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THE AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL SAGA

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The acquisition by Tanzania of a £28 million BAE ‘Watchman’ air traffic control system using a Barclays Bank low interest loan to pay for it, has caused a major stir, particularly in Britain where the issue has divided the cabinet.

BAE Systems approached the Ministry of Defence in Britain as early as 1997 because, as the equipment included a military element, an export license was required. Under the procedures, firms can be given the nod and told that although this is distinct from and does not replace the issuing of a formal license, it is only rarely that such approval is subsequently overturned. Only five orders have been overturned in 10 years. So, having been given the nod, BAE began to manufacture the equipment.

When the matter became public knowledge, a battery of objectors attacked the sale. Those opposing it apparently included British Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown and Secretary for International Development Clare Short, the World Bank and the IMF and many NGO’s devoted to Tanzania’s welfare including OXFAM. The project was considered too expensive and its military component was considered unnecessary. The project would wipe out two-thirds of the real savings Tanzania had gained from debt relief.

Clare Short, reportedly acting independently of other cabinet members, then froze £10 million of a £65 million British aid programme already allocated for budgetary aid this year. Another major aid donor, Denmark was considering doing the same after a heated debate in the Danish parliament. The leader of the ruling Liberal Party said: “We give them Shs 52 billion and they spend Shs 35 billion in buying military equipment which is of no use to the country” he said. In defence of the purchase the Tanzanian Government published a 10-page paper which said, inter alia, that the lack of modem radar denied the country the chance of increasing revenue from aircraft using Tanzania’s airspace; that the project would enable the country to reinforce its defence and safety; that buying two systems -one for civilian and one for military purposes -would be expensive; and, that nine other countries used the equipment (Thank you Roger carter for letting us have this statement ­Editor).

Defending the sale, President Mkapa was quoted as saying that there could be only two reasons for rethinking the matter. Either there was some element of corruption or the equipment was not worth the money. No one had given him one iota of evidence about corruption and no one had shown him that he was not getting value for money. “In the meantime” he said, “this contract has to be fulfilled. It is as simple as that. ”

As this issue goes to press the International Civil Aviation Organisation was said to be investigating whether the military control system was appropriate for Tanzania.

THE BUNYANHULU SAGA

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Another headache for President Mkapa, which has been going on for six years rumbles on. Since 1966 there have been various accusations that some 50 small scale miners were buried alive during the establishment of a major gold mine at Bunyanhulu in Shinyanga Region by the Canadian company, the Kahama Mining Corporation Ltd.

The government and the corporation have insisted for years that no one was killed but recently a prominent Tanzanian judge proposed that there should be a commission of enquiry and opposition leader Augustine Mrema claimed to have obtained video cassettes indicating that several miners had been killed. In March this year a group of Canadian, American, British and Netherlands NGO members under the Dar es Salaam Lawyer’s Environmental Action Team (LEAT) arrived in Tanzania to investigate the matter. The government promptly expelled them from the country saying that they had infringed visa regulations.

LEAT said that nothing short of a fully transparent, open, public and completely independent commission of inquiry, conducted by credible and respected international and national experts would suffice to resolve these troubling questions. On March 22 two specialists from the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) of the World Bank arrived in Tanzania and were allowed to go to Buyanhulu and meet villagers. Their report was awaited as this issue of TA went to press. It was then reported that one of the miners, said to have been killed, had appeared live and well and had accused some of his fellow miners of seeking ‘international financial sympathy’. The video, he said, showed body parts filmed during ordinary mining accidents which were frequent in small-scale mining. Amnesty International stated that the cassettes did not prove that the killings had taken place.

