Category Archives: Issue Number

THE CENSUS

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The Express reported on 24th August that the ‘National Population and Household Census’ which took place in August had had to be extended by a few days in order to give time for all returns to be completed.

Census officers faced a variety of unexpected problems. In Mbulu District the hunter-gatherer Hadzabe people requested the provision of bhang, illicit brew, monkey meat and cigarettes before they agreed to be counted. The local Council offered to provide zebra meat but the Hadzabe refused to accept this saying they were not used to it. Eventually the Council provided them with monkey meat also. About 100 Hadzabe thanked the Government for considering their request and said the gesture had succeeded in bringing them together to be counted. Their request for bhang and illicit brew was not acted upon. Clan leader Salbogo Dofu asked the Government to allocate them special areas in order to avoid interference with the regular livestock and farming activities which destroyed their natural food. The reserved area should contain the fruits, roots and animals that they normally ate. According to the 1988 census there were 1,000 Hadzabe in the area but the number had since been reduced to about 800. They lived mostly in caves and were found in Karatu, Mbulu, and Ngorongoro districts in Arusha Region.

Some Maasai people maintained that being counted was against their customs and ten Italian tourists in Zanzibar refused to be counted on grounds that they were foreigners and were just travelling in the country. It took the hotel management half an hour to persuade them to comply with the rules.

THE REASONS WHY

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Asked recently why Tanzania had been chosen to host a symposium on deepening democracy in Africa, UN Development Programme Resident Representative in Tanzania John Hendra was quoted in the Guardian as saying that it was chosen because of its low ranking, in terms of income per capita and the Human Development Index, and the number of achievements that Tanzania had made in moving forward in democratic governance. For example the transition to a multi-party system, the implementation of a number of government reforms, liberalisation of the media, efforts being made in the anti­corruption strategy and the home-grown and very important Muafaka in Zanzibar. The Representative went on to point out that urban poverty, particularly in Dar es Salaam, had declined from 28 % to 18% and that some of the indicators on primary education had been extremely positive. Primary enrolment had increased in the last few years more than it had in recent decades. He said that Tanzania was a model because of its sense of national ownership of its poverty alleviation policies.

Dar es Salaam has also been chosen by the IMF and the World Bank as the site of the first ever ‘Development Acceleration Regional Centre.’ This centre will be charged with the provision of locally­based technical assistance and training in the Fund’s core areas of expertise -macroeconomic policy, tax policy, revenue administration, public expenditure management, and building sound financial sectors -Sunday Observer.

THE NGO BILL

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A new Bill placed before Parliament has put local and foreign NGOs under state control. All NGO’s will be under a Council to be appointed by the Government. The Council will have the power to register and revoke NGO’s as well as to co-ordinate their activities. The Bill attracted much criticism especially from foreign aid donors. A US spokesman said his country believed in the right of NGO’s to operate in an environment free from overly burdensome registration requirements and regulatory oversight. The Head of the Africa section of the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) was quoted in Mtanzania as saying that to put civil organisations and NGO’s under restrictive legislation would have a negative impact on the country’s development. Sweden was working closely with NGO’s because it considered them to be part and parcel of its relationship with Tanzania. As the time for the Bill to be debated in Parliament approached, various NGO’s conducted what the Guardian described as ‘a spirited campaign’ against it. This involved dozens of lobbyists airing their concern that the Bill would be inconsistent with the rights to freedom of association.

DISTRICT COMMISSIONERS GRILLED

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Prime Minister Frederick Sumaye spent six hours ‘grilling’ district commissioners and council executive directors from 18 districts on November 26th They had allegedly failed to spend over 2bnl-for the development of primary education in their areas. The DCs and council directors carried bundles of papers in support of their cases. On November 15, Sumaye had described the DCs and directors as incompetent; he said the funds were lying idle in councils and primary school committee accounts while the shortage of classrooms still persisted in their areas. The amounts unused varied from Kahama (293.6m/-) to Morogoro (105.2m/-). Also on the list were the municipal councils of Kinondoni (l53.5m/-), Temeke (l49.0m/-) and Shinyanga (102m/-).

