Tanzania Foreign Investment News (Page 30)

DODOMA — THE government has allocated 285.3bn/- for sports development, with a focus on building standard stadia to stage the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations.

As Tanzania gets prepared to cohost the event with Kenya and Uganda, the Finance Minister, Mwigulu Nchemba, disclosed the amount while presenting the National Budget that totals 49.3 tri/-.

Of the said amount, 285.3bn/- has been assigned to the Culture, Arts, and Sports sector, representing a significant increase from the previous year’s budget of 35.4bn/.

This indicates a substantial increase of 250bn/- for the ministry.

“The preparation of teams requires the availability of standard stadiums. The government is prepared to construct new stadiums and rehabilitate some of the existing ones. Regarding the quality of the pitches, the government has already enacted a law that provides tax exemptions for importation of turf and its equipment,” Minister Nchemba noted.

This heavy allocation underscores the government’s determination to bolster sports infrastructure nationwide, with a particular focus on stadium construction, renovation and the enhancement of sports facilities across the country.

During the budget presentation on May 23rd in Dodoma, Minister for Culture, Arts, and Sports, Damas Ndumbaro, outlined the ambitious plans set forth by the government.

“Notably, 125.29bn/- has been allocated for the development of the Arusha Sports Complex, signalling a significant investment in this key sporting venue,” he said.

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Additionally, substantial sums have been allocated for the enhancement of the Dodoma and Dar es Salaam sports complexes, amounting to 55.5bn/- and 26.5bn/- respectively.

Minister Ndumbaro emphasised that these initiatives align with the government’s broader vision to elevate sports infrastructure to international standards, providing athletes with optimal training and competition environments.

Beyond the major sports complexes, a notable allocation of 11.5 bn/- has been dedicated to the construction and improvement of sports infrastructure in various schools.

This moves underscores Tanzania’s commitment to nurturing young talent and fostering a culture of sporting excellence from grassroots levels.

Furthermore, the government has allocated 10.02 bn/- for the establishment of the Malya Sports Academy in Mwanza Region.

This academy is poised to become a beacon of excellence, offering specialised training programmes to groom future sports stars in Tanzania. In a bid to sustain and promote sports activities across the nation, the Sports Development Fund has received a substantial allocation of 8bn/-.

Additionally, 1.5bn/- has been set aside for the construction of the Malya Sports Development College, aimed at providing specialised education in sports management and development.

To provide to the holistic wellbeing of citizens, the budget includes provisions for the construction of state-of-the-art exercise and relaxation centres in Dar es Salaam and Dodoma, with an allocation of 12 bn/- .

These centres are poised to promote a culture of physical fitness and recreational activities, contributing to a healthier populace.

Source: allafrica.com

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Geneva — The United Nations refugee agency says forced displacement around the globe surged to historic new heights last year, driven by conflict, persecution, human rights violations, climate crises and other disturbing events.

In its 2024 Global Trends Report, UNHCR says 117.3 million people were forcibly displaced worldwide by the end of 2023. Some 68 million were uprooted from their homes by conflict and remain displaced within their own countries. Another 31 million were refugees, while tens of millions more were asylum seekers, returnees or stateless people.

The report, released Thursday, finds that the number of forcibly displaced has continued to rise this year and that the current figure now stands at 120 million.

“Regrettably, this is the 12th consecutive year in which this figure goes up,” U.N. refugee chief Filippo Grandi told journalists in Geneva Monday in advance of the report’s publication. “Conflict remains a very, very big driver of displacement.”

Grandi added that UNHCR “declared 43 emergencies in 29 countries” in 2023. “This figure, until two, three years ago, used to be on average eight, maximum 10 times a year.”

Grandi deplored changes in the conduct of wars, noting that warring parties almost everywhere nowadays “disregard the laws of war, of international humanitarian law and often with the specific purpose of terrorizing people, of instilling fear in people.”

“This, of course is a powerful contributor to more displacement than even in the past,” he said.

The report cites the conflict in Sudan as a key factor driving the current surge in forcible displacement. By the end of 2023, a total of 10.8 million Sudanese were displaced from their homes — triple the number before the war began in April of that year. Most of the uprooted Sudanese — 9.1 million — are internally displaced, while another 1.7 million are refugees.

Describing himself as “very keen” to speak out about Sudan, Grandi called it “a very forgotten crisis although it is one of the most catastrophic ones — not just in terms of displacement, but in terms of hunger, lack of access, violation of human rights, and so forth.”

Other crises that have created a spike in new forced displacements are the conflicts in Gaza, Myanmar, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. UNRWA, the UN relief and works agency for Palestine refugees, estimates up to 1.7 million people — over 75% of the population — “have been displaced within the Gaza Strip, with some having been forced to flee multiple times.”

