Tanzania, UNESCO put ink to 14bn/- deals to boost education

THE Ministry of Education, Science and Technology has signed two agreements with United Nations Educational, Science and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) worth 7,000 million US dollars, which is equivalent to over 14bn/- aimed at improving the education sector in the country.

The two agreements focus on girl education and the promotion of early learning in literacy and numeracy.

Addressing reporters in Dar es Salaam yesterday, the Permanent Secretary (PS) in the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, Ms Maimuna Tarishi, said the first project is funded by the Republic of Korea through its government agency (KOICA) with a funding of 5 million US dollars.

“The project intends to support the efforts of the ministry to provide quality education to all and to empower and pay attention to those who are still lagging behind, especially girls and young women,” said Ms Tarishi.

It is going to be implemented jointly by UNESCO, UNFPA, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), UNWOMEN, United Nations Volunteers (UNV) and UN partner agencies.

The PS noted that the second project entitled Global Learning XPRIZE for the “Promotion of Early Learning through the use of Innovative Technologies” with a funding of 2 million US dollars, aims to reinforce literacy and numeracy of pupils from the age of 7 to 10 years by exploring the benefits of the digital era.

“This project will enhance the learning capability of children in the 3Rs (reading, writing and arithmetic),” noted the PS.

Ms Tarishi also extended recognition to the project funders and called for more support from other stakeholders. KOICA Country Director, Mr Joosung Park, pointed out that the girls and women project was going to enhance the living standards of the two groups by fostering closer collaboration techniques between education and health at all levels.

The project will have the duration of five years and will be implemented in four districts, including Ngorongoro, Sengerema and Kasulu in the Mainland and Micheweni in Pemba Island.

UNESCO Representative, Ms Zulmira Rodriguez, noted that the project becomes a new solution to tackle early illiteracy in a setting that lacks enough human resources and infrastructure to provide quality education.

“After the testing period, the winning open source solution will have the potential to be adapted, translated and to address the needs of 263 million out of school children worldwide,” said Ms Rodriguez.

She further noted that the needs of out of school girls and mothers will be addressed, hence availing them of a second chance to further development through education.

Earlier this year, the EXPRIZE Foundation with UNESCO and the World Food Programme (WFP) announced a partnership for the Global Learning X-PRIZE competition to develop open-source software that will enable children with limited access to school to teach themselves basic reading, writing and arithmetic.

Zanzibar to host major tourism conference

IN a bid to boost tourism industry, Zanzibar Association of Tourism Investors (ZATI) is organising a major private-lead tourism conference that aims at boosting tourism activities in the Isles.

According to a statement released yesterday by ZATI Chairman, Mr Seif Miskry the conference will be dominated by discussions on doing business and widen the sector’s benefits to reach more people in the Isles.

At least 12 government bodies and tourism stakeholders in the isles are expected to attend the conference. The conference is also expected to play a tourism mini-trade show and will enable stakeholders to network during a gala.

“We thank the government of Zanzibar for a healthy private and public partnership, we are looking forward to a useful and interesting event,” he said. According to Mr Miskry, the conference theme’s ‘doing business in Zanzibartourism for all’ is expected to draw attention and enable stakeholders to discuss various issues related to the sector.

“This event will feature a whole day of presentation and discussion pertinent to the Zanzibar tourism industry,” said Mr Miskry.

He said issues to be discussed would focus on taxation, law, environment, labour and immigration. Other issues in the list include skills development, utilities, sustainable tourism, and destination marketing.

He added that ease of doing business in Zanzibar and vision 2020 goals will be discussed, with a view to the private and public sectors working together on a range of actions resulting from the discussions.

The outcome of the conference is expected to be a list of advocacy issues that ZATI will take forward as its work agenda for the following 12 months.

“ZATI is committed to representing its membership’s needs and interests, and to helping tourism in Zanzibar to continue to thrive and prosper, for the benefit of the economy and the people of Zanzibar,” he noted.

Gas pipeline lifespan to cover 90 years

REGULAR and proper maintenance of the 542-kilometre gas pipeline from Mtwara to Dar es Salaam will extend the lifespan of the conduit from 30 to 90 years; an expatriate for Australia’s consulting firm Worley Parsons, Mr Allan Slowe, said yesterday.