BUNYANHULU

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The Ombudsman’s Office for two World Bank agencies dismissed, at the end of October, the complaint by the Tanzanian Lawyers Environmental Action Team (LEAT), filed on behalf of the Small Scale Miners Committee of Kakola Village in Shinyanga, which had alleged that 52 miners were killed at Bulyanhulu Gold Mine in mid­1996. According to the ‘Assessment Report Summary’ on the complaint, dated October 21 and sent to the LEAT representative in Washington, and the ‘Office of the Compliance Advisory/Ombudsman’ (CAO) for the ‘Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency’ (MIGA) there was insufficient evidence to support the alleged deaths.

The report followed independent investigations by a Principal Specialist from the Ombudsman’s office. It noted that even though the CAO had no mandate to investigate allegations made against Tanzania, the events of 1996 took place before the World Bank Group had any interest in the mining operations and more than three years before MIGA offered a guarantee. However, as the allegations provided a risk to MIGA in its decision to offer a guarantee, the CAO was interested in examining the case. Referring to LEAT’s video evidence, the CAO said that it could not verify from the video, the location, date, timing or other details. The CAO found witnesses and other contemporaneous documentation that refuted the LEAT version of events.

On the issue of compensation paid to small scale miners at the time of the order to vacate the land in 1996, the CAO stated that this was a matter which fell within the government’s exclusive jurisdiction as at the time the mine was not a project of the World Bank Group.

The CAO had asked for a list of names of the 52 people alleged to be having been killed but neither LEAT nor the Small Scale Miners Committee had been able to supply such a list.

Amnesty International had recognized that the evidence for the deaths of 52 people relied on accounts supplied by people who were not present in the area at the time. Amnesty International never investigated the allegations itself and never went to the site or met with local people, eyewitnesses, the company or others. The LEAT President was later quoted in the Guardian as saying: “This report is completely biased. It favours MIGA. We shall tirelessly fight on. There are a lot of untrue and unjustified remarks in the report. It evades our submissions and evidence adduced. We have an uphill task to fight the giant Barrick Gold Company”.

AGRICULTURE and FORESTRY

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PRIVATISATION OF COFFEE RESEARCH, FORESTRY AND BEEKEEPING
The country’s only coffee research institute, Lyamungo Agricultural Research and Training Institute (LARTI) in Moshi, has been privatised and renamed ‘The Tanzania Coffee Research Institute’ (TACRI). Sources in Moshi quoted in the Guardian (October 19) said that, following the Government’s decision to relinquish direct running of the institute, a new management team under former Minister for Finance, Edwin Mtei, had started afresh with a new team of researchers. These had replaced some 60 existing staff who had been distributed around other research stations. But many stakeholders, including coffee growers, expressed concern that this might bring to naught all the good work done in more than 60 years of research at Lyamungu.

The 2,000 employees of the Forestry and Beekeping Division of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism have been told that their Division will be transformed into an Executive Agency in 2003. They immediately demanded that they be paid their terminal benefits before the change is made -Guardian.

NEW PLANT VARIETIES
The Protection of New Plant Varieties (Plant Breeders’ Rights) Bill of 2002 which has established a ‘Registrar of Plant Breeders Rights’ and is aimed at encouraging competition in research and seed production and hence, hopefully, more easily affordable seed, came under attack from several MP’s. One asked whether this Bill would not become an umbrella to defend the interests of international seed companies after the collapse of Tanzania’s parastatal TANSEED Company. Another MP said it was dangerous to depend totally on foreign seed companies. One MP asked the Government to act as a guarantor to researchers to enable them to access credit for their research from banks. Another complained that the Bill was not understandable.

PRESERVING AFRICAN BLACKWOOD
The Arusha Times (2nd November) reported that Tanzanian botanist Sebastian Chuwa had been chosen as an Associate Laureate in the Rolex Awards for Enterprise Competition for 2002. He is a member of the African Blackwood Conservation Project. The Rolex Awards for Enterprise recognise ground-breaking projects in the areas of Technology, Science, the Environment, Exploration and Cultural Heritage. Each associate laureate receives $35,000 and a steel and gold Rolex chronometer. Sebastian Chuwa won his award for his work on the preservation of the African Blackwood.