THE TANZANITE SAGA

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President Mkapa has set up a committee of enquiry to investigate allegations of money laundering for Al Qaeda at the Mererani Tanzanite mine near Arusha. The committee was formed after a meeting, attended by Energy and Minerals Minister Edgar Maokola-Majogo, in the USA to discuss the problem. The Minister is reported to have accused the South African firm African Gem Resources (AFGEM) which has been given a large mining concession at Mererani, of trying to sabotage its neighbouring small-scale miners, by inviting the Wall Street Journal to investigate the alleged link with Al Qaeda. (See TA No 71). Things then went wrong as the price of Tanzanite in its main market in America dropped some 50%. AFGEM protested its innocence. It said it had never invited a journalist from the Wall Street Journal to come and write on the alleged connection of the Tanzanite trade with al-Qaida. On 28 February the Minister was quoted as saying that AFGEM had given bad publicity to Tanzanite with the aim of sabotaging small-scale miners but the whole thing had boomeranged when AFGEM found it difficult to sell its gems. AFGEM said it had communicated with the journalist but with the intention of discouraging him from publishing his story.

In another attempt to deal with suspected Al Qaeda links the Bank of Tanzania was reported in the press to have frozen several accounts on suspicion that they were being used to fund terrorism. The East African reported (25th February) that an extensive investigation by US intelligence agencies did not find evidence of current Al Qaeda involvement in Tanzanian smuggling. Minister Mr Maokola Majogo has now introduced new measures including making Mererani a controlled area, regular inspection of licences, working towards a conducive tax regime, setting up export processing zones and the introduction of a cross sectional Tanzanite board.

OPPOSITION TO PRIVATISATION

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According to the Tanzanian Sunday Observer, the Trade Union Congress of Tanzania (TUCTA) has issued a three-month ultimatum to the government demanding an immediate halt to what it termed “unbearable practices” towards workers in the country before it stages a nationwide strike. The main issue was what were alleged to be expected redundancies if and/or when T ANESCO and the Tanzania Railways Corporation (TRC) are privatised.

TANESCO
As this issue of Tanzanian Affairs went to press, problems at the Tanzania Electric Supply Company (TANESCO) were multiplying. In an environment in which the rapidly growing South African involvement in the Tanzanian economy is being widely criticised, and workers have had difficulty in the past in obtaining redundancy terms when other parastatals have been privatised, a management agreement was signed in April with the South African firm ‘Net Group Solution Company’ to run TANESCO. It was understood that this would lead to its privatisation in two years time. While its 65,000 workers were to be retained, some ten executives were to be given other assignments.

But, according to Mtanzania, TANESCO workers then announced that they were not going to cooperate with the new management. They demanded special terminal benefits before the new management takes over, something which the government has firmly refused. Then there were reports in the press that workers were going to blow up electric installations. The union leaders said that these threats were personal opinions expressed at a meeting where no resolution was passed.

TANESCO then caused further consternation when it announced new tariffs which would increase the cost for domestic consumption by 300% while lowering the high costs for industry which have been discouraging investment. Related to this was the expensive Malaysian-financed generating plant (IPTL) which has been the subject of litigation for some three years -see earlier issues of Tanzanian Affairs. TANESCO had appealed against a court decision that it must pay IPTL a monthly capacity charge, from the beginning of the dispute, totalling Shs 174 billion. TANESCO had won this case but IPTL electricity was still more expensive than what TANESCO was paying for other supplies.

Then Mtanzania reported that 46 MPs had petitioned the government to be more transparent on the whole issue of TANESCO -the management contract, the rise in power bills, the issue of the employees and IPTL. It was alleged that there might have been corruption in the drawing up of the original agreement. Prime Minster Sumaye told the MPs to submit any evidence of corruption to the Prevention of Corruption Bureau for appropriate action.

The government then began to climb down. It agreed to meet the workers and on April 18 it relented on the power tariffs. Prime Minister Sumaye announced a cheaper rate for domestic consumption which would now be from 0 to 100 units instead of 0 to 50 as previously announced and also said, according to the Guardian, that TANESCO would remain a parastatal. In his broadcast speech Sumaye said 350,000 consumers would benefit from this revised tariff. He said the price hike was partly necessitated by the IPTL contract. Regarding the four South African management contractors, Sumaye said they would be answerable to the TANESCO Board of Directors. He said the firm was awarded the contract after a tender was floated, with the involvement of the Energy Ministry, the Attorney General, the PSRC, the T ANESCO Board and the World Bank. There were 11 bidders which were eventually short-listed to two ­from South Africa and Ireland. But this did not appear to appease several MP’s.