Worley Parsons Resources and Energy was the consulting engineer for the mega US $1.22 billion dollars project which was undertaken by China Petroleum and Technology Development Company (CPTDC).

The pipeline was inaugurated last year. “The 30-year provision is a contractual obligation but this period can be extended to 90 years with proper and regular maintenance,” Mr Slowe said in Dar es Salaam yesterday during a meeting to brief stakeholders on implementation of the project.

The expatriate noted on the other hand that no incident had been recorded since the pipeline started transporting natural gas from Mtwara to Dar es Salaam for power generation last year.

“There hasn’t been any report of gas leaking or malfunctioning and this tells that the construction work was well implemented,” Mr Slowe, who worked as Project Manager for the consulting firm, remarked.

He noted further that it is the same contractor who implemented the project that will be conducting maintenance of the conduit, as per contract between the Chinese company and the Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC).

At the same occasion, the Acting Managing Director of TPDC, Engineer Kapuulya Musomba, said the corporation has been conducting weekly physical inspections along the pipeline.

“Maintenance and regular inspections are crucial to have the pipeline running; every week a team of experts from TPDC makes close inspections of the infrastructure,” he remarked.

Eng Musomba on the other hand took issues with long public procurement procedures which he said are not suitable for the project. “Something may happen along the pipeline which will require fast response including purchase of materials and equipment but this will be held back by the long procurement process,” the Acting TPDC boss stated. He noted that a total of 150 Tanzanians were part of the construction team and have since then amassed experience in operating the tube.

This was confirmed by Vice General Manager of CPTDC, Mr Zhang Hongwei, who explained that apart from on-job training, the Tanzanians received short courses on supervision and maintenance of the project in China.

“Our (Chinese) experts will remain in Tanzania for the next one year after which everything will be handed by Tanzanians,” Mr Hongwei explained.

The Mtwara-Dar es Salaam pipeline and gas processing plants at Madimba and Songo Songo Islands, largely financed by a Chinese loan, is part of a plan to add about 2,000 megawatts of new gasfired electricity generating power by 2018 to increase Tanzania’s generating capacity to 10,000 MW by 2025. Most new plants will be gas-fired but Tanzania also wants to use coal reserves and renewable resources such as wind and geothermal.

Tanzania estimates it has about 55 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of recoverable natural gas reserves off its southern coastline. Discoveries in Tanzanian and Mozambican waters have led to predictions the region could become the world’s third-largest exporter of natural gas.

The government said it hopes by switching to gasfired power plants to save around $1 billion (about 2.1trl-) a year in oil imports for electricity generation through diesel-fired power plants.

JPM wants central railway built fast

PRESIDENT John Magufuli yesterday pushed for faster implementation of Tanzania-China joint projects in the country as he met the Chinese Vice-Minister for Commerce, Mr Qian Keming for talks.

The Central Railway construction project was at the centre of their discussion, with Dr Magufuli insisting that its construction should begin this year.

During the talks at the State House in Dar es Salaam, President Magufuli was keen on speedy execution of the projects, noting that his government entertains ‘acting than preaching’, according to a statement issued yesterday by the Presidential Directorate of Communications.

“My government wants to see things happening and bearing results without delay and we would like to see our development partners, particularly China which is the best friend to Tanzania to go with that speed,” he told Mr Qian.

He mentioned the Central Railway Line which connects Dar es Salaam to Mwanza, Kigoma and neighbouring countries of Rwanda and Burundi as one of the projects that China should implement at the same speed with his government.

The government had earmarked one trillion shillings from this year’s budget for construction of the railway. “Honourable Qian, we have decided to start the construction and 32 contractors have already applied for a tender to construct a 200 kilometre length of the railway from Dar es Salaam to Morogoro and we will use our own funds,” he said.

“We want this project to start this financial year because a feasibility study has already been conducted, so you just speed up and make the project complete. I want it complete before I step down,” he told Mr Qian.

He said the project was essential for Tanzania and other countries that depended on Dar es Salaam port and thus its completion would largely contribute to Tanzania’s economic growth, hence be in a good position to realise its vision of becoming industry-based economy country by 2025.

