State determined to see urban slums slump

THE government is determined to halve urban slums by 2025, according to Zanzibar Second Vice-President, Ambassador Seif Ali Iddi.

Presiding over a two-day regional roundtable by the Institute of African Leadership for Sustainable Development (UONGOZI Institute) in Dar es Salaam, Ambassador Iddi said the government is working on a number of strategies to achieve the target.

Facilitation of access to credit for urban real estate developers to improve the quality of housing, decreasing the cost of housing in urban and rural and creation of conducive environment for mortgages are some of the strategies the government is pursuing.

Ambassador Iddi added the government is facilitating the establishment of Housing Cooperatives at village and district levels.

“Critical to the success of these initiatives is the strengthening of the National Housing Corporation and the National Housing and Building Research Agency, where we intend to strengthen the skills for construction and management of human settlements development,” Ambassador Iddi noted.

In addition he said local government and regional administration are working with their local communities to facilitate regularisation of unplanned settlements.

“This is also being carried out in the formalization of informal businesses to provide them access to financial services that can help them protect and grow their businesses,” he explained.

He stressed that stemming and eventually reversing the development of informal settlements in the future is a major challenge that urban planners, designers and managers must address, underscoring the importance of involvement of citizens in the process.

“When organized and managed in this way, these initiatives and processes become capacity building programmes for inclusive urban planning and implementation,” he explained.

He said looking forward on how the public wants to live in 2015 or 2100, there is a need to reflect on the reality of urban livelihoods as they are today in 2015, since there is a growing housing shortage across the Eastern Africa.

“The growing temporary shelters or informal settlements are prone to natural disasters like flooding, as well as characterized by high levels of crime, insecurities, diseases and hardships,” he noted.

He said Tanzania is also in the midst of several comprehensive legal reforms for the inclusive registration and management of land, which will enable all citizens, both women and men, to have equal rights in land ownership.

The Uongozi Institute Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Prof Joseph Semboja said that the forum intends to look at and discuss the various challenges and opportunities presented by urbanization in the region and how African leaders can tackle them in an inclusive manner.

“An increasing proportion of Africa (and indeed the world’s) population is living in urban areas, adding to the congestion and pressure of housing, jobs and public services.

The forum is therefore meant to discuss how to address such challenges and imagine cities that reflect our desires,” said Prof. Semboja.

He said according to UNHabitat’s publication ‘The State of African Cities 2014’, East Africa is the world’s least urbanized but fastest urbanizing sub-region and by end of the current decade its urban population will have increased by 50 per cent and the total number of urban dwellers in 2040 is expected to be five times that of 2010.

“In fact urbanization and urban development are both positive products and forces for human development and economic growth -- if we can get them right.

And that is what this regional round-table is all about. To set us on the right course by identifying top priorities and key ingredients of progress,” added Prof. Semboja.

The high level participants of the roundtable hailed from governments, regional and international organizations, major cities, academia, private sector and civil society organizations of Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.

EA leaders address security threats

THE East African Community (EAC) Summit of Heads of State has vowed to urgently upscale implementation of relevant counter measures and directives to address current and emerging security threats in the region.


In particular, the summit directed partner states to expedite implementation of interventions contained in the revised strategy for regional peace and security, as well as those in the counter terrorism strategy.


The 16th Ordinary Summit held in Nairobi, Kenya on Friday, brought together heads of state of member states and saw President Jakaya Kikwete assuming the EAC Chairmanship from the host President Uhuru Kenyatta.


According to a joint communique, the summit reviewed the current security situation in the region and also considered the security state in South Sudan.


“The summit noted and welcomed the agreement on the establishment of the transitional government of national unity and also called for immediate and permanent ceasefire signed on February 1, this year, in Addis Ababa by the two parties in the conflict.


“The summit also called upon the two parties to abide by the terms of the agreement and ensure sustainable peace, security and resettlement of all returnees and internally displaced persons,” read the communique in part.


The summit further welcomed and supported efforts to reunite the Southern People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) party being held in Arusha and saluted Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) and ANC for facilitating the re-unification process.


The theme of the summit was ‘Deepening and Accelerating Integration: Towards Political Federation and also received an annual report of the council of ministers covering the period of November 2013 and 2014 and noted the steady progress made in the implementation of the programmes of the community.


Among others, the summit also approved and signed the protocol to extend jurisdiction of the East African Court of Justice (EACJ) covering trade and investment, as well as matters associated with the implementation of the protocol on the establishment of the East African Monetary Union (EAMU).


Meanwhile, Dar es Salaam joined four other capitals of EAC member states at the official launching of Video Conference Communication System, an event graced by the Chief Secretary, Ambassador Ombeni Sefue.


