McHANCY REPORTER NewZ

PRESIDENT John Magufuli has tongue-lashed the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) for pursuing aggressive strategies that push taxpayers beyond the boundaries of acceptable tax collections saying paying taxes should be an honourable obligation rather than a burden. He directed Minister in charge of Finance and Planning as well as the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry to help seek an end to the challenges facing TRA and help improve relationships with taxpayers. Expressing deep concern over the way TRA was fixing tax rates, the Head of State wanted everyone to pay fair taxes. He cited an example whereby TRA were charging property owners up to 900,000/- as property tax while the government had directed the authority to fix flat rates for all owners. “I have been informed how the authority is harassing people paying property tax. The government harmonised the system allowing a rational amount to be paid as property tax. Unfortunately, taxpayers are still being mistreated,” he remarked.

  THE Government yesterday announced that thousands of jobs would be created by ongoing huge projects, including the State-funded construction of the country’s first ever standard gauge railway line from Morogoro to Dodoma, representing 30,000 new direct jobs and 600,000 indirect ones. President John Magufuli stated that the move would go a long way towards narrowing the unemployment gap in the country. He made the announcement yesterday when laying a foundation stone of the 7trn/- worth 426km-long line whose construction is implemented by the Turkish based firm Yapi Merkezi and supervised by the State-run Tanzania Railways Corporation (TRC). While acknowledging that the country faced a serious unemployment problem, his administration was resolutely determined to ease it by investing in more development projects. President Magufuli outlined other mega projects as the Rufiji hydropower project, roads networks as well as rural electrification projects. He called on wananchi not to b

  The ears and eyes of the business community in Zanzibar will tomorrow be directed to the former chamber of the House of Representatives where entrepreneurs, traders and services providers will gather to deliberate on business opportunities available in the Isles. Under the gathering known as TSN Business Forum, the businesspersons are expected to use the opportunity to explore avenues of trade and investment in the Isles, including exchanging ideas and views on areas that are yet to be fully exploited. The forum, which has been organized in the Isles by the State owned media company (TSN) in collaboration with the office of the Second Vice President, Zanzibar Business Council, the Office of Urban West regional commissioner and the Zanzibar Ministry of Trade and Industries, has attracted attention of the general public in Zanzibar. The major objective of the forum is to explore business and service opportunities available in Zanzibar, considering the fact that there are abundant

PRESIDENT John Magufuli has assured tobacco farmers of reliable market and reasonable prices for their produce, thanks to the inauguration of a third cigarette making factory at an investment of 65bn/- in Morogoro by Philip Morris Tanzania (PMT), through a manufacturing agreement with Mansoor Industries Limited. PMT is a subsidiary of Philip Morris International (PMI), an American cigarette and tobacco manufacturing conglomerate whose most recognised brand is Marlboro. The Tanzanian plant has an initial capacity of producing one billion cigarettes per annum. Before the new company, there were two cigarette making industries in the country - namely the Tanzania Cigarette Company (TCC) and Mastermind Tobacco Tanzania Limited. Speaking at the launch of the PMT factory in Morogoro, yesterday, Dr Magufuli was confident that the market for tobacco farmers will be broadened and at reasonable prices, owing to the coming of the new kid on the block in cigarette making. “Establishment of indus

  IN what can be described as response to the government’s call, hundreds of Dar es Salaam residents yesterday turned up at the offices of the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) contractor to request for jobs, barely a day after President John Magufuli launched the second phase of the project. Youth from the region camped at the Turkish company, Yapi Merkezi offices for a better part of the day with hope that they would probably grab employment opportunities in the ongoing SGR project from Dar es Salaam to Morogoro and the newly launched second phase of the project from Morogoro to Dodoma. Speaking on Wednesday in Dodoma when laying a foundation stone of the 7trn/- worth 426km-long SGR line, Dr Magufuli announced that thousands of jobs will be created by the ongoing huge projects, including the Statefunded construction of the country’s first ever SGR line from Morogoro to Dodoma, representing 30,000 new direct jobs and 600,000 indirect ones. The Turkish-based Yapi Merkezi is implementin

THE business community in Zanzibar is today expected to converge at the former chamber of the House of Representatives, to attend a business forum organised by the Tanzania Standard (Newspapers) Limited (TSN). Today’s forum becomes the fifth occasion following similar ones held in Simiyu, Mwanza, Tanga and Shinyanga regions. The forum, which has been organised by the State-owned media company (TSN) in collaboration with the Office of the Second Vice-President, Zanzibar Business Council, the Office of Urban West Regional Commissioner (RC) and the Zanzibar Ministry of Trade and Industries, is expected to attract entrepreneurs, businesspersons and service providers. The forum is expected to attract between 300 and 400 participants. The Second Vice-President, Ambassador Seif Ali Idd is expected to be the chief guest. Zanzibar Minister of Trade and Industries, Ambassador Amina Salum Ali has called upon TSN management to prepare multiple business forums in the Isles, instead of having onl

  Former Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe described his departure from office in November as a "coup d'etat" that "we must undo" in his first TV interviews since then, aired on Thursday. Mugabe, 94, spoke slowly but clearly to South Africa's SABC broadcaster from an office in Harare, dressed in a grey suit, sitting in front of a portrait of himself and his wife Grace. "I say it was a coup d'etat - some people have refused to call it a coup d'etat," said Mugabe referring to the brief army takeover which led to Emmerson Mnangagwa assuming power after Mugabe's resignation. "We must undo this disgrace which we have imposed on ourselves, we don't deserve it... Zimbabwe doesn't deserve it." In another similarly vehement interview, with Britain's ITV News, the elderly former leader said he had no desire to return to power.

  THE High Court’s Commercial Division has dismissed the objections raised by Vodacom Group Limited and its three subsidiary companies against the share attachment suit lodged by local businessman Moto Mabanga related to execution of foreign judgment on 40bn/- payments. Judge Haruna Songoro ruled that the grounds of objections presented by Vodacom Group Limited, Vodacom Tanzania PLC, Vodacom International Limited and Vodacom Congo DRC SPRL, challenging the jurisdiction of the Tanzanian court to entertain the suit, lacked merits. Other grounds raised by the Vodacom companies, through the services of Advocate Fatma Karume, include the locus stand by the businessman to file the suit in question and that the suit does not disclose any cause of action against Vodacom Tanzania PLC. In his ruling delivered recently, Judge Songoro said that as per the High Court (Commercial Division) Procedure Rules and having gone through the plaint, the court has jurisdiction to hear and determine a cas