Mr Qian showered praise on President Magufuli for what he described as a great job that he has been doing to boost the country’s economic growth, fighting corruption and his outstanding will to strengthen relations between Tanzania and China.

He pledged that China would push for increased speed in the implementation of the development projects, including the Central Railway construction. “Honourable President, I have understood your intention and thirst.

I can even see enough political will inside you. Now what we are supposed to do is to push our experts to increase the speed. I promise you to move at 200 km per hour up from 100 km per hour,” he told Dr Magufuli.

In attendance during the talks were China Ambassador to Tanzania, Dr Lu Youqing, Exim Bank Vice-President, Sun Ping, Tanzanian Minister for Industries, Trade and Investment, Mr Charles Mwijage and Minister for Finance and Planning, Dr Philip Mpango.

Team Kenya calls for financial aid ahead of masters debut

Team Kenya for the 2016 World Masters Athletics Championships is urgently appealing for financial aid to help meet its costs for travel, accommodation and other logistics ahead of the global event set for Wednesday, 26 October to November 6 in Perth, Australia.

Speaking to Citizen Digital on Wednesday, former two-time African Championships silver medalist and the team’s coach, Rose Tata-Muya appealed for sponsorship from well-wishers with the entire budget requirements including Visa, Accommodation, Team registration and insurance charges summing up to around Ksh2million.

The team, which features retired athletes aged above 40 years, is expected to travel to Australia on Sunday, 23.

“We have a team of 16 athletes who are training vigorously in Eldoret 64 stadium, Nyahururu and Kasabet for the Championships. We selected the athletes according to their performance at the Maasai Mara, Iten and Ndakaini local races. Joshua Pondo will double up in two field events; shot-put and the discus throw.

“We have done our best in training and despite training as individuals, we are a crew in heart. We wrote to the Masters organizers and they cleared the athletes according to their events,” the 1987 All-Africa Games 400m hurdles silver medalist asserted.

This is the third time Kenya will be sending a team for the championships and athletes are required to pay a registration fee depending with their event.

Athletes who are participating in the 21Km event are supposed to pay 80 USD (Ksh 8100.95) while those running below 21 need to pay 55 USD (Ksh 5569.41) while Pondo’s case where he participates in two competitions will see him pay 110 USD (Ksh 11138.81).

“The athletes have already paid for their own events, the Ministry of Sports Arts and Culture paid the air tickets amounting to Ksh 3.5m. If we get the Ksh 2m we shall be ready to go and fly the Kenyan flag high in Australia. It’s hard to prepare for an event that you are not sure of but we got faith although we have less than two weeks before the events starts.

“This is the largest number of athletes that we have ever sent for the event. Here we have former champions who ruled in there hey days. Athletics Kenya (AK) assisted us by writing a letter to Masters Athletics but on the financial level they told us to write to them and see how they can assist us,” the Kenyan 400m hurdles record holder appealed.

Truphoza Chemutai is the only female athlete in the team and will run in the women’s 8km race.

Dar mulls bulk procurement for fertiliser imports

THE government is planning for bulk procurement in fertiliser imports to regulate prices and boost agriculture production in the country.

The Minister for Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, Dr Charles Tizeba told reporters at the ongoing second Africa fertiliser agribusiness conference in Dar es Salaam yesterday that the government was working on the idea and that probably it would be implemented in the near future.

According to Dr Tizeba, bulk procurement in the fertilizer sector will enable the government to set indicative price for fertilisers in the country and thus regulate unusual increase of prices from time to time.

“There are indicative prices for some crops in the country, we are also thinking of applying bulk procurement system in fertiliser businesses and this will help the government to come up with indicative prices,” he said.

Earlier, the Minister told more than 300 international fertiliser and agribusiness executives and regional government representatives from 45 different countries that many farmers fail to utilise fertilisers due to high prices.

He said that agribusiness is a critical pathway to empower smallholder farmers and enhance value addition and set to be worth over 1trl/-US dollars by 2030 according to the World Bank.

“I note that agribusiness is one of the global agribusiness pie. Let us put our ideas together and articulate how, as fertiliser key players, can help to achieve a green revolution in Africa,” he said.

