Opposition parties in Tanzania have still not managed to convincevoters that they are capable of running the country since the introduction of a multiparty system at the beginning of the 1990s. According to a new thesis at the University of Gothenburg, instead of losing its dominant position, the ruling party, CCM, has consistently strengthened its position in parliament following each election.
"Strengthening democracy in Tanzania is not just about establishing
the formal structures for a multiparty system. It's also about
creating understanding at an individual level of how a multiparty
system promotes democracy in a country," says Petri Ruotsalainen, who has been studying the process of democratisation in Tanzania.
The thesis on peace and development research investigates the reasons
behind the ruling party's persistently strong position, and examines
the opportunities and obstacles that may exist in relation to
consolidating a democratic multiparty system in Tanzania.
"When the multiparty system was introduced and people were supposed to start voting for different parties, many were extremely afraid that there would be massacres in Tanzania similar to those that occurred in Rwanda," says Petri Ruotsalainen. Another picture of the democratisation process
The political democratisation process
Petri Ruotsalainen has studied the rural population in Tanzania's
experience of the transition from a one-party system to a multiparty
system based on the political democratisation process in the country,
and through anthropological field work.
The thesis reveals a picture of the democratisation process that
differs from the traditional western view. Tanzanians are used to a
one-party system, and the country has experienced domestic peace,
unity and harmony since it gained independence, which cannot be said
of Tanzania's neighbouring countries.
One of the conclusions of the thesis is that the country's history of
having one party, a father of the nation such as Julius Nyerere, and
the political ambition of upholding peace, unity and harmony in the
country has been used as an argument against a multiparty system,
which manifests itself in a strong level of support for CCM at election time.
"The ruling party also uses these concepts to show the electorate that
they are the only party that can guarantee these values. This gives
the party a special and unique position, which the opposition parties
are unable to compete with," says Petri Ruotsalainen.
Source:redorbit.com/
Friday, December 11, 2009
Save the Rain celebrates 4 years, is recognized by Tanzania
Mount Shasta, Calif. -
On Dec. 1, Save the Rain celebrated its fourth birthday. Since its inception in 2005, the Mount Shasta-based non-profit has helped build 41 water catchment systems in 15 African communities, helping 150,000 people get access to clean drinking water.
In recognition of all Save the Rain has accomplished, in September the Tanzanian government selected founder Kelly Coleman to run with the Uhuru Torch – one of the country’s national symbols of freedom and hope.
Next month, Coleman will embark on her 12th trip to Africa, where she’ll help build a large-scale water catchment system on the Mbuguni School in Tanzania.
“There are 1,400 students in the Mbuguni primary school, which lies near the convergence of three large streams,” Coleman said. “These streams meander through thousands of communities that have absolutely no sanitation infrastructure, and while water is the bringer of life, it can also be the carrier of disease.”
The rainfall pattern in Mbuguni is different than in the other regions Save the Rain has worked in, Coleman explained, and flooding there is a regular occurrence. These floods lead to serious typhoid outbreaks.
Coleman told the story of the last time she was in Tanzania in October, when a teacher from Mbuguni walked fifty miles to find her.
“He begged us to come and work at their school,” she said. “when I was there, they lost 35 children in just twelve hours.”
Coleman hopes that a large-scale catchment system will help control the flooding while providing the community with clean drinking water.
The Uhuru Torch
In 1961, Julius Nyerere, the first Tanzanian president, had a torch illuminated on the top of Mount Kilimanjaro as a symbol of hope, love, and freedom across the country.
The Uhuru Torch race takes place each year, and in September, Save the Rain was selected to receive and run with the torch.
“It was an amazing feeling,” Coleman said. “There was such beauty in the acknowledgement [the government] gave us.”
While she has been told that she’s the first white person to ever have carried the Torch in the race, Coleman said she’s most excited to have been selected because it will help spread the message and technology of water catchment systems.
“The more people who know, the better the outcome will be. Our goal is to be out of business in 10 years because the problem will have been solved. We will get to move on to the next place where we can be of service. The technology of harvesting rainwater has the potential to bring clean water to every doorstep on the planet.”
Women’s Water Initiative
After many months of careful planning and preparation, Coleman reported that the Women’s Water Initiative is currently underway and in full swing.
The Initiative works by teaching six African women how to construct water catchment systems. These women will become the teachers, and will recruit five other women into the program. Each woman will be taught to construct a 5,000 liter rain catchment system on their own home, and will receive the materials necessary to complete them.
As the teachers begin to pay back the $250 for materials, it goes to fund loans for the other women.
Money is never exchanged between the women, but rather cycled through the community in a “pay it forward” system.
“We interviewed 125 women who have enrolled in the program, and who have all agreed to the pay it forward system,” Coleman said.“They each understand that they must pay back the loan within one year, at about $15 per month.”
Coleman talked specifically about a 43 year old woman named Helena who has signed up for the program.
