Dar es Salaam, Tanzania — The convoys of Tanzania’s opposition presidential candidate and his running mate were on different occasion subjected to a hail of teargas canisters and live ammunition this week as police attempted to disperse huge crowds of people who wanted to listen to the man who survived a brazen assassination attempt in 2017 in which he was shot 16 times.
The first incident happened at Nyamongo—a mining village in northern Mara region when Tundu Lissu, the opposition presidential candidate on the ticket of Chama Cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo (CHADEMA) was about to make a brief stop-over to greet his supporters when the police started firing indiscriminately in the air after a verbal confrontation with CHADEMA security detail.
“Our convoy has been subjected to a massive teargas attack by the Police… in an attempt to block our route heading to our campaign meeting,” said Lissu adding that “Our supporters have equally been bitterly caned and hurt. Let them bomb us and shoot us, but we shall never back down.”
Unbowed and Defiant
Surprisingly as teargas smoke belched, Lissu’s supporters remained unprovoked, chanting his campaign slogans while pushing the police vehicles out of the way so that they could hear their hero roaring.
Media sources said the confrontation started shortly after Lissu and his team inadvertently took a wrong route to a scheduled campaign rally contrary to what they had previously agreed with the local police, forcing police officers who were escorting the convoy to withdraw their escort.
Police Beatings
Video footages show scores of CHADEMA’s supporters including motorcycle riders had been injured after they were brutally caned by the riot police officers.
“I was just passing by when the police van blocked the road and the officers started to attack me heavily with batons,” said Mwita Chacha who sustained injuries and had his motorcycle destroyed.
“Why should police threaten a presidential candidate with bullets and tear gas,” Queried Ansbert Ngurumo an independent journalist and fierce critic of the Tanzanian regime.
Despite the confrontation, the presidential candidate was able to make his speech before heading to the northern Serengeti area where he spent a night.
Speaking in Serengeti, Lissu strongly condemned the police attempt to disrupt his rallies.
Running Mate in Trouble
Meanwhile the convoy of his running mate, Salum Mwalimu was teargassed by the police in the eastern Ifakara village, ostensibly to disperse throngs of supporters as he tried to greet residents who had gathered for a rally expected to be addressed by the opposition’s councillorship candidate.
Tanzania will hold its highly anticipated election on October 28. President John Magufuli, who seeks re-election on the ticket of the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) is facing strong opposition from Lissu of CHADEMA.
Independent Commission
Members of the opposition in the east African country have relentlessly been calling for the formation of an independent electoral commission— expressing fears the elections would probably take place in a climate of violence and intimidation.
Under the current setting, critics say the National Electoral Commission (NEC) is not independent since its commissioners are all appointed by the president.
For instance, in total disregard of the rule of law and principles of impartiality, NEC’s Director of Elections, Wilson Mahera has reportedly warned supporters of the opposition that they will see more police violence, bombing, and teargassing.
His remarks have infuriated the opposition.
“Threatening people with teargas for expressing their political opinions is no one’s idea of impartiality or rule of law. I simply confirm that we are watching and recording your intimidation or your own people on behalf of CCM,” said Robert Amsterdam a renowned international lawyer who represents Lissu.
Despite facing crippling huddles over the last five years, Tanzania opposition is proving resilient and still able to galvanize massive public support in what Lissu explains as strong grassroots support that was energized when political activities were banned.
While the opposition presidential candidate and his supporters are subjected to police brutality and intimidate, critics say their counterpart from CCM is campaigning freely and makes stop-overs to greet the people anywhere as he pleases.
“Nobody can stop us,” said Lissu amid thunderous applause from his supporters.
Dar es Salaam, September 24 — A top Tanzanian lawyer and the former president of the Tanganyika Law Society (TLS)—a local bar association has been disbarred from practicing law in the East African country barely a day after she was kicked out by her law firm, in what critics term as politically motivated scheme to silence her.
“I have been permanently removed from the Roll of Advocates,” she announced on Twitter
The decision to ban her from practicing law was reached by the Advocates Commitee which sat at the country’s High Court Wednesday and found her to have breached the codes of ethics.
The 51-year-old lawyer, who was earlier this week sacked by IMMMA Advocates—a law firm she had helped to create, said her practicing number 848 had been plucked from the ledger of advocates.
“I will not be appealing the decision,” she said.
Corporate Reputation
The law firm, where Karume worked for more than a decade as a senior partner, sacked her on the grounds that she was tarnishing its corporate image and jeopardizing friendly business relations with clients.
The firm claimed it’s unhappy with Karume’s “political activism” on social media which, allegedly violates the legal code of ethics.
Sadock Magai, a managing partner at IMMMA Advocates told reporters that Karume’s political activism has injured the firm’s corporate reputation adding that she had grossly breached her partnership agreement with the firm known for its premier legal services across Africa.
Karume denied the allegations saying defending the rule of law and democracy has nothing to do with breach of ethics.
“If you defend the rule of law, democracy in a dictatorship you’re dubbed a “political activist” and terminated in breach of a deed of partnership by IMMMA a law firm that had no qualms flaunting a partner sitting as a minister in the ruling CCM government,” she said adding “Ethics are a rare commodity.”
Parting Ways
In a letter written to Karume, signed by Magai the law firm said it no longer wished to associate itself with her, adding that she will be duly compensated.
The outspoken lawyers had also been ordered to return the firm’s possessions.
“Two weeks ago, they (the firm) sent me a letter asking me to stop political activism or they will fire me. I told them I am a lawyer and it is my job to speak for the community,” said Karume defiantly.
Fearless Human Rights Defender
In a statement issued today, Tanzania Human Rights Defenders Coalition (THRDC)—a leading rights advocacy group said it’s “extremely shocked and deeply saddened” by the decision to ban Karume.
“She’s an ardent supporter of the rule of law and staunch defender of constitutionalism, democracy, and human rights in Tanzania.”
Advocate Karume, a granddaughter of the founding Zanzibar president, Abeid Amani Karume, is described by her supporters as an astute lawyer, with a razor-sharp legal mind and a bold temperament.
“Like a person of any other calling Fatma is always guided by her conscience and stick to the cardinal rules for lawyers,” reads THRDC statement in part.
Impeccable Legal Credentials
Karume has over the years, tirelessly worked to resolve many corporate, human rights, and public interest legal disputes.
Last year, Karume was indefinitely suspended by the High Court as an advocate on alleged ethical misconduct. However, campaigners still recognize her as a fearless human rights advocate.
Karume, whose office was in August 2017 fire-bombed by unknown assailants is the second female President of the Tanganyika Law Society.
She has more than twenty years of experience in civil and commercial litigation and specializes in civil litigation, arbitration, constitutional and administrative law.
Dar es Salaam — On a humid Monday afternoon, students are huddled in a classroom at the Confucius Institute at the University of Dar es Salaam, learning Mandarin.
They all repeat after their teacher in mandarin: “Where is the market?”
The ensuing echo pervades acoustics of the state-of-the-art classroom, decorated with posters scribbled in distinctive Chinese characters.
Their teacher, Xian Li, a 28–year-old expert from Dongbei University in China says today’s lesson is about visiting the market.
“I want them to read this sentence in Mandarin,” she says.
The US$ 2.4 million Institute equipped with lecture halls, multimedia facilities, and an Amphitheatre, built with the grant from the Chinese government has attracted many students.
China, Africa’s most important economic partner is already leaving a large cultural footprint across the continent with dozens of Confucius Institutes, striving to teach Mandarin to help young people eager to explore Chinese culture let alone securing competitive jobs in Chinese companies.
From Cape Town to Accra, to Dodoma, to Kampala, African governments are increasingly adopting Chinese language ostensibly to advance future prospects of the young generation.
At the Confucius Institute, visitors are greeted by a giant statue of the sixth-century Chinese philosopher.
The institute’s director, Prof. Zhang Xiozhen, sits at a desk decorated with the Chinese and Tanzania flags. His office walls are adorned with Chinese cultural drawings.
With more than 50 Confucius Institutes established across Africa, analysts say Mandarin is likely to challenge the ubiquity of European colonial languages in Africa notably English and French.
According to Ziozhen students who successfully complete their Mandarin classes often work in Chinese companies or get scholarships to study in China.
Diana Shayo, 21, a student in Li’s class said she has joined a course in Mandarin because she wants to study engineering in China.
Her friend Zulfa Abdulkadir, 22, says Mandarin will help her break the existing language barrier to explore the Chinese culture.
“I want to experience the Chinese culture and their way of life,” she told Ubuntu Times.
Despite being popular, Confucius institutes in Africa are increasingly criticized, with western governments branding them as tools for spreading Chinese propaganda.
As China’s influence continues to grow, African governments have positively embraced the idea of adding Mandarin in their schools’ curricula.
The Chinese language has been introduced in schools and in higher learning institutions in many African countries including South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda.
In South Africa, the government’s move to add Mandarin to the national school curriculum in 2015 evoked criticism with the country’s teachers’ union branding it a new form of colonialism.
At Zanaki Girls’ Secondary School in Dar es Salaam, students anxiously scribbling Chinese characters on flip charts, sing and recite poems.
“I love these characters, it’s interesting to write them,” said Sophia Mwenda.
In Dar es Salaam, Mandarin is being taught to people from all walks of life. Business executives, students, and graduates hunting for a job are quite eager to learn the language.
For many in Africa, China has become synonymous with economic success and the ability to speak Mandarin is seen as a stepping stone to other opportunities.
China’s much-noted economic progress has been accompanied by a steady expansion in its cultural and diplomatic influence globally. This growth in the so-called soft power is more apparent in Africa.
One of the toughest challenges the Chinese face as they strive to invest in Africa has been the cultural barrier and language challenges.
As ties between China and Africa grow not only in trade but also in people-to-people exchanges, the interest in Chinese language learning has grown among young people in Africa.
“If you’re committed to learn Chinese, the reward is obvious; this can give you an edge when entering the world of an economic powerhouse and exposing you to a new culture,” says Gao Wei, Cultural Counsellor at the Chinese Embassy in Dar es Salaam.
For Shayo and other students, the future is brighter; Mandarin is most likely to dominate the job market in most countries.
“Learning this language is an added advantage,” she says.
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania — Uganda and Tanzania have signed a multibillion dollars deal that officially kicks off the construction of a 1,445km pipeline to transport crude oil from the landlocked country to the port city of Tanga on the Indian Ocean.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and his Tanzanian counterpart, John Magufuli on Sunday witnessed signing of the agreement to build what they claim as world’s longest oil pipeline stretching from the shores of lake Victoria to the Indian Ocean. The $3.5 billion pipeline, whose building starts in March 2021, is perceived as a milestone for the economies of the two countries.
Huge Crude Oil Treasure
Uganda discovered huge reserves of commercially viable crude oil in 2006. The landlocked country has approximately 6 billion barrels of oil and plans to bring some of it on stream by 2023-24 to vitalize its economy.
Speaking at the signing occasion President Museveni said citizens of Uganda and Tanzania will soon start to enjoy shared benefits of the crude oil resources.
“It’s good that we have now finalised the debate and negotiations about the discovered oil, the project has to take off with immediate effect to benefit people in both countries,” he said.
The move comes barely a week after the French energy giant—Total, a major investor in Uganda’s oil industry, struck a deal with Ugandan authorities by clearing administrative snags that were delaying implementation of the project.
“The conditions are set for the ramp-up of project activities and in particular, we will resume the land acquisition activities in Uganda while respecting the highest human rights standards,” Total Uganda said in a statement.