TRANSPORTING FERTILISER
The Guardian reported on October 30th that the government was facing a possible loss of Shs 40 billion during the next agricultural season if no solution could be found to the problem of transportation of tobacco fertiliser. Tobacco Board General Director Clemence Kilala was quoted as saying that the Tanzania Railways Corporation had too few wagons to transport some 3,500 tons of fertilisers due to be sent to Tabora, Rukwa, Shinyanga, Singida and Kigoma and had to be received by not later than the third week of November. Tobacco is the 4th biggest crop in the country and creates substantial employment opportunities.

NEW ROAD TO BAGAMOYO

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The Guardian (1st October) reported that with the completion of the 85km highway linking Bagamoyo to Dar es Salaam there had been a rush by speculators and other wealthy Dar es Salaam people to buy plots of land close to the road. Local farmers had sold most of their plots and picked instead more remote farming land in the interior. Bagamoyo has a population of 30,000 which is now likely to increase quite rapidly. Several historic buildings in Bagamoyo have been renovated with the help of a Shs 80 million grant from the Swedish Government. Included were the fort-like house where slaves from up-country were kept before being shipped overseas, the old Boma, now used as the District Commissioner’s office, the Customs House, the Old Post Office and the market. Bagamoyo served briefly as the first capital of the country during the early-years of German colonial rule until it shifted to Dar es Salaam in 1892.

A NEW CHIEF MUFTI

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Muslim agitation against what many believers consider to be government bias against Muslims has been relatively subdued in recent months as politically active believers concentrated on the election of a new Chief Mufti (Chief Sheikh) of Tanzania on October 13. Eventually, at a National Conference of the Muslim Council (BAKWATA), Sheikh Issa Shabaan Simba, who was Deputy Mufti, was elected Chief Mufti. Of the 150 ballots cast he got 71, defeating 11 rivals. The atmosphere was tense and the conference hall surrounded by security officials and riot police on the day of the election which was marred by accusations and counter accusations. There was an anonymous document alleging that Simba was not qualified because he had mismanaged BAKWATA funds. The election of the Mufti had been unsuccessfully challenged in the High Court by the Islamic Club, the Mosque Council (BAMITA) and the Muslim Associations who all said that he had no constitutional right to represent Muslims.

The Muslim activist Sheikh Ponda, Chairman of the ‘Committee of Imams’ and seven of his colleagues who were facing murder charges were released on 19th August according to Nipashe. The Director of Public Prosecutions dropped the charges. The Sheikh had been arrested a day after riots that took place in Dar es Salaam on February 13, 2002, leaving a civilian and a constable dead. Sheikh Ponda later stated that he was going to sue the Government for the pain he had suffered while in detention for more than six months. Seven Muslim organisations promised to support his case -Mwananchi

HARMONY
British High Commissioner Richard Clarke has commended the religious harmony that prevails among Muslim and Christian communities in both Britain and Tanzania. He was speaking after handing over a newly constructed laboratory, library and computer rooms donated by ‘Muslim Aid of the UK’ to the Twayibat Islamiya Secondary school in Temeke District. The school was described in the Guardian as a co-educational Muslim seminary. It was inaugurated in 1995 by former President Mwinyi as a Madrasa.

BUSINESS AND THE ECONOMY

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NEW SOFT LOAN
The East African (November 25) reported that Tanzania was to receive a $27 million soft loan from the IMF following the successful completion of the fifth review of its economic performance under the ‘Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility’ (PRGF). Such loans carry a concessional interest rate of 0.5% repayable over 10 years with a five-and-a-half year grace period on the principal payment. This will be another drawing from Tanzania’s three-year PRGF arrangement for a total soft loan of $169 million, approved by the IMF in April 2000. So far, Tanzania has drawn $l34 million under the arrangement.