Helena has five children in her household. She currently walks four and a half hours each day to collect water for her family. In the past, Helena has dealt with disease related to unsanitary drinking water. She’s also lost at least one child.
Helena plans to pay back her loan by using the time she would have spent walking for water to harvest vegetables in her garden, and sell them at the market. She also wants to begin sewing, Coleman reads and translates from Helena’s application.
“After four cycles, 125 women will become 15,650 women,” Coleman said. “With an average of eight people per household, 125,200 people will get access to clean water from the initial Women’s Water Initiative funding.”
The total cost of one cycle is $31,250, and the systems created will provide an entire family with clean water for their entire lives, and the lives of their offspring, Coleman added.
“Our thanks to Bob Stafford of Rotary Montague, who is working to secure a grant for a portion of this project,” said Coleman.
Giving the gift of life
“This year, Americans will spend $450 billion during the holidays. It would take $30 billion to provide the entire planet with clean drinking water... in a time where we’re having to reevaluate so many things, giving the gift of life seems more in essence of the holiday spirit,” Coleman said.
Save the Rain is currently fundraising to complete the Women’s Water Initiative and the Mbuguni School project, she said.
“If we teach children to give, there’s a better chance for change and the guarantee of a more positive future. On [Save the Rain’s] birthday, we’d like to thank everyone who has travelled this incredible journey with us. Please celebrate your accomplishment and remember that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world.”
To learn more about Save the Rain or to make a donation, visit their website at
Source:mtshastanews.com/
On Dec. 1, Save the Rain celebrated its fourth birthday. Since its inception in 2005, the Mount Shasta-based non-profit has helped build 41 water catchment systems in 15 African communities, helping 150,000 people get access to clean drinking water.
In recognition of all Save the Rain has accomplished, in September the Tanzanian government selected founder Kelly Coleman to run with the Uhuru Torch – one of the country’s national symbols of freedom and hope.
Next month, Coleman will embark on her 12th trip to Africa, where she’ll help build a large-scale water catchment system on the Mbuguni School in Tanzania.
“There are 1,400 students in the Mbuguni primary school, which lies near the convergence of three large streams,” Coleman said. “These streams meander through thousands of communities that have absolutely no sanitation infrastructure, and while water is the bringer of life, it can also be the carrier of disease.”
The rainfall pattern in Mbuguni is different than in the other regions Save the Rain has worked in, Coleman explained, and flooding there is a regular occurrence. These floods lead to serious typhoid outbreaks.
Coleman told the story of the last time she was in Tanzania in October, when a teacher from Mbuguni walked fifty miles to find her.
“He begged us to come and work at their school,” she said. “when I was there, they lost 35 children in just twelve hours.”
Coleman hopes that a large-scale catchment system will help control the flooding while providing the community with clean drinking water.
The Uhuru Torch
In 1961, Julius Nyerere, the first Tanzanian president, had a torch illuminated on the top of Mount Kilimanjaro as a symbol of hope, love, and freedom across the country.
The Uhuru Torch race takes place each year, and in September, Save the Rain was selected to receive and run with the torch.
“It was an amazing feeling,” Coleman said. “There was such beauty in the acknowledgement [the government] gave us.”
While she has been told that she’s the first white person to ever have carried the Torch in the race, Coleman said she’s most excited to have been selected because it will help spread the message and technology of water catchment systems.
“The more people who know, the better the outcome will be. Our goal is to be out of business in 10 years because the problem will have been solved. We will get to move on to the next place where we can be of service. The technology of harvesting rainwater has the potential to bring clean water to every doorstep on the planet.”
Women’s Water Initiative
After many months of careful planning and preparation, Coleman reported that the Women’s Water Initiative is currently underway and in full swing.
The Initiative works by teaching six African women how to construct water catchment systems. These women will become the teachers, and will recruit five other women into the program. Each woman will be taught to construct a 5,000 liter rain catchment system on their own home, and will receive the materials necessary to complete them.
As the teachers begin to pay back the $250 for materials, it goes to fund loans for the other women.
Money is never exchanged between the women, but rather cycled through the community in a “pay it forward” system.
“We interviewed 125 women who have enrolled in the program, and who have all agreed to the pay it forward system,” Coleman said.“They each understand that they must pay back the loan within one year, at about $15 per month.”
Coleman talked specifically about a 43 year old woman named Helena who has signed up for the program.
Helena has five children in her household. She currently walks four and a half hours each day to collect water for her family. In the past, Helena has dealt with disease related to unsanitary drinking water. She’s also lost at least one child.
Helena plans to pay back her loan by using the time she would have spent walking for water to harvest vegetables in her garden, and sell them at the market. She also wants to begin sewing, Coleman reads and translates from Helena’s application.
“After four cycles, 125 women will become 15,650 women,” Coleman said. “With an average of eight people per household, 125,200 people will get access to clean water from the initial Women’s Water Initiative funding.”