The next day President Mkapa announced that Minister for Energy and Minerals Edgar Maokolo-Majogo had changed jobs with Minister of State (Poverty alleviation) Daniel Yona and that Yona was the new Minister for Energy and Minerals. The President gave no reason for the change.

STOP PRESS: Mtanzania reported on April 22 that the Government had forwarded the IPTL agreement to the Anti­Corruption Bureau. The Dar es Salaam Express under the heading “Word ‘Kaburu’ must go” objected to TANESCO workers saying that the government was selling the country’s major means of production to South Africa. What made their comment a candidate for critical examination was the fact that they used the label ‘Kaburu’ to refer to the South Africans. ‘Kaburu’ was a Swahili word referring to any person who is racist and was used to refer to South Africans during apartheid..

AIR TANZANIA
Rai reported on April 18 that Air Tanzania Corporation (ATC) was ‘in a dire condition’ and had been asked to sell its 10 houses to help pay allowances for 94 staff members made redundant (out of a total staff of 500). ATC had been affected by the same recession as most other airlines in the world following the events of September 11 last year. Rai added that, as a long term solution, the government had decided to privatise the airline. The Guardian had reported on 1st April that the government had given ATC Shs 2.5 billion in sureties to prevent its collapse because of lack of cash to pay for insurance cover. Representatives of the airline were reported to have said that ATC’s poor performance should not be blamed on the management but on the government because it had given it such a limited fleet of planes and an inadequate capital base. Meanwhile the executive director of the privately owned successor to Alliance Air, said that his newly-launched airline ‘AfricaOne’ was ready to team up with ATC. At the end of March ‘AfricaOne’ had received the first of four planes it was acquiring but was unable to operate in Tanzania because it had not yet received permission to fly from the Civil Aviation Authority.

RAILWAY PRIVATISATION
38 MPs contributed to the debate in Parliament which passed a new Railways Bill in February designed to provide for the winding up of the Tanzania Railways Corporation (TRC). It is replaced by a new entity -‘Reli Assets Holding Company Ltd’. The government is not selling the TRC infrastructure but will lease out railway services to a private institution. The Tanzania Railway Workers Union has stated that it plans to take the government to court over this intended privatisation. Its Secretary General said that the government had contravened the Security of Employees Act of 1964 which provided for consultation with trade unions about any proposal to make redundant any employee.

IN DEFENCE OF PRIVATISATION
The Parastatal Sector Reform Commission (PSCR) has been coming under heavy fire for its privatisations but its Chairman, John Rubambe, has defended it in an interview published in the East African. Around the world he said, the Commission was regarded as efficient and effective. It had privatised 326 parastatals (taxpayers had been able to stop subsidising failure) out of 390 entities listed for divestiture. Tanzanians bought 100% of the 122 privatised firms, 14 were sold to foreign investors and 190 became joint ventures. The government had retained shares in 190 firms which would later be sold to countrymen through the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange. President Mkapa reminded CCM MP’s that privatisation was included in the party’s manifesto at the last elections.

MUSLIM MILITANCY ON THE INCREASE

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Following fighting between two rival Muslim factions at the Mwembechai mosque in Dar es Salaam on 14th February, riot police used tear gas canisters and live bullets to disperse groups of youths who were hurling stones at them in streets around the mosque. One policeman and one civilian were killed and 53 persons were arrested. Prime Frederick Sumaye had his car stoned. Many recent incidents are understood to be caused by power struggles between young radicals and older conservative elements to control the mosques. In Zanzibar a number of small explosions have been directed at bars and guest houses selling alcohol. The police banned a march planned for April 11 by a new, unregistered, splinter group, the ‘Islamic Union Institution’ which was aimed at freeing those arrested for the killing of the policeman.

