Chief Editor (Page 58)

Unfriendly environment

Operational costs

Continue Reading

Tanzania and Malawi are on the brink of a diplomatic standoff following Dodoma’s decision to commence the upgrade of Mbamba Bay Port, situated on the shores of Lake Malawi.

Lilongwe accuses Tanzania of initiating the project without consultation, given the contested nature of the port between the two nations.

Malawi has formally requested Tanzania to suspend the project, a move likely to escalate tensions between the neighbouring countries.

In a letter to Tanzanian authorities, the Government of Malawi asserts that proceeding with the project on Malawian territory without consent is both irregular and illegal.

Malawi insists that the project should cease until proper consultations are conducted and consent is obtained from the Malawian government.

“The Government of Malawi would like to express that embarking on such a project on Malawi’s territory without the country’s consent is irregular and illegal, and request that the project be halted until such necessary consultations and upon being given consent from the government of Malawi,” reads a letter, quoted by the Nation publication.

Furthermore, Malawi urges Tanzania to refrain from actions that could disrupt the dispute settlement process and jeopardise Malawi’s historical and legal rights to the entirety of Lake Malawi.

The Tanzania Port Authority (TPA) has already inked a $31.8 million construction deal with China’s Xiamen Ongoing Construction Group for the port, with a projected completion timeline of 24 months.

The unresolved boundary issue between the two nations has persisted for over a decade, with mediation efforts failing to yield conclusive results.

According to reports from the Nation publication, Malawi contends that the boundary should follow the shoreline of Lake Malawi, as stipulated in Article 1(2) of the 1890 Anglo-German Treaty.

Conversely, Tanzania maintains that the boundary is the median line of the lake, based on the principle of customary international law.

Source: allafrica.com

Continue Reading

By THE CONVERSATION

It’s been three years since the death of Tanzania’s former president John Magufuli and the rise to power of current president Samia Suluhu Hassan.

Magufuli was Tanzania’s fifth president. He came to power in 2015 and was re-elected in 2020 in a poll that was marred by controversy.

Magufuli brought lasting changes to Tanzania’s political landscape during his six-year tenure. His approach sparked differing opinions, both within the country and on the international stage.

Inside the country he was loved and loathed almost in equal measure.

Read: Magufuli: Mining reforms, roads over political space

To his detractors, his administration was marked by a decline in political and civic space and by international isolation. Early in his presidency, Magufuli’s no-nonsense approach won praise across the globe. He publicly reprimanded government officials, demanding fiscal discipline and accountability.

Advertisement

Over time, however, his critics saw his style as bordering on authoritarianism. He banned political rallies, stifled the media, promised to annihilate the opposition, and banned the return to school of teenage mothers.

His loyal supporters saw him as an anti-imperialist development icon. They backed him as a benevolent dictator – a leader who wields absolute power but uses it to benefit the populace.

The anniversary of his death in mid-March presented an opportunity to reflect on his legacy and the character of the political debates leading up to the 2025 elections in Tanzania.

In the three years since Samia Suluhu Hassan took over the presidency following his death, she has reversed most of the retrogressive policies introduced by Magufuli. She has also restructured both the party and the government.

As an international relations academic who has researched party politics and democratisation of Tanzania for more than 10 years, I believe these two sets of changes will be felt in the election.

Samia’s reversal of repressive measures will give impetus to the opposition. And the changes she has made to the ruling party will entrench its electoral dominance in 2025.

Read: Tanzania’s radical shift under Samia

She consolidated her base and then won back some of the Magufuli loyalists. These calculated steps towards consolidating power will be pivotal in the 2025 elections.

Reforms

Samia has introduced reforms that have opened up the political and civic spaces. She set up a task force on political reforms that recommended restructuring of the electoral process. Election laws have been reviewed and public rallies are allowed after they were banned in 2016.

The effect has been to boost the opposition’s chances of gaining ground against the ruling party. These reforms have benefited the two leading opposition parties. Chama Cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo (Chadema) and ACT-Wazalendo can now organise public rallies and push for additional reforms, including a new constitution. In the last (2020) polls, the opposition was crippled by state repression.

