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TANZANIA IN THE INTERNATIONAL MEDIA

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MAJOR MALARIA VACCINE BREAKTHROUGH

Several newspapers (The BANGKOK POST, WORLD BANK NEWS, THE LONDON TIMES, VACCINE and others) gave prominence recently to what might be a major breakthrough in the search for an effective vaccine against malaria. Developed in Colombia and tested in Phase 1 on 41,000 volunteers in Latin America, the SPf66 vaccine was then ‘much more seriously tested (in Phase 2)’ according to Head of Tropical Disease Research at WHO, Dr. Tore Godal, ‘in very intense transmission conditions in the Kilombero District of Tanzania’. Inhabitants there suffer about 100 times more mosquito bites than in Colombia; the average in Kilombero is 25 bites by infected mosquitoes per night. The success of the Tanzania tests has paved the way for the final phase of testing, with initial results expected in October this year. Further tests are being carried out in Gambia and Thailand with results due next year. Still more tests over the next two years could mean an effective vaccine in widespread use by 1988 the WHO spokesman said. It was anticipated that when fully developed the vaccine would cost less than five dollars per injection. If the new vaccine works it would be the first vaccine ever to work against a parasitic disease.

STRIFE ON THE FIFTH FLOOR

When the late President Habyarimana of Rwanda was shot down at Kigali airport on April 6th he was returning from a peace conference held in the Kilimanjaro Hotel in Dar es Salaam. The Rwandan delegation, hearing what had happened, did not feel inclined to return home. As the conflict in Rwanda worsened, so too did relations on the fifth floor of the hotel, according to THE TIMES (July 12) as anti-government rebels and Hutu extremists were in adjacent rooms. Armed Rwandans began jostling each other in the lifts and goading each other in the restaurants. Former Rwandan Foreign Minister Anastase Gasana complained to the Tanzanian Chief of Security that he was receiving death threats (from across the corridor) from former Presidential aide Desire Mageza. Mr Mageza said: “He’s mad. How do you say in English? He has la Megalomanie”. Finally Tanzanian security decided that the extremists should be removed from the hotel. “It’s incredible how much these people hate each other” a security officer said. Mr Mageza and five members of the Rwandan presidential guard were put on a bus to the airport. Tanzanian Foreign Minister Joseph Rwegasira later said that the Rwandans had left behind an unpaid hotel bill of £133,000.

WORLD BANK LAMENTS ITS ROLE IN TANZANIA

The FINANCIAL TIMES (July 27) reported that it had obtained a 2-volume 1990 confidential internal analysis of relations between the World Bank and Tanzania during the period 1961 to 1987. Tanzania had received $15 billion in aid (including £2 billion form the Bank). The report criticised the Bank’s ‘stance of uncritical support for Tanzania’s impractical socialist vision and egalitarian folly’. Until 1980 the Bank had viewed Tanzania as ‘coming close to being a model developing country. The belated recognition of the existence of a chronically ailing economy casts doubt on the transparency of the Bank’s decision-making process’.

IN THE ABSENCE OF GUINNESS

Kate Adam writing in the June 1994 NEWSLETTER OF THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURE ASSOCIATION explained the work she has been carrying out on Maesopsis eminii, an invasive tree species causing widespread degradation to the stability of the remaining primary forest of the East Usambara mountains. Initially introduced in good faith by the Forest Department in the early 1960’s as a fast growing, commercial exotic tree to regenerate heavily logged forest, it is now considered a major threat to the survival of endemic forest species. CDC has begun an eradication programme at the East Usambara Tea Company Ltd. The writer went on to describe how her year in Tanzania had taught her how to avoid rolling a battered Landrover in the monsoon rains, a hundred and one ways to cook with a mango, how to alleviate dysentery from a raw squid salad and how to survive in the complete absence of Guinness.

THE MOROGORO CONFERENCE

The curtain is gradually being lifted on the South African ANC’s activities during the long years of the anti-apartheid struggle in which Tanzania took such a prominent role. Stephen Ellis, writing in AFRICAN AFFAIRS (April) described many of the internal problems faced by the ANC from 1963 when growing numbers of South Africans joined the resistance forces in Tanzania. The ANC had four camps in the country which became bases for the ‘Umkhonto wa Sizwe’ guerrilla soldiers. In 1967 Umkhonto launched its first foreign military offensive in the Wankie district of Rhodesia. ‘Using inappropriate tactics and with poor logistic support the forces were badly mauled by Rhodesian troops. Some of the survivors, eventually making their way back to Tanzania, were highly critical of the ANC leadership – Chris Hani wrote an angry memorandum … and, according to one report, was sentenced to death for insubordination before being reprieved … the result was a major ANC consultative conference at Morogoro in 1969 which made sweeping changes in ANC leadership and set down a longterm strategy for the future…..’

BATTLE FOR PRESS FREEDOM

Any observer of the Tanzanian scene cannot but be impressed by the extent of press freedom in the country nowadays and by the proliferation of privately owned newspapers. But, according to NEW AFRICAN (June 1994) the media are still locked in a monumental battle to maintain this press freedom. The journal reported that the editor of the ‘Express’ had been taken to the Central Police Station in Dar es Salaam for ten hours in March and questioned about an article he had printed which blamed the government for failing to clean up the garbage of narcotics, refuse and harmful foods that were poisoning the country. The publisher of the ‘Citizen’ had been charged with sedition and the editor of ‘Tazama’ was said to have been charged with publishing seditious material. This get tough stance by the government was said to be retaliation against the press for forcing the government to abandon last year a proposed ‘Media Professions Regulation Bill’ it wished to introduce. The press had insisted that this Bill would have been unconstitutional.

‘HOW MARVELLOUS TO BE BACK!’