Mwananchi reported that the High Court had warned Muslims against marching to demand release of leaders charged with murder. The Registrar of the High Court said that such demonstrations contravened section 107 A (1) of the constitution. He said a murder case was not bailable and so there should be no outside pressure.

In an attempt to restore calm the Mosques Council of Tanzania (BAMITA) has called on Muslims in each mosque to elect autonomous committees of believers, so as to reduce conflicts and invasion by non-believers. The Council underscored the importance of the office of Chief Kadh which was designed to assist in providing the government with Islamic legal advice as well as to protect the rights of people.

Meanwhile, President Karume has assented to a Bill allowing for the establishment of a Mufti’s office in Zanzibar. The duties of the Mufti will be to promote Islam and remove misunderstandings said to be existing in the Muslim community. He will have the power to impose fines or prison sentences on Muslims who go against his directives and also the power to issue permits and sanction religious seminars as well as keeping the records of the mosques.

BUSINESS AND THE ECONOMY

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Exchange Rates: £1 = Shs 1,400. US$1 = Shs 990

KEY ECONOMIC DATA
At a recent Britain-Tanzania Society Seminar on development Ronald Fennel provided some useful economic data as an introduction to his presentation:

‘The population of Tanzania has increased fourfold since independence 40 years ago. At 32 million it compares with Kenya’s 28 and Uganda’s 20 million.

Tanzania is endowed with a rich resource base, easy geographical access to international markets; it has a peaceful and politically stable environment and has been able to forge a cohesive national identity. And yet it is among the 10 poorest countries in the world. GNP per capita is $280, compared with Kenya $360, Sub Saharan Africa average of $500 and East Asia and Pacific $970.

Yet there are encouraging signs in macroeconomic performance particularly since Mkapa’s presidency has built on earlier gains. Inflation is down from 30 percent in 1996 to 5 percent last year. Foreign Exchange Reserves have grown from the equivalent of 6 weeks imports in 1998 to 20 weeks in 200 1. Tourism has grown from 1.8% of GDP in 1997 to 7.6% in 1999 worth just under $600 million. Exports stand at $937 million but the trade gap is large with imports at $1.57 billion -including donor funded imports ….. .

Social statistics are not so encouraging. Tanzania’s place on the UNDP Human Development Index has slipped from 127th in 1991 to 156th in 1999 out of 174 countries. Real income per head is only thirty percent higher than at Independence. 50% of the population live on less than $1 a day. Life expectancy at birth is 45, compared with 48 for Kenya and 69 for East Asia and the Pacific.

Tanzania has been the largest recipient of donor aid in sub Saharan Africa in absolute terms: $16.8 billion between 1970 and 1996. Starting with $38 million in 1970 it reached $1.2 billion in 1992, fell to $830 million in 1996 when ‘policy reform wavered’ and is back up to $1.1 billion this year. This amounted to almost $40 per capita in the 80s and 90s, well above the average’ for Sub Saharan Africa and above the ‘successful reformers’ Ghana and Uganda.

These inflows have to be set against the debt burden, the present value of which was $4.9 billion in 1999. As the IMF reported Tanzania has established a solid record of economic performance over the past several years, thereby enabling it to access substantial debt relief. Annual debt service has fallen from $303 million in 1989 to $116 million in 2001, i.e. about 12 percent of current exports.

In a general sense Tanzania’s popularity with the donor community over the years and its recent willingness to engage in economic policy reform has resulted in a favourable flow of aid. There continue to be concerns about the reality of self-reliance, but we all live in a ‘joined up world’ as some leaders of the industrial world continually assert.

