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Showing posts from July 10, 2018

DP loses case linked to party subventions

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THE Attorney General (AG) has won another case in a dispute over payments of government subventions to political parties in Tanzania. This follows the decision of the Court of Appeal to dismiss with costs an application for review lodged by Registered Trustees of Democratic Party (DP), seeking to challenge some provisions under the Political Parties Act relating to the funding system. Justices Bernard Luanda, Augustine Mwarija and Rehema Mkuye ruled against the opposition party, previously chaired by Rev. Christopher Mtikila (who is deceased) after noting that the application did not meet the required tests to warrant the court to review its decision on the matter. In the application, the DP was requesting the court to review its judgment for refusing to nullify Act No. 11 of 1996 for allegedly being unconstitutional and discriminatory, by denying the party government subventions which were paid to the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) and Civic United Front (CUF). The DP had also dem

Kishapu villagers get clean water

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AT least 13,000 residents of Maganzo and Masagala villages will now enjoy safe and clean water after the completion of the construction of a pre-paid water project in the area. The project, which has cost over 1bn/- has been implemented in Kishapu District of Shinyanga Region. The prepaid water project was funded by UK aid through the Human Development Innovation Fund (HDIF). The innovative prepaid water technology was developed by Susteq social enterprises based in Netherlands and the project was handed over to Kishapu District Commissioner (DC), Ms Nyabaganga Talaba recently. Mr Peter Matyoko who spoke on behalf of the Resident Manager of Investing in Children and their Societies (ICS) said the system is geared toward developing a viable and scalable business to ease access to water for residents while increasing sustainability potential by reducing the non-revenue water. The community of Maganzo and Masagala village depended on buying water from water vendors at 500/- for 20 litre

Robbers’ appeal rejected by Appeals Court

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THE Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal by two robbers, Saad Mluka and Haruna Batezi, who were sentenced to 30 years imprisonment by the Kisutu Resident Magistrate’s Court in Dar es Salaam for robbing 50,000/- and other items from a pedestrian. Justices Bernard Luanda, Richard Mziray and Saban Lila ruled that as the two courts below had decided the evidence on record is strong enough to ground the conviction of the two appellants. They dismissed all six grounds of appeal the appellants had advanced to challenge the evidence on the prosecution’s case that was not watertight enough to ground their convictions. The justices found that the prosecution’s evidence was produced by credible witnesses, notably the victim of the robbery who was robbed of his mobile phone and 50,000/- from his pockets. Another witness was a police officer who arrested the appellants at the scene of crime and one of them was found with the stolen of items, while the other was armed with a panga. It was alleg

Students’ behaviour should be monitored

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THE government has urged parents and institutions that sponsor students for education to make a close follow up on their performance in a quest to protect them from engaging in bad acts. A Minister in the President’s Office (Regional Administration and Local Government), Mr Selemani Jafo, reminded students to effectively utilise educational opportunities so that they can bring positive changes in the country in future. The minister was speaking during an official ceremony that was lined up to fund students’ education, which involved Pamoja Foundation and a Malaysia-based foundation -- NAMA. He said apart from funding education, the organisation should make a follow up on the performance of students. He said that there have been some cases in which students’ behaviour changed in schools. “I don’t expect to see students doing bad things or being involved in issues that are against our norms and culture. But you should do everything in your capacity to perform well and one day enrol for

Thai cave rescue:operation under way to free last four boys and coach

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The third phase of the high-risk rescue operation for the boys and their coach trapped in a cave in Thailand began Tuesday. Four boys were rescued Sunday and an additional four emerged Monday. Rescuers have been taking the strongest boys out first. It may seem counterintuitive, but the reasoning for that was that officials want the boys who have the best chance of surviving to get through the escape route first. The boys, ages 11-16, and their 25-year-old coach became stranded when they went exploring inside after a practice game. Monsoon flooding blocked off their escape and prevented rescuers from finding them for almost 10 days.

WWF moves to save water catchment areas

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THE World Wide Fund for Nature (Tanzania) has donated over 100m/- for conservation programme of Tobora sub-catchment in Serengeti district, Mara region in efforts to save it from environmental degradation as a result of human activities. An NGO which has been active with the programme in the District for the past 15 years has worked with the local community in seeing to it that the 58 km long sub-catchment keeps its water flowing to the Mara River that drains into Lake Victoria. Speaking to the ‘Daily News’ the WWF Programme Coordinator for Mara Region, Mr Novat Kessy mentioned some of the alternative economic programmes that have been initiated in keeping the environment surrounding the sub-catchment as tree planting and beekeeping among others. “WWF chose to introduce this programme as part of the national efforts that aims at seeing sustainable life of the Tobora sub-catchment and Mara River catchment and in so doing we have engaged the local communities who have joined forces to