The total cost of one cycle is $31,250, and the systems created will provide an entire family with clean water for their entire lives, and the lives of their offspring, Coleman added.
“Our thanks to Bob Stafford of Rotary Montague, who is working to secure a grant for a portion of this project,” said Coleman.
Giving the gift of life
“This year, Americans will spend $450 billion during the holidays. It would take $30 billion to provide the entire planet with clean drinking water... in a time where we’re having to reevaluate so many things, giving the gift of life seems more in essence of the holiday spirit,” Coleman said.
Save the Rain is currently fundraising to complete the Women’s Water Initiative and the Mbuguni School project, she said.
“If we teach children to give, there’s a better chance for change and the guarantee of a more positive future. On [Save the Rain’s] birthday, we’d like to thank everyone who has travelled this incredible journey with us. Please celebrate your accomplishment and remember that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world.”
To learn more about Save the Rain or to make a donation, visit their website at
Source:mtshastanews.com/
Photo of the Day: Tanzania Showcases Luxury Product at Luxury Travel Expo
Peter Mwenguo, Managing Director, Tanzania Tourist board (TTB); Hon. Shamsa Mwangunga, Tanzania's Minister of Natural Resources and Tourism; Jack and Tammy White; Mariam Adam, Zara Tours.
For the first time ever, Tanzania, the land of Kilimanjaro, Zanzibar and the Serengeti, showcased its expanding luxury tourism product at the Luxury Travel Expo in Las Vegas. The Hon. Shamsa Mwangunga, ,minister of natural resources and tourism, lead a 24-person strong delegation of public and private sector tourism officials to the Expo, which is part of a promotional tour includes visits to Seattle and Los Angeles.
“The American market is our #1 source of tourism," said Minister Mwangunga. "In the 10 years since we have launched our campaign in the U.S., Tanzania has more than doubled the number of American arrivals.”
The 2008 worldwide tourism arrivals were 770, 376, a 7 percent increase over 2007, with visitors from the U.S. increasing from 58,341 to a record high of 66,953 to mainland Tanzania and the Spice Islands of Zanzibar.
“We hope that our strong presence at the Luxury Travel Expo will generate more upscale visitors as well as celebrity guests,” added Mwangunga.
The growth in luxury accommodations includes prestigious brands such as the Kempinski which recently opened Bilila Lodge Kempinski in the Serengeti National Park (and also has properties in Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar); the Singita Grumeti Reserves, also in the Serengeti; Serena Hotels & Resorts with over seven properties in Tanzania, including its newest addition, Selous Mivumo and Malala lodges; The Fairmont in Zanzibar; Conservation Corps Africa; and Beyond. One & Only Resorts is also being planned for Zanzibar.
Source:travelagentcentral.com/
TFDA extends baby milk ban
Some of the of the blacklisted brands of infant formula on display in a Dar es Salaam shop yesterday. The Tanzania Food and Drugs Authority says it has not yet been ascertained whether the brands were safe for human consumption.
Agency's inspectors raid several shopping centres in city and impound suspect infant formula for testing
By Bernard James
The Tanzania Food and Drugs Authority (TFDA) has blacklisted more brands of imported infant formula.
The move is likely to spark concerns among parents whose children were using the products.
The blacklisted brands are SMA Progress, SMA-1, SMA-Gold, Al-Mudhish, S-26 Gold-1, S-26 Gold-3, S-26 Promil Gold, S-26 Promil No2, Nursoy Iron Fortified and S-26 Progress manufactured between January and September, this year.
TFDA inspectors descended on several shops in Dar es Salaam last week and ordered that the milk be temporarily taken off the shelves.
A seizure order issued to retailers in the city, whose copy was made available to The Citizen, said it had not yet been ascertained whether the milk was safe for babies.
The inspectors took with them samples of milk for testing, and ordered traders to not sell their stocks pending further directives from the authority.
However, the proscribed brands had been on sale in various parts of the country for quite some time before TFDA?s directive.
In August, TFDA declared S-26 (1) infant formula unfit for human consumption and banned it from being distributed and sold in the country.
The new development is likely to heighten anxiety and panic among mothers feeding their infants the suspect powdered milk.
Some told The Citizen yesterday that they were confused, and did not know which brands were safe for their children.
TFDA officials accompanied by armed police officers raided several shopping centres in Dar es Salaam in last Wednesday's operation and seized an unspecified amount of infant formula on the grounds that its quality and safety had not been established.
Namanga and Kinondoni TX were among shopping centres involved in the operation. It could not be immediately established whether the exercise would be extended to other areas in the city.
Three senior TFDA officials reached yesterday declined to comment, but said the agency would issue a statement today.
But owners of the shops targeted in the operation criticised TFDA, and accused the agency of the state agency of "harassment and intimidation". They said the products were acquired through proper channels and were safe.
