McHANCY REPORTER NewZ

  SIX women with albinism from different countries in Africa are set to scale Mountain Kilimanjaro, the continent’s highest peak as a way of fighting oppression and brutal killings against people with albinism. Speaking to reporters yesterday, the team leader, Jane Waithera said they will climb the mountain on September 24, 2018. “At the moment, we are three but by September other two will come and a parent who will represent parents of people with albinism,” she said. Waithera added, “This will be the first time ever that women with albinism will climb the highest mountain in Africa.” Born with albinism, she was abandoned by her mother soon after birth. Tanzania climber Marium Stafford, who was the victim of a violent attack in 2008 that left her without arms, believes that climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro is an opportunity to shift perspectives from victimhood to empowerment. She said the act will also raise awareness about victims of violent attacks. “By standing at the very top of ...

FROM a humble beginning as a micro-lender, which later transformed into FINCA Microfinance Bank, the financial institution has so far dished out loans close to 1trl/- to over one million small and medium enterprises during the past 20 years. FINCA Microfinance established its first village community bank in 1998 in Mwanza and fifteen years later in 2013 it became the first microfinance institution (MFI) in Tanzania to be granted a licence from the Bank of Tanzania (BoT) as a fully-fledged microfinance bank. “About 53 per cent of the loan beneficiaries are women entrepreneurs across the country. The credit recipients have expanded their businesses and created indirect jobs for more than two million people,” the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of FINCA Microfinance Bank, Mr Issa Ngwegwe, explained. The CEO was speaking at a news conference in Dar es Salaam yesterday at the climax of one week of activities to mark the 20th anniversary since the institution was established in Tanzania. Th...

THE Attorney General (AG) Chambers in Geita Region has decided to appeal against a court’s ruling on bail conditions granted to a British national and three others, charged with unlawful use of Tailing Storage Facility (TSF) and failure to undertake environmental impact assessment certificate. Recently, the Geita Resident Magistrate’s Court released on bail the accused persons, who are investors at Nyarugusu Gold Mine, on conditions of securing only one surety who was to sign a bond of 10m/. “The set bail conditions are so lenient considering the seriousness of the offences. We are talking about human being’s life and other living organisms that are in danger, because of unlawful operation of tailing storage facility,” State Attorney Hezron Mwasimba, said. He charged that though the court has its own ways of conducting its duties, the republic was concerned on such a decision, considering the gravity of the offences as compared to the conditions of bail imposed, of which he claimed ar...

THE ECOWAS Court of Justice and the African Court on Human and People’s Rights (AfCHPR) have pledged to work together to improve human rights in the continent. The ECOWAS Court of Justice delegation that was led by its President, Justice Jérôme Traoré (pictured) culminated the visit by signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with AfCHPR under its President, Justice Sylvain Ore. Through the MoU, which is for an initial three-year period, both courts committed to strengthening their already good relationship and to that end, agreed to a number of initiatives to enhance the discharge of their respective mandates, through concerted implementation of programmes that would enable them contribute towards improving human rights in the continent. In a joint communiqué, the two courts, one based in Abuja, Nigeria and the other in Arusha, Tanzania, mentioned some areas identified for cooperation as staff exchanges, reciprocal representation, knowledge and information sharing, research and cap...

PRIME Minister Kassim Majaliwa on Thursday laid a foundation stone for the construction of dispensary at Mbecha Village, Nanganga Ward of Lindi Region. The construction of the dispensary in the area will help residents of the said ward to enjoy health services nearby. Construction of the dispensary is funded by the African Relief Organisation. Mr Majaliwa said that President John Magufuli’s plan is to strengthen the health sector by building and upgrading medical facilities to ensure many people have access to healthcare services closer to their homes. Earlier, Mbecha Village Executive Officer, Mr Alfan Ngaeje said the idea of constructing the village dispensary began in 1987, but it was stopped due to poor economic conditions facing its residents. He said they continued to have difficulties in accessing health services especially for pregnant women and children who were walking long distances to other villages’ dispensaries. Mr Ngaeje said the service that will be offered in the di...