With the lifting of the ban on political rallies, the opposition has been holding countrywide campaigns. The opposition is now able to hold demonstrations with police protection, something that was unthinkable three years ago.

Read: Chadema opposes electoral reforms in Dar march

Despite this, the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi party will continue to have an advantage. This is due to Samia’s failure to implement some electoral reforms as recommended by the task force.

Three electoral reform bills – the National Electoral Commission Bill 2023, the Political Parties Affairs Laws (Amendment) Bill 2023 and the Presidential, Parliamentary and Local Government Elections Bill 2023 – were passed by parliament but did not reflect any meaningful change.

Ruling party factions

Samia’s ascendancy to the presidency was not automatic. While the country’s constitution states that the vice-president assumes office upon the death of a president, there were factions within the ruling party that wanted to prevent her from taking over. She came into power with limited political capital both within her party and outside.

Read: Two years of Samia’s reforms in Tanzania

She made this known soon after being sworn in as president. Recently, the ex-army chief Venance Mabeyo provided additional insights into the transition following Magufuli’s death.

He said the transition was managed by security officials (chief of defence forces, director general of intelligence services and inspector general of police) who later briefed the prime minister. Astonishingly, the vice-president was the last senior government official to be briefed about the death of the president.

But upon taking office, she built a solid base of trusted party insiders. This she did with the help of former president Jakaya Kikwete. She immediately sacked some of the so-called Magufuli loyalists. They included two trusted confidants and close advisors of Magufuli, chief secretary Bashiru Ally and minister of foreign affairs Palamagamba Kabudi.

She also brought people who had been sidelined by Mafuguli back on board. These included January Makamba, a presidential aspirant in 2015; Nape Nnauye, a former party secretary for ideology and publicity; and Abdulrahman Kinana, the party’s secretary general.

Makamba and Nnauye were reinstated to the cabinet and Kinana returned as the mainland vice-chairman of the party. The three were the leading campaigners in the election of Magufuli before falling out.

In recent months, Samia has brought back some trusted former allies of Magufuli in what is seen by many in Tanzania as an attempt to win back support from his camp.

In August 2023, she appointed Doto Biteko, a key ally of Magufuli, as deputy prime minister: a new position that is not in the constitution. Biteko also assumed the role of Energy minister.

Samia also brought back Paul Makonda, former Dar es Salaam regional commissioner, as the ideology and publicity secretary of the ruling party. Makonda’s return is seen as an attempt to crack down on dissent within and beyond the ruling party.

Read: Makonda out as ruling CCM rings in key secretariat changes ahead of civic polls

Bringing Biteko and Makonda on board could shore up party support from the vote-rich Lake zone, home to the Sukuma, Magufuli’s ethnic group.

Samia’s departure from her predecessor’s policies, coupled with her strategic political manoeuvres, has won her support within her party and among the broader public. Nonetheless, she could still face resistance from hard-line factions within her party who may seek to undermine her in the 2025 general elections.

By Nicodemus Minde -Adjunct Lecturer, United States International University

Continue Reading

By REUTERS

Drug regulators in Tanzania, Rwanda and Zimbabwe have recalled a batch of Johnson & Johnson children’s cough syrup as a precautionary measure after their Nigerian counterpart said laboratory tests found high levels of toxicity.

The countries join Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa in recalling the same batch of the syrup, which is used to treat coughs, hay fever and other allergic reactions in children. South Africa has also recalled an additional batch.

Laboratory tests on the syrup by Nigeria’s health regulator showed a high level of diethylene glycol, which has been linked to the deaths of dozens of children in Gambia, Uzbekistan and Cameroon since 2022 in one of the world’s worst waves of poisoning from oral medication.

Read: Grief and outrage in Gambia over cough syrup deaths

Diethylene glycol is toxic to humans when consumed and can result in acute kidney failure.

The batch of Benylin Paediatric syrup recalled was made by J&J in South Africa in May 2021, although Kenvue now owns the brand after a spin-off from J&J last year.

