Leaders
committed to federation
By Kizito Makoye
The Heads of State of Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya have reaffirmed their
commitment to support the acceleration and fast tracking of the establishment of
the East African political federation.
In a joint communiqué signed by President Benjamin Mkapa, Mwai Kibaki of Kenya
and Yoweri Museveni of Uganda at the third extraordinary summit of EAC held in
Dar es Salaam the leaders remarked that the cause of development in the three
countries should be pursued and that it was inevitable to establish a sound and
strong foundation for the federation. Reading the communiqué at a press briefing
on Monday the Chairman of East African Community (EAC) Council of Ministers,
Jakaya Kikwete said the people in the three countries are quite positive and
enthusiastic about the formation of a political federation and that it was
important to pursue a just cause.
“The cause of East African unity and development should be relentlessly pursued,
taking into account the need to establish a sound and strong foundation for the
East African federation,” he stressed.
It was underscored that the views of the general public, parliaments, civil
society, the academia, political parties and religious institutions should be
sought and reported back to the summit in 12 months.
The presidents insisted that the customs union, common market and monetary union
are key elements for a sustainable federation.
But they also pointed out that the consolidation of the customs union, which
came into effect in January this year, is necessary in order to pave way for the
fast tracking and eventually the formation of the federation.
It has been resolved that Kisumu town will be the headquarters of the Victoria
basin Commission. On the issue of Rwanda applying to qualify as an EAC member
state, the presidents have instructed the Council of Ministers to speed up the
admission process. The matter will be concluded in the next summit.
Several international and regional issues were also on the agenda of the
meeting. The positive developments in Burundi were welcomed by EAC Heads of
State, who instructed the parties involved to ensure successful elections.
Speaking at the press briefing, President Mwai Kibaki thanked the President of
Tanzania for the cordial reception and congratulated Jakaya Kikwete for being
nominated as the candidate for CCM in the presidential elections.
Nurses Day allows nurses to raise complaints
By Sebastian Gabunga, Mwanza
Mwanza City nurses and midwives have complained over the services being offered
by the National Microfinance Bank (NMB), and are considering terminating their
salary bank accounts there.
They aired this complaints during the celebrations of the International Nurses
Day held at Gandhi hall in Mwanza City.
The Bank, they claimed, have long queues of customers. They recommended that
their salaries should be paid through another bank to reduce the problem.
The nurses and midwives requested Mwanza City Council to begin repaying them
their risk allowances, taking into account infection diseases such as AIDS and
tuberculosis which they encounter on a daily basis.
They also requested for working uniforms and leave allowances accordingly as
many travel great distances when on leave. The present Tsh. 60,000 is not
enough, they said.
Guest of Honour, Mwanza City Medical Officer Dr. Kokugonza Mugeye said the issue
of where the salaries should be passed is the responsibility of the civil
servants themselves.
If a civil servant is not satisfied with his salary going through NMB, he should
write to the City Director, directing him where he/she should receive their
salaries.
Concerning payment of leave allowance, Dr. Mugeye said, the issue will be taken
to concerned authorities, so that their claims can be added in the estimates of
next financial year 2006/2007.
Adding, Mwanza City Department of Health has already approved supply of two
uniforms for every member of the staff in the Health Department.
Problem of lack of fish could be solved
By Kizitto Joseph
The Tanzania Institute for Fishery Research (TAFIRI) has come up with an idea
conserving fish in ponds and dams that will insure fish supply throughout the
year in Dar es Salaam Region.
TAFIRI has already implemented the project in various regions of the country.
Director Benjamin Ngatinga said over the weekend in Dar es Salaam that the
project will help prevent a lack of fish in diets. Fish are rich in for example
proteins.
“If the project proves successful, people living in Dar es Salaam will be
assured a steady supply of fish throughout the year,” he said.
The project began in 2003 by spreading fish conservation education to small
fishermen in almost the whole country.
He said research has shown that if every ward has just five people engaging in
the project, they will be able to yield about 50kg of fish daily and this amount
will satisfy the need of the residents in the nearby areas.
Villages face unsustainable
water projects
By Merline Mhamala, Morogoro
Officials from water projects in villages have been requested to invent
strategies that are useful and suit the villages, taking into consideration the
National Water Policy to achieve the intended objectives of the projects.
An Engineer with the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project (RWSSP), Tanu
Deule made the statement in a five day workshop of engineers and community
development officers from 19 districts in Morogoro Municipality.
Deule said some of the water projects in villages are initiated and implemented
in villages according to the needs of donors and not the needs of the public.
The result is that the projects become unsustainable, he said.
Water projects run by Tanzania Social Action Fund and RWSSP need to have a
common aim in implementing its strategies, as they are all supported by the
World Bank. They need to follow the guidelines set out by the National Water
Policy, he said.
