In the late 1980’s the Government of Tanzania, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the World Bank undertook a ‘TANZANIA – AIDS ASSESSMENT AND PLANNING STUDY’ designed to assess the current status of AIDS in the country, likely future developments and prospective demographic, economic and other impacts of the epidemic and to examine the options available for doing something about it.

More than twelve consultants took part and a series of desk and field studies were followed by a mission to Tanzania in April-May 1991. The results have been published as a book (161 pages) by the World Bank and represent one of the most comprehensive and fact-filled contributions yet produced on the menace which AIDS represents. We asked a doctor to review and summarise its main features:

ORIGIN
In 1983 the first suspected case of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) was diagnosed in the Kagera Region. Extensive spread of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) was taking place in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. By the end of 1990 a cumulative total of 21,175 AIDS cases had been reported in the country. However, it was believed that due to under reporting the true figure to end 1990 was 100,000.

In the 1980’s malaria was the major cause of death – about 10,000 annually. Malaria, respiratory infections and diarrhoeal disease accounted for over half the diagnosed health problems, a pattern typical of Africa due to widespread poverty and lack of proper water supply and sanitation. Sexually transmitted diseases (STD’s) were among the top ten causes of morbidity. Gonorrhoea was rated the sixth most frequently reported disease. 13-15% of children died before their fifth birthday. Adult life expectancy was about 48 years. Adult mortality rate prior to AIDS was 7 per thousand.

FACTS AND FIGURES FROM THE BOOK
– At the end of 1990 21,175 AIDS cases had been reported but the true figure was more likely to be about 100,000 because of under-reporting:
– life expectancy after AIDS diagnosis is about one year;
– about 800,000 Tanzanians are now HIV infected; the worst affected areas are Kagera, Mwanza and Mbeya regions and Dar es Salaam;
– by the year 2010 up to 1,500,000 people might be infected; population growth is likely to slow because of AIDS but the growth rate will remain positive;
– 20% of sexually active men and 15% of women in Tanzania have sexual partners other than their spouses; even greater proportions engage in commercial sex;
– 10% of Tanzania’s budget goes on health but this amounts to the equivalent of only US$2.00 per person.

When the AIDS epidemic was officially confirmed in 1985 an AIDS Task Force was set up by the Government with the help of the World Health organisation (WHO). In 1988 a National AIDS Control Programme (NACP) was inaugurated with a budget of US$11 million. This focused on three major areas: a) monitoring and research; b) prevention of HIV and STD infections; and, c)coping with AIDS patients and their dependants.

MEN AND WOMEN EQUALLY INFECTED
Men and women in Sub-Saharan Africa are equally HIV infected. However, there are large disparities among subgroups of the population. For example, in Kagera Region 17% of the urban population but only 5% of the rural population were HIV sero-positive. In half of mainland Tanzania 2.5% of the urban population and 1% of the rural population were seropositive.

80% of all sub-Saharan HIV infections are believed to result from heterosexual contacts. 10% are due to blood transfusions and perinatal infection. Contaminated needles may be responsible for 1% of HIV infections.

NO SURVIVAL BEYOND TWO YEARS
The conversion from HIV sero-positivity to full-blown AIDS takes from several months to 20 years. Current belief is that all infected persons will eventually die of AIDS unless an effective cure is discovered. The disease progresses rapidly among infants. 25% of perinatally infected infants develop AIDS before their first birthday and 80% by five years old, whereas only 15-20% of adults progress to AIDS in the first five years after infection. Once AIDS has developed, 80% of adults and 90% of children will be dead in one year. No AIDS victim is expected to survive more than two years. During the illness there are many episodes of painful and debilitating sickness – an average of 17 for adults and 6 for children.

CONTROLLING THE EPIDEMIC
The study recommends that the NACP should give the highest priority towards reducing heterosexual transmission of the virus – principally by prevention of STD’s, encouraging the use of condoms and the promotion of safe and responsible sexual practices through improvements in the associated Information, Education and Communication Programme (IEC).

The importance of preventing and controlling STD’s in the fight against AIDS has been recognised in Tanzania since 1984, yet by the end of 1990 no government or WHO money had been spent on an STD programme. Unfortunate indeed when one considers that genital ulcers, which enhance the spread of HIV, may well be the principal factor producing the heterosexual pattern of AIDS as seen in Africa. At the time of writing the report there were plans to establish STD clinics with funding from the EC, ODA and USAID. It was felt that these would not, however, represent a comprehensive national programme.

50 MILLION CONDOMS
A recent survey in Tanzania concluded that 20% of sexually active men and 15% of women had sexual partners other than their spouses. By the end of 1991 Tanzania had received 50 million condoms and had distributed 37 million.

