Dar es Salaam. The ruling party in Zanzibar on Monday , MArch 13, responded to growing demands for full autonomy in the Islands, saying sovereignty doesn’t guarantee economic strength.
Instead, CCM has advised Zanzibaris to work hard, pay taxes, and develop discipline in their financial expenditures. The party also clarified claims that it is wrongly using the Zanzibar Social Security Fund (ZSSF) money for implementation of its projects.
“We are against anything that will end up breaking the Union. Our founding fathers had a strong vision when they united the two countries in 1964,” CCM Zanzibar’s secretary of Ideology and Publicity, Mr Khamis Mbeto Khamis, told MCL journalists when he visited the Mwananchi Communications Limited (MCL) headquarters at Tabata Relini in Dar es Salaam.
Mr Khamis said there are many countries with their sovereignty intact, but they haven’t made great strides in economic development.
Mr Khamis noted that the most contentious issues in the Union have been resolved through the instruments and procedures put in place by the founding fathers.
“In financial matters, procedures require that the Zanzibar and Union governments provide their requirements, and after that, Zanzibar is given its share once a loan has been secured,” he said.
“These demands [for full autonomy] shouldn’t deceive us. We are only required to work hard, build the economy, pay taxes, and have financial discipline,” he added.
Regarding the ZSSF, Mr Khamis refuted claims that it is being used to fund CCM projects despite having no party employee making a contribution to the fund.
“It is not true that CCM workers are not members of the ZSSF. They are, including myself. However, all over the world, social security funds operate and exist by investing in various business activities,” he said.
“Through these investments, they significantly contribute to the development of their respective countries. CCM has entered into a contract with ZSSF to facilitate this mission, whereby the ruling party provides land and gets its shares like any other landlord,” he added.
Recently, secessionists and some opposition politicians voiced demands for Zanzibar’s full autonomy, claiming that it was the only way for the Island to unlock its access to international finance in terms of loans and grants from multilateral financial institutions.
Welcoming Mr Khamis, MCL managing director Bakari Machumu described products and services offered by the company, saying the company has started offering training on data journalism to the government’s public relations officers.
“They are trained on the use of infographics for effective and efficient communication as well as messaging. We have decided to share something small we can do through our experts to simplify communication,” he said.
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Tanzania Declares End of Marburg Virus Disease Outbreak
Tanzania today declared the end of Marburg virus disease outbreak after recording no new cases over 42 days since the death of the last confirmed case on 28 January 2025.
The outbreak, in which two confirmed and eight probable cases were recorded (all deceased), was the second the country has experienced. Both this outbreak, which was declared on 20 January 2025, and the one in 2023 occurred in the north-eastern Kagera region.
In response to the latest outbreak, Tanzania’s health authorities set up coordination and response systems, with support from World Health Organization (WHO) and partners, at the national and regional levels and reinforced control measures to swiftly detect cases, enhance clinical care, infection prevention as well as strengthen collaboration with communities to raise awareness and help curb further spread of the virus.
Growing expertise in public health emergency response in the African region has been crucial in mounting effective outbreak control measures. Drawing on experience from the response to the 2023 Marburg virus disease outbreak, WHO worked closely with Tanzanian health authorities to rapidly scale up key measures such as disease surveillance and trained more than 1000 frontline health workers in contact tracing, clinical care and public health risk communication. The Organization also delivered over five tonnes of essential medical supplies and equipment.
“The dedication of frontline health workers and the efforts of the national authorities and our partners have paid off,” said Dr Charles Sagoe-Moses, WHO Representative in Tanzania. “While the outbreak has been declared over, we remain vigilant to respond swiftly if any cases are detected and are supporting ongoing efforts to provide psychosocial care to families affected by the outbreak.”
Building on the momentum during the acute phase of the outbreak response, measures have been put in place to reinforce the capacity of local health facilities to respond to potential future outbreaks. WHO and partners are procuring additional laboratory supplies and other equipment for disease detection and surveillance and other critical services.
Marburg virus disease is highly virulent and causes haemorrhagic fever. It belongs to the same family as the virus that causes Ebola virus disease. Illness caused by Marburg virus begins abruptly. Patients present with high fever, severe headache and severe malaise. They may develop severe haemorrhagic symptoms within seven days.
In the African region, previous outbreaks and sporadic cases have been reported in Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Equatorial Guinea, Rwanda, South Africa and Uganda.
Source: allafrica.com