The report says more than 1.3 million people were displaced within Myanmar in 2023 “by escalating violence following the military takeover in February 2021” and that a resurgence of fighting in the eastern part of DRC uprooted 3.8 million people who “were newly internally displaced” during the year.

The U.N. report also touches on what the report calls endless conflicts that continue to displace people in countries that include Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Venezuela, and Nicaragua.

Of the complex mix of diverse factors uprooting populations globally, Grandi described climate change as a particularly virulent driver of conflict and displacement, with one sometimes triggering the other.

“It can be a driver of conflict and hence of displacement, especially when the very scarce resources of very poor communities become even scarcer because of climate change,” he said. “That drives conflict. We have seen it in so many parts of Africa, in the Sahel, for example. In the Horn of Africa, but also elsewhere.”

The report debunks a common misperception that many refugees go to rich countries.

“The vast majority of refugees are hosted in countries neighboring their own, with 75 percent residing in low-and middle-income countries that together produce less than 20 percent of the world’s income,” say the report, which also notes that although children account for 30% of the world’s population, they account for 40% of all forcibly displaced people.

Syria remains the world’s largest displacement crisis, UNHCR reports, “with 13.8 million forcibly displaced in and outside the country.”

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The United States is identified as the world’s largest recipient of new asylum claims with 1.2 million applications tallied in 2023, followed by Germany, Egypt, Spain, and Canada.

Authors of the report acknowledge that solutions for forced displacement are very rare. They note that only around five million internally displaced people and one million refugees returned home in 2023.

Despite this grim assessment, High Commissioner Grandi said that solutions do exist, citing the example of Kenya which has enacted the so-called Shirika plan, to resolve its nagging refugee problem.

“The President has decided, and the country’s institutions have approved, that for the 600,000 refugees in Kenya, mostly Somalis and South Sudanese, measures will be progressively taken to include them in the communities in which they live.

“I consider that a positive trend,” he said. “And Kenya being an important country in East Africa, I hope that this will have a positive impact also on other countries.”

Source: allafrica.com

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The government has stated that strategies to mitigate the effects of the war in Ukraine, along with investments in agriculture, energy, water, construction, mining, and transport sectors, spurred economic growth by 5.4 percent in 2024, up from 5.1 percent recorded in 2023.

This rate is slightly above the average of 4.4 percent forecasted in 2023 for member countries of the East African Community (EAC) and 3.8 percent for member countries of the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

The Minister of Planning and Investment, Prof Kitila Mkumbo, said in his National Economic Status Report for the year 2023, presented in Parliament in Dodoma on Thursday (June 13, 2024) morning, that the real GDP reached 148.4bn/- in 2023 from 141.2bn/- in 2022.

“This growth was driven by various efforts undertaken by the government, including strategies to counteract the effects of the Ukraine-Russia war and strategic investments in infrastructure for energy, water, health, education, and transportation,” he said.

Other contributing factors, according to the Minister of Planning, include increased mineral production, particularly gold and coal, and increased lending to the private sector, which stimulated economic activities.

However, the GDP growth rate of 5.1percent in 2023 fell short of the annual target of 5.2 percent.

According to Prof Mkumbo, this was due to rising production costs in some sectors; climate change affecting agricultural production in some parts of the country and damaging infrastructure, including bridges and roads.

Prof Mkumbo added that measures taken by developed countries to combat inflation, which led to increased borrowing costs from international financial markets, also affected production activities.

An analysis of Economic Growth Trends and Contributions to Growth in each Quarter between 2019 and 2023 shows that the economy grew by 6.9 percent in 2019, 4.5 percent in 2020, 4.8 percent in 2021, 4.7 percent in 2022, and 5.1 percent in 2023.

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The Minister explained that the agriculture sector had the largest contribution to GDP, accounting for 26.5 percent.

Other significant contributors included Construction (13.2 percent), Mining (9 percent), Trade and Repairs (8.3 percent), Transport (7.2 percent), and Manufacturing (7 percent).

According to Mkumbo, the Arts and Entertainment sector continued to lead in growth rate in 2023, expanding by 17.7 percent, followed by the Financial and Insurance sector at 12.2 percent, and Mining at 11.3 percent.

The Accommodation and Food Services sector grew by 8.3 percent, along with the Information and Communication sector, which grew by 7.6 percent.

Source: allafrica.com

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The East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline Project (EACOP) has completed 99 percent of compensation payments for project victims in the lake zone.

EACOP Communications Division Officer, Ms Catherine Mbatia revealed this while presenting the compensation program to journalists in Geita town.

Ms Catherine said so far, 99 per cent of the victims who either their land or houses have been affected by the project have almost been compensated.

She said to date, there are no complaints from anyone because the project has respected human rights and complied to national and international laws.

“We make sure that everyone gets his rights, we started at the village level where the oil pipeline passes and went to other parts in the regions. “We had everyone’s information, we made sure everyone was reached not only in their household but also getting the right information from the villages and neighborhoods chairmen.