Extracts from an article headed ‘Tanzania Revisited’ by Sister Maria von Opdorp in WHITE FATHERS WHITE SISTERS (June- July 1994): How marvellous it was to be back in Mwanza after 23 years. The banana trees, the mango trees. Lake Victoria, the beautiful light and the brilliant colours of the earth and vegetation – all so much warmer than our Dutch colours. The first few nights I had to get used to all the noises. The dogs go on barking until late into the night. At dawn the whole regiment is awake again – birds, cocks, dogs, cows – the lot… I noticed many changes in Tanzania. The women are much more self-confident than they were. They are dressed African fashion in ‘khangas’ and ‘kitenges’ and no longer copy European fashions. I witnessed no aggressivity to Europeans, such as I had experienced previously. On the other hand, there is great poverty …. I saw a woman of eighty cutting rocks into small stones for 180 shillings a day. 180 shillings is 30 pence!…

ONE OF BRITAIN’S MOST RADICAL COMPANIES

This is how the GUARDIAN (August 16) described the Gateshead-based ‘Traidcraft’, the ‘fair trade company’, when writing about the company’s recent ‘social audit’ which has covered everything from recycling its apricot packaging to its corporate ethos. More than two thirds of the products sold by Traidcraft, which has annual sales of £6.3 million, employs 120 and has 4,000 shareholders, come from the developing world. Contributors include the 1,227-member Tabora Beekeepers Cooperative which receives from Traidcraft 32% more per 28kg bucket of honey than from its other export customer and 55% above the local market price.

EFFECTS OF THE DROUGHT

Tanzania suffered a 413,000 tonne deficit in production of food crops during the 1993/94 season according to the French publication MARCHES TROPICAUX (July 8). There had been falls of 21% in maize and 36% in wheat. The problem was caused by drought, crop disease and shortage of fertilisers. It was feared that the food deficit for 1994/95 would be far more dramatic and amount to 945,000 tonnes.

ORNITHOLOGICAL FRAUD?

Several issues of the DAILY TELEGRAPH in June reminded readers of the exploits of the adventurer, soldier, gamehunter, bird-watcher and spy Richard Meinertzhagen. On Christmas Day in 1915, as a British officer in Tanganyika, with 15 of his scouts, he had rushed a German camp, bayoneted all the African soldiers and shot the German commander in his tent as he was about to sit down to his Christmas dinner. Why waste a good meal?” he asked as he sat down to eat with a fellow British officer, undismayed by the body of the dead German on the bed. The latter’s papers revealed him to have been a Duke. “The first Duke I have killed” Meinertzhagen wrote subsequently.

But the object of the Telegraph articles was to reveal the ornithological exploits of Meinertzhagen. In later years he became one of Britain’s foremost field naturalists and was awarded the British Ornithologists’ Union’s most prestigious medals and a CBE. He donated his 20,000-bird collection to the Natural History Museum in London. It now appears however that he was probably a fraud. Some of his bird skins are alleged to have been stolen from the Leningrad, Paris, American and British museums over a number of years. A committee has been set up to scrutinise his work. His 66-year old son, who is an investment banker, has vowed to clear his father’s name.

‘THE MOST SUCCESSFUL PROJECT I HAVE EVER SEEN’

‘When I was working on agricultural research linkages in Tanzania in 1990 I came across in Arusha an NGO project – the Village Sunflower Project – that was the most successful I have ever seen in 29 years of working in developing countries’ wrote John Russell in the NEWSLETTER OF THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURE ASSOCIATION (June 1994). The project, under the umbrella of the Lutheran Diocese, had begun in 1986 when Appropriate Technology International helped to fund a small company to manufacture scissor-jack oilseed presses designed by the Institute of Production Innovation at the University of Dar es Salaam. The oilseed cake was used as animal fodder which increased local milk supplies; the most appropriate seed variety was selected; and, employment was created in the oil production units. By 1989 sixty units were functioning in 40 villages, and 100,000 litres of edible oil were being produced in a year. In 1993 there were 1,000 production units in 800 villages all over the country. Ten local manufacturers were now producing ram-pressses and these were being exported to other countries.

JOINING THE WORLD’S BIG LEAGUE OF GOLD PRODUCERS

This is the prospect for Tanzania according to AFRICA ANALYSIS (June 10) quoting Canadian mining company Baker Talc. High hopes are centred on Lupa District near Mbeya which is described as ‘possibly one of the most intensely mineralised gold provinces in the world’ and where the company is acquiring 50 million acres for gold and diamond exploration. The Soviet Group Technoexport explored there in the 1970’s and estimated total known resources of 1.4 million ounces of gold. Although Tanzania’s gold exports are currently worth about $50 million a year the country’s mineral opportunities were said to have lain largely dormant during the last 25 years because of the political climate.

STRIKING A BALANCE BETWEEN THEORY AND PRAGMATISM

A thoughtful article under this heading written by Susie Bowen, a speech therapist at the Muhimbili Medical Centre in Dar es Salaam, published in the May/June issue of HUMAN COMMUNICATION raised some fundamental issues on speech therapy in a developing country context. ‘By introducing our profession, are we contributing to the saturation of wellmeaning ‘white’ agencies in Tanzania that reinforce the pervasive notion that West is Best?’ she asked. She went on: ‘Nobody will say no to the educated European and often won’t even ask what speech therapy is before accepting it; …..we are asking people to believe in something that is not supported by the environment and in a service that will not be widely available (in Tanzania) for many years to comer…..’our individualistic society (in Britain) teaches us to claim our rights to expert advice and to demand a solution. The philosophy of life in Tanzania is very different; essential resources are perceived as being good primary health, family support and community networks; beyond these, most Tanzanians have not had the luxury of their needs being met. We must be careful not to impose our values and methods ….'(Thank you Roger Bowen for this item -Editor).