Advertisement

Tanzania Medicines and Medical Devices Authority (TMDA) said it had begun the recall on April 12 after hearing about the Nigerian test results.

“This is an exercise that does not involve investigation but rather monitoring to ensure that those affected drugs are removed from the market,” TMDA spokesperson Gaudensia Simwanza told Reuters on Monday.

A spokesperson for Kenya’s drug regulator said its test results on the syrup would likely be ready on Wednesday.

“A review of our safety database doesn’t reveal any adverse events reported,” the Rwanda Food and Drugs Authority said in a statement dated April 12.

“However, Rwanda FDA issues the present recall for precautionary measures.”

Zimbabwe’s Medicines Control Agency said that it did not have a record of the product’s importation into Zimbabwe, but that it was concerned the syrup could enter the local market illegally. It said it would step up inspections in case.

Kenvue said in a statement that it was conducting its own assessment and working with health authorities to determine a course of action.

Continue Reading

It’s been three years since the death of Tanzania’s president John Magufuli and the rise to power of current president Samia Suluhu Hassan.

Magufuli was Tanzania’s fifth president. He came to power in 2015 and was re-elected in 2020 in a poll that was marred by controversy.

Magufuli brought lasting changes to Tanzania’s political landscape during his six-year tenure. His approach sparked differing opinions, both within the country and on the international stage.

Inside the country he was loved and loathed almost in equal measure.

To his detractors, his administration was marked by a decline in political and civic space and by international isolation. Early in his presidency, Magufuli’s no-nonsense approach won praise across the globe. He publicly reprimanded government officials, demanding fiscal discipline and accountability.

Over time, however, his critics saw his style as bordering on authoritarianism. He banned political rallies, stifled the media, promised to annihilate the opposition, and banned the return to school of teenage mothers.

His loyal supporters saw him as an anti-imperialist development icon. They backed him as a benevolent dictator – a leader who wields absolute power but uses it to benefit the populace.

The anniversary of his death in mid-March presented an opportunity to reflect on his legacy and the character of the political debates leading up to the 2025 elections in Tanzania.

In the three years since Samia Suluhu Hassan took over the presidency following his death, she has reversed most of the retrogressive policies introduced by Magufuli. She has also restructured both the party and the government.

As an international relations academic who has researched party politics and democratisation of Tanzania for more than 10 years, I believe these two sets of changes will be felt in the election.

Samia’s reversal of repressive measures will give impetus to the opposition. And the changes she has made to the ruling party will entrench its electoral dominance in 2025. She consolidated her base and then won back some of the Magufuli loyalists. These calculated steps towards consolidating power will be pivotal in the 2025 elections.

Reforms

Samia has introduced reforms that have opened up the political and civic spaces. She set up a task force on political reforms that recommended restructuring of the electoral process. Election laws have been reviewed and public rallies are allowed after they were banned in 2016.

The effect has been to boost the opposition’s chances of gaining ground against the ruling party. These reforms have benefited the two leading opposition parties. Chama Cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo (Chadema) and ACT-Wazalendo can now organise public rallies and push for additional reforms, including a new constitution. In the last (2020) polls, the opposition was crippled by state repression.

With the lifting of the ban on political rallies, the opposition has been holding countrywide campaigns. The opposition is now able to hold demonstrations with police protection, something that was unthinkable three years ago.

Despite this, the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi party will continue to have an advantage. This is due to Samia’s failure to implement some electoral reforms as recommended by the task force. Three electoral reform bills – the National Electoral Commission Bill 2023, the Political Parties Affairs Laws (Amendment) Bill 2023 and the Presidential, Parliamentary and Local Government Elections Bill 2023 – were passed by parliament but did not reflect any meaningful change.

Ruling party factions

Samia’s ascendancy to the presidency was not automatic. While the country’s constitution states that the vice-president assumes office upon the death of a president, there were factions within the ruling party that wanted to prevent her from taking over. She came into power with limited political capital both within her party and outside.