The traders added that they had engaged a lawyer to institute legal proceedings against TFDA.
?If the milk is not fit for babies, TFDA should have alerted the public and given us prior notice to remove the milk from the shelves before launching the operation.
It's very unfortunate that they are only targeting a few areas whereas these products are sold all over Tanzania," Mr Abdallah Hamad said.
Another shop-owner said: "This is not the first time they have seized or banned infant formula. We suspect that there is something sinister behind these operations."
However, a survey by The Citizen established that most of the brands blacklisted by TFDA were on sale in other parts of the city.
Another shop owner said TFDA was needlessly inconveniencing traders.
"Why shouldn?t the agency seize the milk at entry points instead of harassing us? We only buy and sell these products?it's not our duty to carry out laboratory tests," Mr Adam Sheweji said.
A housewife, Ms Aisha Abdallah, could not find infant formula for her four-month-old baby at the Namanga shopping centre.
"This is not fair at all. We always hear confusing stories about the safety of baby milk. Whom should we believe?" she protested loudly in one of the shops.
She demanded to know why the authorities did not carry out their tests early and release appropriate information to the public before traders were allowed to sell the milk. "It's so confusing?it's now almost impossible to differentiate safe from unsafe milk," Ms Abdallah said.
Earlier this year, TFDA banned the importation, distribution and sale in Tanzania of the S-26 (1) baby formula manufactured by Pharmcare Limited of South Africa after it was found to be unfit for human consumption.
The authority had acted after receiving reports that the infant formula with iron was causing harmful health effects in children. These included sneezing, stomach discomfort and vomiting. Others reported that the powder had an abnormal smell and did not mix well with water.
Some 38,560 tins of the product weighing 400 grammes each were seized and sampled for laboratory analysis. The laboratory analysis showed that the formula was unfit for human consumption and the milk was banned.
The Tanzania Food, Drugs and Cosmetics Act empowers TFDA inspectors to seize food products suspected to be unfit for human consumption.
Source:thecitizen.co.tz/
Tanzania: Kilimanjaro Stars Cruise Into Semis
Nairobi — A SCINTILLANTING second half display by the Tanzania Mainland team, Kilimanjaro Stars, saw them tearing apart Eritrea by 4-0 to reach the CECAFA Senior Challenge Cup semi-finals.
Mercurial winger Mrisho Ngassa scored a hat-trick after the team had gone one-up, thanks to a 62nd minute John Bocco's header.
Stars will now face the winner between Rwanda and Zimbabwe who met in the last quarterfinal played later this afternoon.
Stars head coach Marcio Maximo said nothing would stop his team from reaching the final and lift the coveted trophy.
"It was our idea since we came, we want to get into the final and win the trophy," said the Brazilian after seeing his team whitewash the hapless Eritreans.
"As predicted, Eritrea played a defensive game and we had to be patient and try to open up their defence in the second half. I must congratulate my group - they played extremely well," he added.
After a disappointing first half in which Stars played without a natural striker, Maximo called in Bocco at the start of second half and the towering striker headed home a fine cross from overlapping left back Shadrack Nsajigwa.
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Ngassa added the second three minutes later when he ran on the right wing before releasing a long cross that beat the Eritrean goalie Yosief Zeratsion in the far post.
He scored two more goals in the 78 and 85th minute to take his tally in the tournament to five goals.
Teams were:Stars: Mwarami Mohamed, Shadrack Nsajigwa, Juma Jabu, Kelvin Yondani, Salum Swedi 'Kussi', Kigi Makasi, Juma Nyosso, Henry Joseph/Shaaban Nditi, Mussa Hassan Mgosi/ Ibrahim Mwaipopo, Mrisho Ngassa, Nurdin Bakari.
Eritrea: Yosief Zeratsion, Abraham Tedros/ Hermon Teklerb, Nevi Ghebremeskez, Alemayo Ayele, Ermias Wolday, Samuel Ghebrehiwet, Tesfaldet Goitom/ Srafel Tesfamichael, Yohannes Tilahum, Filmon Tseqay, IsaiasAndeberhian, Yonatan Goiton/ Mehari Shinash.
Source:allafrica.com/
Mercurial winger Mrisho Ngassa scored a hat-trick after the team had gone one-up, thanks to a 62nd minute John Bocco's header.
Stars will now face the winner between Rwanda and Zimbabwe who met in the last quarterfinal played later this afternoon.
Stars head coach Marcio Maximo said nothing would stop his team from reaching the final and lift the coveted trophy.
"It was our idea since we came, we want to get into the final and win the trophy," said the Brazilian after seeing his team whitewash the hapless Eritreans.
"As predicted, Eritrea played a defensive game and we had to be patient and try to open up their defence in the second half. I must congratulate my group - they played extremely well," he added.