According to President Museveni, the investors will initially tap 6.5 billion barrels of crude oil, of which, 60 percent of the profit obtained will go to Tanzania and the remaining 40 percent will be for Uganda.
Displacement Of Communities
However, campaigners have raised eye brows on possible displacement of 12,000 families located along the corridor of the proposed pipeline and destruction of vital ecosystems in the vicinity.
Human rights activists say the multi-billion dollar investment could spell disaster for local people and trigger loss of land and livelihoods since it has it did not consider the concerns raised by thousands of farmers and pastoralists whose livelihoods will be at stake.
Campaigners said people fear that they would not receive a fair compensation urging the French energy giant and its partners to clear any obstacles on land valuation and compensation process.
Human Rights Concerns
A report on the Human Rights Impact Assessment; titled, ‘Empty Promises Down the Line: A human Rights Impact Assessment of the East African Crude Oil Pipeline’ published last week by Oxfam and other charities highlight several risks the project pose for communities located along the proposed pipeline corridor in Uganda and Tanzania.
Meanwhile Total welcomed some of the findings in the reports. “The project was designed with the overarching concern of minimizing and mitigating the impacts on local communities and in particular the need to relocate households,” the company said in a statement.
Salum Mnuna, Tanzania’s coordinator of the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) said the company is on the verge of reaching similar agreement with Tanzania whose territory the pipeline will cross.
All Is Well
The company said it will consider the recommendations proposed in the report “Total welcomes and agrees with many of Oxfam’s suggestions and recommendations. Again, Total recognizes the value of the community-based approach taken to Oxfam in this assessment as it is complementary to the engagement and consultation with affected communities” the company said in a statement.
The company described the charity’s recommendations as “valuable and useful,” adding that it would take them as a basis to progress.
Dar es Salaam — Tanzania authorities have tightened restrictions on the media, political opposition, and organizations working to promote human rights—ushering in a climate of fear ahead of the October 28 general elections.
International advocacy group, the Human Rights Watch has released a chorus of criticism, accusing Tanzania government of repeatedly intimidating opposition politicians, and banning newspapers deemed critical, denying human rights groups the right to provide civic education and elections monitoring while blackmailing independent journalists from reporting the COVID-19 crisis.
Repressive Laws
Since coming to power in 2015, the government under President John Magufuli, has enacted and enforced tougher laws that campaigners say stifle civil liberties and basic rights to expression and association.
Such laws including the Cyber-crime Act of 2015 which severely restrict online communications, and effectively criminalizing social media content critical of the government.
The government has also toughened the Electronic and Postal Communications (Online Content) Regulations, ostensibly to punish online users who publish content likely to violate public order, or those organizing demonstrations, or promoting hatred or racism.
Oryem Nyeko, African researcher at Human Rights Watch said Tanzania’s government move to repress civil liberties, raise doubts about the elections being free and fair.
“All of the actions that the government has taken, affect conditions for a fair electoral playing field,” Nyeko said.
For the elections to be free and fair, he added, Tanzania’s authorities should allow political opposition to express their views and rights group and the media to work freely.
The government has also adopted tougher regulations officially banning local TV and Radio stations from airing foreign-produced contents without approval.
Independent Voice Blackmail
Early in July, Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA)—the state-run communications watchdog banned Kwanza TV, an online television station for allegedly airing a biased report on COVID-19.
Campaigners accuse the government of intimidating independent journalists, forcing them to refrain from covering the opposition’s campaign rallies notably the main opposition party Chama Cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo (CHADEMA), whose Presidential candidate, Tundu Lissu miraculously survived a politically-motivated assassination attempt in which he was shot 16 times in 2017.
“Citizens must not sit idly while their hopes, dreams, and rights are eviscerated by a political party determined to stay in power at any cost,” tweeted Robert Amsterdam, an international lawyer representing Lissu.
Electoral Observation
Meanwhile, the Tanzania’s National Electoral Commission (NEC), has banned key advocacy groups including the Tanzania Human Rights Defender Coalition (THRDC) from providing voters’ education ahead of the election.
Onesmo Ole Ngurumwa, THRDC, National Coordinator believes the move is irrational and out of fear, given their solid track record to carry out their duties professionally and objectively.
“More active NGOs have been excluded because of this fear” Ole Ngurumwa told Ubuntu Times.
Ole Ngurumwa, who was briefly arrested last month for failure to submit THRDC agreements with its donors, said the organization has suspended its operations after authorities froze its bank accounts, pending investigation on alleged money laundering.
Dar es Salaam — Low-income female entrepreneurs, whose Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) suffered losses after the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic are being equipped with financial literacy skills to absolve their businesses from COVID-19 economic ravages.
Women working in the informal sector are among the most marginalized and underutilized citizens in Sub-Sahara Africa who are less likely to have access to training and credits even though they are the main caregivers of many households. They face a myriad of challenges due to a lack of business and financial literacy skills.
In an effort to cushion women-led businesses from the impacts of COVID-19 Equality For Growth(EfG)—a local charity working to empower women economically recently organized gender-sensitive training course to help low-income women protect their businesses in a crisis.
“This training is aiming to equip businesswomen with essential financial literacy skills so that they can budget, plan and live within their means,” said Jane Magigita, EfG Managing Director.
EfG strives to empower women working in Tanzania’s informal sector, to fight poverty through access to financial legal and human rights education. The firm envisions removing exploitation, gender bias, legal and economic barriers.
According to Magigita, the training entailed intensive courses such as book-keeping, how to prepare a business plan, budget, and how to manage their businesses during crisis all of which are designed to develop women’s financial skills and capabilities.
As businesses in the east African country are still wobbling in dire economic uncertainties, financial education is proving essential to ensure recovery and survival of women-led ventures.
“One of the most critical pathways to empower women is to give them the opportunity to learn financial literacy skills to positively change their attitudes and behavior towards money,” said Magigita.
While poor knowledge on financial matters among women is not a new phenomenon, observers say such training opportunities are vital to avert future crises.
“When the Coronavirus crisis struck, most women in the informal sector were caught off guard, worse still they didn’t know what to do to protect their businesses,” said Margareth Chacha, former Managing Director of Tanzania Women’s Bank.
According to her women’s economic empowerment increases economic diversification, boosts productivity, and bridges yawning income inequality with men.
Chacha applauded a recent move by Tanzania’s central bank to temporarily increase mobile money transaction limits and waive the fees during the crisis to ease the burden on women-led businesses.
Meanwhile, Magigita called upon banks and other financial institutions to momentarily defer loan repayments for women-led SMEs whenever a crisis strikes.
Magigita hailed how technology was shaping responses to the Coronavirus pandemic, especially the role that digital financial services played to salvage businesses in the country.
“Digital Financial Services play a significant role in stimulating financial inclusion for low-income women groups,” she said.
While women entrepreneurs are increasingly recognized as key drivers of economic growth, many of them are wobbling in financial doldrums that prevent them from sustaining their businesses.
The trainers also taught women to solve the challenges they face when trying to secure bank loans.
Although the informal sector constitutes a vibrant economic force in the east African country, officials say most small businesses die within the first year of operation.
In Tanzania the informal sector is made up of roughly 3 million businesses which provide approximately 48 percent of the GDP and 36 percent of the total employment, official government data show.
Asha Shababu (27) a trader at Tandika market in Dar es Salaam who attended the training said it has helped her to understand the importance of balancing her stock before the start of each business day.
She routinely tallies additions and deductions and jots the figure down on a handwritten ledger.
“I barely kept my sales record before,” Shabani said of her previous approach to run her business. “I have now realized every penny has to be accounted for.”
Dar es Salaam — It’s busy Sunday evening at Shekilango road, a bustling neighborhood in Dar es Salaam dotted with bars and nightclubs that can be likened to Bourbon Street at New Orleans, Louisiana in the United States.
Dozens of young female customers in dazzling outfits are huddling at a smoke-belching kitchen, placing their orders to the wide-eyed chef.
A Chef at Kibo Bar slices pieces of pork for his customers. Kizito Makoye / Ubuntu Times
BREAKING THE TRADITION
Unlike in conventional restaurants, Kitimoto customers proceed directly to the kitchen to place their orders and select the portions of raw meat, unsteadily hanging on a metal holder.
The knife-brandishing chef in a white apron then slices the portions, weighs it on the scale, and starts the preparation for cooking.
The meat is then anointed with a number of spices including soy sauce, vinegar, pepper, and ginger, and placed on a hot grill for comfortable slow cooking or tossed in hot oil.
“Most customers prefer extra juicy meat mixed with plantain (green bananas) and vegetable salad aside,” said Justine Mrosso, a cook at JJ bar in Dar es Salaam.
A loud music play as revellers sitting on a maze of wooden stalls guzzle rounds of a top-selling Serengeti light beer while watching portions of their pork sizzling on a grill. A gush of aromatic steam wafts a loudly chattering customers anxiously wait for a savory tasty meat.
HOW TO MAKE IT TASTY
Kitimoto—Swahili word literary meaning unbearably “hot seat” refers to spicy and fastidiously grilled pork chops that local chefs leave them sizzling on a slow-cooking charcoal grill or deep fry them in hot oil. The pork chops are often slathered in succulent vegetable stew containing tomatoes, onions, and green peppers.
Despite its popularity, you can hardly find Kitimoto conspicuously displayed on menus of conventional restaurants in the port city of Dar es Salaam. To enjoy this delicacy, a customer has to go to the streets and get right into the kitchen.
“We are a civilized community, the fact that one’s religion does not allow feasting on pork does not mean everybody should avoid eating it. You must do your best to enjoy your food without offending anyone, that’s why we come straight to the kitchen,” said Caesar Malleo, a Kitomoto customer.
ORIGIN AND POLITICAL SIGNIFICANCE
Apparently nobody knows, how the word Kitimoto was ascribed to sumptuous pork dish. According to some unsubstantiated claims, some people whose religious beliefs strictly prohibit pork eating, they found it irresistible, wore cloak and sneak into the kitchen, frantically placing their order and eat the meat while nervously seated on their “hot seat” avoiding to see someone they know.
Kitimoto meat is also linked to a foiled political turmoil in 1993 when Muslim religious fundamentalists torched pig slaughterhouses and restaurant serving pork claiming eating pork contradicted their religious beliefs.
A Chef preparing the meat before placing it on a hot grill. Kizito Makoye / Ubuntu Times
LIBERALIZING SOCIAL VALUES
Under the leadership of President Ali Hassan Mwinyi, who reversed failed socialist policies under the country’s founding leader Julius Nyerere in the 1980s, import restrictions were relaxed and private enterprises encouraged.
President Mwinyi also known as Mzee Ruksa meaning (everything is allowed) is hailed for liberalizing morals, beliefs, values, and the economy without necessarily breaking the law.
President Mwinyi, a devout Muslim, strongly criticized die-hard Islamic radicals who set ablaze the butcheries insisting that Tanzania was a free country and that people were free to eat anything as long as they don’t break the law.
Payment is made depending on the weight of the portion. Kizito Makoye / Ubuntu Times
At Kibo Bar and Restaurant located at Bahari Beach area in the outskirts of Dar es Salaam, every customer has a story to tell about their experience eating a lovely moist, evenly cooked roast pork surrounded by sharp crackling crisp.
“It’s very delicious, I feel like coming here every day to enjoy this delicacy,” said Ester Timbuka, a resident of Dar es Salaam.
“Cooking a perfect roast pork is easy once you know the right tricks,” said John Mrema a chef at Kibo bar.