KONYAGI AND CHARCOAL INSTEAD OF CONDOMS
Edna Ndejembi writing in the Dar es Salaam ‘Family Mirror’ brought a more down to earth approach to the problem after talking to long-distance lorry drivers and their lady friends in Dodoma. “Truck drivers are fantastic lovers, they offer good money and lovely presents, they are just the best” one lady was quoted as saying. To avoid AIDS she normally takes a solution of charcoal powder every morning. A truck driver also had his own remedy. “For my permanent lovers that I trust I do not bother about preventive measures. I do not like condoms because they reduce sexual sensitivity. But for hit and run partners I always use cognac (Konyagi)”. He explained that he applied Konyagi to his organ before and after sex. Research conducted by the African Medical Research Foundation (AMREFO) in 1992 indicated that in Dar es Salaam 31% of long-distance truck drivers and 55.7% of their partners are HIV positive.

97% AWARE OF AIDS
The report criticises the IEC Programme as being less effective than it should have been – partly due to under funding. However, the preliminary report of a large survey showed that 97% of people were aware of AIDS and its most salient features. But only 39% knew that one could be infected with the virus but not have any symptoms. The report recommends that ‘the IEC programme should be given new life’.

FUTURE PROJECTIONS
The Chin-Sonnenberg projection model has estimated that there will be 125,000 AIDS cases by 1992 (80,000 adults and 45,000 children) with 10% HIV seroprevalence among urban adults and 6% among rural adults. A 10% seroprevalence implies doubling the death rate in the 15-49 age group. Longer term projections take into account the possible effect of preventive programmes. The Bulato models (15% and 45% sexual monogamy) anticipate results as follows (in millions):

…………………………………..15% monogamy, 45% monogamy
Cumulative AIDS cases Year 2000: 1.99, 0.55
Cumulative AIDS cases Year 2010: 6.40, 1.99
Cumulative AIDS deaths Year 2000: 1.60, 0.45
Cumulative AIDS deaths Year 2010: 5.60, 1.70

COSTS AND ECONOMIC IMPLICATIONS
The treatment costs (1991) per AIDS case were US$290 for an adult and US$195 for a child. Each adult AIDS case required on average 280 days of care including home care. In the year 1991 estimated total AIDS health care costs were $27.26 million. In that year the government allocated $58.29 million (10.9% of the national recurrent budget) towards total health care. Clearly the full treatment of AIDS patients, would have had an alarming effect on other aspects of health care, that is on the 80-90% of the population not infected with HIV. Added to the cost of treating and caring for AIDS patients are the costs of caring for orphan survivors. The government will have hard budgetary decisions to make. The government recently reported that the estimated cost of the NAP programme for the period 1992 to 1997 would be $63 million of which external pledges for $43 million had been registered.

The AIDS epidemic, producing an alarming decline in the health of the population and a geometrically growing increase in the mortality of sexually active adults will undoubtedly have major effects on the economy reduced labour productivity , increased health care expenditure and a reduction in human investment.

Now that AIDS has reached pandemic proportions in Africa there is need for a special WHO service in the region to co- ordinate the AIDS prevention and control programme. As catering for surviving dependants could be considered a basic humanitarian act it would be appropriate for this to be financed by NGO’s. Though care should be taken not to select out AIDS family survivors while neglecting other orphans – in the Kagera district more than 5,600 children are thought to have been orphaned by 1991 due to AIDS; yet for every AIDS orphan there were eight who had lost one or both parents due to other causes.

At a time of world recession African countries are facing a great crisis – and there is worse to come! African countries, International agencies and donor countries must make greater efforts to prevent a catastrophe.
Oliver Murphy

(More up-to date data has been given in ‘World Bank News’ dated November 24,1993. 816 households in Kagera Region were sampled during a recent Bank research project. 16% reported having lost an adult member during the past year of whom more than half were thought to have died from AIDS. Economic effects included children less likely to be in school, affected families more likely to be headed by a woman with more ‘dependants’ or children per adult to take care of. On average, households spent US$60 on medical and funeral expenses for each death – roughly the average annual income in the area. Of 2,250 children under 15 in the sampled families, 130 had lost both parents, 185 had lost their mother and 368 had lost their father. The author pointed out that this Tanzanian study might overstate the effects of AIDS because the families sampled were generally at a higher risk of losing adult members to fatal illnesses – a point made in another view of AIDS in Tanzania which is described below – Editor)

BUT OTHERS DISSENT
Not everyone agrees with the widely accepted interpretation of the AIDS epidemic in Tanzania outlined above and during recent weeks massive international publicity has been given to an entirely different point of view. In March there was a British TV programme based on the situation in parts of Uganda and Tanzania and then, the Sunday Times (October 3, 1993) devoted part of its front page and two inside pages to articles by Neville Hodgkinson under the headings ‘AFRICAN AIDS PLAGUE A MYTH’ and ‘THE PLAGUE THAT NEVER WAS’.

