Category Archives: Issue Number

THE NEW GOVERNMENT

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When a new Prime Minister is selected by the President the nomination has to be approved by Parliament. President Mwinyi chose Mr Cleopa Msuya, who has held the post before, as the new Prime Minister. He received 165 votes but 43 MP’s voted against him.

President Mwinyi also decided to change the Secretary General of the ruling CCM party. Mr Lawrence Gama (formerly Regional Commissioner, Tabora) was elected to the post by the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party by 132 votes to 21.

There then followed three days of speculation about the composition of the new cabinet before the President announced that there would be four new ministers, three new deputy ministers and a number of other changes. Two ministers left the government. Although the former Prime Minister became a Minister Without Portfolio and the Minister of Finance was moved, many observers were surprised that more radical changes had not been made. The opportunity was also lost of reducing the size of the cabinet in the interest of economy.

The new ministers are:

Home Affairs: Ernest Nyanda (formerly Mwanza Regional Commissioner). This was one of the biggest surprises in the reshuffle. The previous minister, Augustine Mrema, had achieved great popularity in his vigorous attempts to root out corruption, correct injustice and defend women’s rights. In doing so he had a number of brushes with the judiciary and presumably made some enemies. Another factor in this change might be the seriousness of unemployment which will be in Mr Mrema’s portfolio in future.

Agriculture: Frederick Sumaye (former Deputy Minister)
Health: Zakia Meghji (former Deputy Minister)
Information and Broadcasting: Philip Marmo (MP for Mbulu)

Other new appointments are as follows:
President’s Office. Ministers of State:
Ahmed Hassan Diria (former Minister of Labour and Youth Development)
Fatma Saidi Ali (responsible for the Civil Service )
Horace Kolimba (Planning). He was formerly Secretary General of the CCM Party
Abdulrahman Kinana (Defence and National Service)

Ministers Without Portfolio: John Malecela (former Prime Minister)
Kingunge Ngombale-Mwiru

Finance: Lt. Col. Jakaya Kikwete (former Minister of Water, Energy and Minerals). See page 27 of this issue.
Industries and Trade: Kighoma Malima (former Finance Minister). This was another surprise in view of the similarity of the duties of this post to those of the
finance portfolio from which Prof. Malima had been removed
Water,Energy and Minerals: Jackson Makwetta
Labour and Youth Development: Augustine Mrema

Nine ministers who retained their portfolios were:

Works, Communications and Transport: Nalaila Kiula
Tourism, Natural Resources and Environment: Juma Umar
Education and Culture: Philemon Sarungi
Science, Technology and Higher Education: Benjamin Mkapa
Lands, Housing and Urban Development: Edward Lowassa
Community Development, Women and Children: Anna Makinda
Foreign Affairs and International Relations: J. Rwegasira
Justice and Constitutional Affairs: Samuel Sitta
Minister of State, Second Vice-President’s Office: Mohammed Said Khatib

DAILY NEWS – CCM CELEBRATES HUGE CIVIC POLLS VICTORY

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In spite of the financial scandal, the ruling CCM party won an overwhelming victory in local elections in November. This bodes well for its chances in the presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled for October 1995. Of the 2,418 council wards the CCM took 1,191 unopposed and more than 80% of the others where opposition candidates stood. However, the Electoral Commission had had serious difficulties in registering electors and only about 10% of eligible voters were eventually registered to vote. There was widespread apathy amongst voters, especially in the cities. It has not been possible to obtain all the results but figures from the following regions and districts indicate the massive scale of the CCM victory.

SOME REGIONAL RESULTS:

DAR ES SALAAM
Eleven opposition parties took part in the elections. To the surprise of many observers all seats were won by the CCM. In the case of incumbent Mayor Kitwana Kondo the opposition parties agreed that UDF’s candidate (Abbas Mtemvu, son of Zuberi Mtemvu who was an active anti-TANU politician during the independence struggle) would be the only person to stand against him. However, the CCM steamroller ensured that Mr Kondo would be successful. He got 915 votes to Mr Mtemvu’s 558. Mr Mtemvu subsequently took this issue to court. A verdict is awaited.

IRINGA – NCCR-Mageuzi 1, CCM 13
KIGOMA – CHADEMA 9, CCM 63
ARUSHA – CHADEMA 2, CCM 175
TABORA – Opposition Nil, CCM 132
MTWARA – TADEA 1, CCM 99
KAGERA – CHADEMA 3, NCCR-Mageuzi 3, CCM the rest
KILIMANJARO – CHADEMA 2, CCM 111

A SELECTION OF DISTRICT RESULTS:
UKEREWE – CHADEMA 1, CCM 23
KIBONDO – CHADEMA 3, CCM 10
GEITA – CUF 1, UMD 1, CCM 23
SHINYANGA- UDP 12, CUF 3, CCM 93
MWANZA – UDP 1, CCM 17
MBEYA – CHADEMA 2, CCM 17
MBULU – CHADEMA 1, CCM 8
BUKOBA – CHADEMA 2, NCCR-Mageuzi 2, CCM 36
BARIADI – UMD won 80% of the seats

The CCM won every seat in the DODOMA, LINDI, MWANGA, NGORONGORO, CHUNYA, BIHARAMULO, NGARA, KILOSA, MUFINDI, MULEBA, MTWARA and NJOMBE districts.

Observers believe that the reasons for the CCM victory include the lack of information in remote areas about the essence of multi-party politics and the opposition’s lack of funds. Several donor agencies are funding an electoral education programme which is just beginning. Also, Radio Tanzania, the main source of news, has done little to let people know about opposition activities. There is a widespread feeling that election of opposition parties could lead to chaos in the country and danger to peace and harmony. The CCM is often regarded as the only party with integrity.

The behaviour of the opposition parties has not helped their cause. They are divided against each other and within themselves. There are too many of them – 13 are registered – and efforts to unite as one party – UDETA – have made little progress.

The parties themselves keep falling asunder. The most powerful opposition party in Zanzibar, the CUF, has a major leadership problem. The mainland Chairman has split from the Isles’ Vice-chairman. The latter, Seif Shariff Hamad, has taken over as acting chairman of the party. The UMD is also suffering from quarrels between its leader Chief Fundikira and Christopher Kassanga Tumbo, the Secretary General.