Compared with these aid flows, the impact of increased foreign direct investment has been much less significant in financial terms, although it has brought with it entrepreneurial skill and some training that can double the benefits. Foreign direct Investment in 1999 was $183 million and $193 a year later. Yet this investment has been focussed on three main areas -mining, tourism and services/consumption such as breweries and telecommunications. Some investors fear the lack of institutional infrastructure in the legal and fiscal areas. Some Tanzanians on the other hand perceive the infusion of Gulf capital and South African investors as infringing on their sovereignty. Both recognise the need to improve physical infrastructure, an area where the government with donor help is likely to bear the principal responsibility to introduce a maintenance culture.

There is little doubt that many of the economic policy prescriptions adopted by Tanzania over the last two decades (and even before that) have been prompted by the fashions of donor development economists. Tanzania has benefited from intensive study by highly qualified economists of differing political persuasions . …… Ujamaa villages tried to change society too fast. The move to effective privatisation in the 90s was too slow …… ‘

COAL MINING
Development of a $600 million surface coal-mining operation in Ludewa district, Iringa region, close to the border with Malawi, is expected to commence at the end of 2003 following successful negotiations with investors. After commissioning in 2006 or 2007 it will have a production capacity of 1.5 million metric tons and is expected to generate 400 MW of electricity. It may also provide energy to a proposed iron ore project in the same district which will process vanadium and titanium concentrates for export and iron and steel products for local and international markets -East African.

NEW SHIPPING BILL
Government has stopped issuing licences to clearing and forwarding agents, pending new shipping legislation. The agencies will be allowed to work until 30 June, after which the work will be taken over by the National Shipping Corporation (NASACO). The attorney general’s chamber is now preparing a bill to be tabled before the parliament -Mwananchi. (The Shipping Bill when it was presented to Parliament in April came under heavy fire from MP’s and had to be substantially changed NASACO was heavily criticised The Bill was still being debated when this issue of Tanzanian Affairs went to press -Editor)

TANZANIA A FRENCH PRIORITY
France has added Tanzania to the list of 40 countries in its ‘priority zone’ in a strategy to gain more influence in East Africa. Tanzania will now be eligible for more grants than loans. As the first example of this there have been joint army operations in Tanzania financed by and participated in by French forces -East African.

SOUTH AFRICA
Philip Magani, a CCM MP, has said that it was a well-known fact that Britain and India were the leading trade partners of Tanzania, yet South Africa now ‘determined the country’s economy.’ He said this was probably due to most of the gold going to South Africa. At a meeting of the Parliamentary Finance and Economic Committee, the Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Finance said that the Tanzania shilling had been declining due to the recent decline of the South African rand by more than 40% -Mwananchi.

NEW HIGH COMMISSIONER

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Tanzania’s new High Commissioner in London is Mr Hassan Omari Kibelloh (54) who is presently Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Born in Tanga Region, Mr Kibelloh is a career diplomat who has worked as a Foreign Service Officer for several years. He was Ambassador to Sweden and, later, Director of Tourism in Tanzania. He took his Masters Degree in Social Sciences and also obtained two post­graduate diplomas in Sweden (Thank you Hildebrand Shayo for obtaining this information for us ~Editor).

THE QUEEN MOTHER

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In sending his condolences to the Queen on the death of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, President Mkapa described her as “a symbol of love and inspiration to many people throughout the world.” Former President Mwinyi and Deputy Foreign Affairs Minster Abdul Shareef represented Tanzania at the funeral of the late Queen.

LETTER FROM ZANZIBAR

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Bank Holiday Weekend, Idd el Fitr.
lOam. I’m sitting on this balcony with a wrought-iron railing, nicely symmetrical and painted green. The floors are dark planks of wood and I feel it could be Cuba although I’ve never been there. Perhaps it is something about the mugginess in the air, the tropical heat. The goat-skin chairs give the game away: skinned branches curled to make an uncomfortable frame on which the skin of a goat lies stretched in two parts, the seat and the backrest. I am sure it took a long time to make. It is certainly handmade. Yet it cannot escape being a particular kind of tourist African kitsch.

