Among recent donations of aid to Tanzania have been 18 million euros (TShs 25.3bn/-) in budget support and for help in the fight against HIV/Aids from Germany; from Italy 2 million euros (TShs 2.8 billion) for HIV/AIDS control; from the US $700,000 (TShs 850 million) for help in monitoring bird flu; TShs 11 million from Norway for rural electrification; Korea $20 million (over TShs 20bn/-) to finance training of trainers, the construction of vocational training centres (VTCs) and information technology centres (ITCs) in Dar es Salaam; and, from Britain £700,000 (TShs 1.4 billion) for famine relief. Britain has also announced that it will provide £310 million over the next three years to support the Strategy for Growth and Reduction of Poverty (Mkukuta). DfID is the largest bilateral contributor of budget support to Tanzania having provided £330m over the last six years, including £85 million this financial year.

Tanzania’s climate remains harsh. At the beginning of the year famine was reported in several areas of the country and in February President Kikwete said the government would reduce the budgets of some ministries, if need be, to import food for hungry people. The President announced in February that he was going to hire electrical generators to relieve the shortage of electricity. He said that power shortages were critical, and daily rationing had been increased from 8 to 16 hours. He pointed out that this was because water levels at the Mtera and Kidatu dams had dropped due to the continuing drought. As the impact of the power rationing continued to be felt across the country, the public has expressed concern over a government ban on use of charcoal in urban areas. But two months later, after heavy rain, the dams started to refill and the severe electricity cuts in Dar were eased.

The merger between the South African Airways and Air Tanzania Corporation that resulted in the formation of ‘Air Tanzania Company Ltd’ has collapsed. Minister for Infrastructure Development, Basil Mramba, told the National Assembly that the two parties were negotiating on how to end the deal without hurting one another. In 2002 South African Airways (SAA) paid $20 million for a 49% stake in ATC. It was expected that half of the $20 million, would go into the 49% shareholding, and the rest would be directed toward the capital and training account earmarked for capitalisation. Before privatisation, ATC owned one passenger aircraft, a Boeing 737-200. Some have accused SAA of failing to meet part of the management agreement. Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority Director-General Margaret Munyagi was quoted in the East African as saying that Air Tanzania was in a “worse state than before it was taken over by SAA”. SAA in turn accused Tanzania’s government of not “being serious” in failing to release about $30m needed to implement Air Tanzania’s business strategy to reverse continued losses.

In April the government announced it had decided to dispose of ATCL, following years of losses. It had become insolvent after accumulating losses amounting to TShs 24.7bn/- in the four years since it had merged with South Africa Airways. However, the minister made it clear that there was a need to start a national airline that would meet the expectations of its clients and the country. A number of potential investors including Precision Air, Ethiopian Airlines and Gulf Air had expressed interest – Guardian.

Samson Ramadhani

Tanzanian Samson Ramadhani (a police officer) won the gold medal in the marathon at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne on 19th March. He was in fierce competition with Kenyan Fred Mogaka throughout much of the race and finished the 34 seconds ahead. “I knew that the Kenyans were very strong – they were the favourites to win – but I didn’t use my strength. I used my brain” Ramdhani said. According to the Arusha Times he returned home with not only the gold medal but also with some newly acquired football skills from ‘Down under.’ Ramadhani had spent his final hours at the athletes village enjoying a game of ‘kick-to-kick’ with his compatriots and emergency services personnel. ‘Australian Convicts’, an organization which promotes Australian Rules Football overseas, donated two balls to the runner, in order for him to bring the game home to his fellow Tanzanians.

By Jane Bryce

When my parents arrived in Tanganyika in 1949, they were sent to the Rondo Plateau, a remote area in the south, where my father’s job was to map a forest. This he was to do by foot safari, camping in the bush for up to weeks at a time, with a team of porters to carry the tents and provisions. Before she became pregnant with me, my mother went on foot safari with him. I have the pictures they took – a record of the dying days of colonialism, the white administrator with his canvas bath, dinner served at a folding table by lamplight, my mother washing her hair in a stream…but my memories are all of Moshi, where we lived from when I was three to seventeen. My parents spent nineteen years in Tanzanian Government and left in 1968.

The writer’s father’s office at the Hardwoods Research Station, Moshi

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The Kihansi spray toads (featured in an earlier issue of TA) which are regarded as a threatened species, and which were taken to the US in 2002 have multiplied from the original 72 to 216 in zoos in New York and Ohio and San Diego. Plans are now being made for them to return to Kihansi and for the possible establishment of a domestic breeding facility there. The government initiated project was assisted by World Bank funding.’ The toads might prove useful in future with the growth of biotechnology, especially in the pharmaceutical industries –Guardian.