The evidence was said to have come from two French charity workers Philippe (50) a former pilot, and Evelyne (42) Krynen, a teacher working in what was described as the ‘epicentre’ of the disease – Kagera Region in Tanzania.

After a first visit to Bukoba and its surrounding area they prepared an illustrated report which was to prove a catalyst for French and Belgian interest in the social impact of AIDS in Africa. They wrote of children alone in houses emptied of adults, a football team destroyed by the disease, old people sitting alone with their dead, black crosses painted at the entrances of AIDS-stricken homes.

The Krynen/s then abandoned their previous careers to train as nurses specialising in tropical medicine and came back to Tanzania to head the first and largest AIDS organisation for children in Tanzania – ‘Partage’. Today this charity has 230 full-time employees helping 7,000 children in 15 of Kagera’s villages.

“THERE IS NO AIDS”
Among the startling conclusions the Krynen’s have come to as a result of four years work in the area are the following: – one positive test cannot be relied upon for HIV diagnosis; a wide variety of parasitical and other infections can trigger a false positive result;
– there is no connection between HIV-positivity and risk of illness; 54 villagers were ill with complaints such as pneumonia and fungal infections that might have contributed to an AIDS diagnosis but just as many of these were HIV-negative as positive; when they were given appropriate treatment, most recovered;
– there is not a trace of evidence of the disease being sexually transmitted;
– the HIV test has nothing to do with AIDS;
– there is no AIDS; it is something that has been invented:

WHERE HAVE ALL THE ORPHANS COME FROM?
The Sunday Times article then asked, if Kagera is not in the grip of ‘HIV disease’, where have the thousands of orphans come from? The answer say the Krynens, is that most of the children are not orphans at all. “The raising of children by their grandparents is a long standing feature of the culture of the region, Parents move away from the region, sending back a little money and returning occasionally or never: other children are born to prostitutes. When parents are absent it is fashionable to say that they have died of AIDS because this brings money and support. Everybody claims to be a victim of AIDS nowadays. Local people working for AIDS agencies have become rich … the children usually thrive once they are properly fed and cared for though some are so poorly from birth that they remain vulnerable to infections. In all the children we have lost there was a very good reason – heart failure, TB treated too late, cerebral malaria, acute hepatitis – you have no right to call any of these deaths AIDS … there are now some 17 organisations reportedly doing something about AIDS in Kagera … today as the ferry arrives from Mwanza the port seizes up with donor agency Landrovers and Toyotas … Africa is a ‘good conscience’ ground for many charities”.

(In the light of the above we asked a specialist at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine to comment – Editor)

‘NAIVE VIEWS’
When the science correspondent of a serious newspaper decides to write a two page article on AIDS in Africa, one would expect that he would interview a wide variety of experts in the field, and publish a balanced account of what they tell him. Neville Hodgkinson, has not adopted this approach.

It is true that he has interviewed a number of scientists and doctors working on AIDS in Africa, but he has chosen not to report their views, confining his article to the opinions of a former French army pilot and teacher. This couple went to work in Bukoba after receiving one year’s training in nursing, and tested about 800 local residents for HIV infection.

They told Mr. Hodgkinson that their tests had not proved reliable, apparently on the grounds that a number of those with positive tests were in good health, and a number of patients whom they saw with “pneumonia and fungal infections” had negative tests. They therefore decided “to put all they had been told about the disease (AIDS) in the garbage can, and tried to reconsider”. They admitted that they had seen patients dying of an unusual wasting disease, but concluded that it could not be sexually transmitted, since the sexual partners of these patients did not have the disease. Mr. Hodgkinson reported that his lady informant had told him: “I will spend a night with an HIV positive person, if he’s handsome enough.”

It is not surprising that there are people in Africa who hold the naive views expressed by this French couple. It is difficult for those without scientific training to grasp the concept of a disease with an incubation period which may extend to ten years or more. What is surprising is that the science correspondent of what was once a respected newspaper should report such nonsense when he knows it not to be true.

In June of this year Mr. Hodgkinson attended a press conference at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, at which results were presented from a community study in Masaka District of Uganda conducted by the Uganda Virus Research Institute and the British Medical Research Council. This study, in which some 10,000 people were followed up for several years, found that the risk of death was 87 times higher in HIV positive than in HIV negative individuals.