Mrema, a seasoned chef with more than two decades experience, slices a spare rib to remove a blade bone, rolls and ties the meat to a neater joint.
Pictures and code names are used to grab the attention of customers. Kizito Makoye / Ubuntu Times
“Most customers don’t realize portion surrounding the head of the pig is usually more succulent because of a reasonable layer of unsaturated fat underneath,” he said.
From the tenderloin to the leg and belly, Mrema knows how to roast fresh-looking pork to perfection to the satisfaction of a legion of his customers.
“Although many customers avoid joints with fat, it adds flavor. You don’t have to eat the fat unless you want to,” he said.
According to Mrema making delicious and perfect pork portions requires experience and a cooking technique that not every chef knows.
An important part of cooking any meat is to let it rest after it’s removed from the oven, he said adding “Once cooked, remove the pork from the roasting tin and place it onto a serving plate.”
While there are many theories about the origin of the name, nobody knows for sure how it started.
To avoid unnecessary tension, street kitchens ascribed Swahili code names such as Mbuzi Katoliki (catholic goat) Mdudu (Insect) Mnyama (animal) apparently to avoid offending the Islamic community.
Timbuka said unlike beef, pork is lean, succulent, and irresistibly tasty.
“I usually place my order and tell the chef to serve it with Ugali (maize meal) and local salad,” she said.
Depending on the place, a kilo of roast pork fetches between 12,000 to 15,000 Tanzanian shillings.
Dar es Salaam, June 25 — The United States has expressed concern over recent actions by the government of Tanzania to revoke media license of an opposition party newspaper it accuses of publishing false information flouting the country’s laws and violating journalism ethics.
Tanzania Daima—a popular Swahili tabloid known for its razor-sharp scathing reports was effectively banned on 24th June by the government’s director of Information, who doubles as Registrar of Newspapers for allegedly, repeatedly flouting national laws in its reportage.
A statement issued by the Embassy of the United States in Dar es Salaam Thursday said the newspaper ban is part of actions to stifle democratic norms in the East African country, which follows a worrying pattern of intimidation of the opposition members, civil society, and media outlets.
“The right to…freedom of expression are enshrined in the Tanzanian constitution, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The U.S Embassy proudly supports freedom of expression and inclusive political participation in all formats,” the embassy said in a statement.
Since 2015, Tanzania has seen a sharp decline in respect for basic freedoms of expression and association, undermining both media freedom and civil society, campaigners said.
The government has enacted tougher laws that repress independent reporting and restrict the works of the media and non-governmental organizations.
Campaigners are increasingly concerned with the on-going crackdown on freedom of expression in Tanzania, urging the government to uphold those rights which are deeply embedded in the constitution.
Human Rights Watch—a global charity working to defend rights and secure justice worldwide described Tanzania’s newspaper ban as a gesture of intolerance to free expression
Since the enactment of the Media Services Act in 2016, several newspapers in Tanzania, including Mwananchi, The Citizen, Mawio, Mseto, Tanzania Daima, and Nipashe, have been subjected to various punishments including fines, ban and cancellation of publishing licenses.
The government claimed that Tanzania Daima newspaper was repeatedly warned to refrain from publishing inflammatory reports but it ignored the warnings.
Martin Malera, the newspaper editor said they had been questioned by the government when they published a story in which a cleric called upon the opposition to demand a free electoral commission.
In two separate reports issued last year, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International said repression of the Media, human rights defenders and opposition politicians in Tanzania intensified in 2015.
Both reports found that the government has adopted harsher laws that stifle independent journalism and severely curbing the activities of non-governmental organizations.
Since then newspapers and radio stations have been banned or suspended for contents deemed critical, Human Rights Watch said.
Authorities have repeatedly used the 2015 Cyber Crime Act to prosecute journalists and activists for social media posts, the charity said.
Meanwhile the Media Council of Tanzania—has expressed shock over the newspaper ban, saying it will further curtail media freedom in the coming general elections.
“This decision puts the country in a bad light and casts doubt on level playing field, especially because…the paper was known to stand for alternative views,” said Kajubi Mukajanga, the Secretary-General of the Media Council of Tanzania.
According to him, the Media Services Act of 2016, is a bad law since it gives the government-appointed registrar the whim to complain, prosecute, and deliver a verdict on its own cases.
“The law provides an aggrieved party whose license has been revoked to re-apply for the license to the same authority that revoked it,” Mukajanga said in a statement.
Mukajanga said revoking the newspaper’s license, would deny the workers income thus affecting their livelihoods.
MANYARA — The tolling of the afternoon bell marks the end of lessons at Babati Day Secondary School in Tanzania’s northern Manyara region.
It ushers in a moment of joy for the students in neatly pressed uniforms, who anxiously line up to get their meal.
Drizzled with sweat, a middle-aged cook, in fluttering green apron, is cloistered in a smoke-belching kitchen. He quickly dishes out portions of pigeon pea stew with rice.
Besides traditional Ugali (maize meal) and beans, the students are now treated with healthy recipes, thanks to the Smart Foods Initiative launched to improve nutrition and boost incomes.
Meanwhile, about 102km away, in the wind-swept Kondoa Township nestled on the central plateau, John Gwandu is busy chopping onions, anointing them with crushed ginger and toss them in boiling oil while briskly stirring with a giant cooking stick.
A gush of steam wafts as he hurls freshly boiled pigeon peas into the sizzling onions to make a thick stew.
“Pigeon pea is simple to cook and tastier,” says Gwandu adding “It is faster to cook than beans.”
Students at Babati Day Secondary School taking part in a group discussion. Credit: ICRISAT
The 43-year-old chef, at Amani Abeid Karume Secondary School in a drought-hit Kondoa district, in Dodoma, has just received training to prepare Smart Food Recipes, widely considered healthy and cost-effective.
As part of its broader initiative to improve nutrition and promote consumption of neglected crops including pigeon pea and finger millet, Tanzania government recently authorized researchers to test palatability and acceptability of the legumes.
Pigeon pea is the third-largest food legume grown in Tanzania after beans and groundnuts. The country produces approximately 200,000 metric tons, most of which is exported to India as whole grain.
However, due to India’s 2017 restrictions on Pigeon pea importation, farmers were left with huge surplus harvests which are now purchased by the schools.
A study conducted by the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) — a non-profit agriculture research organization supported by many entities that include multiple governments, 80 and 70 percent of Tanzanian students changed their negative attitudes on pigeon pea and finger millet crops.
Dubbed “Participatory approach by involving adolescent school children in evaluating smart food dishes in school feeding programmes—real-time experience from central and northern Tanzania,” the study tested the acceptance of, pigeon pea and finger millet-based meals in a school feeding programs through training sessions on the nutritional quality and the crops’ sensory characteristics.
The study reveals, majority of the students wanted pigeon pea to be included in their meals multiple times and 80 percent of them wanted to eat meals based on finger millet all the days.
A Chef serving finger millet porridge to students at Dareda Secondary School as hot steam wafts from the pot. Credit: ICRISAT
During the research, a total of 2,822 students in four schools were fed improved meals including Pigeon pea and finger millet besides traditional maize and beans dishes.
The schools’ cooks had been trained by professional chefs and district nutritionists to make new recipes including finger millet porridge and pigeon pea stew slathered in groundnut or coconut cream.
SMART FOODS INITIATIVE
Anitha Seetha, a senior scientist and nutritionist at ICRISAT tells Ubuntu Times that dietary diversity is key to ensure the intake of nutritious foods, although it is only possible if there is crop diversity.
“Dietary diversity is not just eating different foods. It is eating different foods to meet nutrition goals,” she says.
According to her creating crop diversity alone does not guarantee dietary diversity since food perception and preferences influence consumption patterns.
Seetha said the Smart Food initiative strives to change behaviors and ensuring that the cycle of crop diversity and dietary diversity hinges on nutrition.
She said that enriching the nutritional quality of food can help in addressing hidden hunger problems in sub-Sahara Africa, adding that finger millet and pigeon pea enrich the meal due to their rich protein and micronutrients.
AWARENESS RAISING
The study has helped raise awareness on nutrition and changed students’ negative attitudes on healthy foods.
“Unless there is dietary diversity already in practice we cannot assume everything produced is consumed,” Seetha said.
During the baseline survey, the schools followed a weekly cyclical meal pattern with fixed menu specially designed by nutritionists to meet the students’ palatability.
To create nutritional diversity researchers formulated new recipes to complement traditional maize and beans dishes.
SENSORY TESTING
During the cooking exercise, the recipes were tasted for their palatability and acceptance among children, so that changes could be made in their cooking to conform to their traditional culinary culture
A total of 681 randomly selected students participated in sensory evaluation exercise entailing five hedonic scales with relevant emoji pictures to capture the students “likes” or “dislike” of the newly introduced recipes.
Most students initially disliked pigeon pea and finger millet based on myth that it was bitter and smelling bad, unpalatable and not tasty, researchers said.
The finding, however, suggested that pigeon pea-based meals had higher acceptance among the students participating in the exercise.
Including pigeon pea and finger millet in school diets infuses crop diversity in school feeding programs and also improves nutritional content of the meals while saving costs, researchers said.
Pigeon pea grows in various agro-ecological zones and is well adapted to dry climate conditions.
Delicious Pigeon pea stew being cooked by trained chefs. Credit: ICRISAT
In sub-Sahara Africa it is widely grown in Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Malawi, and Mozambique.
Amid worsening impacts of climate change, analysts say the crop has the potential to boost nutrition and improve food security.
Researchers said most families in study areas, initially shunned pigeon pea dishes because they thought it smells bad, bitter, and wasn’t good for mental health.
However, with the introduction of Smart Food Recipes, the people’s mindset is changing.
“When I didn’t add pigeon pea in the dish, the children used to wonder why I didn’t and ask me for it,” said Gwandu.
Including pulses in children’s meals has helped the schools to cut costs and triggered students taste buds saying smart meals are tastier and they would love to eat them daily.
Local chefs, moreover said cooking pigeon peas is easy, saves time and fuel as compared to beans which takes a long time.
A girl enjoying a meal at Bukulu Secondary School. Credit: ICRISAT
Some teachers say the students like the new recipes including Makande (Maize and pigeon pea stew) so much that they become upset whenever they miss it.
Zawadi Kapinga, the Headmistress of Babati Day Secondary School was not sure if the children would love exotic recipes but was simply amazed by their insatiable appetite for the meals.
“When pigeon pea is not on the day’s menu, children ask for it,” she said.
Swapping maize and beans based meals with pigeon pea, helped the school save costs from approximately 99,388 to 19,800 Tanzanian shillings per meal depending on number of students and amount of food they ate before the intervention, the study finds.
The project, which was supported by Tanzania’s Prime Minister’s office, serves as a model to promote Smart Foods to be replicated to other countries with similar nutritional situation and dietary patterns with the aim to improve dietary diversity and nutritional status and create market opportunities for local farmers.
In Tanzania, pigeon pea was until recently exported since traditionally people eat beans to get protein.
Dar es Salaam, June 24 — A prominent Tanzanian opposition leader, Zitto Kabwe, and seven members of his party have been arrested after the police accused them of holding unlawful political meeting, in what appears to be on-going repression of political activities ahead of the October general elections, his party said.
Kabwe and his colleagues spent a night in police custody and were being quizzed for organizing and taking part in “unlawful” assembly, during the party’s internal meeting in Kilwa District, Lindi Region south of Tanzania.
Dorothy, Semu, vice-chair of the Wazalendo Alliance for Change and Transparency (ACT Wazalendo) — a fast-growing opposition party in Tanzania described the arrests as an act of “repression” and attempted “intimidation.”