Speaking at the event which was simultaneously held in Bujumbura (Burundi), Kigali (Rwanda), Kampala (Uganda), Nairobi (Kenya) and Dar es Salaam, Ambassador Sefue said the application of the system could not be overstated.


“Video conferences will not only reduce costs of travel previously incurred in need of joint meetings, but also speed up consultation on matters of mutual interest among EAC member states.


The system will increase efficiency in decision making and implementation of agreed matters,” Amb. Sefue observed. Speaking from the coordination office in Nairobi where the launch was officially done out by President Kikwete who is the new Chairman of the Heads of State Summit, urged citizens in the region (EA) to take advantage of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT).


Mr Kikwete greeted government officials in the respective capitals to prove the effectiveness of the system.

Hippo offering a ‘worm’ motherly kiss to its calf is not intimidated by a ‘mare’ sound from a catfish

EVERY Saturday the Daily Blog carries a feature titled “In the Wild”. There would be an article telling us one thing or the other about animal behaviour in the wild savannah.


I find these articles very educative as well as entertaining. So, this weekend, we savour how the writer delivers his message about the animal world.


I have three articles in front of me carrying the following titles: “How catfish mysteriously benefit leopards” (10 January); “Serengeti annual migration best in the World” (31 January); and, “The Evolving Hippopotamus of African wetlands” (February 7). The articles are accompanied by fantastic photographs of animals doing this or that action.


I like the photograph of mother and baby hippo apparently showing affection to each other. This is how the caption under this photograph reads: “The deadliest animal in Africa ‘offer a worm motherly’ kiss to its calf”.


We are used to see adult birds feeding their young ones on worms but do young hippos, or adult ones for that matter, feed on worms?


The article does not tell us. We however believe that mother hippo is not offering a worm kiss. What the writer wanted to write about was “a warm motherly kiss”, not “a worm motherly kiss”. “Worm” and “warm” should be included in the forthcoming edition of Longhorn’s Students’ Companion, under the category “Words Liable to be Confused”.


The list in the current edition is short but includes words such as: “adapter and adaptor”, “alley and allay”, “altar and alter”, “ascent and assent”, “bare and bear”, “beach and beech”; “cheap and cheep”, “boy and buoy”; “dye and die”, “course, coarse and cause”; “fare and fair”; “feet and feat”; “flea and flee”; “heal and heel”; “guerilla and gorilla”; “grate and great”; “ingenious and ingenuous”; “key and quay”; “cue and queue”; “rain and reign”; “shear and sheer”; “sore and soar”; “sum and some”; “son and sun”; “stationery and stationary”; “ware and wear”; “week and weak”; “woo and woe”; “wreak and wreck”; and many others.


“Warm and worm” should be included on this list in the book since they are currently missing. The caption accompanying the photograph should read:


“The deadliest animal in Africa ‘offers a warm motherly kiss’ to its calf”. The story about the catfish is characterised by the writer missing out on putting an “s” on various words, where this is a must.


Describing the catfish, the writer had this to say: “These are elusive ‘fishes’ ‘who’ live mysterious life which ‘enable’ them feed the leopard when antelopes and other herbivorous ‘mammal’ migrate to greener ‘pasture’


………


In savannah during dry season sunrays heat the ground for a ‘longer’ time leading to most seasonal streams, rivers and ‘swamp’ to lose big amount of water through evaporation which also ‘make’ the remaining amount to be inhabitable to marine ‘creature’ because of contamination and lack of oxygen”.


My re-write of the above quotation would go along the following lines: “Catfish are an elusive fish species which live a mysterious life which exposes them to be fed upon by leopards when antelopes and other herbivorous mammals migrate to greener pastures ………


In the savannah, during the dry season, sunrays heat the ground for a long time leading to most seasonal streams, rivers and swamps to lose large amounts of water through evaporation which makes the remaining amount of water inadequate for habitation for marine creatures because of contamination and lack of oxygen”.


In order to protect themselves from predators such as leopards, catfish take protective action: “When catfish notice any danger they will stop and miraculously produce drumming sound which can terrify people like me or you but the feline will not be intimidated by ‘a mare’ sound, and they will continue with a night feast to their satisfaction”.


A mare sound? Not likely. A mare is an adult female horse. The adult male horse is called a stallion. Our conviction is that by ‘a mare sound’ the writer had “mere sound” in mind.


The writer tells us some dangers facing catfish: “Some catfish die when they fail to manoeuvre through difficult terrain covered by sticking mud as a result die through suffocation and become food for ‘staving’ scavengers such as ‘vulture’ and ‘hyena’’. “Staving scavengers?” No. These scavenger animals are short of food. Therefore we are talking of “starving scavengers”.