TABORA BY-ELECTION RESULT
More good news for the CCM came when the result of the Tabora parliamentary by-election, held on August 28th, was announced:

CCM (Chama Cha Mapinduzi) 21,736
NLD (National League for Democracy) 2,693
UPDP (United People’s Development Party) 650
NRA (National Reconstruction Alliance) 446
TPP (Tanganyika People’s Party) 323

The CCM obtained 83.13% of the 28,718 votes cast but some 16,598 of the 45,316 people who had registered to vote did not turn up at the polling stations. This result broke the trend of increasing support for opposition parties which had been evident in the first four multi-party by-elections (Bulletin No. 49). A probable explanation lies in the absence from this by-election of the three parties which had received significant support at previous by-elections – CHADEMA, the CUF and NCCR-Mageuzi. The parties were protesting at what they claimed was lack of fairness.

CCM OFFERS SEATS TO THE OPPOSITION
So confident is CCM of winning next year’s elections that President Mwinyi has announced that the next CCM government will give opposition parties able to garner at least 5% of the votes 20% of the seats in Parliament.

ZANZIBAR LEADERS SPEAK
The September issue of ‘Kumekucha’, the publication of DANTAN, the Denmark-Tanzania Society, was devoted almost entirely to Zanzibar and, unusually, was written in English and mostly by one writer, Dan Suther.

Zanzibar President Dr. Salmin Amour was interviewed about the economy. Despite its meagre resources, most of the East- West trunk roads in Unguja and some of the roads in Pemba had been repaired he said. The Northern road was almost 75% completed and the Southern road 60% complete. Speaking about future economic prospects Dr. Amour said that he saw Zanzibar as a supplier of services for rather than a competitor of its neighbouring countries. There would be more trans-shipment of goods from outside destined for East and Central Africa.

On politics Dr. Amour said that the Civic United Front (CUF) represented very strong competition for the CCM. “One of the most confident organisations I have ever come across – they are over-confident” he said. “They claim that we don’t give them media coverage. But the CUF do not want the cooperation of the media. They have quarrelled with newsmen for not attending their meetings. The media is made available to parties during elections but as soon as elections are over the news media become the property of the state, of the government ….. to use as it sees fit”.

Subsequently, in a meeting with British High Commissioner Roger Westbrook, Dr. Amour said that foreign election observers would be welcome during the 1995 elections in the Isles.

The CUF’s Vice-Chairman was also asked about the political situation in the Isles. Seif Shariff Hamad said that should elections be held now CUF would get all 21 seats in Pemba and at least 14 out of 29 in Unguja. But on the mainland none of the opposition parties were strong. CUF would probably get a few seats around Tanga, Mtwara, Lindi, Shinyanga and Tabora but the CCM would win overwhelmingly.

Mr Hamad went on to say that the Union was in a mess today. Tanganyikans were complaining; Zanzibaris were complaining; the only person defending the Union was Nyerere. “We have to have major surgery on the Union” he said. As for the media he said that CUF allowed them to come to their early meetings but got so little subsequent coverage that they were told not to bother to come in future.

CHADEMA and NCCR-Mageuzi have made it clear that they are in favour of a government for Tanganyika.

MAGICAL POWERS?
Commenting on a recent meeting between Mwalimu Nyerere and Seif Sharif Hamad (the topics discussed have not been revealed) the Business Times’ satirist Joe Dotto claimed that quite a few ‘Honourables’ in Tanzania (he was referring particularly to the CCM leadership in Zanzibar) placed a great deal of importance on symbols such as flags, songs, dances and, even walking sticks. Some even believed that Nyerere had magical powers that derived from the Maasai stick he always carried around with him. ‘They are terribly scared of the man’ he wrote.

THE VICE-PRESIDENCY
The issue of the future status and method of election of the Vice-President of the United Republic has been a bone of contention ever since Tanzania opted for multi-party politics. The matter came to a head at the November meeting of Parliament in Dodoma after the cabinets of the Union and Zanzibar had met to resolve the problem. First, the Speaker of the House said that such a meeting had been unconstitutional – the matter should have been discussed by the Constitutional and Legal Affairs Committee of Parliament. The CCM had originally decided that the Vice-President would be a running mate of and be chosen by the President of the Union. Zanzibar objected that this could mean that both posts could be filled from the mainland and wanted the present system under which the President and Vice-President must come from different parts of the Union to continue. It was then pointed out that a situation could arise where the President and Vice- President might belong to different parties which would not be practicable. The matter was awaiting resolution as this issue of Tanzanian Affairs went to press – Daily News.

CHIEF JUSTICE ON MULTIPARTYISM AND THE LAW

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In a wide-ranging and revealing speech on October 5 1994 at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), in subsequent questions and in discussion with ‘Tanzanian Affairs’, Chief Justice Francis Lucas Nyalali spoke about the substantial changes which have taken place since independence in the functions and power of the judiciary in Tanzania. There follows a summary of what he said.

For almost thirty years Tanzania, under the inspiration of what came to be widely known as the Arusha Declaration, assumed the form of a one-party state with the aspiration of establishing a society based on African socialism. Partly as a result of the collapse of the Soviet Union and partly because of peculiar circumstances within Tanzania, this one party state came to an end in mid-1992. Early in 1991 a Presidential Commission of Inquiry had been appointed by President Mwinyi, to determine whether Tanzania should transform itself from a one-party state into a multi-party state. I had the privilege and honour of being appointed to head that Commission.

Although the Commission found that 80% of the people of Tanzania did not want to make the change, the Commission’s recommendations were in favour. The bulk of the recommendations were accepted by the relevant authorities and subsequently attracted popular support. Obviously, the transformation of a one-party state into a multi-party democratic state necessarily entails corresponding reforms of the law to reflect and underpin the new democratic order.

THE DOMINANCE OF PARTY IDEOLOGY IN THE SIXTIES AND SEVENTIES
Under the one-party state, law reflected that reality and judges were expected to respect the law in harmony with political party ideology and party directives. Under that system, the crucial bonds which hold people together within the nation state were neither the law of the land nor the government of the country, but the party ideology and the party organization. It was for that reason that:
– the ruling party ideology and party constitution was taught in Tanzanian schools, and the party was organised at all levels and in all sectors of the society, from the national level down to the cell level consisting of ten households;
– civics and the country’s constitution ceased to be taught in Tanzanian schools by the end of the 1960’s;
– it was possible to move the majority of the rural population into about 800 new Ujamaa villages without enacting or using any law to legalise such a far reaching programme;
– it was possible to nationalize a wide range of commercial private enterprises by skeleton legislation, which disapplied the time-tested Companies Ordinance, without providing for alternative legal norms to regulate the activities of the nationalised firms; – the government was managed by a politicized civil service which increasingly became ignorant of administrative law and practice ;
– public offices ceased to keep proper records of statutes or Acts of Parliament; – court libraries ceased to be supplied with new law books; and,
– the programme of codification of African customary law, initiated soon after political independence, died a natural death towards the end of the 1960’s.
There are endless illustrations of this state of affairs right up to the time when the historic decision to change from a one party to a multi-party democratic state was made.

