to stress the importance of
protecting the environment by planting trees, which protect water sources.
Dodoma school
competes with pombe bars
By Emmanuel Lazaro, Dodoma
Makulu Primary School in Dodoma Municipality is facing problems
because of pupils playing truant. Pupils are absent from class and instead sell
local liquor, collect sand or do other petty business.
The headteacher of the school, Aivan Lyoka said the problem had had a great
effect on the school’s attempt to improve academic work. On average 30 pupils at
the school do not attend classes.
Part of the problem is that the school is surrounded by local liquor bars, the
head teacher said, which attracts especially girls to get involved in local brew
selling. Some pupils even drink the local brew and get drunk, thus failing to
attend lessons.
Boys have a tendency to dig sand and sell it for house construction, Lyoka said.
In his attempt to halt the problem, Lyoka said he had received little help from
local authorities. Dodoma Makulu Ward government has failed to cooperate with
the school in controlling the behaviours and maintaining discipline, he said.
And when the school administration charged parents with truant children in
court, one political leader bailed them out and cleared the case out of court.
Worst still, the headteacher said, steps to remove local bar owners have not
been successful because the ward government is against their removal.
Moreover, the school lacks teaching materials, including 153 desks, ten tables
and three classrooms. When a Dodoma Makulu Ward councillor was reached for a
comment, he said he knew nothing about the complaints.
AMREF
wants ban on ‘outdated customs’
By Sebastian Gabunga, Bunda
Some customs are spreading HIV/AIDS, argue experts, who want to see
a ban on traditional practices that fuel infections.
The government has been asked to stop customs that contribute to mother to child
HIV/AIDS infection. The advice was discussed by participants at a seminar
organised by the African Medical and Research Foundation (AMREF) recently. The
seminar also discussed antiretrovirals (ARVs).
Those attending the seminar, many being functionaries of Bunda District Council,
observed that there are tribes that continue with the custom of letting a child
who has lost its mother be breastfed by another woman.
This custom, they argued, is increasing the risk of transmitting HIV/AIDS from
mother to child.
They also urged hospitals to adopt a friendlier attitude towards women who come
to the hospital to deliver. In many cases, expectant mothers are met with verbal
abuse, which does nothing to encourage women to seek hospital service. Instead
it means that more women are likely to give birth at home where adequate health
facilities are lacking.
Especially if a mother carries the HIV virus, it is more likely that she passes
it on to her child if she delivers at home.
AMREF Project Officer, Martina Munyenga said her organisation had started a
programme of educating the public on the correct way of using ARVs and
preventing mother to child HIV/AIDS infection.
The programme is a pilot project taking place at six hospitals: Peramiho in
Songea Rural District, Ilembula in Njombe District, Ikonda and Bulongwa in
Makete District, Nyakahanga in Karagwe District and Bunda District Designated
Hospital.
She requested pregnant mothers to test for HIV/AIDS and for women planning to
have a child to test their status before deciding to conceive.
Dar Bishop
urges fair elections
By Angela Mazula
Fair and just elections should run on an equal and level ground,
instead of buying voters to vote for certain candidates, says the Auxiliary
Bishop of Dar es Salaam Archdiocese, Methodius Kilaini.
Speaking in Dar es Salaam at the morning debate on “Takrima in Elections: is it
Corruption” held at the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) premises last
week, Bishop Kilaini said that elections are supposed to give the people good
leaders with integrity, accountability, transparency, and good governance
skills.
He added that this is for the common good and that it is the aim of democracy,
but corruption in the general sense is a departure from what is legally,
ethically and morally just, behaviour that can destroy someone’s loyalty and
undermine moral integrity.
He said that politicians are placed in an apparently compromising position
because of their need to solicit financial contribution for their campaigns,
where the competition is reduced to traditional hospitality, takrima.
He explained that payments to the Media in terms of cash or facilitating
allowances can effectively cover the candidate’s character in corruption because
they are compromising the ethical value of the media in return for money.
“This will lead to the point that if a candidate does not pay, nothing
substantial will appear about him/her in the news unless he/she makes a big
mistake,” he said.
In her comments, Helen Kijo-Bisimba, Executive Director of Legal and Human
Rights Centre (LHRC), said that if all people could understand the relation
between takrima and corruption clearly as it is, there would be no problem on
it, because most of them define it wrongly.
She said that takrima is a gratuitous bona fide gift, given in kind (cash) or
service without demanding or expecting anything in return, but contrary to that
it will be corruption, depending on what were the circumstances when it could
have been given.
She added that, this time, many of the candidates’ abuse takrima by giving a
service to lure voters to vote for them even if they do not deserve it.