A rewrite, is as follows: “Some catfish fail to manoeuvre through difficult terrain covered by sticking mud and as a result, die through suffocation and become food for starving scavengers such as vultures and hyenas.” Have a nice weekend.

PM cautions against imposing leadership aspirants on public

PREMIER Mizengo Pinda has cautioned leaders of the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) against imposing candidates vying for leadership positions of their choice, but instead should leave the public to make their own choices.


Mr Pinda issued the warning in Iringa where he is on a five-day tour of the region to inspect development projects. He said on different occasions when he made stops to address the public at Mlowa, Magozi and Kiwele villages in Iringa district.


“This is an election year and it is a very important exercise for a democratic country like ours. Let us leave party members and the public to decide on who they want to lead them, they should not be influenced to elect leaders whom they do not want,” he said.


He said that the candidates in question are for all posts from councillors to Members of Parliament (MPs) as well as those vying for the presidency. Meanwhile, Premier Pinda has urged Tanzanians to be God-fearing for the nation to have outstanding citizens for its prosperity.


Speaking at a requiem mass for the retired Roman Catholic Bishop, the late Magnus Mwalunyungu held at Moyo Mtakatifu wa Yesu, Tosamaganga in Iringa on Friday, the prime minister also said that despite the fact that we cannot get used to death, it remains inevitable. “Religious teachings remind us of the obligation to be God-fearing and good citizens.


Peace loving people allow growth of orderliness, unity and prosperity,” Mr Pinda said. The prime minister, represented President Jakaya Kikwete at the funeral of the cleric who passed away at the age of 85.


President Kikwete is currently attending the East African Community (EAC) Heads of State Summit in Nairobi. Delivering his sermon at the funeral, Bishop Damian Dallu of Roman Catholic Songea Arch- Diocese said people fear death because they are not certain of life after death.


“We can learn great lessons from the late Bishop Mwalunyungu in terms of religious devotion. He has died at the age of 85, but for 55 years he served God as a priest and 22 years as a Bishop.


After his retirement he volunteered as congregational priest of Kidamalai congregation,” Bishop Dallu said. In another development, the government has announced plans to employ more than 35,000 secondary school teachers in the next financial year, to make up for the shortage of teachers as part of improving the standard and quality of education in the country.


Addressing residents of Kiwere ward in Iringa District, Mr Pinda said qualified teachers will be deployed to all schools to the convenience of students and the nation at large.


He reminded district authorities of their obligation to have in place science subject laboratories in all public schools before end of June, this year, to comply with the directives issued by President Kikwete early this month.

Pluijm wants Yanga improvement

YOUNG Africans SC Head Coach, Hans Van De Pluijm has shown disapproval of his team’s performance at the Sokoine Stadium in Mbeya, despite earning a massive 3-0 win against their host Prisons FC on Thursday, in the ongoing Vodacom Premier League (VPL).


The Dutchman expressed his dissatisfaction of his squad display in the match, but said he was happy with the results which saw his team leapfrogging defending champions Azam FC to the top of VPL standing.


“I’m disappointed with the team performance in today’s (Thursday) match, but I am happy with the result we have obtain against our host,” said the Dutchman.


Pluijm seems to be eager to see some improvement in performance of his team, which will take another Mbeya region top-flight club Mbeya City at the same venue on Sunday.


Pluijm is determined to take all the six points in the Southern Highland city to consolidate his team’s position at the top of the table.


Commenting on the game, Yanga Captain Nadir Haroub Ally said although they emerged handsome victory, the game was tough and the cold weather was a little bit not in their favour.


He said their opponents tried hard to stop them but was pleased that they managed to grab maximum points. “It was a tough match, the weather was not in our favour but we managed to win the game and we are now looking forward to face another tough encounter against Mbeya City on Sunday (tomorrow), every game is like final to us,” he said.


Haroub said they respect Mbeya City, acknowledging that their opponents are among the best teams in the league but said they will go into the match with the same objective of chalking the home team and win maximum points.


The no non-sense central defender promised Yanga supporters that they will battle to their last breath to ensure they emerge with victory.


Yanga, who are the country’s representatives in the CAF Confederation Cup tournament are utilising the league matches as part of its preparations for the return leg, preliminary round match against Botswana’s BDF XI FC in Gaborone scheduled to take place next weekend.


Yanga will take to Gaborone a 2-0 lead they attained in the first leg at the National Stadium in Dar es Salaam last Saturday and they only need a draw of any kind to sail into the first round of the continental second tier club event.


A 1-0 defeat will still allow Yanga to go into the next round. On his side Prisons’ Captain Fred Chudu conceded the defeat, saying their opponents took charge of the first half of the game and utilised it well scoring quick goals to make things difficult for them to come back into the game.