RE-ESTABLISHING THE RULE OF LAW
It is realized in Tanzania that, under a multi-party democracy, law and government must replace political party ideology and organisation as the fundamental bonds which hold people together in the nation state. There can be no doubt that, without establishing law and government or such new bonds, the process of change from a one party state could lead to the disintegration of society. There are numerous illustrations of this phenomenon including Somalia, Rwanda and former Yugoslavia.

It is not surprising therefore that of the four elements which were identified by the Presidential Commission on political change as being essential to a true democracy, the first two concern the law. According to the Commission a true democracy must have the following four essentials:
– an environment of respect for the Rule of Law; – an environment of respect for Human Rights;
– a leadership periodically elected in free and fair elections;
– a free flow of information.
Obviously, in order that law may serve as a crucial bond between the people within the nation state, it has to be law which is common to all the people and has to be reasonably known to a reasonable number of people. In Tanzania, there are two kinds of law which are not common to all the people. These are customary law and Islamic Law.

CUSTOMARY LAW AND ISLAMIC LAW
During the first half of the 1960’s a programme of codification of customary law was undertaken for the purpose of making it more certain. With the benefit of hindsight, it may now be said that the programme was flawed. It was mistaken in that it put great emphasis on codification of the rules of customary law rather than on the broad principles underlying such rules. History has shown that the codified rules did, in due course of time, become unacceptable to changing society and were ignored by the people, who evolved new customary rules in line with new circumstances. Had the exercise of codification dealt with broad principles, the courts would have been able to articulate and apply the principles of the new circumstances in the manner the English Common Law was developed by English courts. Since the majority of the people of Tanzania, particularly the rural population, still respect their customary laws, it is incumbent on us to establish a new programme to codify the common principles underlying African customary law in Tanzania. Once that is done, it would be for the Tanzanian courts to articulate and apply those principles to specific cases and changing times.

Islamic law, on the other hand, by reason of its world-wide religious validity, cannot be integrated with customary law. In the Tanzanian context, Islamic law may be and is applied in peaceful coexistence with both customary law and statute law. On the mainland of Tanzania Islamic law applies only in family and inheritance matters in cases where the parties belong to the Islamic faith. In Zanzibar, Islamic law applies not only to matters of the family and inheritance, but also to matters not covered by statute law. The applicability of Islamic law is thus more extensive in Zanzibar than is the case on the mainland. That is one of the reasons why Zanzibar has, and must continue to have, its own autonomous legal system from the High Court downwards.

AWARENESS OF THE LAW
It is unfortunate that the majority of the people of Tanzania are unaware of the law of the land, with the exception of customary law. Obviously Tanzanian law will not serve as a bond holding the people together unless and until a reasonable number of the people are made aware of it. This widespread ignorance of the law of the land is a threat to the integrity of the new multi-party democratic state. Realizing this danger Tanzanian judges and magistrates launched a public law literacy programme in March 1993 which is conducted through the radio, newspapers and public halls.

KISWAHILI
One other matter which has to be addressed at once to facilitate the people’s awareness of their law is the translation of existing law into the common language of the people – that is – KISWAHILI. The Tanzanian parliament should start enacting statutes in Kiswahili instead of in English. I am one of a growing number of people who do not understand why this change has not been made up to now. After all, the Constitution of the United Republic as well as the Constitution of Zanzibar are in Kiswahili. The debates in the Parliament of Tanzania and in the House of Representatives in Zanzibar are conducted in Kiswahili.

HUMAN RIGHTS
Of all the measures of legal reform that have been taken, that which lies within the field of Human Rights, is the most definitive of the new democratic order in Tanzania. In 1984 the Constitutions of the United Republic of Tanzania and Zanzibar were amended to incorporate a Bill of Rights. This historic step, taken four years before the collapse of the world-wide one party state system, necessarily requires the amendment or repeal of some legislation which is inconsistent with Human Rights. At the time when the Bill of Rights was introduced in the two constitutions, it was agreed that the Union Government should be given a period of grace of three years to put its house in order before the basic rights under the Union Constitution could be enforced in court. No similar period was required for the Zanzibar Government. It was understood that after the expiry of the period of grace, Human Rights reforms would be undertaken in the light of court decisions made in specific cases involving constitutional issues.

That period of grace expired in 1987. Between 1987 and 1990 there were two cases in which the constitutionality of certain statutes was successfully challenged in the High Court. Then came 1991, when the Presidential Commission was appointed. In its report, submitted early in 1992, the Commission identified 40 laws which, in its opinion, were oppressive and violative of the Constitution. A large number of these laws are Zanzibar laws. The Commission recommended the amendment or repeal of these laws in order to create an environment conducive to the establishment of multi-party democracy. The Commission’s findings and recommendations appear to have served as a catalyst for the institution of court cases challenging the constitutionality of many of the laws listed as oppressive by the Commission. Undoubtedly this trend is bound to generate some heat between the Judiciary on the one hand and the Executive and the Legislature on the other, if the trend is mishandled. Fortunately, the Executive, which appears to be genuinely committed to the cause of human rights, has recently invited the Geneva-based Centre for Human Rights to assist it in formulating appropriate reforms and mechanisms.

TIMETABLE FOR THE NEW LEGAL ORDER
Obviously, reform of the law without reform of the mechanisms and institutions which administer the law cannot be successful. It is for that purpose that a wide-ranging study of the entire legal system in Tanzania has been initiated by the Tanzanian Government with the support of the World Bank and donor countries. The recommendations of the Study should have been presented to the Government towards the end of 1994. A donor’s conference is to be convened early in 1995 to determine how best the international community can assist Tanzania to establish a new legal order to underpin the new multi-party democratic state. Undoubtedly Tanzania faces a daunting task of reform of the legal order. Fortunately for us there is the will and commitment to do so. With appropriate assistance from the international community, Tanzania could be a model for African nation states ruled by law, rather than by the barrel of the gun.