She made this known soon after being sworn in as president. Recently, the ex-army chief Venance Mabeyo provided additional insights into the transition following Magufuli’s death. He said the transition was managed by security officials (chief of defence forces, director general of intelligence services and inspector general of police) who later briefed the prime minister. Astonishingly, the vice-president was the last senior government official to be briefed about the death of the president.

But upon taking office, she built a solid base of trusted party insiders. This she did with the help of former president Jakaya Kikwete. She immediately sacked some of the so-called Magufuli loyalists. They included two trusted confidants and close advisors of Magufuli, chief secretary Bashiru Ally and minister of foreign affairs Palamagamba Kabudi.

She also brought people who had been sidelined by Mafuguli back on board. These included January Makamba, a presidential aspirant in 2015; Nape Nnauye, a former party secretary for ideology and publicity; and Abdulrahman Kinana, the party’s secretary general.

Makamba and Nnauye were reinstated to the cabinet and Kinana returned as the mainland vice-chairman of the party. The three were the leading campaigners in the election of Magufuli before falling out.

In recent months, Samia has brought back some trusted former allies of Magufuli in what is seen by many in Tanzania as an attempt to win back support from his camp. In August 2023, she appointed Doto Biteko, a key ally of Magufuli, as deputy prime minister: a new position that is not in the constitution. Biteko also assumed the role of energy minister.

Samia also brought back Paul Makonda, former Dar es Salaam regional commissioner, as the ideology and publicity secretary of the ruling party. Makonda’s return is seen as an attempt to crack down on dissent within and beyond the ruling party. Bringing Biteko and Makonda on board could shore up party support from the vote-rich Lake zone, home to the Sukuma, Magufuli’s ethnic group.

Samia’s departure from her predecessor’s policies, coupled with her strategic political manoeuvres, has won her support within her party and among the broader public. Nonetheless, she could still face resistance from hard line factions within her party who may seek to undermine her in the 2025 general elections.

Nicodemus Minde, Adjunct Lecturer, United States International University

Source: allafrica.com

Continue Reading

THE Oryx Gas Tanzania Ltd (OGTL) in collaboration with the Asas Limited have responded to flood disaster which has affected hundreds of residents of Rufiji District, Coast Region.

The two companies over the weekend handed over food items and cooking gas cylinders to the flood victims.

The donation was received by area MP, Mr Mohamed Mchengerwa, who doubles as Minister of State in the President’s Office (Regional Administration and Local Governments).

Speaking when receiving the donation, Mr Mchengerwa thanked the companies for their generosity for the affected Rufiji residents.

“As we all know the current situation facing the residents here, this kind of floods were previously experienced in 1972 and 1974,” Mr Mchengerwa stated.

He said President Dr Samia Suluhu Hassan while in working tour in Arusha also expressed her feelings and consoled the victims.

“The President appealed to Tanzanians to be united and help the victims,” he said.

Initially when handing over the donation, Sales Manager of the Oryx Gas, Mr Shaban Fundi, said it has been their culture to support flood victims countrywide.

“Today, our company in collaboration with Asas company we have decided to extend our support to our fellows in Rufiji who are now at camps by giving them food items and cooking gas cylinders,” he stated.

Among other items, the two companies donated rice, maize flour and cooking oil worth 52m/-. Furthermore, they donated 100 cooking gas cylinders along with 100 stoves worth 25m/-.

Source: allafrica.com

Continue Reading

THE persistent heavy rain in the country has led to widespread havocs, with more than 30 houses and a school demolished, cornfields destroyed, and livestock missing in Mbeya.

According to eyewitnesses the incidents in Itezi Ward, Uyole valley unfolded yesterday morning amidst the continuous downpour, where a massive landslide from Kawetele mountain resulted in extensive damage, including completely destroying Generation Primary School building, except for one classroom and an office being spared.

“Thanks to the swift intervention of local residents, and the prompt response of regional and district committees following the disaster, I have also reached out to Speaker Dr Tulia Ackson, who is our Member of Parliament, who was on her way here to assess the situation firsthand,” Councillor of Itezi Ward on Gombe Kaskazini Sambwee Shitambala said on Sunday.