“Therefore, the village chairmen report helped us a lot to reduce complaints, no one was bullied and even if someone was bullied, he or she got his rights,” she said.

Geita Region Oil Pipeline Project Relations Coordinator, Mr Moses Msophe said all compensation procedures have been observed and about 1,470 people who have been affected have been compensated.

“Among them, 36 were those who were directly affected in their homes, while 1,434 were victims who were affected in their areas. “The compensation payment involved a high level of transparency, presentation as well as documents review.”

Mr Msophe said a total of 23 houses have been built for the victims of the crude oil pipeline in Chato district, Geita district, Bukombe and Mbogwe.

“The biggest challenge we encountered during the payment of compensation is family conflicts. We, as project officers, when we encounter conflicts, we seize the compensation procedures.”

Source: allafrica.com

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Human Rights Watch has accused police guarding the North Mara Gold Mine in northern Tanzania of complicity in the deaths of at least six people and injuries sustained by several others in clashes around the mine in the past four months. 

The rights watchdog called on Tanzanian authorities to promptly launch “independent and impartial investigations” into the incidents, the latest in a series of similar allegations involving security operations at the mine since 2014.

The mine, which is located in Mara region close to the border with Kenya, is operated by Canadian multinational Barrick Gold with the Tanzanian government holding joint shares and providing the security as part on their agreement. 

Read: Tanzania signs new implementation deal with Barrick

This is not the first time local police have been accused of using excessive force, including killings, to prevent artisanal miners from conducting their own small-scale operations in and around the premises.

According to rights groups and community members, police officers have been responsible for beating, shooting, torturing, and detaining without charge residents of areas near the mine and dumping areas.

The police in turn have accused the residents of illegal invasion and stealing from the mine and its surrounding waste rock dumping sites, but have made no arrests so far.

“The growing number of unaccounted for killings connected to Tanzania’s North Mara Gold Mine reflect a worrying pattern of impunity for abuses that needs to be addressed,” said Oryem Nyeko, senior Tanzania researcher at Human Rights Watch in a statement from Nairobi on Wednesday.

“The Tanzanian authorities should not sweep these deaths under the rug but should ensure that those responsible are held to account,” he added.

Court case

Barrick Gold, meanwhile, told HRW this week that it did not have “any de facto control” over the local police and their actions.

“The police are requested to enter the mine site to assist in upholding law and order when the company employees’ lives are in danger. We are not in any way involved or aware of police activity in the community nor can we be responsible or accountable simply because such activity occurs in geographical proximity to the North Mara Gold Mine,” HRW quoted Barrick as saying.

Barrick is currently facing a court case in Canada where a group of 21 Tanzanians is suing the company over alleged complicity in extrajudicial killings and beatings of residents by police assigned to the North Mara mine. 

The petitioners claim that the company has converted the police operating in and around the mine “into a private and heavily armed security force.” A preliminary hearing of the case, which was filed in 2022, has been scheduled for October this year, according to HRW.

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Nairobi — Police in Tanzania guarding the North Mara Gold Mine have been linked to the killing of least six people and injury of several others during clashes since February 2024, Human Rights Watch said today. The Tanzanian authorities should promptly undertake independent and impartial investigations into the killings and other abuses in northern Tanzania’s Tarime district.

The police have accused those killed and injured of “invading the mine” and conducting illegal small-scale mining inside the mine’s premises. The police have made no arrests related to these abuses.

Ensure Independent Investigations; Prosecute Those Responsible

“The growing number of unaccounted for killings connected to Tanzania’s North Mara Gold Mine reflect a worrying pattern of impunity for abuses that needs to be addressed,” said Oryem Nyeko, senior Tanzania researcher at Human Rights Watch, “The Tanzanian authorities should not sweep these deaths under the rug but should ensure that those responsible are held to account.”

In 2014, the Tanzanian government entered into an agreement with the North Mara Gold Mine Limited company to guard the mine with up to 110 police officers, referred to as “mine police” by community members, on an ongoing basis. Rights groups and community members have reported that in the years since this agreement, police officers have been responsible for beating, shooting, torturing, and detaining without charge residents of areas near the mines and dumping areas. The police accuse the residents of theft from the mine and its surrounding waste rock dumping sites.

Barrick Gold, a mining company headquartered in Toronto, Canada, and the Tanzanian government have jointly owned the mine since 2019. The area is inhabited by Indigenous Kurya people who have conducted small-scale local mining on the land for centuries. In 2022, 21 Tanzanians sued Barrick Gold before a Canadian court, accusing the company of being complicit in extrajudicial killings and beatings of residents by police assigned to the mine. They alleged that the company converted the police operating in and around the mine “into a private and heavily armed security force.” A preliminary hearing in this case has been scheduled for October.