Mr. Hodgkinson’s reasons for failing to report these and many similar findings of which he must be aware can only be guessed at. I find his article an insult to the many dedicated health workers in Africa who are trying to care for an increasing number of AIDS patients and to the memory of the hundreds of thousands of people who have died of HIV related diseases in Africa in the past decade; an impediment to research into ways of controlling this devastating epidemic; and a dangerous source of misinformation which may lead those who read it to put themselves needlessly at risk of disease and death.
David Mabey

I had not been living long in Nzega and as yet I had few friends there. One friend however was an Arab called Saidi. He was a younger member of an extremely wealthy and important family; everyone knew his family and, subsequently, virtually everyone knew Saidi. We shared two particular interests – my motorcycle and my music collection.

This particular story begins one weekend after I had been down to Tabora. By the time I returned Saidi had gotten himself married, been severely beaten by his father and subsequently divorced! All of this was completely out of the blue. Of course, this being Tanzania, the story was far more complicated than that. Not only had Saidi been desperate enough to have stolen the money for the required dowry from his father, but the woman Saidi had married had something of a reputation as a rather vicious social climber. She also had a reputation for witchcraft.

Saidi’s ex-wife had in fact been married into the family before to a direct uncle of Saidi, his father’s true brother, who had also divorced her. Not only that. She had then subsequently been the mistress of another of Saidi’s uncles before this uncle too had tired of her. This was her third attempt to break into this important Nzega family.

By now it was mid-week. Saidi had been divorced for two or three days when I began to hear some strange rumours. He had apparently lost the use of his legs and everyone swore that it was not due to the beating that his father had given him.

I went to see him at his house – a typical Arab dwelling hidden off the dusty main road by a small twisting alley way. It had open courtyards where the household chores would be performed and the various rooms of the house surrounded these.

When I found Saidi, sure enough he was incapable of using his legs. There was no obvious damage but he simply could not bear to put any weight on them and could not walk. His family took him to the local district hospital but the doctors there could not find anything wrong. They took him to the nearest Swedish mission hospital (of spotless reputation) but they too could find nothing wrong.

By now the general consensus was that he was under the spell of a curse, obviously perpetrated by his ex-wife as an act of revenge. The family therefore took the best course of action available – they went to Bagamoyo on the coast and brought back a couple of powerful Muslim holy men.

Soon after that I went again to visit Saidi. His room was dark and dingy with various members of the family and friends squatting around his bed with the holy men. Saidi sat with his legs hanging over the side of the bed and complained to me about his situation. As my eyes gradually became accustomed to the dark I realized that there was something unusual about those two limbs. I peered closer and, to my surprise, I found that they were entirely encircled and inscribed from toe to upper thigh with extremely fine Islamic script drawn in black ink. The inking was perfect in all respects.

I turned to stare at one of the Muslim Imams, who returned my stare with shy interest, seemingly completely oblivious to the alien feelings that I was then experiencing. By now I had expressed my condolences to Saidi and his mother and since I was feeling so out of place I felt that I should leave.

A few days later I was hailed in the street. I turned and saw Saidi and his usual gang all striding confidently towards me. “So you’re better” says I. “Of course” replies he and he stamped around and around in the dust of the road by way of demonstration.
Michael Ball

MASSIVE INFLUX OF REFUGEES
Tanzania is having to cope with another major crisis with the arrival in recent weeks of some 170,000 refugees escaping from the slaughter in Burundi following the recent coup. However, there is better news from the other end of the country. Plans are now well ahead for the repatriation of 18,000 Mozambique refugees from the Likuyu refugee camp in Ruvuma Region. Their return home is scheduled for 1994.

A NEW EAST AFRICAN PACT
The Heads of state of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania met in Arusha on November 30, 1993 and signed protocols for East African Cooperation. The proposed permanent Commission of Cooperation will emphasise initially joint projects in transport, communications, trade, agriculture, energy, industry, tourism, the environment and health – Daily News.

TANZANIAN TROOPS FOR LIBERIA
President Mwinyi has announced that Tanzania is to send troops to Liberia to participate in peace-keeping activities. Tanzania was one of the countries which had been requested by the Organisation of African Unity, the USA and the conflicting factions in Liberia to provide troops – Daily News.

TANZANIA MEDIA COUNCIL
The announcement by the Government that it is to introduce a Bill in Parliament to establish a Tanzania Media Council which would license journalists to practice their profession and regulate their standards of conduct has met with fierce opposition in the media and in Parliament. The Bill would also deal with what it termed ‘concentration of the media in a few hands’. The Council would be empowered to cancel or suspend the licence of a newspaper, television or radio station.