“The aftermath of the landslide has left many individuals displaced, losing their homes and livelihoods, while the fate of those affected remains uncertain, we pray to God that it doesn’t reoccur,” he pointed out.

Meanwhile, the government has emphasised that the Julius Nyerere Hydropower Project (JNHPP) was not responsible for the recent floods in Rufiji and Kibiti, while highlighting that without the dam’s intervention, the floods could have been more severe.

The Chief Government Spokesperson, Mr Mobhare Matinyi, shared these insights during a press briefing in Dar es Salaam, addressing journalists from various media outlets to provide updates on the rain and flood situation in the country, which has tragically resulted in 58 reported deaths nationwide due to ongoing heavy rainfall.

“The JNHPP was constructed not only to generate electricity but also to manage flooding risks. So, without the dam’s intervention possibly the flood could have occurred as early as October last year,” Mr Matinyi, who is also the Director of Information Services, MAELEZO, said.

He added that, “The dam’s current water capacity stands at 32.782 billion cubic metres, allowing for better control and management of water levels, thereby aiding in flood prevention and protection of lives and property. Furthermore, Matinyi highlighted the technical stability of the JNHPP, noting that the recent water intake from the Rufiji River had decreased to 6,100 cubic metres per second; significantly lower than the peak recorded in February this year, which stood at 8,445 cubic metres per second. “The condition of the JNHPP is technically good because, until Saturday, the amount of water that was entering the dam from the Rufiji River had decreased and reached 6,100 cubic meters per second, compared to the highest amount of 8,445 cubic metres per second,” he expressed.

The dam’s dimensions, spanning 100 kilometres in length and 25 kilometres at its widest point, underscore its significance in water storage and flood management.

According to him, the Rufiji River basin area has a long history of flooding; in May 1974, the record for the amount of water that flowed through the river to the ocean was 13,212 cubic metres per second.

According to Mr Matinyi, in order to fight the flood in the area, the government intends to construct two more dams.

“Let me inform you that the government will construct the Ngorongo dam, which will cater for the villages of Ngorongo, Mkongo, Ruwe, Nyamwage, and Ikwiriri South. It will have the capacity to take 164 million cubic metres, and the expectation is to help with irrigation,” he said.

“The other one is the Mbakia Mtuli dam, which will involve the villages of Umwe, Chumbi A, B, and C, Mbakia Mtuli, and Muhoro and will have the capacity to take 1.1 million cubic metres,” he added.

Regarding the floodaffected regions, Mr Matinyi detailed the extensive impact on various areas, particularly in the Coast and Morogoro regions, with a total of 58 reported fatalities national wide.

He said that it was reported that the updates showed that ten people died in Arusha, two in Dar es Salaam, four in Geita, five in Iringa, one in Kilimanjaro, four in Lindi, six in Mbeya, five in Morogoro, ten in Rukwa and 11 in Coast Region.

“The biggest effects of the floods are in the Coast Region (Rufiji and Kibiti districts), involving a total of 17 wards, where 12 are from Rufiji and five are from Kibiti and in Morogoro Region, the affected areas are Malinyi District Council with a total of 50 wards: Ulanga eight wards; Mlimba three wards; Ifakara nine wards; and Morogoro Municipality 22 wards,” he said.

Explaining the immediate government responses include search-and-rescue operations, with over 2,278 individuals rescued thus far.

Temporary camps have been set up to accommodate disaster victims, totalling 1,529 individuals across eight locations. He said, humanitarian aid efforts are also underway, with provisions such as 40 tonnes of corn, 500 mosquito nets, 400 blankets, and 5 tents allocated to support affected communities.

Additionally, deliveries of essential supplies including 43 tonnes of flour and 25 tonnes of beans are on route to Rufiji to further assist those impacted by the floods.

The government remains committed to addressing the aftermath of the floods, extending assistance and support to affected citizens while prioritising their safety and wellbeing during this challenging period.

Source: allafrica.com

Continue Reading