The stakeholders of the water projects are required to involve the community and
incorporate them in the implementation of the projects to make them sustainable.
The workshop incorporated engineers and community development officers, and
aimed at educating them on the water policy.
Efforts to improve home-based
care for AIDS patients underway
By Sebastian Gabunga, Mwanza
Efforts are being made to improve the quality of home based HIV/AIDS service.
Service providers have been required to provide their services kindly and with
required quality, as a way of motivating more people to turn up for voluntary
HIV testing.
Mwanza Regional Medical Officer, Dr. Samson Winani said this when opening a
training course for home service providers at Kahangala St. Martin Catholic
Centre in Magu District.
The 36 days training course were organized by Care International through its
Tumaini Project, which aims at improving the home service for AIDS patients,
orphans and children who live difficult lives and remove stigma.
In his speech, read on his behalf by Mwanza Regional Hospital Doctor in Charge,
Charles Makoba, Dr. Wanani said there is a need to build a strong base of
quality services for AIDS patients.
“We have to encourage many people to come out for voluntary testing, so that
they get the needed services instead of dying in their homes for lack of proper
services which include good nutrition and anti-retrovirals (ARVs), Dr Wanani
said.
He requested service providers to tell people the truth about HIV/AIDS and be
ready to educate others on what they have learnt, help them, make follow ups,
supervise and report as soon as possible if they find people with AIDS hiding in
their homes.
Earlier, Mwanza Region Tumaini Project Coordinator, Dr. Rutasha Dadi said the
availability of proper services, together with ARVs have helped many AIDS
patients to show up for voluntary testing.
Bogus NGOs attract criticism
By Heckton Chuwa, Moshi
The government have been urged to review all non-governmental organisations
(NGOs) dealing with HIV/AIDS and their related matters to make sure they perform
as intended.
The plea was made by the Kilimanjaro AIDS Control Association Secretary General,
Awadh Lema.
He said there have been cases where complaints have been raised that some NGOs,
registered to serve AIDS victims and orphaned children, do not live up to the
desired standards. Instead, NGO officials use the organizations for their
personal gains.
Lema urged the media highlights the whole issue of HIV/AIDS in order to raise
awareness of the disease.
Poverty widespread in
countryside
By Tunu Ally, Dodoma
A professional with the Local Government Reform Programme in Dodoma Zone,
Wendelin Matumla has said that a research conducted recently indicates that 60
per cent of people living in rural areas are poor, compared to 39 per cent of
urban residents.
Matumla said this on Thursday last week at a Dodoma District Council sitting
conducted at VETA meeting hall in Dodam Municipality.
Statistics indicate that 50 per cent of Tanzanians, especially women, live below
the poverty line, earning only Tsh. 73,877 a year, despite the fact that GDP is
rising by 4 per cent annually.
Following from this state of affairs, women are more involved in agricultural
activities and produce 60 – 80 per cent of food and cash crops.
Municipality terminates
agreement with Infobridge
By Tunu Ally, Dodoma
Dodoma Municipal Council administration has terminated its agreement with
Infobridge Company, the agent responsible for collecting property taxes from
companies because it was no longer trusted by the Municipal Council.
Dodoma Municipal Council Executive Director, Monica Kwiluhya said this when
addressing a meeting of councillors last week. Kwiluhya said that the issue of
using agents to collect taxes is now worrisome, as many of them are
untrustworthy.
Prospective graduates promise
return to TZ
By Kizito Makoye
The Tanzanian students from the International School of Tanganyika (IST) who
were granted scholarship to attend prestigious schools in the US have promised
to return upon the completion of their studies.
In a joint press conference at the American Embassy last week, the students
agreed to come back and serve the nation which is in need of highly educated
graduates.
“I am determined to go and acquire knowledge and thereafter come back to serve
my country,” said Gloria Cheche, one of the selected IST students.
Experience shows that most students who happen to go abroad for further studies
under government sponsorship often fail to return to Tanzania.
IST students, who have completed their studies this year, have received
scholarships worth over US$ five million. They will be joining Harvard
University, Princeton, Stanford, UCLA and MIT.
Speaking at the press conference US Embassy Charge d’Affairs, Michael Owen
challenged more Tanzanian students to strive to obtain scholarships. Owen said:
“It is a highly selective process, and I do not want to plant false seeds of
hope, but if you are an outstanding student in a good school here in Tanzania it
is worth your efforts to explore the probability of scholarships to the US”.
Only 25 per ward promises MNH
By Kizzito Joseph
Plans are underway to improve the service at Muhimbili National Hospital (MNH).
Every ward will in the future only admit 25 people.