SOUTH AFRICAN LUXURY TRAIN IN DAR ES SALAAM
The maiden ‘ Edwardian Train Safari’ from Capetown arrived in Dar es Salaam, after a 10-day journey, on time at lOam on July 25th. The head of the Moshi-based Alpine Tours Limited said that the trip had been organised in order to promote Tanzania as an important tourist destination in sub-Saharan Africa. Forty tourists later flew onto Dar es Salaam to join the train for the return journey which was likely to cost each of them US$ 6,000.

COTTON OUTPUT TO DROP
The General Manager of the Tanzania cotton Marketing Board has said that he expected cotton output to decline by half this season to 289,000 bales compared with 570,000 last year. The main cause was the country’s low ginning capacity. Up to 40% of the 1992/93 crop was yet to be ginned. Although the country had more than 30 ginneries most of them were operating below capacity because of old age – Daily News.

DECLINE IN CRIME
Comparing rates of crime in Dar es Salaam between January and May last year and the same period this year, The Ministry of Home Affairs has given the following figures:
– offences against property: 35,904 last year; 22,521 this year;
– offences against persons: 10,108 compared with 10,552;
– armed robbery: 48 last year; 32 this year;
– robbery with violence: 292 compared with 231;
– house-breaking: 2,461 compared with 2,298;
– killings: 45 last year; 55 this year – Daily News.

RAILWAYS IN PROFIT
The Tanzania Railways Corporation (TRC) realised a pre-tax profit of Shs 2 billion in the 1992/93 financial year, 70% above the profit recorded in 1991/92 signalling a remarkable recovery after years of slump said Minister of Transport and Communications Philemon Sarungi on July 26th. The EC’s aid was beginning to payoff. Six engines, 315 cargo and 19 passenger wagons had been rehabilitated – Daily News ..

WANTED – LINKS WITH ZANZIBAR
There are many links between communities and schools in Britain and mainland Tanzania but, as yet, few with Zanzibar. ‘One World Linking’ the Newsletter of the UK One World Linking Association UKOWLA (The Old Rectory, Newbiggin, Temple Sowerby, Penrith, Cumbria, CA10 ITB) reports in its latest issue on links between Hereford and Muheza, Reddich and Mtwara and Leominster and Tengeru. Those interested in a possible link with Zanzibar might like to get in touch with UKOWLA or wi th Ms Fatima Abdullah at the Tanzania High Commission – Tel No: 071 499 8951.

NEW ANNUAL SCHOOL FEES
Forms I – IV Shs 30,000 (£43) day and Shs 40,000 boarding Forms V – VI Shs 35,000 day and Shs 46,000 boarding.

TANZANIA GETS A GOOD MARK
The bulky 1993 Annual Report of the Human Rights organisation I Amnesty International’ covers Tanzania in less than half a page and mentions only the one-day detention of 15 people in Zanzibar, the court case against the Rev Mtikila and the lack of a decision on the charges facing former Zanzibar Chief Minister Seif Shariff Hamad.

MWINYI PRAISED
The leaders of the Rwanda Government and the rebel Rwanda Patriotic Front paid glowing tributes to President Mwinyi, the official facilitator, at the signing in Arusha on August 4 1993 of a peace agreement after the two-year civil war.

GOVERNMENT URGED TO HELP DAILY NEWS
The former Managing Editor of Tanzania Standard Newspapers which publishes the Daily and Sunday News said recently that the company was near bankruptcy and it needed material and financial support from government to enable it to survive competition from the emerging private press.

Suddenly, with a speed I did not believe possible for a beast of such vast, barrel-like proportions, a hippopotamus rose beneath us. Its great mouth sprang open and for a second I saw three feet of terrifying space between its gaping jaws, just a foot away from my left leg.

Its jaws closed on the side of the canoe, but its teeth slipped on the plastic. In a flash we were both stabbing the beast with our oars like frenzied Maasai warriors, discouraging the second assault somewhat. Then, seeing clear water, we plunged our paddles into it, shooting the canoe forward and away with an enthusiasm that would have done credit to the best Oxford or Cambridge rowers. We escaped with leaping hearts to the other bank to light a fire and brew a calming pot of tea.

I remembered the words of Sir Samuel White Baker, the explorer, who noted in 1869: “Being charged by an elephant is a new sensation – very absorbing for the time. It would be an excellent relaxation, once a week, for men in high office.” I wondered whether he would say the same of a hippopotamus attack.

We were in the Selous Game Reserve – the largest, and one of the most inaccessible game reserves in the world. The Rufiji River, with a drainage basin larger than the United Kingdom, runs through it to the Indian Ocean. It was this untamed river, which had never before been navigat2d, that we were hoping to canoe on, from source to sea.