ANXIETY ABOUT THE RULE OF LAW
Asked about how difficult it had been for him during one party rule the Chief Justice said, with a smile on his face, that he was afraid that he was going to be asked how he could be taken seriously in view of what had happened at the time. He said that he had appeared twice before the CCM Political Bureau and the Party’s National Executive Committee in 1983 and had expressed his anxieties about actions which undermined the rule of law. The CCM had then called upon every Tanzanian to respect the rule of law but there had not been much follow-up action. One of the reasons why he had been chosen to head the Presidential Commission was that the Judiciary was the only organ of the state which had not been politicised.

TWO GOVERNMENTS OR THREE. PRESENT SYSTEM DOES NOT WORK.
In subsequent discussions the Chief Justice said that the Commission had recommended a true federal state (with three governments) but this was the one part of the recommendations which had not been unanimous. He maintained however that there was and is a consensus that the present (two-government) system does not work. In spite of the present acceptance of the status quo the issue would arise again.

USING THE LAW
As if to underline what the Chief Justice said above on the importance of constitutional law, judgement has been given recently on a number of constitutional issues. At the High Court in Dodoma in mid-September, in what was described in the Business Times as a landmark case which would be a test of the independence of the judiciary, the firebrand politician the Rev. Christopher Mtikila presented a petition. Two judges indicated that they would prefer not to take the case. A third judge then took over.

The petition proposed that there should be amendments to the 1977 Constitution, a referendum on the future of the Union, the convening of a national constitutional conference before the next elections, the proclamation of a Tanganyika Government, the amendment of the Political Parties Act of 1992, and permission for independent candidates (those not belonging to a political party) to take part in the elections.

On September 22nd Judge Kahwa Lugakingira, at a packed hearing, dismissed the demands for changes in the Constitution because this was the function of Parliament and also rejected the idea of a referendum and a transitional government because these were matters to be decided at the ballot box.

However, on October 24th, the Judge null if ied a provision of the Political Parties Act of 1992 under which parties were required to obtain permits from District Commissioners before holding rallies and he also agreed that independent candidates should be able to contest leadership positions. The judge said that some 20 million Tanzanians did not belong to political parties and DC’s were known to be CCM cadres. It was a joke for DC’s to exercise justice under such powers.

This matter is of great concern to the popular Rev. Mtikila who would probably like to stand for president even though his party is not registered.

In another case, this time taken by CHADEMA, High Court Judge Josephat Mackanja ordered Radio Tanzania to stop broadcasting a number of programmes produced by the CCM. But Constitutional Affairs Minister Samuel Sitta refused to accept part of these judgements and issued an order on November 10th stating that the restriction on holding rallies would continue and gave notice of appeal. This immediately placed District Commissioners and the Police in a precarious position. Zanzibar’s Chief Minister Omar Ali Juma said permits would still be required there. Zanzibar had its own High Court he said.

THE LAND COMMISSION'S PROPOSALS

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Volume 1 of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into Land Matters* has been published recently. Its Chairman, Professor Issa G Shivji has made available to Tanzanian Affairs a copy of an interview he gave to HARAMATA (a quarterly published by the IIED) in which he explained the Commission’s recommendations. There follows a summary of the interview.

The Commission found that the land tenure regime in Tanzania was in a mess. The last major review had been the East African Royal Commission in 1953-55. All lands were then declared ‘Public lands’ vested in the Governor. Indigenous land users continued to be governed by their customary law so long as it was in the interest of the state

This regime continued after independence. In fact, the control of land by the Executive led to enormous abuses, contrary to the interest of rural land users and the long run interest of the nation. Some major changes in the structure of the government – decentralisation (1972)’ villagization (1972- 74) followed by reintroduction of local governments a decade later etc. led to total disruption of land administration.

SUMMARY OF THE COMMISSION’S MAJOR RECOMMENDATIONS
a) The tenurial status of all lands would be declared constitutionally to be either national or village lands; in urban areas the present system of allocation through rights of occupancy would continue;

b) national lands would be vested in a National Land Commission independent of the Executive, accountable to the Legislature and overseen by a reconstructed Judiciary; village lands would be vested in Village Assemblies;

c) dispute-settlement machinery would be reorganised by creating Elders Councils at the village level and Circuit Land Courts at a higher level in which elders would participate; community values would be brought to bear on decision-making by magistrates and judges;

d) a limited land market would be created which would guard against anarchic tendencies and socially disruptive effects by providing for overall control by the community through the village assemblies (in the case of village lands) and elected ward and district committees (in the case of national lands);

The Commission’s recommendations were based on certain underlying principles:
a) to encourage agrarian accumulation from below based on a vision of an autonomous national development (albeit capitalist) as opposed to the current practice of incautious opening up of the country to predatory merchant and compradorial capital, both local and domestic;

b) to break up the monopoly of radical title in the executive arm of the state and diversify it in a way which would permit control and administration of land from below and to create countervailing forces against abuses by monopolistic state organs; and,

c) devise procedures which would be legitimate, accessible, open and transparent.

Land would be placed squarely in the public domain under the broad regime of public law (constitution, basic law etc.). Our proposals assume a strong political will on the part of government to implement them. If the government were to implement them it would garner strong support from the people. It would also face strong opposition from vested interests.

Asked about the next steps at a meeting in London sponsored by OXFAM on March 19th this year Professor Shivji said that Mwalimu Nyerere had advised the Commission to ensure that the report was published. If the people knew about it they would make sure that some action would be taken.

He also said that the IMF/World Bank had brought considerable pressure to bear on the subject of land tenure. They wished to see arrangements made for privatisation so that owners would have an incentive to invest. But their wish was not supported by the people in the villages who were suspicious of attempts to take away their land.

* REPORT OF THE PRESIDENTIAL COMMISSION OF INQUIRY INTO LAND MATTERS. Volume 1. Land Policy and Land Tenure. Scandinavian Institute of African Studies. Uppsala. Sweden. 350 pages. f 28.95. (Volume 2 is an analysis of 40 land disputes selected on the basis of their illustration of important socioeconomic trends and legal problems. As it contains sensitive matters its circulation will be limited).

THAT THEY MAY BE WHOLE AGAIN – THE BURDEN OF HOSTING REFUGEES

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During 1993 and 1994 Ngara and Karagwe districts of Tanzania have received over 600,000 Rwandan and Burundian refugees. In late September 500,000 were still there and between 250 and 750 a day continued to arrive, adding to the Tanzanian population of 210,000.