The league continues today with Kagera Sugar, seating third on 21 points confronting Polisi Morogoro at the Kambarage Stadium in Shinyanga.


A win for Kagera Sugar will only bring them closer second placed Azam on 26 points. On the other hand, a win for Polisi will see the Adolf Rishard’s side taking a huge leap from the eighth slot to the third with 22 points.


Coastal Union will be Ndanda FC guests at the Nangwanda Sijaona Stadium in Mtwara, with both sides looking for three crucial points.


If Coastal register victory over Ndanda they will also move to the top four positions of the league, while victory for Ndanda will move them away from the relegation zone, which they are currently staring at.


Ndanda is currently placed 11th in the league standing on 16 points, one above Stand United, who are in the relegation together with Mgambo JKT and Tanzania Prisons on 14 and 11 points respectively.


The day will also see action at the Mkwakwani Stadium in Tanga, when Mtibwa Sugar will battle it out against Mgambo JKT, who lost 4-1 against Stand United in the previous match.


Mtibwa Sugar, who were held to a barren draw by Ndanda FC in their previous match, will be targeting a win against their host, to regain its winning formula which they lost since the kick off of the second round.

Putting African on Mobile market, through VMK

WHEN a young Congolese entrepreneur introduced the first African-designed tablet and smartphone, some in the local tech community were skeptical.


When 26-year-old Congolese entrepreneur Verone Mankou followed up the introduction of the first African-designed tablet with the announcement of the first African-designed smartphone, some within the local tech community looked on skeptically.


This was Africa after all, and other tablets and smartphones claiming to be “African” were shown to be little more than Chinese designs with only superficial unique traits. It also didn’t help that Mankou’s company, VMK, was based in the Republic of Congo.


Speaking at the third annual Tech4Africa conference in Johannesburg last month, Mankou touched on the difficulties of running VMK from Congo.


He also stressed, despite the hurdles, why he thought it was important for an African company to invest in the local smartphone and tablet markets.


“Only Africans can know what Africa needs,” he said. “Apple is huge in the U.S., Samsung is huge in Asia, and we want VMK to be huge in Africa.”


His products, the Way-C tablet and Elikia smartphone are part of an effort to take on the technology giants in his own back yard. The Way-C, or “the light of the stars” in the local Lingala language, is a small tablet roughly the size of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab.


It measures 7.4” x 6.7” x 0.5” and weighs 13.4 ounces. Wi-Fi connectivity and 4GB of internal memory come standard. While its specs aren’t eye-popping, the price is. At $300, it comes in less than the iPad mini.


The Elikia (“Hope”) is an Android-based smartphone with a 3.5-inch display, rear and forward facing cameras, 512MB of RAM, and a 650MHz processor. It retails for $170 without a contract.


The aim, says Mankou, is to get these products into African hands by making them easier to afford. There has been some negative reaction on local tech blogs, and much of it seems to come from a belief that these products are made by what is called an original equipment manufacturer, or OEM.


A few years ago, Africa’s “first” tablet was found out to be an OEM product available not only in Nigeria, but throughout the world sold under different names.


Its claims of being African were shot down, and the company was regarded as just another merchant pushing foreign products on local consumers.


Mankou’s VMK is adamant that this is not the case with its products, even devoting a page on its website to address the accusation.


Brazzaville, the capital city and home base for VMK, is known more for being an entrepôt to the nation’s huge oil reserves than a home for innovative business.


The World Bank ranks Congo-Brazzaville as the 183rd worst country to do business in, out of the 185 nations measured. It often takes more than half a year to start a company in Congo-Brazzaville, compared to just 13 days in the States. But this is where Mankou chooses to do business.


“Congo has the same problems as all sub-Saharan African countries: it’s difficult to get funding, so it’s difficult to create big projects,” he told local technology blog TechCentral. After spending nearly two years fundraising, Mankou finally had enough to start making African-deisgned tablets and later smartphones for his countrymen.


Some of the first images of Elikia show an engraved “Designed in the Republic of Congo, assembled in China,” intentionally mirroring Apple’s “Designed by Apple in California.”


Much of the marketing behind the Elikia and the Way-C seems like an attempt to ape the products’ Apple counterparts. Like Apple, VMK has had to answer for manufacturing its products in China, a country with a higher per-capita GDP than the Congo.


Earlier this year Mankou told the AFP that VMK wanted to keep as much of the phone African as possible, but decided to manufacture it in China “for the simple reason that Congo has no factories and for price reasons.”


Yet some question the wisdom of manufacturing high-priced items overseas and marketing them to what remains a wealthy elite in Congo.


Mankou plans to sell his products outside of Congo in the near future, and has already moved into 10 other West African countries and even Belgium, France and India.