“This is yet another naked attempt by the…government to intimidate and remove electoral competition, they are clearly quite fearful of,” she said in a statement.
The latest arrests come barely weeks after the leader of Tanzania’s main opposition party-CHADEMA, Freeman Mbowe, was assaulted by unknown assailants at his home in the capital city Dodoma.
President John Magufuli, who has launched his re-election bid for a second and final term, is widely perceived as an authoritarian leader.
Since he took office in November 2015, the state has enacted and enforced a number of repressive laws, thus bringing a chilling effect on the rights to freedom of expression, association, and peaceful assembly, campaigners said.
In July 2016 the country’s civic space rapidly shrunk after the president announced a blanket ban on political activities until 2020.
The ban, which lawyers said has no legal basis, had been selectively instituted to restrict political activities of the opposition.
A month ago, Kabwe was found guilty for sedition and incitement, after the court indicted him for falsely claiming that about 100 people had been killed at his home region in 2018 on clashes involving herders and the police.
He was, however, acquitted on condition that he stops making statements deemed seditious for one year.
“Today’s events are a clear example of the police being used by the CCM party to stop legitimate activities of the opposition party and file trumped-up charges against leaders and members,” Temu said.
She urged the police force to discharge its duties impartially in accordance with the law by focussing on its core mandate of protecting people and their property.
“We stand in solidarity with our leader and colleagues and will do everything in our power to secure their release and acquittal,” she stressed.
A fortnight ago, the ACT-Wazalendo’s party chairman, Seif Sharif Hamad accused the government of abusing the country’s law enforcement organs, in favor of the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi party, thus casting doubt whether the forthcoming polls will be free and fair.
“We now call for the charges to be dropped completely. The arrests were unlawful and an attempt to disrupt the legitimate actions of a political party,” he said.
The government denied the allegations.
Last year, Tanzania’s parliament amended the Political Parties Act, ushering in a wide-ranging restriction on the right to freedom of association and peaceful assembly.
The amendments, among others, give the government’s appointed registrar of political parties sweeping powers to deregister parties, demand information from political parties, and suspend party members.
It also introduces a requirement for organizations and individuals to get approval before conducting civic education.
Amnesty International—a global charity campaigning for human rights said the latest arrests of Kabwe and his colleagues is part of a vicious trend to silence opposition leaders and government critics.
“Coming barely three months before Tanzania goes to the polls, these arrests are a calculated move to harass and intimidate the opposition and critics ahead of elections, restrict their human rights and limit their campaigning,” said Seif Magango, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for East Africa, the Horn and the Great Lakes.
The charity condemned Tanzania’s authorities for intimidating the opposition urging them to respect human rights.
Dar es Salaam, June 17 — Despite a looming threat of the Coronavirus pandemic in East Africa, Tanzania President, John Magufuli has ordered reopening of all schools across the country at the end of June.
In his speech to dissolve the parliament, in the capital city Dodoma, ahead of the October 25th general election, President Magufuli said the trend shows Coronavirus outbreak is drastically declining.
“Because the trend shows Coronavirus is rapidly declining, I would like to announce that effectively Monday, 29th June, all schools should be opened, however, Tanzanians should continue to take precaution,” he said.
President Magufuli, who has today officially launched his re-election bid when he collected his nomination forms, has also authorized social activities such as weddings to continue unabated.
The announcement comes barely a day after the Prime Minister, Kassim Majaliwa, told the parliament on Monday, there are 66 coronavirus patients currently hospitalized in 10 regions across Tanzania. He did not elaborate on whether or not those are new cases.
Tanzania stopped publishing Coronavirus statistics on April 29, after the president suspected defective test kits that provided wrong “positive” results.
Amid cheers from a legion of legislators from his ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi party, President Magufuli said there’s no need to keep schools closed while Coronavirus cases have drastically dropped.
Tanzania has become the first country in the East African region to allow students back to school, weeks after the president ordered reopening of universities and other higher learning institutions.
The East African country confirmed 509 COVID-19 cases, with 21 deaths, 183 recoveries, and 305 active cases when it halted its daily tally on 29 April 2020.
Speaking during an occasion with teachers recently, President Magufuli declared victory against the disease, saying the Coronavirus has been eliminated, thanks to God.
“I want to thank Tanzanians of all faiths. We have been praying and fasting for God to save us from the pandemic that has afflicted our country and the world. But God has answered us,” he recently said in a chapel amid thunderous applause and ululations from the congregants.
The World Health Organisation (WHO), however, expressed deep concern on the manner in which Tanzania handled the Coronavirus pandemic.
Critics said the country’s refusal to institute strict measures especially in Dar es Salaam, which, at the time was becoming an epicenter of the outbreak, on the grounds that such measures would hurt the economy, hinged on a dangerous moral trade-off that ignores the right to life.
The U.S embassy has incessantly issued Health Alerts, warning its citizen to exercise great care when in Dar es Salaam—Tanzania’s largest commercial city to avoid contracting the disease.
President Magufuli, a devout catholic, recently praised worshipers and priests in a chapel, for not wearing facial masks during a Sunday service, stressing the health crisis was being exaggerated beyond proportions.
Joyce Ndalichako, Minister for Education Science and Technology, has issued schedules for lessons and examinations, which suggest, the students will face an uphill struggle to accomplish the syllabuses within a short time frame.
As a short-term strategy to offset academic time wasted during COVID-19 break, the minister instructed schools to add two additional class hours.
While some private schools adopted new modality for learning such as high-tech virtual learning and online classes, evidence show majority of pupils in public schools remained at home without any means for learning.
The government move to open schools has been received with mixed feelings among parents and teachers.
“I think it is a good move, we need to take precaution, students should wear facial masks and go on with their lessons” said Salima Abdul, whose 11 years old daughter studies at Ununio Primary School in Dar es Salaam.
Dar es Salaam, June 9 — The leader of Tanzania opposition in the parliament and national chairman of the country’s main opposition party Chama Cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo (CHADEMA), was on Tuesday brutally assaulted by unknown assailants shortly after arriving at his flat in the capital city Dodoma shortly after midnight, his party and the local police chief said.
Gires Muroto, Police commander in the administrative capital, Dodoma confirmed the incident and said security forces have launched an investigation against the crime but warned members of the public against using the incident for political gain.
“We are investigating this incident to find out the truth and bring to justice all those involved,” he told Ubuntu Times
According to Muroto, Mbowe, who is an elected legislator, was ambushed by three people, who beat him up and broke his right leg by twisting it.
“This is a criminal incident like any other, nobody should use it to peddle political gain with the aim to get popularity,” Muroto said.
However, local media reports suggest, the attackers wrestled Mbowe on the ground, dragged him, and severely beat him up before they vanished.
Mbowe, who along with other opposition MPs were found guilty for sedition in March, jailed and made to pay a hefty fine to be released from prison, was rushed to a local hospital, and has now been airlifted to Dar es Salaam for further treatment, officials at his party said.
Before he was flown, Tanzania’s Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa, Speaker of the parliament Job Ndugai and his deputy along with several legislators paid him a visit at the hospital to wish him well.
The incident, which happened ahead of the general election scheduled to take place on October 25, 2020, is a grim reminder of a daring assassination attempt against another opposition legislator and outspoken critic of President John Magufuli, Tundu Lissu who suffered multiple gunshot wounds on September 7, 2017, after unknown people sprinkled machine-gun fire on his parked Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) at his home, leaving his body riddled with multiple life-threatening wounds.
The attack against Mbowe happened barely a day after Lissu, his deputy, currently living in exile in Europe officially declared interest to run for president in October polls, and aiming to use the democratic process to challenge the incumbent leader.
John Mnyika, the Secretary-General of CHADEMA told reporters in Dodoma that there’s every indication the assault against Mbowe is politically motivated since the assailants, allegedly mocked Mbowe, saying they wanted to “break him up” to see if he can participate in the campaign trail.
“Those who attacked Chairman Mbowe were saying some words, that you’re disturbing the government. They said we will not kill you. Though those people had firearms, they did not use them,” Mnyika said.
Tanzania, a nation of 57 million people has for a long time been perceived as a haven of peace for Africa’s most stable democracies. President Magufuli, whose first term in office comes to an end, is expected to be re-elected in the forthcoming polls on the ticket of Chama Cha Mapinduzi—a revolutionary party that has governed the country since its independence from Britain.
Peter Msigwa, an opposition legislator claimed that Chairman Mbowe’s security detail had been abruptly removed as the country was battling the Coronavirus pandemic, adding that the attackers cornered him as he was taking the stairs, saying they didn’t want to kill him but to break his limbs so that he couldn’t campaign.
Ubuntu Times couldn’t independently verify the claims.
Fatma Karume, an astute lawyer and vocal critic of the government who served as a president of the Tanganyika Law Society—an umbrella organization for lawyers described violent assaults against members of the opposition as “potent for a violent election.”
Ismail Jussa, a strategist with ACT-Wazalendo Party described the attack as “shocking” adding that “It should be strongly condemned.”
Dar es Salaam, June 8 — A controversial bill seeking to protect the sitting president and other top political leaders from prosecution has provoked anger in Tanzania, with campaigners claiming it will create a clique of elites who are above the law, while preventing the people from holding their elected leaders into account.
The new law comes barely a year after the parliament in the East African country passed amendments to legislation that criminalizes political activities by giving government-appointed registrar of political parties sweeping powers to de-register parties and jail anyone engaging in unauthorized civic education, a move that opposition say would pave way for one-party rule.
Tanzania, a country of 57 million people, has long been regarded as a beacon of hope for Africa’s most stable democracies. The ruling party, Chama Cha Mapinduzi has governed since the country’s independence from Britain.
President John Magufuli, 60, who seeks re-election in this year’s polls scheduled to take place in October, this year, is increasingly becoming authoritarian.
His government’s curb on individual freedoms including the right to peaceful assembly, free speech, and detaining critics have drawn fierce criticism from Western donors supporting the country’s development on annual basis.
The Written Laws (Miscellaneous Amendments) (No.3) 2020, presented in the parliament last week and now open for public discussion, among other things seeks to grant presidential immunity despite the presence of a similar law protecting a person with a powerful position against prosecution over offenses committed by that person when their term in office comes to an end.
Article 46 of Tanzania’s constitution states, during the president’s tenure in office, no criminal proceeding against him shall be instituted when he ceases to hold the office of the president.
Sifuni Mchome, Permanent Secretary in the ministry responsible for constitutional and legal affairs said there’s nothing unusual in the proposed bill, currently awaiting parliamentary approval.
The government’s move to provide a legal cloak to those in echelons of power is widely perceived as an attempt to cement the president’s firm grip on power.
Also known as “the Bulldozer” President Magufuli, who became president under the ticket of the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party, has introduced tougher reforms in the East African second-largest economy, curbing systemic corruption and public malfeasance as well as introducing free education from primary to tertiary education.
Local human rights campaigners have vented their frustration over the bill, claiming they had been accorded a short time to scrutinize the proposed amendments and air their views.
In a statement to the media, the campaigners stated that the proposed changes contradict tenets of the country’s constitution and trample on the principles of separation of powers, where the government is accountable to the parliament, composed of elected representatives of the people and an independent judiciary that dispenses justice without fear or favor.
“The basic foundation of any democratic society are the three institutions of government: the Legislature, the Judiciary, and the Executive all working independently to hold each other accountable for performance, delivery, and ethics,” campaigners said in a statement.