The Tanzanian and international response to this influx has been remarkably good, although the food pipeline is under strain. In addition, Tanzania has to bear the burden of patrolling the border and preventing camp violence from overflowing into the Districts. However, the response to the needs of the people of the two districts has been very much poorer. With the honourable exceptions of UNICEF, AMREF, Caritas of the Netherlands and of Germany, the ICRC, OXFAM and the UNHCR, the international agencies and NGO’s are not well informed about the true situation. Whether the recent analysis spearheaded by the Prime Ministers’s Office and the UNICEF report by the present author will change this remains to be seen.

Over the years 1994 to 1999 the minimum cost in lost cash incomes and additional workload to the Tanzanians of Ngara and Karagwe will be about £40 million, an amount comparable with a whole year’s income of the residents of the Regions. Of this amount, food sales lost because of the ruined state of the roads and the collapse of the Kigali market account for over a third. These could be reversed by spending £14 to £17 million for the repair of the Kyaka-Rusumo highway and of the District networks and the installation of maintenance equipment at District and Regional levels assuming that the European Union completes work on the Burundi-Rusumo highway which has been delayed by the diversion of the contractor to camp building.

Environmental damage will take at least five years to make good if the refugees leave within a year. Germany (DTZ) has begun replanting trees and is sponsoring projects to promote fuel efficiency, but trees take time to grow and the denuded areas already extend six miles beyond the confines of the largest camp. Many new wells are needed but the ground water supply cannot survive the trebling of the population of Ngara district. The Dutch, who, like UNICEF, take a direct interest in the problems of the Tanzanians as well as those of the refugees, are adding an agro-forestry and livestock element to their existing rural development programme by including Ngara and Karagwe in the Districts covered. Both the German and the Dutch initiatives are medium to long term.

The losses suffered by the 100 or so villages may not seem large in terms of the replacement costs involved, but are massive for villages of between 1,500 and 3,000 inhabitants with a total annual cash income of perhaps £17,000. The difficulties encountered include pit latrines prematurely full, the stripping of trees and the burning of school furniture and books for fuel, the entire 1994 maize crop eaten green leaving no seed for planting, severe reduction of the plantain and potato crops eaten, or camped on, by refugees and the failure of springs. It appears that the only immediate help for villages hitherto has come from the Catholic and Anglican Dioceses and the Christian Council of Tanzania.

Unless the rains fail, no overall food shortages are imminent. Indeed, banana and beer sales to refugees and broader trade with personnel serving the refugees have probably balanced the loss of normal crop sales to date, albeit not by the same households. After the initial jolt, UNICEF, AMREF and Caritas have restored Government and Church medical supply systems reasonably fully and have helped to find additional staff to meet refugee needs.

REMARKABLE PERFORMANCE
The Tanzanian performance at national, regional, district and village levels is remarkable. But at each of these levels Tanzania lacks the resources to make whole again. About £20 to £25 million are needed to do that, over half for transport system restoration and a third for wood and water balance reconstruction.

The problems, especially as regards wood and water, will spiral out of control if the refugees remain where they are indefinitely. They will not return to Rwanda in the near future, if at all. The ‘dead boat’ still fishes for murdered men, women and children in the River Rusumo; wounded refugees arrive daily; all too credible reports of killings and looting are regularly received. Mwalimu Nyerere went to urge return, but on hearing and seeing he stated categorically that it could not happen before 1998 and should not happen now. The only real alternative to the Kagera camps is 10 clusters of refugee villages of 4,000 inhabitants each dispersed throughout Tanzania. These could eventually become normal communities self-sufficient in food and basic services and enable the refugees to build new lives for themselves. In refugee camps only hate grows.

The obstacles confronting such an approach are twofold. First, it is hardly an easy option for Tanzania’s leaders to espouse during the run-up to a general election. Secondly, the infrastructure cost, judging from the experience of the refugee crisis of 1959-60, may exceed £140 million and the moving and settling-in costs a further £30 million. Mobilising funds of that order will be hard, with the UN and UNHCR relentlessly demanding early return of the refugees, apparently for budgetary reasons unconnected with any serious assessment of the Rwanda situation.

Reginald Herbold Green

ARUSHA AS HEADQUARTERS OF REVIVED EAC

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At a one-day summit in Kampala on November 26 the presidents of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania agreed that the secretariat of the about to be revived East African Community would be in the old community headquarters at Arusha. A new secretariat will start functioning in March 1995 and each country has agreed to contribute US$ 1.0 million for the first year’s operations.

Travel is to be eased between the three countries. There will be swifter clearing for East African citizens at airports and plans are being made for the issue of a standard East African travel document. The Presidents agreed to work towards forming a customs union, to harmonise policies in financial sectors and promote investment.

BUSINESS NEWS

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Exchange Rates (December 2, 1994):
US$1 = Shs 530 – 550
f Sterling 1 = Shs 835 – 890

BANK FLOATS SHARES. When the Cooperative and Rural Development Bank (CRDB) floated 250,000 shares President Mwinyi and his wife Sitti bought the first 20 worth TShs 200,000. The bank has restructured and reduced its staff from 1,600 to 1,000 and its directors from 27 to 12 – The East African.

SPEEDING RAIL TRAFFIC. The Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA) has signed an agreement with the South African Railway Network to promote cooperation and allow for freight wagons to move freely throughout central and southern Africa.

REDEPLOYMENT OF RETRENCHED CIVIL SERVANTS. 117 Redeployment Councillors have been trained to help retrenchees to make rational choices about alternative income-earning activities.

IFAD LOAN. The International Fund for Agricultural Development has granted Tanzania a $18 million loan to help small-scale farmers in the Shinyanga, Dodoma, Tabora and Mwanza regions. The funds will be channelled through the Cooperative and Rural Development Bank at lower than commercial interest rates.

BRITISH AID. Tanzania has received a grant of £4.7 million for the rehabilitation of Tanga Port.

MASSIVE NEW TELECOMMUNICATIONS PROJECT. Contracts were signed for this TShs 7,144 bn project on November 15th. Two firms will implement the project which will install 6,000 trunk and 24,416 exchange lines in Dar es Salaam – Mitsubishi of Japan and Segitel International of Canada – Daily News.

ROAD IMPROVEMENT TO CONTINUE. Ten international donors have agreed to go ahead with the second phase of the Integrated Roads Project (IRP). US$ 338 million has been pledged for 785 kilometres of new roads (mainly for the Dodoma-Mwanza section) and 885 kms of roads which will be rehabilitated. But, according to some sources, there will be delays in implementation because the Tanzanian Treasury cannot meet credit conditionalities – Express.