“WE CRY A LOT”

‘Sitting on the floor outside the smoky cookhouse at Igurubi near Tabora ten or so women are talking. Some are employed at the hospital, others are caring and cooking for their invalid relatives and one is a British volunteer. They are talking about children, according to the Spring issue of HABARI YA HPA (Health Projects Abroad). They look incredulous as the British volunteer explains she is 29, unmarried and has no children. She says that she might get married in two years’ time and would then want two children. But what if one of them dies? the Tanzanians ask. How do you begin to explain, the article goes on, that while the infant mortality rate in Tanzania in 1991 was 178 per 1,000 live births in the UK it was nine per 1,000. On one matter all are agreed. If a child dies, “we are very sad and cry a lot”. “Sana, sana” they say as they all shake their heads.

A UNIQUE RAILWAY LINE

Describing the recent train safari of tourists from Cape Town to Dar es Salaam, the Dar es Salaam EXPRESS’S Apolinari Tairo (August 7) explained that the train was named the ‘Pride of Africa’ and had been used in Edwardian times and recently renovated. The owner of the train said that Southern Tanzania was one of the most interesting geological areas in the world – especially the rift valley near Mbeya. The train had passed through 23 man-made tunnels which made the TAZARA railway line unique in Africa. Some of the potential new tourist attractions in Tanzania were the cool and attractive shores of Lake Malawi, mountain scenery and the 25-ton Mbozi meteorite.

VENTURE CAPITAL

The June issue of the ECONOMIST contained an advertisement for ‘Tanzania Venture Capital Ltd.’ (Bulletin No 47). Equity capital is US$ 6.61 million provided by financial institutions in Britain, Germany, Sweden and Tanzania supported by USAID and the Commonwealth Development Agency (UK) (Thank you John Sankey for this item – Editor).

MEDICINE CHESTS

An interesting evaluation of the health component of the Hereford-Muheza link in the BRITISH MEDICAL JOURNAL (16 April) indicated that there have been 64 sabbatical visits during the last eight years, half from Hereford to Muheza and half from Muheza to Hereford. Each traveller from Hereford takes and leaves behind a pack containing drugs, syringes and drip set. The contents of the packs were listed in the article: Chloroquine phosphate tabs; Proguinal tabs; Quinine sulphate; Fansidar; Erythromycin stearate tabs; Betadine ointment; Loperamide caps; Chlorpheniramine tabs; Hydrocortisone cream; Anthisan cream; and, Haemacel (Thank you Oliver Murphy for sending this item from Spain – Ed).

RE-STRUCTURING WILLIAMSONS DIAMOND MINES

AFRICA ANALYSIS (June 10) reported that South Africa’s De Beers company was negotiating with the Tanzanian government to ‘re-structure’ the Williamson Diamond Mine in Shinyanga where output had declined sharply to 25,000 carats a year.

DISEASE KILLS SERENGETI LIONS

A disease believed to be Canine Distemper Virus that gives lions convulsions has killed 85 of the 3,000 lions in the Serengeti according to AFRICAN ECONOMIC DIGEST (August 1). In one case an animal turned repeatedly in tight circles; many other lions suffered neurological damage; some lions showed a persistent twitch that contorts half the face in an involuntary sneer. The disease could threaten Tanzania’s tourism industry, now earning about $120 million annually … the disease comes after a devastating drought which had affected the number of visitors to the Serengeti: numbers had gone down by as much as 30%…

ONE OF THE GREAT GOLD MINES OF EAST AFRICA

The TIMES (August 10) reported that the mining group Cluff Resources would be taking a 90% stake and investing USS3.0 million in developing the Geita gold mine to make it into one of the great gold mines of East Africa. Between 1938 and its closure in 1966 it had produced 900,000 ounces of gold. Mr Cluff described the mine as a significant property and Cluff shares rose on the London Stock Exchange by 5.25% to 52.5%.

MISS BONGOIAND 1994*

Under this heading the Dar es Salaam DAILY NEWS has been describing Tanzania’s recently re-introduced Miss Tanzania competition held in Dar es Salaam. Such competitions had been banned since 1967. “Is it true” asked one person who missed the contest “that the girls had to put on Khanga’s to cover their swim suits”. “Yes”, was the answer “it was to avoid the girls exposing their thighs …. because some people think that that would be Western culture”. Then there was a dispute about the choice of winner. She was 20-year old Aina Maida, a student in Virginia USA, who had entered the competition after the closing date for applications. “If you look at the way she walks” one lady protested “you could tell that she is not from Tanzania”. Miss Maeda however will be representing Tanzania at the Miss World Competition in South Africa in November. She beat 26 other participants.

* It has become common practice amongst Tanzanians to call their country ‘Bonqoland’ which is derived from the Swahili word ‘bongo’ meaning brains. The reference is to the economic plight of the country and the need for everyone to use his/her brains to augment very low salaries through outside income-earning activities – Editor.

MISCELLANY

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

HOME SWEET HOME

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ta49_part1-23

Research suggests that lions in the Ngorongoro Crater spend 20 hours out of every 24 asleep. Anyone intending to watch lions for months rather than minutes should, therefore, arm themselves with a substantial library and the address of a good psychiatrist. For a short time my sanity was saved by a bee.

My attention was first drawn to the insect during the filming of an inexpert hunt by a pride of eight lions. Just as they were about to ambush some zebra and the kill seemed certain, a stallion caught sight of one of the lurking cats. The zebra stampeded and the lions charged. Faced with a confusing array of high-speed stripes, not one of the eight lions snagged so much as a whisker.

All this time I was being intermittently bothered by an extremely annoying bee buzzing in front of my face at the most inopportune moments. My attention became focused when I saw it carry a tiny piece of rolled-up leaf on to a bolt-hole on my camera mount. I watched it unwrap this leaf and glue it to the wall of the tube. Leaf-cutting bees live in burrows and holes of a certain diameter, not in hives.