State hires 6,000 health sector staff

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THE Regional Administration and Local Government ministry yesterday unveiled a list of 6,180 health personnel recruited to address the shortage countrywide. The Minister for Regional Administration and Local Administration, Mr Selemani Jafo, told reporters here yesterday that the newly hired employees who are supposed to report to their work stations within two-weeks, are those who emerged successful in the recruitment process. A total of 24,891 job seekers who had applied for a number of posts in the health sector that the government had advertised. He said the staff include medical doctors, pharmacists, laboratory technicians, nurses, clinical officers and medical attendants. Mr Jafo outlined criteria for the allocation of the successful candidates, saying priority would be given to newly constructed hospitals, health centres and dispensaries whose kick-off had been stalled by lack of practitioners. Others are the 210 upgraded health facilities in a number of municipalities so that

‘Become human rights warriors’

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LAWYERS attending a training session at the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (AfCHPR) here have been called upon to become a link between it and nations that are the origin of legal issues and alleged human rights violations in Africa. In his opening address to the second training seminar for counsel on the roster of the African Court, the AfCHPR President, Justice Sylvain Ore, said the lawyers would be representing indigent applicants that have not been able to find remedy or satisfaction at countries’ levels. “This seminar must be considered as a link to being established between the court and nations ... on the one hand, you will be required to help the litigants that you are, to acquire the necessary knowhow to effectively assist the court in its mission of administration of justice; on the other, become counsel on the court’s roster and be quite conversant with practice before the court that will undoubtedly make you spokespersons of African human rights law in your na

GP Cricket turns hot at Dar Gymkhana

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AS the GP Gymkhana Shield 2018 cricket tournament rolls into the second week at the Dar es Salaam Gymkhana Club (DGC), its organisers have expressed satisfaction over fans good response. Ashish Nagewadia, the DGC cricket section captain told the ‘Daily News’ over the weekend that the event has appealed a good number of fans as it continues to gain momentum. “The tournament is going on well so far, we have seen over 100 fans turning up at the venue on both Saturday and Sunday games, this is achievement,” he said. Atif Salim, the chairman of Lions team, added that the tournament has also gone to another level as it is broadcasting live through app to give viewers all over the world access for a live score. Salim was happy that Lions won their first match after the third year since joining the league. They beat Lohana in their last week Group D game. But the team could not maintain the winning form as at the weekend they lost by 22 runs over Kanbis. The winners opted to bat first and re

Witness admits Malinzi occasionally funded TFF

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A PROSECUTION witness, Paul Marealle, yesterday admitted before a Dar es Salaam Court that former President of the Tanzania Football Federation (TFF) Jamal Malinzi is among individuals, who have been providing financial support to the Federation when experiencing funds shortage. Marealle, who is currently the Chairman of TFF Medical Committee and member of the Federation’s Executive Committee, was giving evidence at the Kisutu Resident Magistrate’s Court in the fraud and money laundering trial of Malinzi and four other senior officials. Cross-examined by Advocate Richard Rweyongeza, the witness told Principal Resident Magistrate Wilbard Mashauri that there are times when TFF is forced to seek financial support from different individual persons upon running short of funds. According to him, one of the persons who had been providing such support was Malinzi. The witness testified that he is aware that Malinzi was currently behind bars facing a number of criminal charges, including obta

Quadruple set, Simba see dawn

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KAGAME Cup Champions Azam secured a ticket to play Gor Mahia at the Kagame Cup semis following their 4-2 win over Rayon Sport at the National Stadium yesterday. Hassan Iddi Chilunda was the match hero as he netted all four goals, a feat that also earned the tournament its first hat-trick. Azam will play Kenya Champions, Gor Mahia in the semi final match tomorrow. Chilunda also became the first player to score a quadruple in the ongoing Cecafa Kagame Cup. Wednesday’s 4pm encounter will be a repeat of the 2015 final at the same venue where Azam beat Gor 2-0 to lift their first ever regional title. The prolific Iddi, who is on his way to Spanish side Tenerife, broke the deadlock in the 20th minute when he leapt highest to head home Ramadhan Singano’s corner kick. Three minutes later, Azam captain Aggrey Morris had a chance to get in the score sheet but missed his spotkick after Olivier Niyonzima handled the ball in the area while trying to stop Iddi’s effort. Chilunda then doubled the l