BANK OF TANZANIA (BoT). The IMF has recommended that the BoT should be transformed from an agency for execution of monetary policy into a viable and credible source of finance. The IMF report is based on the desire of the Tanzania and Zanzibar governments to retain one currency, monetary and bank supervisory authority. At present there is no bank-customer relationship between the Zanzibar Government and the BoT and foreign exchange reserves are not centralise at the BoT.

BANK PROFITS. The Meridien BIAO and the National Bank of Commerce have announced substantial profits for the year ending June 1994 – Business Times.

The CAPITAL MARKETS AUTHORITY commenced operations on October 1st. It will launch and supervise capital and securities markets comprising shares of private and parastatal companies.

INVESTMENT IN ZANZIBAR. 37 projects worth $89 million have been approved during the last four years by the Zanzibar Investment Centre. 33 of the projects were in tourism.

The BUREAU OF STATISTICS has changed the base year on which future price trends will be based from 1977 to 1992 – B. Times

MISCELLANY

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POSSIBLE UK ALL-PARTY GROUP

On their return from a Commonwealth Parliamentary Association visit to Tanzania in September Sir John Stanley, former British Minister and presently Conservative MP for Tonbridge and Malling, and Labour MP for Bridgend, Wynn Griffiths, told Tanzanian Affairs how impressed they had been by the mature way in which Tanzania was adapting so rapidly to its new multi-party system. Mr Griffiths said that he was hopeful that in early 1995 the British Parliament would set up an All-Party Parliamentary Group which would be able to concentrate on discussion of matters concerning Tanzania.


TANZANIAN AWARD WINNER

Professor Keto Mshigeni has become the first recipient of the ‘Boutros Boutros Ghali $10,000 Scholarship Fund’. One award is made for each continent. Last year the Professor won another international award (for agricultural bio-sciences) for his work on seaweed farming in Zanzibar, Pemba and Mafia.
TELEVISION CASE

The State has withdrawn a case (reported in Bulletin No. 49) involving 14 people who were facing charges of threatening to kill the Chairman of the IPP Mr Reginald Mengi and to blow up his Independent Television station (ITV). There was not sufficient evidence – Daily News.

TANZANIA IN THE INTERNATIONAL MEDIA

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INVESTMENT
In an 8-page ‘Special Focus on Tanzania’ AFRICAN BUSINESS (September 1984) an optimistic picture was painted of the investment scene in the country. Quoting the Investment Promotion Centre’s chief technical advisor Harish Pant, the article stated that projects approved by the IPC had created over 70,000 jobs. There had been some 229 projects in manufacturing, 93 in tourism, 51 in agriculture and 43 in natural resources. Mining was beginning to boom and the IPC had approved 21 projects for investors from the US, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Japan and Britain.

ASIANS IN TANZANIA
‘Asians are proving to be awkward bedfellows for indigenous Tanzanians. Energetic and utterly business-oriented, with a huge network of contacts, the Tanzanian Asians behave rather like the elite courtesans of 19th -century Britain. They enjoy power without responsibility – much to the chagrin of the wazawa or indigenous Tanzanians who resent what they see as the Asianisation of the local economy’. These were the introductory words of a full-page article in AFRICA ANALYSIS (September 30) which pointed out that the 80,000 Asians represent only 0.3% of Tanzania’s population but control 75% of the business. The article listed the prominent Asian personalities who hold franchises for international brand names – Pepsi-Cola (Girish Chande), Toyota (Hatim Karimjee), Peugeot (Shabir Abji), Freight Forwarders (Hassan Dhalla) but pointed out that, as insurance, most Asians have taken on politically influential indigenous Tanzanian directors. All this was said to be causing some hostility at street level between Africans and Asians and this was often encouraged by the popular Rev. Christopher Mtikila, leader of the unregistered Democratic Party.

The article went on to say that politicians had been blocking Asians from acquiring the many parastatals earmarked for privatisation. A World Bank report was said to have noted that the government prefers to wait for international companies to bid for them. But, the article concluded, while Asians take the flak from all sides they do give the drive to the business engine in Tanzania. Asians claim that their business acumen lifted Tanzania out of the depths into which former President Nyerere had led it and a select core, respected by international agencies, give invaluable advice to government ministries on financial and social matters.

BIRDS AND WILDLIFE
The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is collaborating with the Wildlife Conservation Society of Tanzania (WCST) to save Tanzania’s coastal forests which have several birds found nowhere else in the world and which are severely threatened. The RSPB’s AUTUMN NEWSLETTER also states that the Society is collaborating on another project in the Uluguru mountains and is helping in the production of the magazine ‘Miombo’.

‘I TALKED TO THE RUSSIANS’
The GUARDIAN’S literary editor Richard Gott, who describes himself as an incorrigible leftist, resigned on December 8th after admitting that he had been in contact with Soviet KGB officers for many years (but he claimed he was not a spy) and had accepted free trips to Vienna, Athens and Nicosia. He was foreign editor of the Tanganyika Standard in the 1970’s and, in a letter to the editor of the Guardian said ‘I had many contacts with both Soviet and eastern bloc diplomats, and, of course, with the leaders of the revolutionary movements of the time, all based in Dar es Salaam’.

TROPHY HUNTING IN THE MKOMAZI GAME RESERVE
A recent decision reported in BBC WILDLIFE (December) that the government is to allow trophy hunting by professional hunters in the 3,234 sq.km Mkomazi Game Reserve (which is a natural extension of Kenya’s Tsavo National Park) has caused consternation amongst ecologists. They complain that a project led by Tony Fitzjohn (who formerly worked with George Adamson in Kenya) for the rehabilitation of the park, which has resulted in a miraculous improvement in conditions there and a gradual build up of animal numbers, will be nullified if hunting is allowed (Thank you Christine Lawrence for this item).

TOO MANY PROJECTS?
In a review of the UNCTAD publication ‘The Least Developed Countries (LDC’s) 1993-1994 Report’ the New York-based AFRICA RECOVERY (April-September 1994) stated that donors could play a crucial role in reconciling adjustment with long-term growth. It urged donor cooperation in making aid more effective by focusing on building LDC capacities in planning and economic management. ‘However’, it went on, ‘donor preference for project over programme aid nearly overwhelms the weak administrative capacity of LDC’s forced to navigate between different donor procedures for numerous projects. Uganda and Tanzania, for example, had some 600 and 1,200 donor-financed projects, respectively, in 1993.