In Zanzibar, the buildings carry the exotic elegance of old age and times past. The church opposite my Cuban balcony has lost its magnolia starting colours, now dominated by a sooty grey­blackness. It does not look dirty though, more experienced. Below the church, between it and my balcony, lies the old slave market. Now it is a quiet place, like a London suburb before the kids come back from school. It is still, calm, with a young tree gently swaying in the centre of a roundabout. The roundabout is large, and dominates whatever went on there before.

4pm. It was time for lunch. Paying a visit to the families we once stayed with on our respective study periods here, Linda and I started in Michenzani. We climbed to the first floor of the high grey block of flats that are something out of the Mao era. There we met Linda and family. The Honourable CCM MP Remedius Kissassi of Dimani Constituency was immediately obvious as a man of political power and stature. Stockily built, he had that magnanimous yet steely aura of a man used to social occasions and the proper reception of guests. The Hon. Kissassi keeps a humble home for his wife, but an active hand in island entrepreneurship. He is looking for investment in a number of tourist ventures here for someone with the capital and incentive. After eating we moved to the tin-roofed entanglement of Mwembetanga, to see Ibrahim, one of the family I stayed with in 1997, and the original conspiracy theorist. To Ibrahim, the Americans remain the bullies of the world, and the English the tricksters. The French he respects for at least resisting the States, while the Germans remain a silent entity who keep menacingly quiet after the scar they have left on the world. His life-long respect of sorts for the English is tempered by their weak leadership, which hangs on the arm and every word of the arrogant Americans. He says he smells in the air the scent of a third world war, because of that article in NATO that brings all members into battle. I say I think he is being a little pessimistic. He raises his eyebrows. He is concerned the Americans may try and bomb more sand, dust and poverty in Somalia. Ibrahim sees both America and bin Laden/AI Qaeda with one eye: as terrorists, and supports neither, if indeed bin Laden can be shown to be guilty. He says he supports no man or group that kills or injures innocent people. His support lies with the cause of social justice and representation. As a man once made to stand up to his neck in a room full of shit with only the flies for company, as part of a seven year sentence for his political associations, it is not hard to understand his fascination for power, politics and human rights.

So we put the world to rights and agreed to a celebratory lunch tomorrow for the second day of Idd el Fitr; the feasting after the fasting of Ramadan. A relaxed feeling grew with Ibrahim’ s generous manner of warm speech and open interest in people, and really settled upon us as we returned in the warm afternoon sunlight to the St Monica hostel for coffee on the balcony.

Ibrahim’s view of international politics was to some degree paralleled in an alleyway on our route home. Three wizened old men in long white kanzu said they did not take sides in this war on terror. They were just waiting for some evidence as to who had actually done what before they made judgement Another man, this time a Christian with a straw hat, sipping coca-cola, was fatalistic. We don’t have a part in what goes on abroad, it is nothing to do with us, he said, but we do believe in peace here. Back on the balcony, the church had become home to a practicing choir, and the dulcet tones of well-known Christmas carols took us downstairs and past the roundabout and into the church to hear the harmonies. Their soulful rendition of Silent Night with bases, tenors and sopranos perfectly pitched made me feel for once a long lost childhood spirit of Christmas. As the afternoon wears into evening and the call to prayer resumes, the mellow feeling will no doubt continue, but accompanied with a more exotic feel.

6.38pm. Dusk falls, and the muezzin (prayer callers) have begun, simultaneously with the revving of engines, and an alarm call to bring all men to the mosques for the dusk prayers of Idd el Fitr. At least three mosques near the balcony compete for maximum sonic vibration while the choir sings valiantly on. Their harmonies return to the ear in the gap between the call itself and the beginning of prayers, then are drowned again.

Zanzibar picks up at dusk, the place is cool enough for people to walk around again and visit friends and relatives; the deadening heat kept at bay until the morning. Celebrations for Idd should have begun now, but an outbreak of Cholera that is only just dying down, has meant the colourful candlelit stalls at Foradhani and Mnazi Mmoja have been called off.