After a disappointing first half in which Stars played without a natural striker, Maximo called in Bocco at the start of second half and the towering striker headed home a fine cross from overlapping left back Shadrack Nsajigwa.
Relevant Links
East Africa
Tanzania
Soccer
Sport
Ngassa added the second three minutes later when he ran on the right wing before releasing a long cross that beat the Eritrean goalie Yosief Zeratsion in the far post.
He scored two more goals in the 78 and 85th minute to take his tally in the tournament to five goals.
Teams were:Stars: Mwarami Mohamed, Shadrack Nsajigwa, Juma Jabu, Kelvin Yondani, Salum Swedi 'Kussi', Kigi Makasi, Juma Nyosso, Henry Joseph/Shaaban Nditi, Mussa Hassan Mgosi/ Ibrahim Mwaipopo, Mrisho Ngassa, Nurdin Bakari.
Eritrea: Yosief Zeratsion, Abraham Tedros/ Hermon Teklerb, Nevi Ghebremeskez, Alemayo Ayele, Ermias Wolday, Samuel Ghebrehiwet, Tesfaldet Goitom/ Srafel Tesfamichael, Yohannes Tilahum, Filmon Tseqay, IsaiasAndeberhian, Yonatan Goiton/ Mehari Shinash.
Source:allafrica.com/
Tanzania seeks apology over damning UN report
TANZANIA has asked parties involved in concocting a report which claims this country is arming the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (known by its French acronym as FDLR), believed to be operating in parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), to apologize forthwith for telling this big lie.
In a strongly worded denial of arming Hutu rebels terrorizing parts of Eastern DRC, the Tanzania Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation Bernard Membe has told reporters that parties who are the sources of this lie should apologize to Tanzania because this country would never arm any group to terrorize good neighbours such as Rwanda and the DRC.
According to reports from United Nations headquarters in New York, the alleged findings which expose Tanzania as arming the FDLR were made by five experts working under the auspices of the UN. The experts come from Belgium, Guinea, United States of America, Italy and the UK.
Their highly-controversial United Nations report claims that Tanzania has been secretly sending weapons to a Hutu rebel group in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). According to the UN document, Tanzania is among 25 countries that form an international support network for the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (known by its French acronym FDLR).
The FDLR is made up of Hutu refugees from Rwanda who took cover in the DRC after the end of Rwanda's 1994 genocide of over half a million Tutsis. The team is said to have found out that Rwandan Hutu rebels who ran away from their motherland, regrouped in the foreign land and were now terrorizing Rwandan Tutsi and other tribes in the DRC.
The false report has been running in the international news media during the last 72 hours. But Membe says the report is nothing but a calculated plan to damage the good name that Tanzania and its government has for the good job it has done to help neighbours for all these years.
The Tanzanian foreign minister is accompanying President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete in Port O Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, to attend the Commonwealth Head of States summit.
In an earlier reaction, The Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Ambassador Seif Ali Iddi, had categorically denied the allegations in a telephone interview with THISDAY.
“Tanzania has never supported rebels...and it will never support rebels,” he declared.
The deputy minister acknowledged that the government had received official communication from the UN regarding some local telephone numbers said to have been called by the rebels to unspecified contacts in Tanzania.
“We are still following this up. We are using our own sources to trace those numbers,” he said.
The UN report claims that the phone calls were made between FDLR commanders and high-level government officials in Tanzania and Burundi, two countries on the eastern DRC border.
Deputy minister Iddi said a considerable amount of time has already passed since the government were notified of the telephone numbers, and efforts are still underway to locate the owners.
“That has not been easy, taking into consideration that the process of registering SIM cards had not been introduced by the time we were notified by the UN about this matter,” he said.
He, however, asserted that the telephone number bearers, whoever they were, must have been acting in their individual capacities, and the government as an institution was not responsible in any way.
According to the UN report, about 25 countries – also including the United States and some in Europe - are part of an international network helping DRC rebels to buy arms and transfer money.
It specifically accuses Tanzania of making “significant deliveries” of weapons and ammunition via Lake Tanganyika to the FDLR, and says Tanzanians are motivated by the need to retain influence over illegal trade with the Congo.
The findings were slated to be discussed by the UN Security Council in New York last Wednesday, and are seen as a scathing indictment of how little the international community has done to cut off logistical support to the FDLR.
Contacted for comment on these UN findings on Thursday, the Minister for Defence and National Service, Dr Hussein Mwinyi, said he personally has not seen or heard of the report.
The report says supporters in North America, Europe and Africa have become the backbone of the FDLR's day-to-day operations, including formulation of its military strategy.
Though the UN Security Council met in a closed-door session on Wednesday for a briefing on Congo by its sanctions committee, the report was not discussed, and UN associate spokesman Farhan Haq later said it is now likely to be brought up on Monday next week.
Other officials have said the report is being treated with kid gloves because it includes evidence of material support to the rebel group by UN security council member states.