I moved my Land Rover several hundred yards and, to my surprise, not five minutes later, I saw a bee carrying another rolled up piece of leaf to the same hole. Aha I thought, they’re opportunists, and this new bee thinks it has been saved some work – what a pity these efforts will also be wasted.

I returned to the camp for the night and, as soon as my head touched the pillow, it was five o’clock in the morning and time to get up. My lions had killed in the night. I pulled up near the carcase of the wildebeest and prepared for a long wait. As I levelled the tripod, a bee flew into the bolt-hole with a piece of leaf. Now this was getting ridiculous. It was impossible, surely, that this was the same insect.

Over the course of several drives across the crater floor, the lining of the cell was completed, and the bee – for now it was evident that it really was one insect – started collecting pollen. Somehow, it was able to keep up with the vehicle and continue its work despite all the trying problems I was giving it. But the mystery remained. What happened at night? That evening I watched carefully. At 5.30 pm the bee returned to my camera and went to bed. Clearly, it had suffered the bone-shaking drive, the engine vibration and each freezing night on the crater rim to remain with its nursery. At this point the bee achieved a notoriety out of all proportion to its size and became something of a project mascot.

The next day, every move of filming position became fraught with anxiety. Had the bee made it? At one stage, Gil Domb, the producer, came up alongside me. Would two identical Land Rovers parked side by side, cause confusion? No problem for this bee. But then I had to move off to take up a position 200 yards away. Five minutes later, Gil called me on the radio. The bee was frantically searching his Land Rover. Could I come immediately and pick it up. I did, and there was great relief all round when it returned to the right vehicle.
At five 0’clock that May evening, the cell was neatly plugged and the bee flew off for the last time. It was a sad parting but also something of a relief. The whole thing was becoming far too much of a responsibility.

But, you may ask, what happened to its brood? The brood travelled more than 600 miles to various parts of the Serengeti and elsewhere. It was sealed in a camera case while I was on holiday. Then, one September morning, when I was back filming in the crater again, a movement caught my eye. With great astonishment and delight, I watched as a bee emerged. By incredible coincidence, it was just a few yards from its place of birth.
Alastair MacEwen

(This article appeared first in ‘BBC Wildlife’ – Ed)

TELEVISION STARTS

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‘Congratulations to Mr R A Mengi and the IPP Group’ said a prominent full-page advertisement in the ‘Daily News’ on June 11th ‘on this auspicious occasion of the opening of ITV (Independent Television Limited)’. But the celebrations were short lived. For, at the same time as this ‘professional’ TV station opened, another one, CTN (Coastal Television Network), described in the Daily News as a ‘more makeshift outfit’, also commenced operations. And the World Cup was about to commence.

AND THEN TURMOIL
In no time the two stations were at the High Court suing each other and Radio Tanzania for infringing their rights to televise the cup matches. Then things became very much more serious. They ignored advice in an editorial in the ‘Express’ which had applauded the two stations for their ‘courage and commitment to an enterprise which could hardly show meaningful profits for the next five years’. The Express suggested that they should cooperate in their mutual interest.

Viewers were astonished to hear next that 14 persons including the Director of a third licensed TV station, Dar es Salaam Television, and the principal competitor of ITV, Mr A1 Munir Karim, Director of CTN, had been arrested for threatening to kill IPP Chairman Reginald Mengi and blow up his ITV television station. The defendants were granted bail and the case was postponed to September 9th to give the police more time to collect evidence. The defendants were instructed not to go near any IPP company or Mr Mengi’s house. Some elements of the press in Dar es Salaam began to fan racial flames on this and other recent developments by pointing out that Mr Mengi was a successful indigenous Tanzanian (he recently strengthened his IPP company by joining the well-known international conglomerate Colgate-Palmolive) but the defendants in the case were Asian or ‘non-indigenous’.

PRESIDENT INTERVENES
An earlier event related to the Mengi saga was the action of the Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs, Mr Silvano Adel, who had, on the night of June 23rd, consulted several senior police officials to facilitate the release of one of the suspects in the case, Mr Shabir Dewji, who was being held at the Central Police Station. Mr Dewji was released. It had apparently been alleged that Mr Dewji’s car had earlier chased Mr Mengi’s vehicle.

On July 12th it was announced that President Mwinyi had retired with immediate effect the Principal Secretary. A statement from the Minister of Home Affairs stated that the release (at 1.30am) of Mr Dewji had caused ripples among members of the public who felt that favouritism was being shown. This had tarnished the government’s image. Any public servant bringing the government’s reputation into question would not be tolerated.

PROGRAMME SCHEDULE
The ITV station is broadcasting from 5 pm to about 11 pm each day and its programmes include local music, a children’s programme, ‘Neighbours’, local and foreign drama/films and, while it was on, massive coverage of the World Cup – Daily News and other sources.

PARLIAMENTARY MATTERS

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As is usual, the recent sitting of parliament brought forth from ministers, while defending their budget estimates against increasingly critical questions and comments from MP’s, many items of news. Brief extracts follow.

THE INCOME GAP among civil servants had been reduced drastically since independence from 1:17 (least paid: highest paid) to 1:5 now; the minimum wage was now TShs 10,000 and the maximum TShs 45,000 – Minister of State in the President’s Office.

There were no specific policy guidelines on FOREIGN FIRMS WHOSE ASSETS HAD BEEN NATIONALISED in 1967 – Deputy Minister of Finance.

NATIONAL SERVICE has not been scrapped. There had been postponement of recruitment for an interim period – Deputy Minister for Defence and National Service.

In spite of MPS’ reservations, the government intended to trim down THE SIZE OF THE ARMY; Camps which would be closed down were those hurriedly established in 1978/79 during the war with Idi Amin in Uganda. Camps at border posts would be retained – Minister of State for Defence and National Service.

There were now three WOMEN PILOTS and two women locomotive drivers in Tanzania but as yet no women ship captains – Deputy Minister for Works, Transport and Communications.