Higher gear engaged in rhino protection battle

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AS the number of black rhinos continues to dwindle worldwide, Tanzania is earnestly initiating a solid partnership between public and private sectors in a spirited initiative to protect the endangered ferocious mammals. The Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, Dr Aloyce Nzuki, held a meeting with representatives of institutions with the mandate to conserve wildlife together with members of the private sector to find sustainable ways of protecting the rare rhinos. According to Dr Nzuki, whereas poaching cases targeting rhinos had almost ceased and the country’s stock of the mammals was more than 100 and the number was consistently increasing, Tanzania had taken more spirited efforts to guarantee the animals’ safety. “We all agree that, keeping rhinoceros species is an expensive venture, especially because most of these mammals roam freely in parks, unlike in other countries where they are kept safely in cages or highly protected sanctuaries,” sa

Justin Bieber's 'engagement' upsets fans

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Female fans of Canada’s Pop star Justin Bieber have seemingly been deeply upset in the wake of news of his presumed engagement went viral on the internet last weekend. Bieber is said to have popped the question to US model Hailey Baldwin at a Bahamas resort. The two have reportedly been dating over the past few months. News of the soon-to-be Mr and Mrs Bieber were reported by a couple of influential US media outlets, including TMZ, CNN, E! News and UK’s BBC. Bieber’s parents Jeremy Bieber and Pattie Mallete fueled discussions in social media after they shared on their accounts what was defined as confirmation of the engagement news. On his Instagram account, Jeremy posted Justin’s photo and wrote ‘@justinbieber Proud is an understatement! Excited for the next chapter!’While Pattie posting on her Twitter account a merged picture of the new couple and herself with Justine captioning it ‘Love LoveLoveLoveLoveLoveLove.’ The two posts generated massive comments, with most users discussing

Parental Love....

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AMBASSADOR of Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia to Tanzania, Mr Mohammed Almalik, greets conjoined twins, Maryness and Anisia, to bid a farewell at the Julius Nyerere International Airport(JNIA) in Dar es Salaam, yesterday, before flying to Saudi Arabia for separation. The King of Saudi Arabia, Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud will foot travel and all medical expenses at the Riyadh-based King Abdulaziz medical city, the experienced medical facility in performing such surgeries that expected to involve more than 50 specialists of different fields.

Fine-tuning business reforms

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THE Prime Minister’s Office will drive implementation of reforms to improve the business environment as it will involve issues that cut across almost all the ministries and the local government authorities, it has been explained. A Business Environment Analyst of the Tanzania National Business Council, Kabenga Kaisi said at a meeting in Dar es Salaam yesterday that the Prime Minister’s Office would coordinate the reform agenda as its implementation would involve almost all ministries and local government authorities. “The Prime Minister’s Office has to take leadership in the implementation because many issues in the reforms agenda involve almost all ministries... They are cross-cutting issues which need Prime Minister’s Office to drive them,” he said at a breakfast meeting to discuss implementation of a government’s blueprint for regulatory reforms to improve the business environment. The Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment published the blueprint for regulatory reforms in May

Picha Local engineers: Assign us part of SGR project

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THE Engineers Registration Board (ERB) has submitted a proposal to the government requesting a portion of the ongoing construction of Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) as part of local engineers’ contribution in the 7trl/- project. The government intends to spend 7trl/- to build a 2,561 km standard gauge railway network. It recently awarded a contract to a Turkish firm ‘Yapi Merkezi Insaat VE Sanayi As’ to construct a 422-km (262-mile) high-speed electric railway line. ERB Chairman Prof Ninatubu Lema told the Minister for Trade, Industry and Investment, Mr Charles Mwijage, that local engineers are ready to take on big projects. “We want the government to consider our submission. We just need even a small part of the SGR which can be used as baseline reference,” the chairman, who is also an engineer, said at a day-long engineers meeting in Dodoma. The government embarked on total revival of its infrastructure to spur the industrial powered economy agenda. The first phase of the project inv

China calms anxiety of African continent

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CHINA has diffused the growing tension on debttrap diplomacy over African countries, hinting that it does not support infrastructure projects in the continent to strategically advance its geostrategic interests. Instead, the world’s second largest economy and Africa’s major trading partner affirmed that its financing to the continent is provided in a responsible manner, putting all associated risks under control. In its efforts to help Africa contain debt risks, Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs Chen Xiaodong said the country encourages its companies to directly invest in Africa and explore new models like Public Private Partnership (PPP). Mr Xiaodong argued that African debt problem, to which China is mistakenly linked, is a result of multiple factors. At the opening ceremony of the Seventh China-Africa Think Tanks Forum here,the assistant minister noted that the continent debt problem was a ‘growing pain’ that naturally emerges in the process of development and can only be elim