National NewsBy Express Correspondent
TANZANIA is still being used as a transit route for illicit drugs despite the ongoing international campaign to stop the spread of narcotics. According to a report made available to The Express by the International Narcotics Board, illicit drugs for abuse have been passing through Tanzanian entry points unabated.
The report said that Tanzania was a good centre for drugs in transit to other African and world countries where consumption is much higher. It said other African nations notable for drug trafficking are Mozambique, Kenya and South Africa.
Officials from the Tanzania police force told The Express early this week that drug trafficking has been on the increase in Tanzania despite government efforts to curb the situation.
“We are working day and night to control and monitor drug trafficking suspects, but still the situation is worsening every day with frequent arrests at our entry points, especially the Dar es Salaam International Airport,’ said one police officer at Kilwa Road in the city.
Tanzania, according to the police sources is a good transit route for drugs from South East Asia, South Asia and the Middle East , to South Africa en route South America, Europe and North America.
According to police figures, over 2.5 tonnes of various manufactured drugs (tablets) of abuse have been netted in Dar es Salaam on different occasions, while hundreds of tonnes of bhang or cannabis sativa have been apprehended from both the traffickers and users.
Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar are the only known leading drug trafficking and user centres, although few Tanzanian towns have been identified to be connected with narcotics abuse.
Because of high security at the European airports, drugs traffickers use African airports and African young men and women to push the drugs to Europe because it is easier to confuse the European security personnel at the entry points.
Sources from police at Kilwa Road drug control unit said that cases of drug addiction in Tanzania had been increasing among the young people in Magomeni, Kariakoo and Buguruni areas.
Police sources admitted drug control had been a big problem as the cartel was in the hands of rich and famous people.
“It is really difficult to arrest a well-known businessman when we suspect him or even to inspect high profile personalities on their arrival at the airports unless we process a document from the government which could be difficult to get,’ said the police source.
It has also been established that most of drug traffickers arrested are frequently acquitted by the courts or disappear during their bail terms while some disappear while under tight security by the police, something which drug control experts find hard to curb.
Zanzibar has been identified to be the other upcoming drug trafficking route because of the Island’s porous sea routes which provide quick transport of drugs to mainland through unauthorised sea ports like Bagamoyo and Pangani.
Lack of well-equipped security facilities and trained personnel have been a big block to drug trafficking control in Tanzania, because many police officers cannot identify manufactured drugs easily from shops or other centres, police sources said.
Well-known airline companies from Middle East are the best optional means of transport used by drug traffickers when flying to Tanzania, it has been known.
Heroin, mandrax and cocaine are the most known illicit drugs penetrating Tanzania for consumption in the country or just on transit to other destinations. South Africa has been singled out to be the biggest transit route for illicit drugs after its doors were set open in 1994 when the majority rule was achieved.
Police sources said Johannesburg and Cape Town are the good stop centres for drugs passing through Tanzania. There have been reports of Tanzanians arrested whilst allegedly in possession of illicit drugs.
Poor amenities result into airlines' pull-out
By Apolinari Tairo
A number of airlines had pulled out from the country on account of poor aircraft handling services, coupled with other operational problems. This was revealed by the managing director of Takims Holidays, Tours and Safaris, Mr Mohamed Nathani, in his critical paper presented at South Africa and Tanzania Tourism Seminar in Dar es Salaam last week.
Mr Nathani said that transport services in Tanzania were pathetic and that they remained the biggest unresolved problem facing tourism industry.
He observed that Tanzania had a road network covering some 85,000 kilometres, but only 14 % per cent of the roads were in good condition.
On air transport services, Mr Nathani said airport buildings were not of required standards to accommodate international class tourists while the airports had poor aircraft handling services.
Dar es Salaam and Kilimanjaro international airports are the only aircraft handling facilities in Tanzania, but they generally lacked maintenance services, toilets, running water and adequate passenger handling services.
Although the government has been charging US Dollars 20 per each passenger travelling outside Tanzania, little or nothing has been done to maintain the airport standards and development of passenger services.
In June last year, the government increased airport tax for domestic flight passengers by shillings 1,000 in a plan to generate an additional income of shillings 2.4 billion from the two international airports of Dar es Salaam and kilimanjaro.