SOUND ECONOMIC POLICIES
The statement quoted IMF Deputy Managing Director Shigemitsu Sugisaki as saying: “Tanzanian authorities are to be commended for their steady pursuit of sound economic policies which, notwithstanding serious capacity constraints and an often adverse external environment, has resulted in strong economic performance…. Economic activity remains buoyant, inflation is low, and international reserves are at a comfortable level owing to steady flows of foreign assistance and direct investments…. “Good progress has been made in the implementation of the ‘Poverty Reduction Strategy’”.

DEBT CANCELLATIONS
Norway has cancelled all Tanzania’s remaining debt amounting to Shs
7.4 billion; Italy (Shs 128 billion) and Belgium (Shs 21 billion) have done the same. These countries signed the Protocol of Amendment to agreements under the ‘Paris Club’ and ‘Heavily Indebted Poor Countries’ (HIPC) debt alleviation programme on November 22nd. The USA and Austria had cancelled their debts earlier.

AID DEPENDENCE
In a frank criticism of Tanzania’s aid dependence, Finnish Ambassador to Tanzania Jorma Paukku, interviewed in the Business Times (November 2nd) said that the main reasons for this dependence were the Government’s misguided policies – supported and funded by donor agencies – that were not supportive of sustainable economic growth and did not encourage private initiative and entrepreneurship. Asked what Tanzania was still doing wrong, the Ambassador said that the Government and especially the President were giving out many correct signals -‘work harder to get rid of the dependence; create a conducive environment for investment; improve education; decentralise; strengthen democratic decision-making at the local level.

But at the level of implementation, the role of the private sector was not well understood. Big, mainly foreign, investors received favourable treatment but Tanzania’s own private sector was not given opportunities. The government was still constraining and controlling production and marketing chains that should be left to the private sector (coffee, tea, cloves). It was not helping small farmers to cope with monopolistic buyers (cashew nuts, pyrethrum). The incentive system in general gave the wrong signal to investors, civil servants and users of services. Few investors outside mining and tourism were to be found because of perceived high risks. Result-oriented performance was not rewarded but participation in seminars and workshops was. A lack of transparency and deficiencies in accountability left room for corruption and unfair practices.

The Ambassador gave a long list of policies and practices which should be changed; more initiatives at the grass roots level; new systems for transparency and accountability; civil service reform; better understanding between the public and private sectors; creation of public-private partnerships; private sector participation in service provision (for example water supply and sanitation, waste management and recycling, energy, health and education); treatment of farms as private enterprises; and, reform of the legal sector because both the quality of legislation (for example the 1999 Land Act) and the time it takes to have court cases resolved left much to be desired.

STOCK EXCHANGE LIBERALISING
As part of ongoing financial sector reforms the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange is expected to allow foreign portfolio investment towards the end of 2002 -Guardian.

BIG INCREASE IN AID
Describing a new US ‘Millennium Challenge Account’, an American spokesman in Dar es Salaam said that, if fully implemented by the US Congress, this would represent one of the biggest increases in US foreign aid spending in half-a-century, with assistance rising about 32% in real terms.

NEW GOLD MINE
President Mkapa opened, on September 13, the new North Mara Gold Mine of the Afrika Mashariki Gold Mines Ltd. Four hundred people are being employed at the mine and Tanzania can expect to earn an extra $50 million per annum plus other taxes. The mine is expected to last for eight and a half years.

PRIVATISATION

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Of 326 state-owned firms privatized in Tanzania so far, 122 have been sold to local investors. The Parastatal Sector Reform Commission (PSRC) has announced that of those enterprises sold to foreign investors only 14 were 100% foreign owned. The rest were in joint ventures with local partners or the Government -Majira.