He would not resign because he had not committed any crime … allegations by MP’s that there had been ABUSE OF TOURIST HUNTING LICENSES were not true and were mere hearsay … a number of people from the United Arab Emirates had been in Arusha recently for hunting but they had been escorted throughout by a senior official from the Wildlife Division who had directed them on where to hunt and which animals to hunt…it was true that he had relatives working in the hunting business but business was open to all Tanzanians – Minister for Tourism, Natural Resources and the Environment.

The government had received more than TShs 200 million in hospital fees under the COST-SHARING SCHEME it had introduced last July; regional health committees should ensure that the money was spent in strengthening local health services – Minister of Health.

Efforts to expedite the DEVELOPMENT OF THE NOMADIC MAASAI AND BARABAIG COMMUNITIES had been frustrated by the attitude of the target groups … Ngorongoro residents had immense wealth in livestock numbering 650,693 which they should use to better their lives – Deputy Minister in the Office of the First Vice- President.

The government planned to set up a FACULTY OF EDUCATION at the Sokoine University of Agriculture in the 1995/96 financial year to alleviate the shortage of graduate teachers…it would be too expensive to upgrade to university level the existing Mkwawa, Chang’ombe and Marangu teacher training colleges … a Bill allowing private universities to be established would be introduced to parliament shortly – Minister for Science, Higher Education and Technology.

Councils in Mara Region were at liberty to alter THE VALUE OF A COW to bring it up-to date; the TShs 200 (30 pence) price tag which prevailed at present in Mara was laid down by law in the 1960’s to help men pay the bride price when they were unable to provide cattle; TShs 200 was agreed upon as a substitute for one head of cattle – Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs.

BUSINESS NEWS

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Exchange Rates (August 12 1994)
US$1 = TShs 512 – 530
£ Sterling 1 = TShs 760 – 820
The unofficial ‘black’ market in currency, which came to an end last year with the introduction of Bureaux de Changes has reappeared with the dollar rate at TShs 600 – Express.

MINIMUM WAGES RISE.
The minimum wage in Zanzibar has been raised to TShs 6,000 per month – an increase of 2.5% but education, medical and water services are to remain free – Daily News. The minimum salary for civil servants on the mainland has been raised to TShs 10,000 ($20) from TShs 5,000 per month – Express

COFFEE PRICE RISE
The price of coffee in the World market has increased by 40% over the last six months to some $2.40 (TShs 1,200) per kilo as a result of frost in Brazil. As the increase in likely to be only temporary, Tanzania may not obtain substantial benefit as much of its coffee is sold on the futures market. Coffee production has been falling – from 65,000 tons in 1986/87 to 45,000 tons in 1990/91. Kagera is the main region with 38% of total output followed by Kilimanjaro (23%), Mbeya and Ruvuma 13% each – Business Times.

THIRD PRIVATE BANK.
The International Finance Corporation (part of the World Bank Group) has announced that it has approved an equity investment up to US$ 0.8 million and a loan of US$ 5.0 million to help finance the creation of a third private bank in Tanzania – Eurafrican Bank Ltd. The bank is being sponsored by Banque Belgolaise in Belgium – Express.

INCREASE IN INTEREST RATES.
The National Bank of Commerce (NBC) ‘in an apparent attempt to stay alive’ has suspended overdrafts and raised its interest rates on lending from 30% to 39%. Overdrafts are being suspended except for export production and crop financing. The Managing Director Donald Kamori said that the Bank’s liquidity was satisfactory and deposits had increased by 20% between June 1983 and June this year but that the Bank of Tanzania had been pursuing a very tight monetary policy. The NBC was also still the Bank of the non-performing parastatals – Business Times.

The other banks also increased their lending rates. Standard Chartered Bank stated that it had done business to the tune of TShs 30 million since opening in November last year – Business Times.

RELAXATION OF BORDER CONTROLS.
Following a meeting in April between the Governors of the East African Central Banks, the Bank of Tanzania has announced that, to facilitate border trade between Tanzania and contiguous countries, transactions can now be settled in either shillings or the currency of the neighbouring country and there is no longer any limit on the amount in Tanzania Shillings or the other currencies used in border trade. Exports and imports other than those in border areas continue to be governed by existing regulations – Daily News

ANOTHER NEW BANK.
The first private indigenous bank to be licensed in Tanzania – the First Adili bank – is to open shortly and will emphasise merchant and investment banking according to Chief Executive Godfrey Chamungwana. The National Provident Fund is investing TShs 300 million in the new bank.

DONOR AUDITS.
Foreign aid donors are planning to join with the
Tanzanian Controller and Auditor General to conduct audits of donor funds rather than conduct separate audits. USAID has already signed an agreement on these lines and other donors are expected to follow – Business Times.

GRADE ONE COTTON PRICES 1994/95: TShs 125 at ginneries (compared with TShs 85 last year) and TShs 120 at marketing centres (TShs 80).

ZANZIBAR’S GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT grew at a rate of 3.3% last year compared with 3.04% in the previous year. The agricultural sector contributed between 42% and 46% of the GDP while construction, trade and hotels contributed 25-28% Population now totals 742,500, but is increasing. Trade between Zanzibar and the mainland has flopped. Exports to the mainland comprised only coconut oil, fruits and re-exported goods worth TShs 4,831.1 million last year – Daily News.

DODOMA. Individuals and institutions have invested about TShs 60 billion under the government’s plan to transfer the capital to Dodoma. The Minister of Works, Communications and Transport has said that the state would continue to improve the social infrastructure there to speed up the transfer. During this financial year emphasis would be put on roads in industrial areas and on sanitation. Some of the institutions with big investments in Dodoma were the National Provident Fund and the National Insurance Corporation.

ZANZIBAR POWER. The African Development Bank and the British Government have given TShs 2.4 billion to the Zanzibar government to finance rehabilitation of thermal power stations and the electricity distribution system in Zanzibar and Pemba.