The report says the rebel group continues to control lucrative gold mines in eastern Congo, allowing it to traffic millions of dollars in minerals through the country's porous borders.
UN investigators analyzed telephone logs of senior militia commanders, showing regular contact with individuals, charity groups and government officials in at least 25 countries, including Tanzania.
While previous reports have indicated that the rebel group's main source of funding is its control of Congo's mineral riches, the UN report argues that the FDLR's international network living abroad is a critical source of support.
The report says investigators found 21 phone numbers in France that had been in regular contact with FDLR military satellite phones over the past year.
France, the report says, did not respond to the UN's frequent requests for details on these numbers.
French officials could not be immediately reached for comment on Wednesday.
In the United States, a New Jersey-based supporter has been making Western Union money transfers to a Congo-based liaison officer of RUD, a splinter group allied with the FDLR. The UN also traced contacts and money transfers to Catholic charities in Spain.
The report claims that FDLR rebels have been able to use vast international networks in Tanzania and elsewhere to bolster their supply of arms and recruit extra soldiers.
According to UN military experts, FDLR controls gold and tin mining areas with about 6,000 to 8,000 fighters, while the Tutsi-led group CNDP operates as a parallel militia of 6,000 men.
The UN report also alleges that Burundi and Tanzania are supplying arms to FDLR under a high-level contract between the rebels and the Tanzanian government.
It further claims that both Tanzania and Burundi serve as conduits for the FDLR to traffic gold to the United Arab Emirates
Source:thisday.co.tz/
In a strongly worded denial of arming Hutu rebels terrorizing parts of Eastern DRC, the Tanzania Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation Bernard Membe has told reporters that parties who are the sources of this lie should apologize to Tanzania because this country would never arm any group to terrorize good neighbours such as Rwanda and the DRC.
According to reports from United Nations headquarters in New York, the alleged findings which expose Tanzania as arming the FDLR were made by five experts working under the auspices of the UN. The experts come from Belgium, Guinea, United States of America, Italy and the UK.
Their highly-controversial United Nations report claims that Tanzania has been secretly sending weapons to a Hutu rebel group in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). According to the UN document, Tanzania is among 25 countries that form an international support network for the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (known by its French acronym FDLR).
The FDLR is made up of Hutu refugees from Rwanda who took cover in the DRC after the end of Rwanda's 1994 genocide of over half a million Tutsis. The team is said to have found out that Rwandan Hutu rebels who ran away from their motherland, regrouped in the foreign land and were now terrorizing Rwandan Tutsi and other tribes in the DRC.
The false report has been running in the international news media during the last 72 hours. But Membe says the report is nothing but a calculated plan to damage the good name that Tanzania and its government has for the good job it has done to help neighbours for all these years.
The Tanzanian foreign minister is accompanying President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete in Port O Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, to attend the Commonwealth Head of States summit.
In an earlier reaction, The Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Ambassador Seif Ali Iddi, had categorically denied the allegations in a telephone interview with THISDAY.
“Tanzania has never supported rebels...and it will never support rebels,” he declared.
The deputy minister acknowledged that the government had received official communication from the UN regarding some local telephone numbers said to have been called by the rebels to unspecified contacts in Tanzania.
“We are still following this up. We are using our own sources to trace those numbers,” he said.
The UN report claims that the phone calls were made between FDLR commanders and high-level government officials in Tanzania and Burundi, two countries on the eastern DRC border.
Deputy minister Iddi said a considerable amount of time has already passed since the government were notified of the telephone numbers, and efforts are still underway to locate the owners.
“That has not been easy, taking into consideration that the process of registering SIM cards had not been introduced by the time we were notified by the UN about this matter,” he said.
He, however, asserted that the telephone number bearers, whoever they were, must have been acting in their individual capacities, and the government as an institution was not responsible in any way.
According to the UN report, about 25 countries – also including the United States and some in Europe - are part of an international network helping DRC rebels to buy arms and transfer money.
It specifically accuses Tanzania of making “significant deliveries” of weapons and ammunition via Lake Tanganyika to the FDLR, and says Tanzanians are motivated by the need to retain influence over illegal trade with the Congo.
The findings were slated to be discussed by the UN Security Council in New York last Wednesday, and are seen as a scathing indictment of how little the international community has done to cut off logistical support to the FDLR.
Contacted for comment on these UN findings on Thursday, the Minister for Defence and National Service, Dr Hussein Mwinyi, said he personally has not seen or heard of the report.
The report says supporters in North America, Europe and Africa have become the backbone of the FDLR's day-to-day operations, including formulation of its military strategy.
Though the UN Security Council met in a closed-door session on Wednesday for a briefing on Congo by its sanctions committee, the report was not discussed, and UN associate spokesman Farhan Haq later said it is now likely to be brought up on Monday next week.
Other officials have said the report is being treated with kid gloves because it includes evidence of material support to the rebel group by UN security council member states.