Our route to the source was long and complicated. We needed a permit from Dar es Salaam. Our borrowed canoe lay in Zimbabwe and the cheapest air fare took us to Nairobi via Moscow.

We finally arrived at our starting point near Ifakara on a local bus with our canoe on the roof. Within three days the two of us were alone. For nearly four weeks we would not see a single human being in our vast wilderness. However, we would pass about 40,000 of the beautifully ugly, small-brained hippo. Here, along with the largest populations of elephant, lion, leopard and buffalo is the biggest concentration of hippo and crocodile in the world.

We were hoping to supplement our basic supplies, which we had bought in Ifakara, with fish, but our line proved to be too light. We were down to our last cup of maize meal when a large tiger fish leapt into the canoe. Another day we stole three dozen crocodile eggs and grilled baby crocodiles whole. Sometimes the river got too much and we would spend days blundering through the thick, thorny bush with the canoe on our heads and the tsetse fly around us.

In Stieglers Gorge, where the river roars down a series of rushing rapids, and the precipitous sides rise 300-400ft, making escape almost impossible, we capsized twice, nearly losing the canoe and our belongings.

We reached the delta, a 50-mile wide maze of tidal channels, tired and lost. A man carrying 3,000 mangoes towards the Indian Ocean in a dugout canoe appeared and led us through the final stretch, 22 hours of non-stop canoeing.

Eventually we reached the Indian Ocean, where we sailed to Dar es Salaam in an open 40ft dhow. As I lay there that night, I echoed the words of Wilfred Thesiger: “I learnt the satisfaction that comes from hardship and the pleasure that springs from abstinence; the contentment of a full belly; the taste of clean water; the ecstasy of surrender when the craving for sleep becomes a torment.”

I wondered how long it would be before I would have to be learning these things again.
Ben Freeth

(This article appeared first in The Times Magazine – Editor)

TRIBULATIONS OF A PARKING ATTENDANT AT THE SABA SABA TRADE FAIR (Extracts from an ‘Express article by M Okema)

“Sorry Sir. You cannot take your car in because it has no sticker”.
“Look. You have known me since secondary schooldays. I regard you as my brother. Now let me go in”.
“If we work on the basis of brotherhood then nobody is going to pay. Everybody can find a relative somewhere”.
“Alright I will leave the car outside. From now on we are no longer brothers …… ”

“Your car sticker please”.
“I don’t have one and I don’t need any”.
“Then your car won’t go in”.
“Listen young man. Don’t you know who I am? I come from Ikulu …. ”

“Car sticker please”
“What for? This is my country and I am free to go anywhere I like”.
“Sorry. Park your car outside”.
“The trouble with this country is that people in responsible positions enjoy oppressing citizens ….. ”

Why do people break rules and regulations?

THE ‘NO-POTHOLE’ POLICY – TANZANIA’S AMBITIOUS INTEGRATED ROADS PROJECT (IRP)

Tanzania has benefited from a number of donor assisted highway projects over the years many of which provided fast smooth roads which then disintegrated because too little was done to maintain them; many were broken up by over-loaded lorries. The World Bank estimated that Tanzania was spending up to US$ 150 million annually (one third of total export earnings) on vehicle operation due to the bad roads.

Tanzania therefore launched in 1991 a much more ambitious programme than any that had gone before the 5-year Integrated Roads Project (IPR) for which World Bank and other donors are contributing 90% of the total cost of US$ 901 million. Under this project it is intended to improve 34,650 kms of Tanzania’s 55,000 kms of roads to ‘all weather, maintainable standards’: 10,150 kms will be trunk roads (only 10% of which were regarded as satisfactory in 1991) and the remainder rural roads. The IRP will also decentralise the Ministry of Works to enable it to cope better with maintenance and hopes to introduce a new’ road maintenance culture’. There will be a ‘no pothole policy’ aimed at repairing faults before they damage the road foundations and new methods are being introduced such as grinding up old Tarmac and using it again. The target is to have 70% of the trunk roads and 50% of key regional roads in good condition by 1996.

Work began in mid-1991. The Chinese are building the 226 km Tunduma-Sumbawanga road giving better access to the maize-rich Rukwa region: local firms are rebuilding the 310 km Bereku-Singida- Shelui and the 278 km Usagara-Lusahanga roads. other components of the project include a 58 km section of the Tanzania-Zambia highway from Igawa to Igurusi which is assigned to a British company (stirling), the Dar es Salaam-Kagera corridor via Oodoma and Mwanza with a branch to Tabora: and a design study of a new road from Tabora to Kigoma.