SMALL BUSINESS. A small enterprise promotion programme named FAIDA (Finance and Advice in Development Assistance) has been inaugurated in Arusha. It aims at establishing a regional framework to support small enterprises and to contribute to methodologies and support mechanisms that are cost effective and can be applied elsewhere in Tanzania.

OBITUARIES

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JOSEPH NYERERE, younger brother of Mwalimu Nyerere, described in the Daily News as ‘an outstanding nationalist’. He resigned from his post as Secretary-General of the TANU Youth League in 1970 to become the first national leader to opt for life in an Ujamaa village.

I K PATEL, banker and philanthropist, held various posts in Barclays Bank including director of banking operations at Dar es Salaam in the sixties before moving to Britain.

REVIEWS

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ADJUSTMENT IN AFRICA. LESSONS FROM COUNTRY CASE STUDIES. Eds: Ishrat Husain and R Faruqee. World Bank. 1994. 436 pages.

It is difficult not to feel sympathy with Tanzania on the sheer amount of economic experimentation the country has been subjected to since independence. This second World Bank volume on structural adjustment (the first was reviewed in Bulletin No 48) in its Chapter 8 – ‘Tanzania – Resolute Action’, although some might question the appropriateness of the title, is comprehensive in outlining the economic history of Tanzania during the last thirty years. First there was the socialist period when left-leaning academics from around the world came to Tanzania to add their ideas to Julius Nyerere’s determined efforts to create a model socialist state. Then there are the last ten years when advocates of ‘structural adjustment’ tried out their ideas and learnt a lot of lessons.

The socialist period and the lessons to be learnt from its economic failure have been thoroughly thrashed out in many earlier issues of the Bulletin and are described succinctly in this book.

When the book goes on about the ‘economic recovery’ and ‘structural adjustment’ period there is much more detail. The authors write about the tentative steps taken from 1982 to 1985 – ‘but the background, orientation, hardened attitudes and ingrained habits of those entrusted with implementing the reforms clearly meant that the reform process would be difficult and slow8. And that is how it has been. The World Bank persisted in its efforts to persuade an often reluctant government to push ahead with more radical structural adjustment policies. Many would say, after the economic collapse of the early eighties, that there was no alternative.

Now, eight years later, we have two kinds of verdict. A group of increasingly militant NGO’s are launching an international campaign against World Bank structural adjustment policies. Early indications are that this opposition will need to marshal its facts and figures better than it has done so far, if it is to be successful. This book might be used as a model of the way in which it might be done. The Bank claims only modest success in Tanzania. Ghana is the success story. Tanzania is praised for rapidly turning round its economic performance and moving towards a more liberal, market-based economy. The evidence that this process was, in part at least, experimental, comes from the very extensive list of lessons which the Bank has learnt from what happened. The book reiterates that ‘greater attention should have been paid to …..’ ‘the reform programme should have been more strongly focused on. …..’ and so on. Table 8A summarises the picture in nine sections including fiscal policy, financial sector reforms, exchange rate management, wage policy reform, social sector policies and, in each case, compares the original situation with an assessment of the progress made in reform.

The book is essential reading for all interested in Tanzania’s economic affairs – DRB

THE NEW LOCAL LEVEL POLITICS IN EAST AFRICA. RESEARCH REPORT NO. 95. Ed: Peter Gibbon. Nordiska Afrikainstitutet Uppsala, Sweden. 1994. 119 pages.

The Tanzanian third of this book (it also covers Kenya and Uganda) written by Andrew S Z Kiondo, contains insights into a relatively new phenomenon in Tanzania – the rapid growth of formally organised community development activity (CDA) and non-governmental organisations (NGO’s). In 1993 there were 224 NGO1s registered compared with only 163 in 1990 – roughly two thirds of the latter had been formed since 1980.

During the era leading up to independence there had been a brief flourishing of independent trade unions, parents’ associations and youth organisations but, as the author puts it, ‘Independence saw a suppression of voluntary organisations and activities of all kinds as the state systematically penetrated/dissolved civil society and remoulded it in the image of the state itself1. The author goes on to describe the delicate relations now existing between local NGO’s – varying from the self-reliant to the ‘GONGO1s’ (Government organised) to those which are foreign supported – and the government. Taking into account recent political changes and the rise in racial and religious tensions, the author points out the lack of information on NGO1s and CDA1s. He tries to remedy this, in the most revealing part of the paper by a detailed study in a number of districts of Tanzania. For example:
– Ilala, Dar es Salaam – Muslim education/private health provision/religious based NGO1s/ Women CDA’s…. .
– Hai – day-care centres/religious and foreign NGO1s/the Hai Education Trust Fund/animal production NGO’s… .
– Pemba South – upsurge of economic CDA groups/an NGO run by OAU Secretary General Salim Ahmed Salim. ….

The author concludes by indicating how the Hai trust funds have all but displaced the local state and wonders whether this means privatisation of local government; he discusses in some depth the extent to which these new organisations are accountable – DRB

PEASANT SUPPLY RESPONSE AND MACROECONOMIC POLICIES: COTTON IN TANZANIA. Stefan Dercon. Journal of African Economies. Vol. 2 No. 2 October 1993. 38 pages.

Cotton is the second most important export crop in Tanzania (after coffee). It is mainly grown in the West – Mwanza and Shinyanga regions in particular. Production increased from about 25,000 tonnes of raw cotton in 1950 to a peak of 243 tonnes in 1966/67. It reached a low of 108,000 tonnes in 1985/86, the lowest level since 1961.

The main purpose of this article is to provide empirical evidence of the importance of various government policies on cotton production since the 1950,s. It undertakes an econometric analysis of the cotton supply function which includes such variables as cotton pricing, marketing policies, exchange rates, export taxation policies, prices for competing crops (maize and rice), inflation, taxation and availability indexes. The reasons why certain agricultural variables (such as input prices for seed or fertilizers) and climatic variables (such as rainfall) are excluded from the analysis are explained.