  FOREIGN diplomats accredited to Tanzania ought to understand complex scenarios in the country before issuing unverified sensational and what can be inciting statements to the public, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and East African Co-operation, Dr Augustine Mahiga, has said. “On our part, we welcome transparent dialogue with our friends and partners on issues that need clarification so that they can be better informed,” Dr Mahiga (pictured), a seasoned diplomat, stated in a four-page press statement issued yesterday. The stance by the government comes in the wake of statements made during the past two weeks by the Embassies of the United States of America (USA), the European Union (EU) and some western embassies in which they expressed concerns over recent security incidences in Tanzania. “Law enforcement officers continue with complex and difficult task of investigating the recent intertwined disturbing security trends and their political manifestations and implications. ...

A MEMBER of the Tanzania People’s Defence Forces (TPDF) and two others yesterday received 40-year jail terms each, while a Chinese national escaped 20-year custodial sentence after paying 110m/- fine, for unlawful possession and dealing in government trophies. Before Resident Magistrate Maira Kasonde at Kisutu Resident Magistrate’s Court in Dar es Salaam, the TPDF member, Sergeant George Senda, Nia Bakari and Shafii Muhibu, were convicted of unlawful dealing and possession of ten pieces of elephant tusks, valued at 198m/-. The Chinese national, Liu Xiu Feng (40), decided to pay 110m/- fine to escape the 20-year-jail term after being found in possession of two lion teeth, which are government trophies worth 11,029,900/-, without a permit from the Director of Wildlife. In the case involving the TPDF member, the Magistrate ordered each of the convict to go to jail for 20 years on each count without providing an option of fine. He, however, directed the convicts to remain behind bars fo...

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - China delayed a U.S. request for a United Nations Security Council committee to blacklist 33 ships, 27 shipping companies, and a Taiwan man for violating international sanctions on North Korea, diplomats said on Friday.  North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attends a grand military parade celebrating the 70th founding anniversary of the Korean People's Army at the Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, in this photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) February 9 2018. KCNA/via REUTERS   The United States submitted the request a week ago, a move it says is“aimed at shutting down North Korea’s illicit maritime smuggling activities to obtain oil and sell coal.” The U.N. request coincided with the United States imposing its largest package of unilateral sanctions against North Korea on Friday, intensifying pressure on Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons and missile programmes. China did not give a reason for placing a hold ...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump, after shocking markets with the risk of a global trade war, came under intense pressure on Friday from U.S. business interests and foreign trading partners to moderate his threat to slap tariffs on steel and aluminium imports. U.S. President Donald Trump announces that the United States will impose tariffs of 25 percent on steel imports and 10 percent on imported aluminum during a meeting at the White House in Washington, U.S., March 1, 2018. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque Trump dispatched pro-tariff advisers Wilbur Ross and Peter Navarro to TV news studios to defend his plan, while White House aides scrambled to downplay the prospect of a resignation by free trade advocate Gary Cohn, the top White House economic adviser, over the matter. Cohn is part of a faction in Trump’s administration that warned the Republican president for months not to threaten the 25-percent steel and 10-percent aluminium tariffs that he pledged to impose in a ch...

LONDON (Reuters) - A British supporter of Islamic State was found guilty on Friday of trying to recruit children he was teaching into an“army” of jihadists to help carry out a wave of attacks across London. Umar Haque, 25, showed the children beheading videos and other violent militant propaganda, forced them to re-enact deadly attacks on the British capital and made them role-play attacking police officers. “His plan was to create an army of children to assist with multiple terrorist attacks throughout London,” said Dean Haydon, head of the Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Command.“He tried and he did, we believe, radicalise vulnerable children from the ages of 11 to 14.” Despite having no qualifications and being employed as an administrator, police say Haque used the guise of teaching Islamic studies to groom 110 children into becoming militants at the Lantern of Knowledge, a small private Islamic school, and at a madrassa connected to the Ripple Road Mosque in east London. ...