Director for Service, January Karungula said this last week. He said this will
bring relief to patients admitted in the hospital and to the attendants and
added that the changes should have come into effect by 2007.
He encouraged attendants to look for alternatives to improve their work further
so as to give good services to patients.
Extended ward for VVF opens at
CCBRT
By Angela Mazula
Comprehensive Community Based Rehabilitation in Tanzania (CCBRT) opened an
extended Vesico-Vaginal Fistula (VVF)- ward on Monday. CCBRT CEO, Geert Vanneste
said that the number of women and girls who have been affected with the
disability is increasing.
He said that more than 90 per cent of fistulas (a hole between the bladder and
the vagina) are caused when the delivery of a child is problematic. The problem
cause incontinence which has a devastating effect on many girls and women.
He added that a number of patients cannot afford paying for the treatment but
the hospital provides high quality treatment for all since patients pay
according to their financial capacity.
In her comments, Dr. Meryl Nicon of CCBRT said the VVF unit has performed 713
surgeries and received 1,750 patients per year.
“We can operate on about five to six patients per week and manage to visit 10 to
15 patients per week. About 50 per cent of our patients come from Dar es Salaam,
an indication that this problem is not rural oriented but also an urban
problem,” said Dr. Nicon.
Flora Cosmas aged 30 was previously suffering from VVF but has now had an
operation at CCBRT. “I was feeling very dirty because of the bad smell and this
would make me unable to take part in normal social life like funerals and I used
to hide at home and stay far from the community and even from work too,” she
said.
She said she got this problem before delivering but the doctors did not know she
had the problem. She lost her baby and suffered from strong pains because her
baby died; later followed a surgical operation at CCBRT.
“I wish I knew this before so that I could be in a position to handle the
problem. I advice women who become pregnant to go and take a test so that in
case they have such a problem, it would be taken care of,” she said.
Handing over 20 beds to be used at the VVF wards, Belgian Ambassador to
Tanzania, Peter Maddens said that it was the responsibility of everyone to think
on how best women who fall victim to this problem can be assisted.
12 civil servants expelled
By Tunu Ally, Dodoma
Dodoma Rural District Council, between 2001 and 2002, took various disciplinary
measures against 22 civil servants; 12 of them were expelled from their jobs.
The Council’s Personnel Officer, Ramadhani Kailima said this when reporting on
issues of corruption regarding civil servants in a workshop.
The concerned civil servants were caught being absent from work, embezzlement
and bad use of medicines, convening meetings without the authority of Village
Governments, including excessive drinking.
During the period under review, the Council employed 108 civil servants in
various departments of Dodoma Rural District Council.
‘ICT needs proper financing’
By Angela Mazula
In order for the African countries to put in place adequate information
communication (IT) technology infrastructure for the enhancement of local
government it is important to secure financial mobilization strategies.
This was said during a presentation of a paper on Financing Information
Communication Technology (ICT) to Enhance Local Government Management in Africa
by Constantine Bitwayiki, Coordinator of National Planning in Uganda. He said
strategies need to be put in place for financing ICT.
He asked African countries to adopt polices that stimulate the building of ICT
infrastructure and provision of universal access particularly in rural and
remote areas.
He said there must be full involvement of African civil society organization in
the formation of the ICT component of New Partnership for African Development
(NEPAD).
According to Bitwayiki, African countries should develop public and private
sector legislation to facilitate the forging of innovative and constructive
partnership among donors, public authorities’ infrastructure and related
content.
“African government, have embarked on the utilization of the information
communication technology to generate accurate, timely, strategic data and
information for policy formulation, planning and decision making function in
local government management” he said.
ILO builds
new office in Dar
By Angela Mazula
About Tsh. 1.4 billion will be spent on the construction of the new
International Labour Organisation Office (ILO) in Dar es Salaam. It will be the
first regional office to be built in Tanzania.
The foundation stone for the new offices was laid by President Benjamin Mkapa on
Monday at an event along Maktaba Street in Dar es Salaam.
Speaking during the ceremony, Minister for Labour, Youth Development and Sports,
Professor Juma Kapuya said unlike many other institutions and agencies which
took their regional offices elsewhere in the early 1960s, the ILO chose Dar es
Salaam as a seat for their office in Tanzania, Kenya, Somalia and Uganda.
Kapuya said that the ceremony was held to justify the evidence of a strong and
friendly relationship between the government and ILO that has been growing from
strength to strength over the years.
The Minister added that ILO, in collaboration with the government, the
Association of Tanzania Employers (ATE), the Trade Union Congress of Tanzania
(TUCTA) and other national institutions have agreed on many technical assistance
programmes, which have been beneficial to Tanzania.
Ali Ibrahim, Director of ILO Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and Somalia said building
the new offices will help promote and realize many of ILO’s visions and dreams.