MISCELLANY

MRAMBA COMMISSION
Proposals to reduce the size of the Government from the
present 20 ministries to 15 ministries would save the government TShs 10,788,793,660 per year according to the report of the Mramba Presidential Commission set up to look into ways of reducing government expenditure. The Mramba Commission also said that ‘the continued economic crisis and the poor state of government finances are the result of the failure by parliament to ensure better performance by the government’ – Business Times.

STREET RENAMED 1N SPITE OF OBJECTION
The Dar es Salaam City Council has gone ahead with renaming Pugu Road as Julius K Nyerere Road and has erected a signpost there in spite of having received a letter from Mwalimu Nyerere asking it not to do so. The Mayor of the city was quoted in the ‘Family Mirror’ as saying that he had no right to rescind the Council’s decision.

WANTED – JUDGES FOR THE HIGH COURT
Upset by news that the government had disqualified a judge in a sensitive case because he was a human rights activist, the Dar es Salaam Express’s satirist ‘Squint Eye’ (July 28) drew up a job description for the post of judge in Tanzania:

Qualifications: At least 10 years experience in defending the government against its own laws and the constitution; a tendency to administer harsh sentences for any infringement against the state would be an advantage;

Duties: To preside over all cases against the state and produce verdicts which.. ..convince the ignorant populace that the interests of justice have been served; (verdicts should be issued) only after ensuring that the case has lasted so long that all public interest has died….

Remuneration: An attractive salary, a luxury villa belonging to a member of government, 24 hour security and protection against discontented litigants …. an attractive bonus for any judgement in favour of the state…

RED LOCUST THREAT
Tabora, Singida, Kigoma and Rukwa are under threat from red locusts, the Deputy Minister of Agriculture has stated. With the help of a donation of $193,000 from FAO the government has ordered chemicals, aviation fuel and spare parts for a sprayer plane which had been grounded previously for lack of insurance and the need for repairs – Daily News.

WOMEN BEATEN TO DEATH
Twelve women had been beaten to death by their husbands between 1991 and 1993 the Home Affairs Minister Augustine Mrema said at a conference on the Position of Women in Multiparty Democracy at the University of Dar es Salaam recently. There would be no democracy until women were accorded respect and fair treatment he said. He went on to state that 5,260 women had been beaten and harassed since 1991 with the heaviest incidence in Mbeya region. In 1993 1,954 women had been raped, the highest rate being in Dar es Salaam – Daily News.

TROOPS PRAISED
The Chairman of the Interim Government of Liberia, Mr David Kpormakpor, has appealed to Tanzania not to withdraw its soldiers from the peacekeeping mission in the country as they are doing a good job. The, same views were expressed by NPFL leader Charles Taylor who said that the Tanzanian troops were displaying ‘the best performance and were maintaining their neutrality’.
Visiting Tanzanian Defence Minister Abdulrahman Kinana commended the troops for the positive image they were building in Liberia – Daily News.

ELEPHANTS ON THE RAMPAGE
More than 700 elephants from Kenya entered Rombo District in Kilimanjaro Region and destroyed hundreds of acres of cash and food crops during July. The elephants, in groups of from 20 to 50 entered Rombo at night and walked back in the early hours leaving behind an orgy of crop destruction. On June 24th 17 elephants had been shot dead by Game Wardens in a four-hour operation. The District Commissioner has appealed to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to take the matter up with their counterparts in Kenya – Daily News.

ENVIRONMENT BILL

The Government is expected to introduce shortly a new Bill to Parliament – The Environment Protection Bill 1994. It will probably have 180 sections according to Robert Rweyemamu writing in the Business Times (June 10). It is expected to cover industrial pollution, conservation of endangered species, hazardous waste, genetically modified organisms and the setting up of an Environment Protection Court. A section of the Bill deals with definitions. ‘Litter’ is defined as ‘rubbish, refuse, junk, filth, garbage, scrap or other articles or material abandoned or unwanted by the owner or possessor thereof’.

CROPPING CROCODILES

Plans are under way to reduce the population of crocodiles in Tanzania by some 12,000 within three years the Minister of Tourism, Natural Resources and Environment Mr Juma Omar has announced. But approval would first have to be obtained from the crocodile specialist group (WCU) within the international organisation concerned with wildlife conservation – CITES. If permission could be obtained it was hoped to harvest some 5,000 crocodiles in 1995 – Daily News.

TWIN-OTTERS

The Air Tanzania Corporation (ATC) has sold its three Twin- Otter planes and does not intend to buy any others because, according to Deputy Minister for Works, Transport and Communications Hemed Kombo, they are expensive to operate. From 1989 to 1993 the ATC had operated a fleet of nine planes but the number had dwindled for technical and operational reasons – Daily News.

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