In the past four months several deaths and injuries have been reported for which no arrests have been made. The police reported that on February 28, Jackson Nyamonge, a 28-year-old resident of Nyamwaga village, was found dead at the mine fence with injuries to his chest and stomach. On April 7, local media reported that police shot Sylvester Sobhe Marwa Nyangige in the head during a security operation at the mine. A copy of a police form, seen by Human Rights Watch, cites “unnatural death” as the circumstances of his death. On April 26, police allegedly shot and injured Pascal Malembara in the leg in the Murwambe area.

On May 6, the police confirmed the death of Emmanuel Nyakorenga, a resident of Kewanja village, at a primary school near Nyabigena village, close to the mine. The police told the media that he was part of a group of people with “traditional weapons” who had attacked the police officers who were preventing them from unlawfully entering the mine.

A witness described the killing of Nyakorenga, telling Human Rights Watch that around noon police officers chased several people from an area near the mine’s Gokona pits into the Nyabigena Primary School playground, about 500 meters from the mine. The police allegedly shot tear gas, sound bombs, and live bullets at the group, injuring some.

Shortly after Nyakorenga was fatally shot, the officers fled and residents of the area began to block the main road near the school in protest of Nyakorenga’s killing. Police later returned and dispersed the crowd, using tear gas. Nyakorenga’s relatives said that a postmortem examination found what looked like a bullet in his head, but that the officials who conducted the exam did not provide them with further information.”

Since May 6, residents have reported the deaths of at least three other people in the area. The day after Nyakorenga’s death, residents reported that they found the body of an unidentified person at a mine dumping area outside the mine premises. On May 22, the media reported that Babu Christopher Iroga, a resident of Mjini Kati village, and July Mohali, a resident of Nyangoto village, were killed during a confrontation with police. The police accused the men of stealing from the mine.

John Heche, a former member of parliament for Tarime district, told Human Rights Watch that police abuses have intensified in the recent years, saying: “For a few years these deaths have been occurring, but never at this magnitude. People are being shot almost every day.”

Barrick Gold said in a June 11 response to a request for information from Human Rights Watch on June 4 that the company “does not, and cannot, have any de facto control over the police and their actions,” and that the “police are requested to enter the mine site to assist in upholding law and order” when their employees’ lives are in danger. The company said that it is “not in any way involved or aware of [Tanzania police force] activity in the community, nor can it be responsible or accountable for it simply because such activity occurs in geographical proximity to the North Mara Gold Mine.”

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Barrick Gold’s human rights policy states that it does “not tolerate violations of human rights committed by our employees, affiliates, or any third parties acting on our behalf or related to any aspect of one of our operations,” and that it does its “utmost to avoid being complicit in adverse human rights impacts, including benefitting from the human rights violations caused by others.”

Under the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, companies have a responsibility to avoid causing or contributing to human rights violations and to provide remedy to victims of abuses to which they have caused or contributed.

The UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials require police to use nonviolent means before resorting to force and firearms. While law enforcement officials have a duty to protect lives and property, they should only use force when unavoidable and in a proportionate manner, and use lethal force only when absolutely necessary to save lives.

“For years, residents of areas near Tanzania’s North Mara Gold Mine have complained about the brutality of the police,” Nyeko said. “The Tanzanian government should ensure independent and impartial investigations into these abuses so that the victims and their families receive justice.”

Source: allafrica.com

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The Tanzanian government has handed control of its seaport to private investors, ceding the second terminal to Adani, India’s largest port operator.

Adani has been granted a 30-year concession to manage Dar es Salaam’s Container Terminal 2, which includes four berths and has an annual cargo handling capacity of 1 million Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs).

With this development, foreign investors now control eight out of twelve berths at the facility.

This follows a similar move last year when DP World signed a 30-year concession agreement with the Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) to operate and modernise part of the port. DP World’s agreement covers four berths, despite opposition from Tanzanian politicians.

In 2023, Container Terminal 2, with its four berths, handled 0.82 million TEUs of containers, accounting for 83 percent of Tanzania’s total container volumes.

East African nations are increasingly transferring operational control of key maritime assets to the private sector to enhance efficiency and competitiveness in the global maritime industry.

Kenya is also considering privatisation initiatives for multiple berths at the Mombasa and Lamu ports. Last year, the Kenya Port Authority (KPA) invited prospective stakeholders to express their interest in leasing port infrastructure through public-private partnerships.

Analysts suggest that both Tanzania and Kenya aim to improve the operational efficiency of their maritime assets through private sector engagement.

Earlier this year, Dar es Salaam Port, Kenya’s primary regional competitor, experienced severe congestion, resulting in vessel clearance times of up to seven days. This bottleneck increased shipping costs and led to market shortages, prompting Great Lakes countries to redirect more traffic to Mombasa.

Source: allafrica.com

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