According to them, the proposed new law will give the president, the country’s Attorney General unwarranted mandate to dictate parliamentary business.
Onesmo Olengurumwa, a renowned human rights lawyer and director leading a nationwide coalition of rights defenders said the proposed amendments will affect people’s rights as spelled out in the constitution while denying them the opportunity to directly hold their leaders accountable through the court of law.
Critics said that the idea that all people are equal under the law is not a relative concept, adding that the proposed change is an attempt to shake the foundation of the country’s constitution that sets a bad precedent.
Dennis Bugumba, a Tanzanian public affairs analyst based in The United Kingdom, criticized the habit of leaving matters of national importance in the hands of the opposition.
“If this bill goes through, it will be all over. And yet, society’s silence on it is eerily deafening, and its indifference sobering.” He wrote on his Facebook page adding “when the opposition is defeated and the bill passes, we then blame the opposition for being incompetent, while lauding our rulers.”
Dar es Salaam, May 28 — Tanzania government on Tuesday this week summoned the acting U.S Ambassador, Inmi Patterson, to vent off its frustration over the embassy’s health advisories, which imply an increase of COVID-19 cases in the country.
In a series of rambling media statements, the U.S Department of State has repeatedly warned American citizens about “extremely high risk” of contracting COVID-19 in Tanzania’s largest commercial city, Dar es Salaam and other places.
The East African country has since April 29 stopped releasing new statistics on COVID-19 data after the government suspected possible sabotage to tarnish the image of the country.
In its recent health advisory, the U. S Embassy claimed there’s an exponential growth of Coronavirus cases in Dar es Salaam, adding that hospitals are overwhelmed with the COVID-19 patients.
However, during his meeting with the U.S top diplomat, the permanent secretary of Tanzania’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and East Africa Cooperation, Wilbert Ibuge refuted the embassy’s claims saying they are misleading and likely to cause unnecessary distress to Tanzanian citizens and people wishing to visit the country.
Secretary Ibuge reminded the U.S diplomat on the importance of providing accurate, verified, and factual information from trusted sources.
This is not the first time the U.S Embassy provoked Tanzania. In June last year, it issued a travel advisory, warning an imminent terror attack that never happened.
Despite official secrecy on the status of the Coronavirus pandemic, the U.S embassy warned about exponential growth of COVID-19 cases, claiming hospitals in Tanzania’s largest city were overwhelmed with Coronavirus patients.
Data compiled by John Hopkins University, indicate that Tanzania has recorded 509 COVID-19 cases, including 21 deaths and 183 recoveries.
Unlike Kenya and Uganda, Tanzania did not impose lockdown but asked citizens to maintain social distance, wear facial masks and wash their hands
In a surprising move, the Dar es Salaam Regional Commissioner, Paul Makonda, last week declared victory over the Coronavirus—urging city residents to hold parties with loud music to cherish “God’s victory” against the virus.
“I call upon city residents to celebrate God’s victory, play loud music as much as you can,” the Regional commissioner said. President John Magufuli echoed the God factor in the fight against the Coronavirus.
Attending Sunday service at a chapel near his hometown recently, President Magufuli said: “There’s nothing like lockdown in Tanzania, God will help us,” amid cheers from a packed congregation.
Meanwhile, the president announced that Universities will reopen effectively June 1, adding that the situation is coming to normal due to substantial decline of COVID-19 cases.
The East African country has also lifted travel restrictions imposed on passenger flights to allow airlines and tourism business to return to normal.
The U.S Embassy’s health alerts came after growing rumors about suspected hidden deaths in Tanzania where amateur videos showed a number of mysterious nocturnal burials by mask-wearing officials.
As nations across East Africa administer testing and enforcing lockdowns, Tanzania has taken a series of counterintuitive steps in response to the crisis.
With no official lockdown imposed, businesses still open, and citizens continuing to stream in churches and mosques, observers say the number of people affected could be higher.
Tanzania’s response to COVID-19 has been characterized by conspiracy theories, tight control of information, and aversion to science.
In his most baffling response to the pandemic, President Magufuli, in early May announced that the Coronavirus data was inflated due to compromised test kits that resulted in false positives attributed to potential sabotage by imperialists.
When non-human samples including pawpaw and goat, tested positives, the president cast doubt on the test kits and the laboratory technologists.
Although the World Health Organisation (WHO) rejected the government narrative about defective test kits, the president ignored scientific reasons and embraced religious devotion and natural remedies as cure for the virus.
Observers say the country’s botched response to COVID-19 has significant health, economic and political consequences for the country and the rest of the region.
“High rates of transmission, coupled with the failure to implement containment strategy, will almost certainly fuel unexplained deaths,” said Elisha Osati, President of Tanzania Medical Association.
The United States and Tanzania, have for many decades been enjoying cordial diplomatic ties.
The existing partnership is characterized by mutual respect and aspirations for a peaceful and prosperous future.
The United States, through numerous presidential initiatives and U.S. agencies, has provided development assistance to Tanzania for capacity building to address health and education issues, encourage democratic governance, promote economic growth, and advance regional and domestic security.
Dar es Salaam — As part of its broader push for transparency and efficiency, Tanzania has launched a new digital platform that allows public leaders to declare their assets and liabilities.
The Online Declaration System (ODS) allows public leaders to fill in their wealth declaration forms digitally—removing the need for presenting them in person.
The Ethics Secretariat Commission is an independent agency under the President’s office entrusted, to monitor the ethical conduct of public leaders.
It receives, verifies declarations of assets and liabilities belonging to public leaders.
The new move comes as public leaders have been dragging their feet to comply with the Public Leadership Code of Ethics Act of 1995, which obliges them to declare their assets and liabilities to the Ethics Secretariat Commission at the end of each year.
According to the government, the ODS system is designed to cope with changes in science and technology in line with the country’s e-government policy encouraging officials to transact government’s business electronically.
Harold Nsekela, the public ethics commissioner-general told Ubuntu Times that the new electronic system simplifies communications and increases efficiency.
“Many leaders have been giving excuses for failure to submit their assets disclosures, with this new system I don’t see any reasons why they should fail to do so timely,” he said.
According to him, the new system has many advantages since it allows public leaders to fill in and submit the forms on an online platform wherever they may be, reduces printing costs and saves time.
He further said that the ODS system which conforms to legal and constitutional requirement will allow the government to gather the right statistics of public leaders in the country.
“We have had some problems in the past because even those in acting capacities had been filling the forms that is contrary to what the law says,” he said.
Stanslaus Mwita, Head of Information Communication and Technology at the secretariat told Ubuntu Times that the digitized system has been designed to eliminate the need for a physical walk to collect, fill in and return the forms, adding that it simplifies work and allows public leaders to return the form without delay.
According to the Public Leadership Code of Ethics Act, number 13 of 1995, the secretariat is directed to monitor ethical conduct and behavior of public leaders.
The law contains a key confidentiality clause on the declaration of assets, which gives the general public unlimited access to asset disclosure records but restrict them to publicly disclose the information seen.
Under section 9(1) of the existing law, every public leader is required, at the end of each term of office to submit to the commissioner written declaration of all property or assets owned by, or liabilities owed to him, his spouse or unmarried minor children.
The law establishes a statutory basis for standards of public leaders’ ethics aimed at strengthening ethics, accountability, and transparency of political leaders.
In Tanzania, public leaders are expected to act in honesty, compassion, sobriety, and uphold the highest possible ethical conduct so that public confidence and trust in the integrity, objectivity, and impartiality of government can be enhanced.
According to the law, officials who fail to declare their assets are liable to a warning, demotion, suspension, dismissal.
However, analysts say public leaders who fail to declare ill-gotten wealth often go unpunished because the secretariat has no teeth, and the failure to declare assets is deeply rooted in institutional weakness.
Speaking with Ubuntu Times, Ali Hapi a Regional Commissioner in Iringa who has declared his assets and liabilities welcomed the move saying it will further enhance transparency and foster accountability.
“Transparency is crucial in increasing accountability, assets declaration forms should be easily accessible online for anyone to access at any time,” he said.
He observed that the existing law does not deter leaders from engaging in private business while in public office.
“The law should clearly state that no public official will engage in business while holding political responsibilities, this will prevent abuse of office,” he said.
Global women’s and girls’ rights campaigners have hailed the move by Sudan’s transitional government to criminalize Female Genital Mutilation but warned that it will take a while for the country to entirely eradicate the ritual.
The country’s amendment to the criminal code law passed last week makes it illegal for anyone to perform the ritual, imposing a penalty of up to three years imprisonment, according to Sudanese Foreign Ministry.
Nearly nine out of 10 Sudanese women aged 15 to 49 have been cut. Girls are usually cut between the ages of five and 15.
Many of them went through a procedure known as infibulation, or ‘pharaonic circumcision’, in which all or part of the inner and outer labia, and usually the clitoris, are removed by a traditional birth attendants.
The new law was approved by the Sudanese council of ministers on 22 April but still needs endorsement by members of the sovereign council formed after ousting of the former dictator Omar al-Bashir.
“No doubt this article will contribute in addressing one of the most dangerous social practices, which constitutes a clear violation against and a crime against women’s rights,” says Sudanese foreign ministry in a statement.
The ministry said the move is an advanced step aimed at obliterating a predominant socially-rooted malady adding that Sudanese authorities have what it takes to respect and protect women’s social and health rights.
The Sudanese foreign ministry said in order for the new law to be effectively enforced, it requires community effort and coordination between parties in raising awareness against the crime through community outreach programs.
The move, which shows the government’s commitment to international human rights agreements, has been hailed by global charities including Equality Now — a leading charity tracking women and girls’ rights as important.
Flavia Mwagnovya, Equality Now’s Global Lead for End Harmful Practices program told Ubuntu Times in an email that introducing a law that criminalizes the practice is crucial since it asserts that FGM grossly violates women’s and girls’ rights.
“The law is a powerful tool when combating harmful… FGM and it defines the obligations that a government has committed to in providing protection,” she said.
According to her, in countries like Sudan where FGM is deeply entrenched in culture and social norms, having a law alone is inadequate to end the practice.
She called for public awareness initiatives that explicitly state FGM is now a crime under the law and the dangers of it are crucial, alongside positive social engagement.
“Legislation is a strategy that should be implemented hand-in-hand with sufficiently funded and resourced programs that educate communities about why FGM is harmful and criminalized,” she said.
According to her, government agencies, law enforcement, healthcare professionals and midwives, women rights organizations, funders, and community leaders, need to work together.
After years of brutal oppression under former dictator Omar al-Bashir, campaigners say women in Sudan have demonstrated that they have a voice and agency, and are able to shape the political agenda to achieve change.
Global charities have been campaigning for the end of legal and cultural barriers that violate women’s and girls’ rights, and to them criminalizing FGM is a significant victory on the road to gender equality.
“As Sudan continues its political transformation it is vital that women are fully represented in decision making, and going forward, we anticipate celebrating further gains in women’s legal rights in the country,” said Mwangovya.
According to her FGM perpetrators can now be held to account and this is an important deterrent since people are less likely to act when they know there are legal consequences.
“It also gives protection to those at risk and provides survivors with means to access justice,” she said.
Achieving systemic and lasting change, however, requires altering attitudes and behavior towards women and girls, she said.
“The Sudanese Government’s decision to criminalize FGM is timely given that huge investments have been made over the years to sensitize the population against it.”
By making this legal amendment, analysts say Sudan will be adhering to the African Union Protocol on the Rights of Women, which they have yet to ratify.