With dusk, the birds and bats add their flying performances to an increasingly social fray, but unfortunately do not eat the mosquitoes whose sudden presence mean moving off the Cuban balcony to somewhere with a stronger sea breeze.
Paul Harrison

TANZANIA IN THE INTERNATIONAL MEDIA

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Few issues concerning Tanzania in recent years have received as much publicity in Britain as the air traffic control saga following massive coverage on the front page of the London GUARDIAN for three successive days (December 18-20). The banner headlines read: JUST WHAT THEY NEED ~ A £28 MILLION AIR DEFENCE SYSTEM; CABINET RIFT OVER SUPPORT FOR BAE SALE TO ONE OF WORLD’S POOREST COUNTRIES; RIFT OVER AGREEMENT WITH TANZANIA; SHORT LOSES IN AID ROW: £28 MILLION MILITARY DEAL TO GO AHEAD;

The London TIMES (March 29) said that last year Clare Short infuriated Cabinet colleagues by taking a high-profile stand against the decision to grant an export licence for an air-traffic control system being sold to Tanzania. Now, in what was seen as an open act of rebellion against her Cabinet colleagues, Ms Short had suspended a £10 million aid package to the country because of the sale. But the article went on to say that the international development secretary was generally regarded as ‘unsackable’, with one minister describing her as a ‘loose cannon that does not sink’.

The GARDIAN (March 20) said that Clare Short saw the issue as a cornerstone of her policy to persuade poverty-stricken and debt-ridden countries to stop wasting their cash on expensive toys so they could spend more on health, education and clean water. She saw her decision to block the project as essential but it had now emerged, following questioning by Norman Lamb, a Liberal Democrat MP, that when the deal came to the Cabinet committee it had already gone ahead. Most of the equipment had been built at BAE systems and £11 million had been paid as early as September 2000. The article linked the Barclays Bank loan at the low interest rate of 4.9 per cent with the decision of Tanzania on October 10 2000 to grant Barclays a lucrative banking licence to operate in Tanzania. The result had been a huge row at the Cabinet committee meeting with Ms Short demanding that the export licence be refused and the Ministers of Trade and Defence saying it should not. Ms Short was pressing the World Bank to tell Tanzania it was not going to get more help if it persisted with the scheme. The GUARDIAN reported that Ms Short’s action was causing consternation and embarrassment among some of her less independently minded Cabinet colleagues.

A letter in THE LANCET (5th January) quoted OXFAM as saying that the system would cost one quarter of Tanzania’s health budget. The funds could provide basic health care for 2 million people and pay school fees for 3.5 million children. The writer said that Prime Minister Tony Blair should be ashamed to have added to the burdens of Tanzania.

According to the EAST AFRICAN, the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) was due in Tanzania early in April to review the BEA System. DfID and the World Bank believed that a civil aviation type of air-traffic control system could have been procured for around $10 million. The cost of the system would be about half the country’s annual debt relief. The European Investment Bank was said to have been prepared to give Tanzania a cheaper loan but only for a different type of air traffic control system. Tanzania’s Foreign Minister Jakaya Kikwete was quoted as saying that it was insulting to be told that they had to wait for the World Bank to prescribe what was best for Tanzania.

The SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST (21st December) quoted the MP for the Isle of Wight stating that the system had already been built, Prime Minister Tony Blair saying that he would not oppose the deal and President Mkapa as saying that the new radar was needed to replace obsolete technology and that he could not leave air safety “in the hands of God”. (Thank you Ran Blanche for sending this item from Hong Kong ­Editor)

On 23rd March the London GUARDIAN came back again to the issue under the headline ISLANDERS PUT JOBS AHEAD OF SCRUPLES: The Tanzania deal posed an ethical dilemma on the Isle of Wight. The article explained that the factory in which the control system was made was in Cowes in the Isle of Wight. What did the workers at the factory think about the controversy? Most were reluctant to give their views and none wished to be named. Peter, who seemed to a represent the majority, said there were qualms about selling defence equipment to Third World countries but someone would always sell it to them. Another, David, a committed Christian and supporter of the Jubilee 2000 Debt Relief Campaign, said he almost quit his job. “I wanted to distance myself from gaining at the expense of one of the poorest countries”. He had written to the Prime Minister and to Clare Short demanding that the export licence be withheld. His faith and politics led to sleepless nights as he wrestled with his conscience.