According to Dr Tizeba, this year, African countries mark a decade since they committed to increase fertilizer usage from 8kg per hectare to 50kg per hectare by 2015 as a means of making Africa achieve its green revolution.

“Africa has made marked progress towards this goal but a lot of work still needs to be done,” he said. He added that though fertiliser access and use are critical to food security, smallholder farmers in Africa are still far less fertilisers than their counterparts in Asia and Latin America.

The minister added that as the government embarks on boosting agriculture production, three major fertiliser plants are being constructed in Kibaha, Kilwa and Mtwara.

“The government is doing everything in its capacity to increase fertiliser production in the country, so far three plants are being constructed in the country,” he said.

He added that the government is also working hard to improve transportation communication services,to facilitate ease of doing business in the country, boost infrastructure in terms of seaports, railways and roads that will ensure farmers have access to affordable and appropriate fertilisers.

Salome Kayombo Kiwaya: A golden voice gone suddenly silent

THE announcement on various radio and TV stations on that hot and sunny afternoon of Saturday, October 7, 2016, that a freak road accident at Emaus area on the outskirts of Dodoma had taken the life of one of Tanzania’s most decorated daughters, Salome Kiwaya, came as a rude shock to me and many people across the country.

Salome or Mama Kiwaya as she was popularly known due to her marriage to Mr Heri Kiwaya, one of the pioneer employees of Capital Development Authority (CDA), cut a figure as a secretary, public relations guru, musician (vocalist and stage performer), politician and renowned organizer of beauty pageants.

I had just switched on the TV set fixed on a wall of my living room when a footage on a news summary caught my immediate attention, with the terse statement that ‘’one person has been killed in a road accident involving a heavy-duty truck and two smaller cars’’.

It did not mention the name of the person in the footage’s first run. It was on the second run when it dawned on me that the ‘one person’ who had been killed in the crash was none other than the Dodoma Regional CCM-UWT Chairperson, Mrs Salome Kiwaya! While working in the Public Relations Office of CDA in Dodoma from the late 1970s up to the early 1990s, I had at one point suggested to management to transfer Mama Kiwaya to my office due to her talents as an organizer and speaker.

The request was promptly granted. She ably performed her duties as a publicist for the capital transfer and construction project, which she combined with her other talents as a musician and performer after office hours.

Born in 1957, Salome ‘Kayombo’ Kiwaya (Salome Kayombo was her maiden name), this charismatic lady from the Manda plains on the shores of Lake Nyasa, pursued her education both in Tanzania and Uganda where her father had an employment stint.

It explained her mastery of the English language. True to her ‘musical’ colours, Mama Kiwaya had formed her own band, which she named Saki Stars, instantly reinvigorating the Dodoma music scene, with her taped music also making inroads into local radio stations.

She did this with all the support and encouragement from her husband, Heri, a career administrator and theatre arts enthusiast who while with CDA helped form the authority’s cultural troupe in addition to carving a niche as an eloquent speaker and stage performer in his own right.

As a multi-talented woman, it was no wonder when she was voted as chairperson of the CCM’s women wing in Dodoma Region, which also portrayed her capabilities as a politician besides her other attributes.

She is on record (as organiser) producing Miss Dodoma 1995, Emily Adolph -- a Form Three Student at Central Secondary School in the new capital-designate then. Emily went on to win the Miss Tanzania beauty pageant and represented the country in the Miss World contest.

As it happened, she was expelled from school for participating in the contest. However, due to highlevel intervention, with Mama Kiwaya playing a key role, Emily was able to finish her secondary education.

As a PR expert, singer, dancer, beauty pageants’ organizer, politician and church leader, Mama Kiwaya had endeared herself to many in Dodoma and beyond, evidenced by the turnout at the requiem mass at the Roman Catholic Cathedral in Dodoma on Saturday, which was attended by high-ranking government and political party officials, including former Prime Minister Mr Mizengo Pinda, Speaker of Parliament Mr Job Ndugai, several cabinet ministers and MPs. Salome Kiwaya was expected to be laid to her final resting place at Mtila Village, Matola Ward in Njombe Region either on Monday or yesterday.