The main conclusions reached by the author are:
(1) That cotton producer prices have been adversely affected by government policies towards marketing, export taxation and the exchange rate. These prices have in turn affected cotton production through a significant supply response. The response to prices is a relative one: the relative cotton and food prices are the relevant variables; this implies that all increases in cotton production as a result of price changes will be at the cost of food production.
(2) Pricing policy resulted in a reduction in cotton production in the 1070’s and early 1980’s.
(3) The macroeconomic breakdown in Tanzania in the early 1980’s also had important consequences for cotton production. The effect of rationing was a large reduction of production and consequently of foreign exchange earnings from cotton.
(4) There was a striking difference of experience between the 1960’s and the 1970’s and 1980’s with a large trend increase in production stopping around the end of the 1960’s. These production increases were mainly caused by large yield increases, suggesting changes in technology used. This would suggest that the change in the policy environment after the Arusha Declaration in 1967 (including discouragement of cash crop production and villagisation) may well have had other effects than those working through pricing policy, but these were just as (if not even more) costly for peasant crop production and export earnings.

This is an interesting paper and the author has obviously put in a lot of work on the analysis and interpretation of results. I can’t however get over the impression that this was essentially a ‘desk study’ and that the author has little experience of either cotton or Tanzania.

There is not a mention of ginneries; the pivotal role they play in the cotton industry and how their nationalisation was disruptive. And I cannot agree with the statement that ‘while cotton cultivation was probably not forced upon farmers, extension officers often received premiums when large amounts of cotton were produced, therefore putting pressure on individual farmers’ (Page 167).

But my main bone of contention with this paper is that I don’t know how anyone can adequately write ‘Explaining Cotton Production in Western Tanzania’ (pages 165-69) over the years without reference to the multi-disciplinary research work carried out from 1934 to 1974 at the Ukiriguru Research Station, near Mwanza, by the Empire Cotton Growing Corporation (later the Cotton Growing Corporation). The Corporation was responsible in the 1940’s for the release of jassid resistant varieties without which cotton would never have become a major crop in Tanzania. The subsequent inclusion of bacterial blight and Fusarim wilt resistance added to the prosperity of the cotton industry. The continuous issue of new varieties from Ukiriguru, together with improved farming practices, is without doubt the underlying reason for yield increases up to the 1970’s.
A K Auckland

OTHER PUBLICATIONS

THE CONTINUING TRIAL OF DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS: POLICIES, PRICES AND OUTPUT IN TANZANIAN AGRICULTURE. Jan Kees van Donge. Journal of International Development. Vol. 6, No 2.
1994. 27 pages. This article sets out, through a review of literature and with the help of an analysis of output patterns in Tanzanian agriculture, to challenge traditional views on the influence of national economic and political factors on agricultural production. The effects of government intervention are said to be much more ambiguous than usually assumed and many ‘erratic ‘ patterns are quoted. Does the author give enough importance to climate in causing such patterns? Stress is placed on regional differences and especially on social changes – migration, labour shortage, the changing status of women, the struggle between the old and the young or, as the author puts it, the shift from government policy to the politics of the household.

CEREAL MARKETING LIBERALIZATION IN TANZANIA. Jonathan Coulter and Peter Golob. Food Policy. Dec. 1992. 10 pages. This paper points out the success which has attended Tanzania’s cereal market liberalization.

TRADING RESPONSES TO FOOD MARKET LIBERALIZATION IN TANZANIA. Anita Santorum and Anna Tibaijuka. Food Policy. Dec. 1992. 11 pages. This paper examines market places and storage, credit and transport costs.

HYDROPOWER IN TANZANIA. K Dodman. International Power Generation. Jan. 1994. 3 pages. Tanzania has an installed electric generating capacity of 410 Megawatts of which 330 MW is hydropower. This informative short article brings us up to date on the £125 million 66 MW hydropower plant at Pangani Falls which is scheduled for completion in January 1995. Four of the five hydropower plants constructed there in 1934 are still operating (providing 15 MW) and further upstream there are plants at Hale (21 MW), Nyumba ya Mungu (8 MW) and Kikuletwa (1.2 MW). The article also explains the importance of water management to avoid the situation in 1992 when the reservoirs were so low that load shedding of up to 130 MW had to be imposed.

THE COST OF DIFFERENTIAL GENDER ROLES IN AFRICAN AGRICULTURE: A CASE STUDY OF SMALLHOLDER BANANA-COFFEE FARMS IN THE KAGERA REGION, TANZANIA. Anna Tibaijuka. Journal of Agricultural Economics Vol. 45 No 1. 1994. 12 pages. In 1982/83, due either to economic pressure or profit motivation, 30% of the men in a random sample of 200 smallholder banana coffee farms in the Kagera Region had adopted a more liberalised division of labour, and engaged in operations and horticultural farm enterprises that traditionally are the responsibility of women. Using a linear programming model, the author states that, by liberalising sex roles, cash incomes could increase by up to 10% while the productivity of labour and capital would improve by 15% and 44% respectively. The author measured 56 activities in crop production, 4 in animal production, 5 in farm processing, 9 intermediate activities like seed production, 20 consumption activities, 18 selling activities and 22 buying activities.

TANZANIA’S GROWTH CENTRE POLICY AND INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT. M B K Dar Koh. Pub: Peter Lang, Frankfurt. 1944 Price: 89 DM. In 1979 a Growth Centre Strategy was initiated by government aimed at limiting the industrial growth of Dar es Salaam and spreading development to other regions. This book analyses the lessons to be learnt from the failure of the policy.