THE TIMES reported that Ahmed Brahim (57), the alleged financial brains behind her Osama bin Laden’s terrorist network in Spain was arrested on 14th April. He has been linked to the financing of the car bomb attacks on the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in August 1998.

An article by James Meek headed “How aid took Tanzania to the classroom” in the London GUARDIAN (March 22) described how British and other foreign aid is being put directly into Tanzania’s central government budget, the only condition being that the budget goes towards reducing poverty. Extracts from the article (which explained the effect of aid on one primary school): ‘Once, Britain would have insisted that a Union flag waved over every pound it spent on aid. Now the cash is pooled with money from nine other European countries and the Tanzanian’s own revenue, losing its British identity….. The old way, grants to specific projects determined by donors made Tanzanians and their government passive, dependent, aid junkies -but it was easy to keep track of how the money was being spent. …The passionate belief of Clare Short is that when a poor country has followed the advice of rich countries by becoming more democratic and liberalising its economy -as Tanzania has done -its government and people deserve to be trusted with the responsibility of distributing aid by themselves …. .In the 1960s, foreigners in short-sleeved shirts came talking of “progress”; in the 1990’s they came in suits and ties talking of “reform”. Now aid givers and Tanzanians talk of many small changes -more modest, more cautious and more real.’

The EAST AFRICAN (March 25) reported that the 51-year-old Muhimbili hospital would soon undergo a $23 million rehabilitation programme being financed with help from the African Development Bank, the OPEC Fund for Development and BADEA. The rehabilitation would include expansion and construction of a new mortuary, new operating theatres, a new incinerator and remodelling of the in-patient wards to accommodate more patients in a clean environment.

THE TIMES (4th January) wrote that a woman who was brought up with a herd of wild elephants was the new face of BBC natural history programmes. Sarah Douglas-Hamilton had been chosen to succeed David Attenborough as the nation’s foremost wildlife presenter. She was born in Tanzania and her first encounter with elephants came when she was just six weeks old. (Thank you Christine Lawrence for sending this item ­Editor).

The LAW ADVOCATE reported in its winter 2002 issue that residents in Dar es Salaam were threatening court action against a cement company that was alleged to be releasing dangerous quantities of cement dust and sulphur dioxide. Residents living near the factory were said to be suffering from respiratory disorders and burning eyes. US E-Law Advocates in the Lawyer’s Environmental Action Team (LEAT) were representing over 5000 affected residents. (Thank you Corletta Johnson for sending this item -Editor)

‘There are plenty of coffee choices in the stores these days but starting today there’s another blend on the shelves. It tastes just as good as the others but it has a very different story’. So began an article in the Jacksonville (Florida) TIMES-UNION featuring “Sweet Unity Farms Coffee” which comes in 12-ounce bags, sells for about $4 and is from Tanzania. The article continued: ‘The new coffee is being brought to the United States by David Robinson (son of the sports great Jackie Robinson) who has lived in Tanzania for 20 years and has formed a farming co­operative which allows small farmers to combine their harvest and manufacture a product that is bringing electricity to their homes and money to their pockets. Starting with 48 farms in 1994 some 350 farms are now participating’. (Thank you Elsbeth Court for this item -Editor)

A new Imax film entitled “Kilimanjaro: To the Roof of Africa” is now showing in selected North American cities. The enormous screen on which it is projected measures some 15 metres in height and 21 metres in width and creates an overwhelming visual experience wrote the EAST AFRICAN (March 25). Audiences are made to feel they are actually ascending the mountain along with a six-member climbing team (including two Tanzanians). The DALLAS MORNING NEWS had described the film as “sublimely photographed, it’s almost a religious experience”.