In Morogoro Region, in the interests of austerity and greater permanence, local ‘petty contractors’ from the villages are repairing short lengths of minor routes, and tracks for oxen, donkeys and horses using hand labour.

DAR ES SALAAM ROADS
The roads in and around Dar es Salaam are a special problem which is being tackled by the Japanese. When I was last in Tanzania I was shocked by the number of private cars, especially the host of new ones bearing the ‘TX’ number plates (formerly used for duty-free vehicles) many belonging to aid agencies. Perhaps too much is being spent by donors on these cars and other creature comforts. I think it would be a good thing if development could be drawn away from Dar es Salaam which is creating part of the problem by being so insatiable for supplies from afar. I visited Dodoma in 1991 and it was clear to the officials I met that even they did not agree on where they would be able to find enough water to support the town as a capital city. I think that Tanzania would be better served if there were a number of prosperous and fairly self-sufficient regional centres and market towns rather than one huge megalopolis on the coast.
C T Hart

Rifle illustration

In the north west of Nzega district there is a village called Igusule where, sometime in May ’91, I found myself in the process of organlslng a village seminar. I would be meeting with my friend, the village Extension Officer, at the cattle crush which can be found in the forest along Igusule’s southern edge.

When I found Gordons he was busy vaccinating cattle; there were only some thirty or forty head, but since this is Tanzania, where nothing is simple, it turned out to be tremendously hard work. The cattle crush was in an extremely sad state of repair, so much so, that rather than aiding Gordons with his work it was in fact inhibiting him.

Let me explain by using a small metaphor; the water funnel; the mob of cattle enter at the wide mouth of the funnel and, as they progress inwards they are eventually reduced to a single file procession; at this point, as they pass Gordons one by one, he vaccinates them.

That, anyhow, is the theory. In practice it worked out like this … so many cattle had passed through the crush that by the time they had come to a single file they had worn a deep trench into the ground. By now the trench was so deep that the cattle could no longer keep their heads and horns above the latticed steel bars that formed the crush’s frame. As soon as a cow would enter the single file area its horns would become entangled in the steel frame and it would panic, thrashing its head from side to side and sometimes bucking and kicking, so that its compatriots behind would decide unanimously to retreat.

Unfortunately, that sensible option was no longer available to them, for not only had the funnel mouth been long since closed, but also, there was the presence of several enthusiastic youths armed with long flexible sticks. These drivers had their own goal and that was to force the cattle down the funnel so that Gordons could do his work. By rushing about wildly, gesticulating and yelling, the boys encouraged the miserable cattle to congregate in the narrow end of the funnel. This was bad enough but, occasionally, a lone and foolish cow, panic stricken by the confusion in the front ranks of its fellows, would break through the cordon of youths thereby provoking them into terrifying action. I stared amazed as another cow broke free from the bovine melee and attempted to rush the stockade frame. Two youths left the cordon and neatly out-manoeuvred the hapless escapee who then received several lightning quick blows with the sticks right between the eyes. Such alarming treatment was enough to persuade the cow that the unknown dangers of the narrow path were preferable to those presented by these horrendous demons with the awful sticks. The cow would dive back into the safety of its own kind thus further encouraging the general forwards motion.

All these cattle were the property of one man who stood to the side quietly leaning on his long staff. I asked him how many cattle he owned and he answered by indicating the scene in front of us, replying, “Only thirty to forty”. In fact he was currently the owner of around eight hundred head, and that wasn’t including the many goats and sheep he undoubtedly had as well. He had not always been a rancher; only two years ago he’d been a successful businessmen in Shinyanga owning two buses and a few other smaller vehicles. One day he had sold them – all bar one – and moved back to the village to keep cattle.

By now the youths had valiantly forced the cattle past Gordons’ vaccinating gun, but for the beasts the ordeal was still far from over. Once out of the first single file passage the cattle would emerge into another stockade with another funnel, this time followed by the need to leap into the dipping pit. But the passage, having suffered the passing of countless thousands of hooves, had had a deep trench worn into its bottom. The boys were now covered from head to foot with wet green cow manure and were using the sticks so often that the weapons would fragment and shatter until all they had left was not much more than they were grasping in their hands. In the end it was worth the effort; the cattle had been dipped and vaccinated so were now fit for transportation and to be sold.