Mr Nathani said the Tanzanian government needed to encourage more international airlines to operate in Tanzania by making landing fees run in line with other airports in Africa and also to reduce aviation fuel further liberalising the air transport sector.
He said airport runways had to be improved and navigational aids upgraded or renewed. Because of poor air services, coupled with other operational problems in Tanzania, few airlines have been operating between Dar es Salaam and other African countries south of Sahara, including South Africa which is the biggest tourist market in the region.
Apart from Kilimanjaro and Dar es Salaam international airports, regional airports and landing strips for small sized aircraft have been without development, making it hard for tourist air charter companies to fly their clients there.
Some regions of Tanzania totally lack air transport services despite their abundant tourist attractions.
DAHACO gears up for competition
By Jamila Sulu
The Dar es Salaam Handling Company (DAHACO) is engaged in a strategic plan to face anticipated business competition in the near future.
The Company's General Manager, Mr Gaudence Temu, said this week that DAHACO, a subsidiary of Air Tanzania Corporation (ATC) dealing with cargo handling services in the country, no longer had monopoly in the free market economy and needed to augment its capacity.
The programme includes training of all members of staff, right from the driver upto managerial level, as all these groups dealt with customers one way or the other.
"The aim is to build capacity of the members of our staff in customer care services so as to cope with business competition. To us, training will be a permanent strategy," noted Mr Temu.
He said the training which started effectively this week will focus on customer care services, which will also include establishment of security measures to ensure cargo safety. About 28 of the 180 DAHACO workers started training Monday this week under a resource person from Eastern and Southern Africa Management Institute (ESAMI), which will last for a month.
DAHACO which operates at major airports in the country, namely the Dar es salaam and Kilimanjaro airports, also deals with a wide range of activities, including servicing commercial flights landing at the two airports.
Speaking on the state of affairs at the Kilimanjaro airport, the General Manager said cargo handling business was not at its peak due to high fuel costs.
Wild life conservation makes natives' lives a hell
By Jamila Sulu
Societies living within the Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA) of Tanzania National Parks are said to be leading a difficult life with their social and human rights denied on account of the wild
animals around the area.
Research findings by a team of law professionals led by Professor Issa Shivji, revealed last week that there was an urgent need to change the NCA Ordinance that established the Conservation Area since it was of no benefit to the natives and it forced them to lead a life of poverty.
The study which was conducted by HAKIARDHI, a non governmental organisation, was put in a book titled The Maasai Rights in Ngororongo, launched officially last week.
The Ordinance which was established in 1959 restricted the natives from engaging in activities such as cultivation, land ownership and worse still denied the society the right of participating in decisions that affected them directly.
Amended in 1975, the Ordinance put in place another Act in which conservation of natural resources went hand in hand with the human life and development of the people.
According to the findings, no cultivation of any kind of crop was allowed as that would affect the welfare of wild animals.
The study revealed further that the area has no local government authorities that could be used by the natives to speak out their concerns, making the situation worse as there were no reliable social services and the rate of illiteracy was high.
It stated that such problems would have been addressed by the local government but because it was not there, the problems were there to stay.
The research urged immediate change of the ordinance to allow maasais to participate in the decision making board of the Conservation Authority, and change the name of Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA) to Ngorongoro Conservation and Development Council (NCDC) so as to include representatives from the local society.
HAKIARDHI suggested further that 50 per cent of the earnings made by the NCA through tourism should be used for the development of the natives.
No solution in Burundi without civic education
By Jamila Sulu
Arusha Talks aimed at bringing peace in Burundi will not come to fruition in absence of initiatives to undertake civic education among the ethnically divided people of the troubled country.
The chairman of Peace Education and Conflict Management Organisation Trust (PECMOT), Mr Melchior Njige, told The Express last week that the mediation process cannot come to a sustainable solution if no civic education is undertaken by authorities.
PECMOT has asked authorities in charge of Arusha Talks to invite local non-governmental organizations involved in peace efforts to take part in the mediation process, as free and independent organisations were rich with useful ideas that would help in arriving at a solution.