Since the practice is deeply rooted in Sudanese culture, campaigners say it will take a while to be completely wiped off.
“There is so much work to be done. This is a start, a good start,” says Fatma Naib, communications officer of the UN children’ agency UNICEF, in Sudan.
“The crucial step will be to ensure there are consequences for those who perform the cut on their girls,” she said.
FGM involves the partial or total removal of the female external genitalia for non-medical reasons.
The UN estimates that 200 million women and girls globally have undergone FGM.
Imtenan Fatema, a 25-year old Sudanese woman whose parents subjected her to cutting told Ubuntu Times in an interview that many parents are now abandoning the practice.
“I am very happy for my country, our children will never again suffer from this brutality,” she told Ubuntu Times in an interview organized by a local Sudanese Journalist in Khartoum.
MANYARA, TANZANIA — As you trek down a rocky terrain dotted with thorny shrubs, that form a rosette of gray-green leaves with sharp spines on the tips, you can have a rare glimpse of ancient bushmen preying on antelopes and collect wild fruits.
The Hadzabe
One of Africa’s remaining hunters-gatherers whose way of life is increasingly threatened by modernity live in a tangled jungle stretching on a wide expanse of land.
Armed with rudimentary bows and arrows, the Hadzabe, who live at Yaeda valley in Tanzania’s northern Manyara region, still live by hunting and gathering.
Equipped with a vast knowledge of plants and animals, the tribesmen have for years lived in harmony.
However, due to increasing human activities, their idyllic balance with nature is rapidly waning—thus forcing them to struggle to eke out a living.
Across Africa, developing countries are increasingly perceived as potential areas for large scale agricultural investments. Foreign companies often, take advantage of legal loopholes to take swathes of village land for investment purposes.
A group of women farmers working in the field in Manyara. Credit: Kizito Makoye / Ubuntu Times
As one of the developing countries, Tanzania has as such, attracted huge interest among foreign firms. In some cases, companies directly negotiate with village leaders to take collectively-owned land.
However, with the help from local charities and respective district authorities, indigenous groups and marginalized farming communities are now using innovative approaches to secure their land.
From Manyara in the north to Pawaga in the south to Kiteto in the east, indigenous communities, whose rights have for long been trampled on by powerful encroachers are being assisted to develop land-use planning and village by-laws to protect their land.
Through lobbying, advocacy, and participatory land-use planning, Ujamaa Community Resources Team (UCRT) — a local advocacy group, seeking to empower and uphold communities’ land rights, has secured 20,000 hectares of land for the Hadzabe.
“We have developed a land-use plan, and village by-laws with the aim to protect their way of life,” says Edward Loure, a land rights activist and founder of UCRT.
The advocacy group is working to map and secure 970,000 hectares of communal land in northern Tanzania to deter grabbers.
A large scale maize farmer in Mbulu, an example of investments on village land. Credit: Kizito Makoye / Ubuntu Times
While local communities and indigenous people collectively control more than half of the world’s land, they own about 10 percent legally, and less of it is registered and titled according to a study published in 2018 by World Resources Institute.
In Sub-Sahara Africa, the challenge is more pronounced as ethnic groups such as the Maasai, known for their distinctive nomadic lifestyle, are particularly vulnerable to land grabbing.
In the Longido district in the northern Arusha region, UCRT has also secured a huge chunk of communal land for the Maasai, recognized by their distended earlobes, colorful beads, and dazzling red shawls. They have been issued with a document called Customary Rights of Occupancy.
“This is a very important document, it recognize them as the rightful owners of the land,” says Loure.
According to him, the move has helped to ease recurring conflicts with rival groups.
Back in Yaeda, although the Hadzabe are resilient and quick to adapt to new situation, their livelihood is facing multiple challenges as their hunting grounds are being encroached on by powerful outsiders.
A local water engineer takes measurements at a site where a foreign investor is setting up a dam for irrigation. Credit: Kizito Makoye / Ubuntu Times
“I am very happy because we have a strong protection of our land,” says Loreiy Juma, a bushman.
As people, companies, and governments are jostling for natural resources, the customary tenure agreements that used to protect rural land rights are often being undermined, and communities across Tanzania are losing swathes of unregistered land to foreign firms, land rights campaigners say.
At Vilabwa village, Kisarawe district in Tanzania’s coast region local residents who use collectively-owned land for farming, woke up to a grim reality as corrupt village leaders in 2014, allegedly tried to allocate 1,500 hectares of the village land to YellowBiofuel, a Mauritius based company, that had expressed interest to grow energy crops.
As she cleared grass on her field to prepare for sowing, 58-year-old Hidaya Bulembo recalls six years ago, when, she saw some people erecting concrete slabs on the edge of her farm without consulting the villagers.
“I knew something fishy going on. When I alerted other villagers we knew that a portion of our village land was about to be grabbed by the investor without following due process,” she says.
Instead, the villagers went to Vilabwa’s Village Land and Adjudication Committee (VLAC), a local body that helps landowners demarcate their boundaries and mediates land conflicts.
Armed with relevant information, the villagers registered their land with the government. The deal flopped and they fully regained it. But a growing number of communities are taking a stand and formalizing their land rights.
“When the village land is documented, it brings a sense of security,” said Ali Khamis Mnyaa, chairman of the Vilabwa VLAC.
SKIRTING THE LAW
Although 80 percent of Tanzania’s population work in agriculture, only a quarter of the country’s 44 million hectares of arable land are being used, according to government figures.
All land in Tanzania is the property of the state. Under the Land Act, which covers about 30 percent of the land in the country, the government can grant someone the right to occupy a piece of land for up to 99 years.
The rest of Tanzania’s land falls under the Village Land Act, which recognizes customary tenure and allows communities to allocate and use land in accordance with tradition. Any transfer of land rights under customary tenure requires the approval of the entire community.
Companies looking to buy land in the country are required by law to go through the Tanzania Investment Centre (TIC), an independent government agency.
In order to protect communities’ rights, even the transfer of village land must be approved by the government and the process has to involve all members of the village, said Geoffrey Mwambe, TIC Executive Director.
But land rights advocates say companies often try to skirt the law, bypassing the TIC and colluding with local village leaders directly.
Vilabwa residents say when YellowBiofuel first failed to get hold of the land it wanted, company officials tried to convince village leaders to sell to them by promising to build new schools and health clinics.
While village leaders generally welcome investors and the potential benefits they bring including jobs, improved infrastructure, and investments in health and education systems, companies often fail to deliver once the sale is agreed, said Emmanuel Sulle from the Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, a research institute in South Africa.
“Evidence indicates that during the implementation of large-scale investments, the rights of rural communities over land and natural resources are not respected,” he said.
YellowBiofuel did not respond to email sent to them.
COMPLEX AND CORRUPT
In its 2018 report titled ‘The Scramble for Land Rights,’ the World Resources Institute noted that as demand for food, fuel, and other natural resources grows, there is increasing competition for land.
Communities are rushing to secure legal documentation of their land rights before companies take it from under them, the report said.
But the land registration process in Tanzania is often cumbersome and often riddled with corruption and inefficiency according to Transparency International’s 2013 Global Corruption Barometer.
Although rural communities including farmers and pastoralists have for decades used swathes of land for growing crops and for keeping animals, most do not have any documented evidence to prove it belongs to them.
Without enough tenure or security, farmers are not only less likely to invest in their land but also become vulnerable to powerful outsiders who are believed to collude with corrupt village leaders to seize property.
To help them navigate the system, rural communities are teaming up with non-profit organizations focused on promoting rural land rights. Together, they mark out village and farm boundaries and formalize land-planning use. They use that information to apply for CCROs which, if granted, gives the villagers formal powers over the use of their land.
For Bulembo, the farmer in Vilabwa, the biggest benefit of getting one of those certificates is finally feeling that her land and her livelihood are safe.
“I feel confident because I know, going forward, nobody will ever try to take part of this land for his own selfish interests,” she said.
Lack of official documentation that proves ownership means that the rights of these indigenous people are oftentimes trampled on. Today indigenous groups have lost more than 150,000 hectares of rangelands in northern parts of Tanzania. As supply of available land in Tanzania dwindles, huge pressure is being exerted on areas controlled by the Maasai and the Hadzabe, thus triggering recurring conflicts with outsiders.
With a special dispensation in Tanzania’s Village Land Act of 1999, indigenous groups are actively being supported by local NGOs to have their community land rights recognized.
The NGOs including UCRT, have been actively involved in mapping the boundaries of communally-owned land and drawing up land-use planning.
A local agriculture expert Dickson Elia explains a point on better ways of growing maize at Ilula districts. Credit: Kizito Makoye / Ubuntu Times
Although the country’s laws governing land acquisition indicate that companies should obtain land through Tanzania Investment Center (TIC) — a government agency tasked with investment promotions, local land experts say, there were cases where private companies negotiated directly with village leaders and finance village land use planning processes.
In cases where land transfers are facilitated by TIC, observers say the government often use archaic compensation standards, where original users, whose land appears to be within identified investment areas are unable to negotiate compensation offers.
While village leaders often welcome investors who come with mouth-watering promises such as providing employment, build infrastructures, health, education, and support for community projects, investors allegedly do not always fulfill such promises.
Considerable discrepancies between the national policy on local land use planning and the situation on the ground, create ambiguities that are prone to exploitation.
Sule said although Tanzania government backs the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People, it has not yet sufficiently recognized and protected those rights in the country.
According to him, the resource rights, including land, of the indigenous people are at risk from incursions from farmers, herders due to surging demand for land entangled by historical and contemporary large-scale alienations for economic development, biodiversity conservation and the changing climate.
Despite those policy huddles, Sulle said the government, through the Ministry of Land and Human Settlements Development has expressed great interest in working with local non-governmental organization to secure the land belonging to indigenous groups.
LAND REGISTRATION
Local villagers and poor individuals often shoulder a huge burden when trying to obtain various documents and approvals in order to secure a certificate of village land and customary right of occupancy respectively.
“The process often stretches the limited resources allocated to districts, which have large backlogs of pending land applications,” Sulle stressed.
Determining village boundaries in resource-rich communities with valuable forests and other natural resources is often a recipe for disputes between villages with conflicting or inconsistent oral histories and customary land boundary markers requiring resolution.
A group of women farmers working in the field in Manyara. Credit: Kizito Makoye / Ubuntu Times
“These disputes can be challenging to resolve because they require significant time and monetary investments,” he said.
Such disputes often cause major delays for respective authorities to attempting to confirm survey maps from villages, thus further delay the formalization process.
In many cases villages or individuals use their limited funds to follow up and pay for the necessary costs to speed up their land formalization process.
“Communities have either received little compensation for their land allocated to investors most of them have either left such lands undeveloped or sold to new investors, and or have failed to fulfill their promises such as job creation and provision of social services most of which are unwritten,” Sulle said.
While formalization of the village land is key for securing community land, experts say it can expose communities to a complex set of dynamics including external agendas by powerful actors including the state, NGO’s and investors.
For example, in places where village lands are formalized to facilitate natural resources, such as establishing wildlife management area or large scale investment in agriculture, the interests of powerful actors are often prioritized against those of the local communities.
MANYARA, TANZANIA — As nations worldwide enforce strict lockdown to quell the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, Tanzania’s President John Magufuli, has advised people to use alternative remedies including steam therapy, he claimed can instantly kill the virus.
In his televised address to the Nation on Wednesday, President Magufuli said water vapor at 100-degree centigrade can obliterate the coronavirus infections entering the body through nasal passage and mouth.