‘GARBAGE GAS’ PLANT
In a pilot project described as unique in Africa, AFRICAN BUSINESS (December) stated that Biogas is to be produced from Dar es Salaam’s garbage and will be used in making fertilisers, fuel for cars and electricity. The plant, to be built at Vingunguti on the southern outskirts of Dar es Salaam will treat waste from households, hotels, markets, breweries and abattoirs at up to 200 tons per day which should produce some 9.9 MW of electricity for sale each day. The project will be partly funded – to the tune of US$4 million – by the Danish Trust Fund of the UNDP.

AMBASSADOR NYAKYI
The GUARDIAN (November 25) reported that former High Commissioner in London Anthony Nyakyi is to be appointed by UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali as UN Special Representative in Liberia.

GERMAN AID QUESTIONED
The French publication INDIAN OCEAN NEWSLETTER (September 24) quoted a pessimistic in-depth study by the German Development Institute (GDI) about Germany’s programme of technical cooperation with several countries. The study revealed the ‘absence of a viable and explicitly formulated development strategy’ in Tanzania and stated that the government and donors had been ‘unable to generate any major development impulses’. Development was said to be ‘very largely blocked and aimless’. The study recommended two priorities for reform – training, leading to the setting up of management systems and the promotion of appropriate technology.

MILITARY TRAINING IN NGARA
More than 2,000 Rwandan youths, equipped with 100 guns, and believed to be Hutu extremists are receiving military training at night at the Kasulu refugee camp in Ngara according to a report in the BANGKOK POST (November 19). Ngara District Commissioner Brig. Sylvester Hemed was quoted as saying that there was little that Tanzanian authorities could do about it. The only solution would be to cut back the population at the camps but this would be far too expensive.

BALLOON SAFARIS
Tanzania Serengeti Balloon Safaris Limited, a joint Tanzanian British company, has started business flying two balloons (with a total capacity of 20 people) according to the September issue of AFRICAN BUSINESS. The advantage of flying by balloon, Managing Director Jimmy Mkwawa explained, was that tourists were able to see many animals in a short period of time. It took two days to visit the whole Serengeti Park by car but it took only one hour by balloon.

ANGRY CATHOLIC BISHOPS
Tanzania’s Roman Catholic bishops had stopped, with immediate effect, all cooperation with the Ministry of Health on the issue of provision of condoms to schoolchildren reported NEW AFRICAN in its November issue. The furore had broken out over a National Aids Control Programme Calendar which contained pictures urging people to use condoms. A man is shown in the calendar distributing books on AIDS education to teenagers in school uniforms and a woman is shown dishing out packets of condoms to young men.

A GOLD LINED FUTURE
This was the heading of an article in the November issue of AFRICAN BUSINESS which described how Tanzania’s young Water, Energy and Minerals Minister Lt Col Jakaya Kikwete (since promoted to Minister of Finance) was about to revive Tanzania’s moribund minerals sector. Mining once accounted for 10% of Tanzania’s GDP before plummeting during the socialist years to 0.4% It is currently around 1.5% of GDP. He said that some 20 companies had already begun exploring for nickel gold and diamonds and some 260 prospecting licences have been issued. With the support of the World Bank the government has set up a US$12 million scheme to make some of the country’s 100,000 artisanal miners more efficient. Currently artisanal miners produce around eight tons of gold and US$ 4 million worth of gemstones.

REACTIONS TO LIFE IN BRITAIN
A paper entitled KARIBU TANZANIA, KARIBU SANA, the final report of a visit to Tanzania in September/October 1994 by Julian Marcus of ‘Education Partners Overseas’ contained the reactions of a group of students from the Moshi Technical High School when they visited their link institution in Huddersfield, England. The students were impressed by the technology, surprised by the rudeness of MP’s at Westminster, found the English at work and on public transport very reserved but hospitable at home, did not experience any racism but felt that there was tension between whites and Asians, were disturbed by a visit to Toxteth and didn’t feel comfortable about the attitude of black English people to them. They were initially embarrassed by the perceived equal roles of the sexes and critical of indiscipline witnessed in schools (not acceptable in Tanzania they said.) A teacher from another school also commented on lack of discipline but, nevertheless, when he returned to Tanzania, he tried to abolish caning in his school. He reversed this policy change after very adverse reaction from parents and teachers.

SEEING THE BUSH ON FOOT
In an article in the FINANCIAL TIMES (September 24), Michael J Woods referred to a sound he had heard sitting on a high river bank above the River Ruaha – ‘the deep rumble made by one elephant talking to another, a sound which, once heard, is impossible to forget1. Describing new possibilities for walking safaris in various African countries, he mentioned that Richard Bonham (booked through Worldwide Journeys and Expeditions) guides walks in the Selous Game Reserve in Southern Tanzania and that it is possible that this opportunity will be extended to other parks in the country now that a regular air charter service has been established.

HISTORIC FOOTPRINTS AT RISK
Under this heading the SWAZILAND OBSERVER (September 21) quoting Gemini News Service reported that human footprints which have lain undisturbed for 3.5 million years in Tanzania’s Olduvai Gorge and Laetoli are being endangered by tourists. Dr. Fidelis Masao, senior lecturer in archaeology at the University of Dar es Salaam said that the establishment of a camp on the edge of the gorge might induce erosion and any shortcomings in security could result in the smuggling out of fossils. Although the two sites are on the United Nations Heritage List they are said to be covered by soil and vegetation because of lack of maintenance by the government.

SOCIETY AND TOURISM IN ZANZIBAR
Under this heading Steve Shelley writing in the September issue of KUMEKUCHA (of the Denmark-Tanzania Society DANTAN) wrote that Zanzibar was and is an enigma. Italians and Germans were vying for beach plots and charter-flight concessions with a government unconvinced it wants either. The history of Zanzibar was nothing without colonialism – Persian, Portuguese, Omani, British, American, German, French – ….years of neglect had destroyed much of what must have been beautiful …. an almost satirical reflection of a clearly less than glittering past was the most endearing trait of Zanzibar today. You almost expected to see tourist brochures describing where Livingstone had his Range Rover serviced, Speke bought batteries for his cellular phone and Burton chartered his helicopter …
Dan Suther described it as one of the safest places he had been to … top government officials were really on the ball, knowledgeable and helpful, trying to make their country work..

TEN TONNES OF CANNABIS
Customs Officers at Felixstowe found 10 tonnes of Cannabis resin worth £35 million on November 25th – 20% of all the Cannabis intercepted in 1993-94 in Britain – hidden in a container loaded with Christmas candles (The GUARDIAN November 26). The find was made during a routine search of a ship from Rotterdam. The candles had originated in Zambia and had been shipped from Dar es Salaam.