The report says the rebel group continues to control lucrative gold mines in eastern Congo, allowing it to traffic millions of dollars in minerals through the country's porous borders.
UN investigators analyzed telephone logs of senior militia commanders, showing regular contact with individuals, charity groups and government officials in at least 25 countries, including Tanzania.
While previous reports have indicated that the rebel group's main source of funding is its control of Congo's mineral riches, the UN report argues that the FDLR's international network living abroad is a critical source of support.
The report says investigators found 21 phone numbers in France that had been in regular contact with FDLR military satellite phones over the past year.
France, the report says, did not respond to the UN's frequent requests for details on these numbers.
French officials could not be immediately reached for comment on Wednesday.
In the United States, a New Jersey-based supporter has been making Western Union money transfers to a Congo-based liaison officer of RUD, a splinter group allied with the FDLR. The UN also traced contacts and money transfers to Catholic charities in Spain.
The report claims that FDLR rebels have been able to use vast international networks in Tanzania and elsewhere to bolster their supply of arms and recruit extra soldiers.
According to UN military experts, FDLR controls gold and tin mining areas with about 6,000 to 8,000 fighters, while the Tutsi-led group CNDP operates as a parallel militia of 6,000 men.
The UN report also alleges that Burundi and Tanzania are supplying arms to FDLR under a high-level contract between the rebels and the Tanzanian government.
It further claims that both Tanzania and Burundi serve as conduits for the FDLR to traffic gold to the United Arab Emirates
Source:thisday.co.tz/
Tanzania drops 24 places in global corruption ranking
By Tom Mosoba
Tanzania has slipped 24 places in the global corruption ranking over the last one year, reflecting the country?s faltering effort in the campaign against the vice.
The country dropped from position 102 in 2008, to 126 in the 2009 Global Corruption Perception Index (CPI), whose results were released yesterday by the Berlin- based anti-graft agency, Transparency International (TI).
According to the findings of the respected anti-corruption watchdog, Tanzania posted its first worst performance in recent years in the annual ranking of the 180 countries surveyed worldwide.
However, with the exception of Rwanda, Tanzania did better in the region, ranking higher than Kenya (146) and Uganda (130) in the global index. Kenya improved by one position, while Uganda dropped four places.
Rwanda, which was ranked the same with Tanzania in 2008, is now considered the least corrupt country in the East Africa, coming in at an impressive 89th place.
The country led by reformist President Paul Kagame, who has won world accolades for a wide range steps to improve governance, went up by 14 positions to break into the top 100, with a CPI score of 3.7 points. Burundi, the worst performer in the region, was ranked 168th.
Tanzania?s best ranking was 94, in 2007, when Parliament finally passed a law, establishing the Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB). In 2006, the country was ranked 101.
With this year?s decline, the average CPI score and confidence rating of the country?s anti-corruption efforts dropped from 3.2 points in 2007 to 2.6 points this year, out of a maximum of 10 points, in what points to a setback in efforts to fight graft in high places.
President Jakaya Kikwete recently conceded that corruption in the public sector gobbles up more than 30 per cent of the funds allocated for community development.
The poor 2009 CPI ranking comes at a time when the authorities are coming under criticism from the public and donors for not doing enough to root out and punish the masterminds of grand corruption in government, public and private sectors.
The TI findings reflect public disenchantment with the levels of public sector corruption in the respective countries. It is derived from data published in the past two years from surveys involving experts and business leaders in those countries as well as reports by international agencies.
Over the past two years, the government has been on the spot over the handling of the recommendations of the Parliamentary Select Committee on the $172 million Richmond emergency power supply scandal that has sparked a bitter row between Parliament and the Executive.
On a positive note, the government has since moved to prosecute some suspects in the Sh133 billion External Payment Arrears Account (EPA) scandal. Some 20 companies fraudulently received the money from the Bank of Tanzania (BoT).
Among the high profile personalities in court are former Cabinet ministers Basil Mramba and Daniel Yona, who have denied abuse of office charges involving a foreign gold auditing firm that cost the taxpayer over Sh10 billion. Several former BoT employees are also charged with causing the government a loss of over Sh300 billion in different scandals.
Yesterday, the TI chair Huguette Labelle said at the release of the report that unchecked corruption would hinder recovery efforts by governments fighting to shake off effects of the global economic crisis through massive stimulus packages or fast-track disbursements of public funds.
''Stemming corruption requires strong oversight by parliaments, a well performing judiciary, independent and properly resourced audit and anti-corruption agencies, vigorous law enforcement, transparency in public budgets, revenue and aid flows, as well as space for independent media and a vibrant civil society,'' the official said.
While some countries in the sub-Saharan region appeared to improve their scores or ranking in comparison with others, the changes did not reflect substantial and sustainable improvements in local accountability, TI added.