“A virus is simply an oil fat that can dissolve by using soap, methylated alcohol or steam,” he said.
The East African country has seen a rapid increase of coronavirus cases in the past fortnight, a trend experts at World Health Organisation (WHO) partly attributed to the government’s sluggish approach to obey international medical recommendations on social gatherings.
According to official government statistics, the highly contagious disease has so far claimed the lives of 10 people and infected 284 others.
Although the country has suspended international flights, closed schools, and partly deterred social gatherings, places of worship, which attract thousands of congregants remain open and local residents go about their businesses unhindered.
In his remarks, President Magufuli, who was surrounded by heads of the country’s security organs said inhaling steam from boiled water infused with Neem or onions, can kill off viruses.
“I would like to call upon Tanzanians to use steam to combat this disease…water vapor at 100 degrees centigrade can dissolve the virus,” he said.
His remarks, however sharply contrasted with his Deputy Health Minister, Faustine Ndungulile, a medic by profession who publicly stated in April that steaming is dangerous.
Speaking on 13th April, in Dar es Salaam, Ndungulile said steaming is inappropriate and cannot kill the coronavirus.
“Let me tell you, steaming is not the right treatment, it cannot kill the coronavirus,” he was quoted by HabariLeo a state-owned newspaper as saying.
President Magufuli, however, instructed health experts to research on traditional steaming, which he said convincingly could bring relief to patients.
However, speaking on BBC Keith Neal, a specialist in the spread of infectious diseases at the University of Nottingham in the UK warned that inhaling water vapors at boiling point could be extremely dangerous to the patient’s body.
He pointed out hot steam getting into a human body in an attempt to kill the virus, can potentially inflict irreparable damage to the lungs.
Online facts compiled by Reuters Fact Check team, seen by Ubuntu Times suggest the assumption that inhalation of steam in hot water infused with ingredients, will kill the virus is false.
While it may ease symptoms such as congestion, steam inhalation also carries the risks of burn, reads the facts.
President Magufuli, who is a devout catholic, last month encouraged people to go to churches and mosques for prayers because a “satanic” virus can only be cured through prayers.
Amid cheers from the congregants of a chapel in his hometown northwest of Tanzania, the president said the deadly virus cannot survive in the bodies of the faithful when they receive a holy sacrament, prompting thousands of worshipers to throng in churches.
As Tanzania’s largest commercial city of Dar es Salaam, is increasingly becoming the epicenter of the deadly virus, President Magufuli vengefully dismissed the idea of locking it down, on the grounds that it will deter the country revenue since the city serves as a commercial hub for east and southern African countries.
“Some people are suggesting we lock down the city, it will never happen,” he said.
Critics, however, said his remarks hinges on a dangerous moral trade-off between saving lives and sustaining the economy.
“In fact, since I heard that speech, I am really very sad and disturbed,” says Fatma Karume a vocal critic of the President and the former President of Tanganyika Lawyers Association—an umbrella organization for lawyers.
Dar es Salaam, one of Africa’s fastest-growing cities, with a population of 6 million people, serves as a gateway to landlocked countries including Rwanda, Burundi, and Zambia.
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania — A swell of laughs and chatter fills the air as men and women dine and wine.
The spectacle grabs the attention of a group of foreign journalists, who spotted a lavish Ethiopian restaurant, known for its sumptuous traditional cuisines, as they were aimlessly strolling in the streets of Cape Town.
Among them is Chol Duang, a 28-year-old South Sudanese TV reporter and news anchor. The scribes were in CapeTown for a week-long training Workshop for reporting religion and LGBT issues.
A smart-dressed waiter, clutching food & beverage menus rushes to the table, splashing gleaming black booklets.
A visibly excited Duang grabs one, and after a cursory glance, he makes his mind.
“Let me order this,” he mutters as the waiter listens attentively.
Duang ordered Injera. This is a savory Ethiopian dish, entail a sourdough flat bread with slightly spongy texture. It’s usually served with grilled goat meat or succulent beef slathered in spicy hot stew.
A mid-aged Chef in a giant toque blanche hat grabs sliced pieces of anointed meat and toss them on a hot grill for slow sizzling.
A vile stench wafts, as woman scolds a nagging toddler in perfect Swahili. She then frantically whisked him away to a nearby toilet. The stench becomes unbearable, and Duang orders the waiter to freshen the air with a deodorized spray.
Soon the waiter returns with a tray containing ketchup, salt, chili, spoons, soft napkins and forks. On his way back, he stubs his toe and falls down.
Chol Duang in Grey suit poses for a photo with employees of Christian Monitor Magazine during his visit to the United States in 2019. Credit: Kizito Makoye / Ubuntu Times
Duang burst out laughing.
Kemo Cham, a senior editor with Sierra Leone-based Politico newspaper, politely warns Duang not to laugh at him.
The food soon arrives. Duang cuts a piece of bread and eats it.
“This is very delicious” he chuckles while patting his pockets to reach a vibrating smartphone.
Duang’s first trip to the legislative capital of South Africa, arguably was a defining moment for his media career. It was a pleasant opportunity to forget, the dirty realm of history in his war-torn country.
Charming, singularly modest, with a fine intellect, Duang is a gifted young leader endowed with an inherent ability to build and sustain relationships.
“His landmark smiling face makes him irresistible,” says Cham, adding “He is open and friendly.”
According to Kemo, Duang’s chatty nature makes it easy to see his characteristic smartness and intelligence.
“Meeting him changed a lot about my grim thoughts about his war-torn country of South Sudan,” he says.
During the five-day workshop, the South Sudanese scribe, who always wears a smile and a deceptive sense of humor, displayed exceptional intellectual ability.
SOCIALIZATION
He mingles so effortlessly with people from all walks of life.
Duang, who has assumed a new role as a political activist, and a strategist committed to reverse a dangerous narrative being peddled by the ruling elites in South Sudan, that Salva Kiir, the current president is the solution to the misery pitting the war-ravaged country, is also a fellow of the Mandela Washington Fellowship for young African Leaders — a flagship program of the U.S government’s Young African Leaders Initiative(YALI).
Chol Duang attentively listen to a briefing in one of his newsroom visits in the United States during Mandela Washington Fellowship. Credit: Kizito Makoye / Ubuntu Times
Duang who had until recently worked for the state broadcaster, SSBC-TV, the only television in South Sudan, is considered by a legion of his followers a symbol of hope for the young people in the war-ravaged country.
It’s rare for a TV broadcaster to join a rebellion, but Duang made a surprise move. In February, he announced on social media that he was ditching his media career to join a rebel movement.
Duang, whose vision is to make South Sudan a prosperous nation with abundant opportunities for the youth, has joined General Paul Malong Awan Anei — the former Chief of General Staff of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army, who’s the current leader of South Sudan United Front (SSUF/A). Duang wants to help “pursue South Sudanese dreams.”
According to Duang, General Malong, is a mentor through whom young people can grow and develop their skills and help the community.
Chol Duang poses with General Paul Malong, a rebel leader in an unknown location. Credit: Kizito Makoye / Ubuntu Times
Duang believes General Malong was falsely removed as South Sudan Army Chief of Staff by a clique who wanted to prolong the civil war to benefit from the national wealth.
“He’s since refused to wage a war and advocated for silencing guns across the country because he cares about South Sudanese people so much. But a propaganda machine run by the state continues to untruly portray General Malong as a warmonger.
Malong, is largely popular in the country and that’s the threat to the political and security establishment,’’ Duang asserts.
TROUBLED HISTORY
Chol Duang and colleagues following a briefing during the visit to the United States. Credit: Kizito Makoye / Ubuntu Times
The world’s newest country which formally declared its independence from Sudan on July 9, 2011, has been ravaged by a ruinous civil war that has killed hundreds of thousands of people.
The country’s independence comes after a referendum that saw a nearly 99 percent vote in favor of secession.
Salva Kiir was sworn in as president, with Riek Machar as his deputy. The two men are rivals but also leaders in the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) that led the push to secede from Sudan, which is now South Sudan’s northern neighbor.
In an interview with Ubuntu Times, Duang, eloquently explained the reasons behind his decision to join the rebel movement.
“I have taken this decision to fight on behalf of the young generation in which I am part,” says Duang, adding, “I realized that my media voice was getting suppressed slowly by those in power.”
According to Duang, his four-year media career has given him a rare glimpse of what he claims South Sudan’s “Murky, criminal and retrogressive system.”
Duang is increasingly concerned by endemic tribalism, favoritism, cronyism, and discrimination currently taking root in South Sudan that has pushed thousands of youths on the edge of survival.
As a victim of “uncle politics” Duang has immensely suffered in silence watching others climb the ladder to prosperity.
He accuses what he calls glaringly incompetent South Sudanese elite, who, he claims have escaped poverty at the expense of the majority of people trapped in the quagmires of poverty.
Unlike other East Africans, South Sudanese youth who suffered from impaired education, have limited access to opportunities.
“They are uncertain about their future which appears robbed and exploited,” Duang stresses
While leadership world over has shifted to young people, Duang believes the majority of youth suffer and the privileged few tend to deny the suffering of others.
Chol Duang poses for a photo in an unknown location. Credit: Kizito Makoye / Ubuntu Times
Born in 1992 from a family of three brothers and many siblings from his polygamous father, Duang was lucky to flee Sudan, then, at the height of political turmoil which culminated in the independence of South Sudan.
“My mother is the second wife and came from a wealthy rural background,” he says, adding: “I was lucky to receive strong upbringing from both parents.”
His home region, Northern Bahr Ghazal (Aweil), nestled on the border with The Sudan, and was the epicenter of many Sudanese wars, that crippled its development and kept it on the periphery from current political leadership.
From his humble beginnings, Duang grew up helping his family herding goats, fishing and watching over their crops from birds, as a child.
Because school was not a priority when he was growing up; Duang’s future was uncertain.
“My early childhood schooling was largely informal, and the future was bleak,” he says.
As a young schoolboy growing up in a sprawling swathe of Africa’s youngest nation, Duang and his peers huddled under a huge tree known as ‘Kuwel’, shielding themselves from the blazing sun.
The giant tree, which served as a classroom, was also used for church services and as a playground for Angol and other nearby villages.
Lack of educational materials meant that learning was an uphill struggle for Duang.
“I wrote on the floor for almost a year before I was provided one exercise book later in 2002,” he recalls.
Guided by a burning desire to get education amidst air bombardment unleashed by Sudanese military Junta, Duang switched schools while searching for knowledge.
Educated in both Uganda and Kenya, Chol returned to his country, South Sudan, in 2015 to participate in the ‘Development’ effort. Two years earlier, a civil war had broken out across the country, and Duang thought his journalism career would help tell South Sudan’s story, especially about the conflict. This hope would be frustrated by South Sudan’s political actors and state apparatus, who have become wary of journalists telling the truth about their actions.
“South Sudanese youth appear to be mere spectators in their own affairs. Interestingly, they’re lobbying on behalf of elderly politicians for appointment. They doubt themselves that they cannot hold public office,” his comment on Facebook in February this year reads.
In an attempt to deprive South Sudanese children the right to education, Duang says authorities in Khartoum then criminalized schools.
“Male children were then abducted and teachers either killed or kidnapped along with children,” he says.
This move prompted Duang’s parents to send him to a refugee settlement in Uganda where he continued with his education.
“Schools in the refugee camp were relatively better compared with what I had learned in my home,” Duang says.
Chol Duang, second right interviewing a group of people in Juba. Credit: Kizito Makoye / Ubuntu Times
HOW HE BECOMES A JOURNALIST
Duang never woke up one morning wanting to be a journalist. The realization that his future lay in journalism hinged on a burning desire to tell the story of a war-torn country.