RECOLONISATION
In an interview in the TIMES (October 22) the well-known Kenyan writer Professor Ali Mazrui, discussing the collapse of Liberia, Somalia and Rwanda and impending disasters in Sudan, Zaire and Angola, recommended the setting up of a Pan-African Security Council of elder statesmen backed by the major powers on the continent and that Rwanda and Burundi should become part of a federation with Tanzania. The Tanzanian army should disarm all Hutus and Tutsis. In the same article Mauritanian diplomat Ahmedu Ould Abdallah, angered by the abuse of foreign aid workers the previous month by Hutu refugees in Tanzania, suggested a form of recolonisation. Many former colonial regimes he said should be sued by their former colonies for forcing independence on them without first having a referendum. The colonial powers ran away, he said, before they had left any of the benefits of their influence (Thank you John Sankey for this item – Editor).

SUCCESS STORY
Prominent Tanzanian businessman Reginald Mengi, whose Industrial Productivity Promotions (IPP) now comprises 25 companies manufacturing products from household plastics to bricks and furniture, began in a very small way according to AFRICAN BUSINESS (September). He and his wife started by making ball point pens but IPP is now the biggest producer of such pens in the country. Next they went into plastics and then into soap. Their toilet soap ‘Rivola’ now sells better than any other make in Tanzania.

TAPES AND VIDEOS
TEAR TIMES, the magazine of the Anglican aid agency the Tear Fund, announced in its Autumn issue that it had for sale a 40 minute music tape of 10 Swahili tracks from the Nuru Choir in the Ruaha Diocese (£5), a video entitled ‘Ikengeza: A Year in the Life of an African Village’ (£6.95) and a 13- minute cartoon for children called ‘Trouble Brewing in Tanzania’ (f6.50) all obtainable from The Tear Fund, 100 Church Road, Teddington TWll 8QE (Thank you Ann Burgess for this item – Ed)

MUSIC IN ZANZIBAR
In a travel article in the July-September issue of SAFARA Stephen Williams wrote that ‘only a stroll from the Zanzibar Hotel is the Zanzibar Culture Musical Club. Nearby, every night, after evening prayers at the mosque, musicians come together to play informally and celebrate their Taarab music, a haunting, melodic mix of Arabic and African sounds. Visitors are always made extremely welcome and there is no charge.

MARCUS GARVEY FOUNDATION
GLOBAL AFRICA POCKET NEWS (Vol. 1 No 7) announced that the Pan-American organisation the Marcus Garvey Foundation (MGF) had launched a Rwanda Rescue Appeal Fund to help alleviate the pain and despair of the hundreds of thousands of African children in the refugee camps in neighbouring countries. The Foundation has opened an office in London and is in the process of setting up a permanent office in Dar es Salaam. The article stated that unlike Oxfam and Save the Children, MGF was not funded by government money, multinational companies nor was it supported by royal family endorsements or the self-indulgent racist European media. It believed in self-help and its appeal was directed to the African community.

UNTAPPED POTENTIAL
Under this heading OPPORTUNITY AFRICA (October) which began by praising the untapped potential of Tanzanian tourism went on to quote the words of a number of businessmen:
‘Dar es Salaam changes physically every time you go there. The big change is the Japanese resurfacing of all the principal roads. There is now a dual carriageway north out of the city through the prime residential areas…. Dar is an expensive city; a good house in a good location costs $20,000 a year; good quality offices cost $18 per sq.metre a month. Beer costs $1 a glass in a bar. But there are compensations though; staff are not expensive and Tanzanians are very nice people – an architect.

‘It’s tough to do business here but it can be done. You just have to keep at it.. . Dar es Salaam is like a village; within two days of your arrival everyone knows you are there’ – a consultant.
‘I like being there. While the town is run down, I never feel threatened and I walk about undisturbed’ – an export manager.
‘I know it is an ill-used word in Africa but Tanzania has a lot of potential. There is a lot going on and, as Africa develops, Tanzania could be up there with the best of them’ – an export promoter (Thank you John Sankey for this item – Ed.)

ANOTHER BTS
No, not the Britain-Tanzania Society but ‘Bretagne Tanzanie Solidarite’ an ‘association humanitaire’ created by the Bretagne Regional Trade Union (CFDT) in Rennes, France. According to OUEST-FRANCE (August 29) this BTS is helping Tanzania to deal with the influx of Rwandan refugees by sending medical supplies. The article was appealing for more assistance from readers (Thank you Gerald Marchant for sending this item from Normandy – Editor).

QUIET TEACHING METHODS
Teaching methods have to be much quieter at the Kidongo Chekundu School in Zanzibar than in British schools according to Vyners School (Ickenham) English exchange teacher Nicky Stone. Quoted in the September 14 issue of the UXBRIDGE GAZETTE she said that group discussions could not be held as none of the classrooms had doors or glass windows and other classes would be disturbed. Nicky Stone had been appalled by the lack of resources – some children were without desks and books were scarce. Vyners school is engaged in fund raising to help the Zanzibar schooi.

‘THE GARDEN OF EDEN IS A GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION NOT MYTHOLOGY’ So wrote Simon Barnes (THE TIMES, November 26) describing the Ngorongoro Crater – ‘the last soft touch left on earth for the earthls most prodigious megafauna … nowhere on earth has so high a density of large mammals …. I felt one of those sensations, when you know the place reminds you of somewhere else … eventually I had it. Venice. Yes. Unique. The Crater has the same spooky, utterly Venetian feeling of having somehow slipped trough the fingers of time…. …

TANZANIA VICTORIOUS
In a thrilling finish Tanzania beat Zambia by six wickets on October 31 (THE EAST AFRICAN) and thus won the 26th quadrangular East and Central African cricket tournament. In reply to Zambia’s 146 for nine Tanzania made 150 for three with four overs to spare. Hassan Matumla who won a bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games in Canada returned home to learn that he would be awarded TShs 500,000 to mark his achievement. (Thank you John Sankey for this item and the previous one – Editor).

THE FOOD PROBLEM

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Former Agriculture Minister Jackson Makweta has announced that Tanzania needed to import 200,000 tons of maize during this financial year. He said that the government would have to spend TShs 18 billion on maize alone and a further amount of money on 80,000 tonnes of rice and wheat. He feared that Tanzania could become a permanent food importer. There were indications that by the year 2005 there would be only four countries in Sub-Saharan Africa that would not be experiencing food shortages – Express.