TB continues
its lethal grip on the nation
By Timothy Kitundu
Tanzania has been mentioned as among the nine countries in Africa
that seem to be losing the battle against Tuberculosis (TB). The disease is
further worsened by increasing number of HIV/AIDS cases.
Most areas of the world seem to be winning the battle against TB, but an
overwhelming burden of cases in Africa is frustrating the efforts to reverse the
global epidemic, the World Health Organisation’s Annual Tuberculosis Report has
revealed.
According to the report, major progress has been made against TB in hard-hit
Asia in the last year or so, but in Africa infection rates have tripled in the
last decade and worldwide infections are still on the rise.
“The United Nations considers beating the disease integral to the economic and
social development of poor countries, and aims to put it into decline by 2015.
The goal of stopping and reversing TB is achievable,” reads part of the report.
Adding that the methods, procedures and supplies needed are well known, and are
getting impressive results whenever they are being used but the challenge now is
to invest enough so that they can be used in Africa.
The report found that the number of people living with the disease has declined
by 20 per cent since 1990, because of successful treatment programmes that have
cured millions of patients.
The report says the number of new cases per 100,000 people is still rising
slowly at about one per cent per year, a pace that has not changed much in the
last 10 years. There are about 9 million new TB cases every year.
“Without a simple, rapid test for detecting TB, health workers in developing
countries will continue to miss about half of all the people who need TB
treatment,” Medecins Sans Frontieres said in their report which coincided with
the WHO report.
Countries highlighted as doing ‘conspicuously little’ on the continent included
Nigeria, where some 105,000 people died of TB last year, and Uganda, where there
was a drop of 10 per cent in the detection rate and cure rate between 1999 and
2003.
Death
penalty: Tanzania scores zero in 2004
By Express Reporter
During 2004, more than 3,797 people were executed in 25 countries
and at least 7,395 were sentenced to death in 64 countries, according to Amnesty
International on Monday this week.
Releasing its annual worldwide statistics on the use of capital punishment,
Amnesty International called on the United Nations Commission on Human Rights,
currently meeting in Geneva, to condemn the death penalty as a violation of
fundamental human rights.
“The figures released today are sadly only the tip of the iceberg. The true
picture is hard to uncover as many countries continue to execute people secretly
— contravening United Nations standards calling for disclosure of information on
capital punishment,” said Amnesty International.
A few countries accounted for the majority of executions carried out during
2004. China executed at least 3,400 people, but sources inside the country have
estimated the number to be near 10,000.
Iran executed at least 159, and Viet Nam at least 64. There were 59 executions
in the USA, down from 65 in 2003.
“Despite the worldwide trend towards abolition, these figures highlight the
ongoing need for concerted action by the international community to consign the
death penalty to history.”
“It is worrying that the vast majority of those executed in the world did not
have fair trials. Many were convicted on the basis of ’evidence’ extracted under
torture.”
Tanzania did not carry out any executions last year. But earlier this year
Amnesty International acknowledged the harsh treatment of prisoners on death row
in this country.
The hunger strike by at least 15 death row prisoners in Ukonga maximum security
prison in Dar es Salaam, in early January this year, worried the human rights
organisation. The prisoners were reportedly protesting against harsh prison
conditions, namely a poor prison diet and being severely beaten whilst being
held in overcrowded cells.
Amnesty International reports that Ukonga prison holds more than 3,000 inmates.
Of these, 90 have been held under sentence of death for up to 20 years after
courts found them guilty of murder. Many say their appeals have not been heard
and some of them are no longer visited by relatives who think that they have
been executed.
While executions continued worldwide, the abolition of capital punishment
advanced. Five countries abolished the death penalty for all crimes in 2004 -
Bhutan, Greece, Samoa, Senegal and Turkey. At year end, 120 countries had
abolished the death penalty in law or practice.
Amnesty International welcomed the United States Supreme Court ruling in March
this year, declaring unconstitutional the use of the death penalty against child
offenders, — people under 18 at the time of the crime. With this decision all
countries have now formally rejected the application of the death penalty to
child offenders.
Ex-prisoners
find life outside jail hard
By Kim Aidan, Kilosa
An increase in crime in Morogoro Region has been attributed to released
prisoners failing to get money to travel to their homes, thus resorting to
stealing money for fares.
Many prisoners after leaving prison find it difficult to get back into normal
life as many lack a source of income. This increases the chances of them falling
back on criminal activities.
This was revealed by representatives of livestock keepers during their second
meeting held to find ways of reducing crime, including livestock stealing, in
Morogoro Region. The meeting was held at VETA hall in Mikumi.
The representatives suggested that the government should look into the
possibility of transferring the prisoners to prisons near their homes, to avoid
released prisoners struggling to reach their homes.
The prisoners cooperate with criminals circulating around prisons before they
finish their jail sentences, who later serve as the released prisoners’
colleagues when committing crimes.