''The overall picture remains one of serious corruption challenges across the region,'' he said, adding that resource-rich countries such as Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea, Chad and Sudan scored poorly despite their potential for generating huge revenues that could increase social development.
In Kenya, Guinea, Zimbabwe and Niger, political leaders were accused of failing to address the vicious cycle that links corruption to poverty. The countries were also accused of threatening local anti-corruption activists and whistleblowers on corruption.
In the 2009 ranking, fragile, unstable states that are scarred by war and ongoing conflict linger at the bottom of the index with just 1 percentage points. They include Somalia, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Sudan and Iraq.
Highest scorers in the CPI with over nine percentage points are New Zealand, Denmark, Singapore, Sweden and Switzerland. These scores reflect political stability, long-established conflict of interest regulations and solid, functioning public institutions.
Source:thecitizen.co.tz/
Tanzania has slipped 24 places in the global corruption ranking over the last one year, reflecting the country?s faltering effort in the campaign against the vice.
The country dropped from position 102 in 2008, to 126 in the 2009 Global Corruption Perception Index (CPI), whose results were released yesterday by the Berlin- based anti-graft agency, Transparency International (TI).
According to the findings of the respected anti-corruption watchdog, Tanzania posted its first worst performance in recent years in the annual ranking of the 180 countries surveyed worldwide.
However, with the exception of Rwanda, Tanzania did better in the region, ranking higher than Kenya (146) and Uganda (130) in the global index. Kenya improved by one position, while Uganda dropped four places.
Rwanda, which was ranked the same with Tanzania in 2008, is now considered the least corrupt country in the East Africa, coming in at an impressive 89th place.
The country led by reformist President Paul Kagame, who has won world accolades for a wide range steps to improve governance, went up by 14 positions to break into the top 100, with a CPI score of 3.7 points. Burundi, the worst performer in the region, was ranked 168th.
Tanzania?s best ranking was 94, in 2007, when Parliament finally passed a law, establishing the Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB). In 2006, the country was ranked 101.
With this year?s decline, the average CPI score and confidence rating of the country?s anti-corruption efforts dropped from 3.2 points in 2007 to 2.6 points this year, out of a maximum of 10 points, in what points to a setback in efforts to fight graft in high places.
President Jakaya Kikwete recently conceded that corruption in the public sector gobbles up more than 30 per cent of the funds allocated for community development.
The poor 2009 CPI ranking comes at a time when the authorities are coming under criticism from the public and donors for not doing enough to root out and punish the masterminds of grand corruption in government, public and private sectors.
The TI findings reflect public disenchantment with the levels of public sector corruption in the respective countries. It is derived from data published in the past two years from surveys involving experts and business leaders in those countries as well as reports by international agencies.
Over the past two years, the government has been on the spot over the handling of the recommendations of the Parliamentary Select Committee on the $172 million Richmond emergency power supply scandal that has sparked a bitter row between Parliament and the Executive.
On a positive note, the government has since moved to prosecute some suspects in the Sh133 billion External Payment Arrears Account (EPA) scandal. Some 20 companies fraudulently received the money from the Bank of Tanzania (BoT).
Among the high profile personalities in court are former Cabinet ministers Basil Mramba and Daniel Yona, who have denied abuse of office charges involving a foreign gold auditing firm that cost the taxpayer over Sh10 billion. Several former BoT employees are also charged with causing the government a loss of over Sh300 billion in different scandals.
Yesterday, the TI chair Huguette Labelle said at the release of the report that unchecked corruption would hinder recovery efforts by governments fighting to shake off effects of the global economic crisis through massive stimulus packages or fast-track disbursements of public funds.
''Stemming corruption requires strong oversight by parliaments, a well performing judiciary, independent and properly resourced audit and anti-corruption agencies, vigorous law enforcement, transparency in public budgets, revenue and aid flows, as well as space for independent media and a vibrant civil society,'' the official said.
While some countries in the sub-Saharan region appeared to improve their scores or ranking in comparison with others, the changes did not reflect substantial and sustainable improvements in local accountability, TI added.
''The overall picture remains one of serious corruption challenges across the region,'' he said, adding that resource-rich countries such as Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea, Chad and Sudan scored poorly despite their potential for generating huge revenues that could increase social development.
In Kenya, Guinea, Zimbabwe and Niger, political leaders were accused of failing to address the vicious cycle that links corruption to poverty. The countries were also accused of threatening local anti-corruption activists and whistleblowers on corruption.
In the 2009 ranking, fragile, unstable states that are scarred by war and ongoing conflict linger at the bottom of the index with just 1 percentage points. They include Somalia, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Sudan and Iraq.
Highest scorers in the CPI with over nine percentage points are New Zealand, Denmark, Singapore, Sweden and Switzerland. These scores reflect political stability, long-established conflict of interest regulations and solid, functioning public institutions.
Source:thecitizen.co.tz/
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