Tanzanian Affairs is a magazine with news and current affairs issued by the Britain-Tanzania Society. It is published three times a year. The views expressed or reported are those of the person concerned and do not necessarily represent the views of the Britain-Tanzania Society. All the information is copyright - please refer here for more details.
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This site was one of thousands of wordpress sites attacked by hackers who used a security flaw in a previous version of Wordpress to corrupt two articles by altering some of the links to point to their own sites. That casued Google to label the site as “suspect”. I believe I have now removed the hackers code and the site is back to normal, and has been cleared by Google.
Apologies if anyone was affected by this, and I will increase security on the server to try to prevent it happening again.
Jacob
The cover features President Bush at the A-Z mosquito net factory near Arusha
A pdf of the full issue can be downloaded here
President Kikwete’s recent bold actions in tackling corruption in Tanzania and his appointment as head of the African Union (AU) have greatly enhanced his stature on the international scene. When former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan reached deadlock after tortuous negotiations with Kenyan leaders to try to establish a power sharing government, President Kikwete, was called to Nairobi and in a very short time (on February 28 to be precise) the two squabbling Kenyan parties reached agreement.
The East African front page
The ‘East African’ was unstinting in its praise for President Kikwete as indicated by the front page of the paper shown above. Read the rest of this entry »
The President eventually returned home where his encouragement of people and press to expose corruption was having remarkable effects on the political situation in the country. The ramifications were everywhere. The media and MP’s in the newly emboldened parliament heard new revelations about major corruption on an almost daily basis. The sudden resignation of the Prime Minister and then President Kikwete’s action in dissolving the whole government – see below – shook the nation. Read the rest of this entry »
Issue Number 89 of Tanzanian Affairs described in some detail the major cases of alleged corruption which had been revealed at that time (see here). The latest situation can be summarized as follows:
THE BANK OF TANZANIA SCANDAL
The report of the Presidential Task Force on the biggest scam - in the External Payments Arrears (EPA) section of the Bank of Tanzania (BoT), involving the loss of some $130 million - is being eagerly awaited but had not been published as this issue of TA went to press. Rumours of possible involvement of big personalities were circulating. The Bank’s sacked Governor Dr Daudi Balali, was reported to be in America. Police have already claimed to have recovered some $50 million of the estimated losses and to have identified some of the guilty parties.
Former President Mkapa remains under attack in the Swahili press for what they allege was his purchase, with his then Minister of Energy and Minerals Daniel Yona, of the Kiwira Coal Mine at a ‘giveaway price.’ Two newspapers owned by Tanzania’s most prominent businessmen Reginald Mengi - Kuli Koni and ‘This Day’ have launched what appears to be a crusade against Mkapa and are alleging that he has been involved in several other corruption cases. One cartoonist had Mkapa busy extinguishing the ‘fire’ in Kenya (he was part of the AU team working on the Kenya crisis) while reporters ask him about the BoT scandal.
Meanwhile Daniel Yona challenged anyone who wants to prosecute him to go ahead. Talking to Nipashe he said that if there were individuals or groups wishing to prosecute him they could do so. He said he was the victim of a smear campaign though he agreed that he had shares in the mine.
During a visit by Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg to Tanzania, President Kikwete said his government was devising mechanisms to help guarantee smoother operations in Tanzania’s mining sector.
Norway had previously threatened to withdraw shares amounting to $5 billion citing corruption and tax evasion by some mining companies. Kikwete made an impassioned appeal to the government and people of Norway not to withdraw their shares from the sector. He said his government had already acted on the matter by setting up a committee that was expected to come up with a package of measures to make Tanzania`s mining industry operate more efficiently and productively. “We are trying to clear the mess in our mining industry; everything will soon be sorted out,” he stated.
In late April the leader of the opposition in parliament, Hamad Rashid (CUF), accused the Controller and Auditor General of deliberately omitting from his latest report the audited accounts of dubious mining projects. This was a serious omission he said. The report was presented by the chairmen of the House’s Public Accounts and Local Government Authorities’ Accounts Committees, John Cheyo (UDP) and Wilbroad Slaa (CHADEMA) respectively.
President Kikwete’s actions in encouraging the exposure of corruption and setting up enquiries to find out the truth have received wide praise. Apart from accepting the resignation of three cabinet ministers and then dissolving the whole government over the BoT scandal (see below) the President has been taking other measures which have been publicised in the media.
He appointed Prof. Benno Ndulu as the new Governor of the BoT and also a new Board of Directors. At its first sitting the Board decided to reduce the powers of the Governor especially over the Bank’s Audit Committee. In future the committee would consist of independent members instead of BoT directors. It was also decided that the internal auditor should work independently, reporting directly to the committee as well as to the board. The new Governor quickly removed senior members of staff involved in the operation of the EPA pending a review of their roles. The EPA account was also frozen.
On Sunday 13 April six Maasai Warriors ran the Flora London Marathon to raise funds for a lean water supply for their community in Eluai Village, Monduli Juu. Nguru, Lengamai, Kesika and Ninna completed the race in 5 hours 24 minutes alongside Paul Martin of Greenforce. Isaya, their leader, became ill halfway through the race and was taken to hospital as a precaution accompanied by Taico. The next day, determined to complete the race, Isaya and Taico returned to where they had dropped out and ran the remaining 14 miles, crossing the finish line in a total running time of 4 hours 45 minutes. It was then announced that they had achieved the target of £60,000 and the figure is still growing. The Warriors were supported by various BTS members including Aseri Katanga, Abubakar Faraji and their children, John and Peter Leonhardt, Trevor Jaggar and Liz and Ron Fennell - see BTS Newsletter for more
“Sorry the headmaster interrupted me - which topic were we on ? The Sullivan Conference [to be held in June 08] or the World Cup ?” “The Richmond and EPA scandals, teacher” Cartoon by Kipanya www.kipanya.co.tz