“I was in Uganda when I decided to study Journalism,” he says.
Haunted by an unending wave of violence, which crippled his learning, Duang did not initially have the skills he needed to effectively communicate at University.
“When I finished high school at Zana Mixed Secondary school in Kampala, in 2011, it became a tough choice for me whether to go ahead and do Journalism or Diplomacy, which was my second preference,” he says.
“I made up my mind and took Journalism immediately after high school.”
As is the case everywhere in Africa, it was quite natural for Duang’s elder siblings to support him and pay for his education from primary through secondary. They’d continued to support his college years in Nairobi.
“While in Journalism college, I taught myself writing, speaking and reading so that I would leave college well prepared for the field,” he told Ubuntu Times.
“I would address community events and read consistently for improvement and knowledge,” the former TV anchor remembers.
Duang completed his college education in 2015 and quickly started an internship with South Sudan television, and, thereafter, got retained by the station after his 3-month training.
As the civil war expanded, Duang was thrust into covering the very conflict, traveling around either with the military or UN convoys when they’re on assessment missions.
Armed with an Advanced Diploma in Journalism and Communication Science, Duang spent four years working as a TV reporter, assistant news editor, and news anchor.
As a cub reporter, Duang extensively reported about the country’s civil war, which put him in the line of fire.
“As a young reporter, I didn’t have the skills for war reporting nor did I have a bulletproof vest for my safety. My parents became concerned and once floated the idea for me to quit, which I dismissed. I would travel from place to place as I interviewed civilians fleeing violence,” he narrates. “Throughout my four years at the TV, my reporting had been in Upper Nile and Central Equatorial region where conflict largely concentrated,” he says.
Chol Duang speaks in an undated public event. Credit: Kizito Makoye / Ubuntu Times
2018 YEI HOTEL INCIDENT
Duang had traveled to the town of Yei to cover a sporting event intended to encourage the local people to return home from bushes. That event would be interrupted when a hotel, where journalists and UN workers were staying, was attacked at night, resulting in 4 deaths. “When my job became increasingly dangerous after our hotel was attacked in Yei on March 24, 2018, my family advised me against accepting risky assignments from the TV. It was after that advice that I ventured into social and entertainment stories. I also realized that much of the real stories get blocked by government censors, making our daring reporting invalid. This discouraged me greatly and my Journalism passion began to wane steadily,” he says of his past experience, adding: “This apathy was being watched by agents who started to question me. Also, my involvement in international journalism training programs and human rights activism raised the eyebrows higher, leading them to ramp up interest in me.”
ITUNDA, Tanzania — It is midday at Itunda, a tiny village in Tanzania’s southern highlands and Marietta Andrea* is perched awkwardly on a wooden stool, her protruding belly touching a make-shift stall as she briskly packs roasted groundnuts, encrusted with salt into thin polyethylene bags ready to sell.
“I’m just helping my mother. It is not something I would do if I was going to school,” says Andrea.
The 17-year-old girl, became pregnant and was expelled from school—crushing her future dreams. Andrea, who wanted to be a teacher, was lured by Bodaboda (motorcycle), who offered her free rides to school.
“He was just a friend, but when he started to give me gifts, I couldn’t resist the temptation,” Andrea tells Ubuntu Times.
Lack of comprehensive sex education means that Andrea blindly gave in to a sex predator who destroyed her future.
Once a hard-working student at Ilula Secondary School, Kilolo district, Iringa region, Andrea was yearning to become a teacher and help marginalized children in the impoverished village to get an education and succeed in life. Instead, she became pregnant thus her dreams melted away.
Distraught, Andrea, who’s heavily pregnant, is wobbling daily on a rugged terrain to the bustling market where her mother sells various consumer goods.
She is not alone. Many girls, who become pregnant are expelled from school every year.
Under the country’s 2002 policy, a student can be expelled from school if they commit an offense against morality.
“This is a bad policy. It blindly ignores the worsening plight of pregnant girls and young mothers” says Onesmo Ole Ngurumwa, a Dar es Salaam-based human rights defender.
A group of peer educators are singing and dancing as a way to send messages about the impact of teen pregnancies in Shinyanga region in 2014. Credit: Kizito Makoye / Ubuntu Times
In 2017 Tanzania President, John Magufuli entrenched this policy, when he publicly declared that girls who become pregnant should not be allowed to return to school.
“As long as I am president… no pregnant student will be allowed to return to school…After getting pregnant, you are done,” he stated.
Tanzania has one of highest adolescent pregnancy and birth rates in the world, with 21 percent of girls aged 15 to 19 having given birth, according to 2015/16 data by Tanzania Bureau of Statistics (TBS).
More than 55,000 schoolgirls in Tanzania have been expelled from schools over the last decade under this policy which blatantly ignores jarring realities that lead to pregnancies, campaigners said.
“If I get a chance to go back to school. I wouldn’t hesitate a moment. That’s would be the only way to realize my dreams,” says Andrea.
While Tanzania government has the duty to protect girls’ right to education and safeguard them from sexual exploitation, observers say, pregnant girls and young mothers are still treated with astounding contempt.
“I feel I am a laughing stock. Some people are scolding me while pointing an accusing finger,” says Andrea.
Teen pregnancy is the main factor forcing many girls in Iringa to drop out of school. This stark reality, badly affect young mothers and their babies.
Nestled on the plains of Udzungwa mountain ranges, the wind-swept Itunda village, is home to many HIV/AIDS orphans.
A young facilitator addresses young mothers in Shinyanga about engaging in alternative income-generating activities in Shinyanga region in 2014. Credit: Kizito Makoye / Ubuntu Times
In the neighboring Masukanzi village, a tall, bubbly 19-year-old Hanifa Mdette sits on a mat, stirring porridge ready to feeds her plump two-year-old son. A wide-eyed cat mews, as a plume of smoke wafts from a shaky kitchen.
Mdette, who dropped out of school in 2017 says her future is bleak.
“I don’t think I can get any good work without education,” she says.
At the center of the crisis, is an entrenched patriarchal system and deep-rooted Hehe traditions where underage pregnancies are considered a curse, pregnant girls are ostracized.
However, there’s a glimmer of hope for Andrea and other young mothers as the World Bank has injected new funding which will partly be spent to address their worsening plight.
As part of its initiative to revamp ailing education system in Tanzania, the World Bank has approved a whopping 500 million USD loan, part of which will be used to re-instate pregnant girls and young mothers who are kicked out of school.
The $500 million Secondary Education Quality Improvement Project (SEQUIP) will benefit 6.5 million students in public schools and establish stronger educational pathways for those out of a formal school system.
The project is designed to help adolescent children to transition to upper secondary education. It offers pregnant girls, young mothers, and other vulnerable girls the possibility to return to school.
Moved young mothers join the floor dancing during one of the education sessions in Shinyanga in 2014. Credit: Kizito Makoye / Ubuntu Times
While Tanzanian children deserve better education majority of girls miss the opportunity every year, says Mara Warwick, World Bank’s Country Director for Tanzania.
“This is an important step in addressing the challenges that Tanzania children face throughout their education,” she says.
Although Tanzania adopted Free Basic Education Policy in 2015, which helped increased primary school enrollment from 8.3 to 10.1 million by 2018, and raise secondary school enrollment to 2.2 million from 1.8 million, observers say the government has failed to improve quality of education and reduce drop-out rates.
“Tanzania is suffering from a learning crisis where children are not in school, or are in school but not learning,” said Jaime Saavedra, World Bank’s Global Director for Education.
Human Rights Watch, however, criticized the World Bank for “failure to use its leverage” and caved to Tanzania’s discriminatory ban and practices, undermining its own commitment to non-discrimination.
Schoolgirls in Tanzania are routinely subjected to mandatory pregnancy test and those found pregnant are permanently expelled.
“The World Bank should be working with governments to move education systems toward full inclusion and accommodation of all girls in public schools, including those who are pregnant or parents,” said Elin Martinez, senior children’s rights researcher at Human Rights Watch in a statement.
Equality Now, an international charity that champions the rights of girls and women calls on the government to lift the discriminatory ban against school-going pregnant girls.
Joyce Ndalichako, Tanzania Minister for Education Science and Technology recently said that the government is committed to ensuring pregnant girls who drop out of school will be allowed to go back to public school.
“We wish to assure the general public and our partners that the government remains fully committed to seriously implement the SEQUIP project according to the project design and agreement made with the World Bank,” the Minister said in a statement.
A group of peer educators are singing and dancing as a way to send messages about the impact of teen pregnancies in Shinyanga region in 2014. Credit: Kizito Makoye / Ubuntu Times
This is the first time Tanzania officials publicly announced the girls who have “dropped out” of school, due to pregnancy and other reasons will be allowed to continue their education.
Girls’ rights activists, however, received this public statement with cautious optimism.
In an interview with Ubuntu Times, Judy Gitau, Africa Coordinator of Equality Now—a global charity campaigning for girls’ and women’s rights expressed cautious optimism on the government’s promise.
“This is the first positive declaration…in four years, if the government acts upon its promise,.. it will be a welcome first step towards pregnant adolescent girls finally realizing their rights to education,” she stressed.
“The government has been unequivocal in stating that pregnant girls will be barred from attending mainstream school, not just for duration of their pregnancy but for life,” said Gitau.
Under the World Bank-funded project, officials are striving to help all school drop-outs pursue their secondary education and halt the practice of expelling pregnant girls from public schools.
“The public notice comes hot on the heels of SEQUIP funds being released by the World Bank, which has declared publicly that it has been advocating for girls access to education,” says Gitau.
Local and international civil society groups, including Equality Now, have been calling, urging the World Bank to withhold the funds until Tanzania withdraw discriminatory policy barring pregnant schoolgirls from attending school.
“We surmise that there is a direct correlation between the World Bank, finally approving its $500 million loan… and the country’s Minister of education releasing a public notice citing the inclusion of pregnant girls in accessing education,” she said.
Campaigners say this discriminatory policy has affected thousands of girls who are denied the right to education for life.
“It should be noted that some of these girls are victims of sexual violence and child marriages” Gitau said adding “it is a reflection of Tanzania government’s failure to address the root cause of adolescent pregnancies”
Juliet Kilewo, a victim of child marriages, who dropped out of school because her father wanted to marry her off in December 2020, reacts to a cameraman. She was rescued by Women rights campaigners. Credit: Kizito Makoye / Ubuntu Times
Education is crucial for fighting poverty and has an impact on social and economic welfare of individuals and the society.
Denying teenage mothers the right to education, campaigners say is equal to gender discrimination which reduces girls’ life opportunities, making it harder to fight poverty.
Gitau urged Tanzania authorities to seriously solve adolescent pregnancies and other economic and sexual exploitation of women and girls.
“Efforts to eradicate violence against girls and women in Tanzania must be stepped up and laws against sexual violence need to be better enforced to ensure that offenders are punished,” she said.
She called upon the government to eliminate stigma and discrimination borne by pregnant girls and adolescent mothers along with survivors of sexual violence.
As the world is reeling on the brink of the COVID-19 pandemic, Gitau warned Tanzania authorities to protect adolescent girls who are at risk of sexual abuse and exploitation.
“The closure of schools and other safeguarding institutions, quarantine rules and the restriction of movement, and loss of income in families as a result of the severe economic downturn, are all factors that increase the vulnerability of girls,” she said.
*Names have been changed to protect identities of the girls
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