The cattle owner, who went by the name of Mzee Balole, invited Gordons and I back to his house to eat, which, I might add, I refused. His house was typical of Igusule and other villages of his district in that it was surrounded by his cattle corrals and therefore, as far as I was concerned anyway, was plagued by the millions of insect followers that African cattle inevitably attract. Besides, when I’d arrived in the morning I’d expected to have more of Gordons’ time and so I was already lacking in patience. We did go to Mzee Balole’s house. We stayed and drank some sour milk. But lunch was going to be a long time coming and eventually my patience plus my inability to deal with the flies forced me to drag Gordons away from a free meal. Nobody else noticed the flies, not even Gordons who is from Mount Kilimanjaro where this kind of cattle culture doesn’t exist. Should one or more of the insects happen to investigate a particularly sensitive orifice or organ, it was calmly wafted away like the useless and poor excuse for an irritation it was.

THE SECRET SOCIETY OF RIFLE MAKERS
When I had left the homestead I knew I had committed an unforgivable social faux-pas and I became depressed, so Gordons tried to cheer me up by telling me a few tales of the bush. Like myself, Gordons had a passionate interest in all things to do with the wild and, having lived in Tabora region for some years, he was capable of telling the most incredible stories. To begin with he tells me that some of the villagers here still manage to hunt in the forests that lie to the south. Unfortunately for the wildlife, Igusule is a large village and so most of the bigger game have been forced deeper into the woods; the last lions here were poisoned as far back as 1971. The one notable exception though was the magnificent and secretive Greater Kudu whose meat is regarded as especially sweet by many Tanzanians; an adult bull male may weigh in at over three hundred kilogrammes and has, mounted into his skull, two spectacular spiralling horns. However, though its exceptionally shy nature means that even a large adult male would rather run whenever threatened it must still be quite a handful to kill, so I remarked on that to Gordons. “No” he replied, “if you have a torch and you hunt at night it is really very easy. Many people have rifles in this village”.

This was definitely news to me and I said so. “Yes” said Gordons, “we use this local rifle, the one where you load the ammunition and the gunpowder in the muzzle” and he offered to show me one when we got back to his house.

When I saw it I was taken aback. In its dark wooden stock there were inlays of bright metal, and perhaps ivory too, fashioned into subtle Arabic shapes and signs; it had a long barrel braced its entire length with the wood of the stock and slung below was the ramrod that confirmed for my disbelieving eyes that it was indeed a muzzle loader. I took it from Gordons to examine it. I was sure that it could be ancient so I asked Gordons if he knew its age, “Oh yes I think maybe, fifteen years” he replied.

Gordons really knew how to surprise me and having so gained my attention he began to tell me more about the rifle. Some eighty or a hundred miles south east of here there is an extremely large and wild tract of bush where lives a secret society of rifle makers. So secret are they that, should an unwelcome stranger happen to stumble upon them, they might well murder him in order to protect the secret.

The raw material used in the manufacture of the rifle barrel is the steering rod of a car which, I believe, is somehow either cold or slow drilled through its entire length to form the business end of the muzzle loading musket. Should you wish for something more up market, you could go for one of their .404 hunting rifles, “the one they use to kill the elephants” Gordons tells me. Even the gunpowder for the musket is made by these experts. The shot on the other hand, is readily available in most big towns and comes in the form of standard sized solid, round steel bars known as ‘Nondo’; these are sawn up into suitably sized plugs of maybe one centimetre thickness that fit surprisingly well down the barrel of the musket. I couldn’t say what calibre the muskets were but the muzzle looked very wide. My imagination began to run amuck as I thought about the packing of the barrel with powder and then plugging it with that formidable steel shot. Pulling the trigger must have produced the most sensational results.

Gordons went out again and a short while later came back. This time he had some local ‘baruti’, or gunpowder, with him. “Watch” he said. “It works very well”. He poured a measure onto the floor, and then he touched a match to it and with a brief violent orange flash it flared explosively and died. My retinas were left with the impression of its brilliant signature. But I remained in doubt as to whether these locally produced items were really capable of performing their intended task. “Even shot like this kills elephants very nicely” Gordons solemnly assured me, rather unnecessarily I thought. I couldn’t imagine that it would be very accurate, but firing it must have been somewhat akin to loosing off an old siege cannon, and woe betide any being luckless enough to interrupt the passage of that formidable plug of steel.

A DIFFERENT PLACE
By the time we had conducted our business of the day I had toured much of Igusule, meeting and talking with some of the farmers. Gordons had also taken me to the market to meet a few of the stall holders. Igusule was going to be a boom town. The railway from Dar es Salaam came right through as did the fabled African trams-continental highway. In the future they were going to build at Igusule a new railway cargo terminus, with a new line going north to Bukoba starting right there. Blessed of all, the Tarmac part of the highway, beginning in Kigali, Rwanda, would be extended all the way to Igusule. Change was coming and Igusule was going to be a different place.

Michael Ball