AIR TANZANIA
The Guardian reported on October 10 that the government had picked South African Airways (SAA) to buy 49% of the shares in a new jointly owned ‘Air Tanzania Company Ltd’ (ATCL). The deal was signed on December 2. SAA paid $10 million, largely for the airline’s flying rights (Air Tanzania had few assets) and agreed to inject a further $10 million into a capital and training account to finance the business plan it has proposed for turning round the ailing airline. The PSRC said in a statement: ‘SAA, as the strategic partner, intends to make Dar es Salaam its ‘East African Hub’ as part of its strategy to form a golden triangle between southern, eastern and western Africa’. SAA is to bring technical, commercial and managerial expertise and will also provide extensive training and skills transfer to local staff including retraining of pilots and air crews. SAA intends to replace the fleet with Boeing 737-800’s, 737-200’s and wide-bodied 767-300’s. It is planned to extend the route structure to the Middle East and West Africa and consideration is being given to introducing international routes to London and Bombay. 243 personnel out of the airline’s workforce of 493 would be retrenched to pave the way for this privatisation. In addition to the money to be realised from the sale of one of Air Tanzania’s planes, the Government is to release an additional Shs 4 billion to help to solve administrative problems.

Kenya airways, one of eight airlines which had shown an interest in buying ATC (six others dropped out earlier) finally pulled out because the proposed development of an alternative hub in Dar es Salaam would not be viable for Kenya Airways as it is only an hour away from Nairobi. Kenya Airways would have preferred the formation of a joint regional East African carrier. Kenya Airways Director for Legal affairs praised the PSRC for conducting the bidding in a transparent way, fair to all bidders.

TANZANIA HARBOURS AUTHORITY
The Director-General of the Tanzania Harbours Authority (THA) has complained to President Mkapa about the effects of the privatisation of the container terminal at the port of Dar es Salaam. Midst allegations of bribery, which have been made under several privatisations, the DG noted that the profits of the THA had fallen from Shillings 10 billion the year before divestment to only Shs 40 million for the fiscal year ending June 2002. The THA admitted however that waiting times in the port had been brought down from eleven days to just two days.

TANZANIA TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMPANY
An agreement was signed on 23 February 2001 between the Tanzania Telecommunications Company Ltd. (TTCL) and a Netherlands/German consortium –MSI/Detecon under which the latter would buy 35% of the shares. The consortium paid $60 million for its shareholding in February 2001 but has still not paid the remaining sum due of $60 million. TTCL workers began to allege in August 2002 that there had been serious financial irregularities. They were reported in the Guardian to have appealed to President Mkapa to remove Minister for Communication and Transport Prof. Mark Mwandosya and to terminate the contract.

In September the Tanzania Revenue Authority intervened in the case as it suspected that there had been tax default. Also in September, officers from the Prevention of Corruption Bureau (PCB) started looking into the finances of the company. The Company then employed Ambassador Paul Rupia and Mr Gideon Kaunda to ‘deal with a lot of misunderstandings in the press and in parliament about TTCL’. In October the government contracted a London-based international firm to handle the dispute after Messrs MSI/Detecon had served the government with notice of arbitration. At the end of October, 58 representatives of the workers in Arusha walked out while TTCL Chief Executive Officer Fred van der Voort tried to address them. On 31st October the workers said that they would stage a peaceful march on State House to see President Mkapa to complain about the alleged irregularities and the company’s failure to make the second payment. (Further details of this are given under TANZANIA IN THE INTERNATIONAL MEDIA below -Editor).

THE DAR ES SALAAM WATER AND SANITATION AUTHORITY (DAWASA)
According to The Express (September 24) DAWASA has been trying to enter into a ten-year lease contract with a private company for the provision of water supply and sewerage services. Pre-qualified bidders were said to include Biwater of the UK, Gauff of Germany, and, General des Eaux and Sauer International of France. But, according to the paper, the bidding process was being sabotaged by photographs circulating on the internet showing a crocodile and snakes purportedly taken from DAWASA water transmission pipes. DAWASA Director Boniphace Kasiga said that the photographs were not from the water utility nor taken along neither its transmission pipes from the Ruvu River, neither from the Lower nor the Upper Ruvu.

NATIONAL INSURANCE CORPORATION
The Deputy Minister of Finance said on October 4 that the Government had instituted plans to ensure that mistakes made during privatisation of certain firms did not resurface. He was explaining to workers at the National Insurance Corporation that they had no need to worry about the possible privatisation of the corporation ­Guardian.