Mr Njige said it was high time the Nyerere Foundation involved local civil society in the country, rather than inviting only international organizations to take part.
He said Nyerere Foundation, which is also a non governmental organization but strongly controlled by the government of Tanzania, should change the mindset that only big organizations are competent for bringing a peace solution in Burundi and ignoring other local peace initiative groups.
PECMOT, which has been registered in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, called for the Nyerere Foundation to hold consultative sessions that would brainstorm about the real situation in Burundi and later go for rounds where NGOs might take part as observers.
Mr Njige said his organization had experts from different professions, including lawyers, social workers, state attorneys and competent scholars who would contribute to the peace process.
"Involving international organizations and big personalities could only be a setback to the process, whereas in local organizations there are people who are conversant with Burundi matters and can offer useful inputs.
Let the Nyerere Foundation (organizers) give us the room and we will prove our competence," Mr Njige asserted.
He said if PECMOT was to take part as observers, there was no problem since they would give their overviews and suggestions from their observations of the proceedings.
Another round of Arusha Talks which took place this week was attended by different personalities, including US President Bill Clinton and French President Jacques Chirac, who took part through satellite television. Several other renowned African leaders including South African President Mr Thabo Mbeki and president Yoweri Museveni of Uganda also participated in the peace process.
PECMOT which was registered last year, has among other objectives, the role of building the culture of peace among societies by educating people.
Professor pleads for structural changes to spur farm sector
By Godfrey Kambenga
Unless the government re-defines the role of public sector in agriculture, expected agricultural development this century is not likely to take place.
The development of the sector that accounts for about 57 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and employs over 80 percent of the population was disrupted by the policy of socialism, and began looking up only in 1986 after Structural Adjustment Programmes were in place.
Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA) Professor Melchior Mlambiti, delivering a lecture at a two-day workshop in Dar es Salaam organised by the Tanzania Chamber of Commerce Industry and Agriculture (TCCIA), said it was a responsibility of the government to provide services necessary to stimulate agricultural development.
He said since liberal economy was introduced in the 1980s, the government has not been able to set up sound regulatory frame work to support agriculture, and has been paying lip service only.
Professor Mlambiti said while the country had 40 million hectares of cultivatable land, only between 3.4 and 6.3 hectares were cultivated a year representing only 8 to 16 percent of the land in use.
Professor Mlambiti said Tanzania could use the comparative advantages in agriculture in doing business with both East African and SADC countries.
Looking at the overall decline in agriculture between 1964 and 1994 as compared to the country's overall GDP, the agricultural sector's performance was 45 per cent lower than GDP growth rate in 1996 to 1975. However, between 1976 to 1980 it was lower by 65 per cent. Professor Mlambiti said the sector began to recover in 1980s while GDP growth rates were negative. He said from 1964 to 1982, the sector's share declined from 50 to 40 percent but from 1983 to 1994 the sector's share began to pick up from 42 to 48.6 percent
See Business Express for related story
Professor Mlambiti said sustainable agricultural development would be achieved only if effective agricultural policies were to be defined. Other areas that needed improvement are marketing systems, rural infrastructure, rural financing systems and improvement in research and extension services.
He mentioned other constraints as lack of ambience conducive to technology innovation and adoption, unattractive political and policy environments for investors, unclear future of development of agricultural policy and lack of good environmental management policy for sustainable agriculture.
TCCIA Interim Chair person Elvis Musiba, said Tanzania had a comparative advantage in developing agriculture than neighbouring countries. He said the country could easily produce hundred thousands tonnes of rice from Rufiji Basin which was not possible for Kenya, a neighbouring country.
He said similar situation could apply to other agricultural products, adding that by increasing agricultural products the country could easily double its GDP which was around 3.5 per cent. TCCIA Vice Chairperson Julius Matiko, said agricultural performance was weak because farmers were still using primitive technology.
In addition, farmers' financial capabilities were low and there were no bank loan schemes made available to them, Mr Matiko explained.
He said the scenario put off both local and foreign investors.
Former TCCIA President David Mabulla said the government was not serious about sustainable agriculture as it had yet even formulate an agricultural policy.
``The agricultural policy we have today is interim, to last ten years from 1996,'' he said. For related story see Business Express