LIBERALIZATION AND PRIVATIZATION IN TANZANIA AND ZAMBIA. J M Due. World Development Vol. 21 No 12. 1993. 7 pages. This paper reviews early experience with, the short-run effects of and the way in which these governments are initiating post structural adjustment policies being advocated by the World Bank, IMF and donors.

CLEANER PRODUCTION IN TANZANIA. M Yhdego. UNEP Industry and Environment. Vol. 16 No 3. Sept. 1993. 2 pages. The author calls for legislation to bring about waste prevention and cleaner production instead of the more common ‘end-of-pipe1 pollution controls in Tanzanian industry. He gives the example of a study of a textile factory which recommended the installation of automatic shut-off valves on hoses, optimising rinse water usage, substituting certain chemicals and increasing the fixation rate of textile dyes.

ESTIMATING WOODY BIOMASS IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA. A C Millington and three others. World Bank 1994. 191 pages. This volume describes itself as a first attempt to map the vegetation and assess the stock and sustainable yield of wood resources. A 12-page section on East Africa describes the main land cover classes and the summary table on Tanzania estimates that the country has a sustainable yield of 111.7 million tons per year.

AFRICA: GROWTH RENEWED, HOPE REKINDLED. A Report on the Performance of the Development Fund for Africa 1988-92. USAID. 1994. 68 pages. This uncritical evaluation report has little to say on Tanzania but what it does say is significant. Writing about the US$ 40 million Agricultural Transport Assistance Programme (ATAP) it reports on a dramatic shift from using ‘moribund government capacity to reliance on private contractors’ – the increase was from nil in 1998 to 80% in 1992 of contractors engaged in road rehabilitation in the ATAP regions. There had been in Shinyanga a decline in vehicle operating costs of 37% and a decline in passenger fares of 18%

USING SITUATION ANALYSIS DATA TO ASSESS THE FUNCTIONING OF FAMILY PLANNING CLINICS IN NIGERIA, TANZANIA AND ZIMBABWE. Barbara Mensch and others. Studies in Family Planning Vol. 25 No 1. January/February 1994. 13 pages.

THE FISCAL IMPACT OF TRADE REFORMS IN TANZANIA IN THE 1980rS. W Lyakurwa. World Economy Vol. 16. No. 5. September 1993. 17 pages

PORTFOLIO MODELS AND PLANNING FOR EXPORT DIVERSIFICATION: MALAWI, TANZANIA AND ZIMBABWE. J Alwang and P B Siegel. Journal of Development Studies Vol. 30 (2). 1944. 17 pages.

LETTERS

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THE NAME OF A MOUNTAIN
Re the article in Bulletin No 48 about the mountain, I thought you might wish to know that between 1943 and 1961 I was able to gaze from four different houses over Morogoro and the Wami plains and the three northern outcrops of the Uluguru mountains: Mindu, Igala and Nguru ya Ndege. The last was the name given to the most northerly of the three by the local people and by the 1:50,000 Ordanance Survey map; not Mguru as in Maxwell Cooper’s fascinating letter.

‘Nguru’ could have slipped into use by association with the Nguru mountains, about 60 miles North of Morogoro. Or it could be a Kiluguru form of ‘Nguu’ (Summit in Swahili) which would probably be pronounced ‘Ngulu ya Ndege’. Or again a variant of ‘mguu’ (foot).

I never heard tell of Cooper’s stories but there was, among hill Waluguru and townsfolk alike, a strongly believed tradition that Mindu, the hill nearest to Morogoro and itself well over 3,000 feet, was the home of a large and malignant snake. There was no enthusiasm for an expedition up Mindu, although so near, mainly because by the dry season, when the hill could be more easily tackled, the area was defended by ‘upupu’, the Macuna bean. Those of your readers who have been attacked by this beast will understand the general reluctance. But full marks to Maxwell Cooper for his initiative.
Patrick Duff

Thank you for including my son’s letter ‘The Name of a Mountain’ in the May issue of the Bulletin. However, you omitted the all important word ‘ndege’ (Mguu Ndege) from the name of the mountain. You also gave our Rwandan address and it will not be possible to contact us in Rwanda for some time. Our current address is 8 Sotchel Green, Pewsey, Wilts SN9 5AU. Also please note that the letter was from three persons – Maxwell Cooper, Livio Zill and John E Cooper.
J E Cooper

THE NEED TO KNOW MORE
There were a number of items in the last issue on which I think readers would like to have known more. For example the recall at short notice of Mr Anthony Nyakyi from his post as ambassador to the United Nations. One wonders what the reasons could have been. The fascinating article on John Okello leaves us in midair. What happened to him eventually? On the issue of mines laid by Tanzanian troops in Mozambique you wrote that no maps were left behind when Tanzanian forces left the country. Surely Tanzania was not so irresponsible as to sow land mines in a foreign country without making a record of where they were positioned. In the article on child labour and in other articles earlier I notice your tendency to convert sums given in Tanzanian shillings into US dollars. Would it not be more appropriate, as this is a publication of the Britain-Tanzania Society, to give the equivalents in pounds sterling?
Paul Marchant

Concerning Mr Nyakyi the Tanzanian High Commission tells us that his contract ended in April this year and he returned home at that time. Stories to the contrary in the media were incorrect. Perhaps readers can help on the later career of John Okello. No information is available on the mines. On the matter of currencies, your point is taken but the Bulletin is read in more the 20 countries around the world, in many of which the dollar is the better understood currency – Editor.

FISHING SMACKS
You recently published an article by my son Benjamin on his Rufiji expedition. He is now back in Tanzania researching into the use of sail compared with power for fishing as so many of the fishing boats are unable to be used because of lack of spare parts etc. They are just starting to build their first wooden boat – English fishing smack design…. If you were to know of anyone going to Tanzania who could take things out to them (unusual things connected with the work) I would be most grateful.
Clare Freeth, Woddgate Farm, Borden,
Sittingbourne, Kent ME9 8JX