Kiswahili Press summaries for Nov 30th

Kiswahili Press Summaries
British High Commission
Dar es Salaam
http://ukintanzania.fco.gov.uk/en
30 November 2009

Zanzibar

Hamad – United Zanzibar will beget united Tanzania

CUF Secretary General Seif Sharif Hamad said the aim of his meeting with President Amani Karume was to defend the interest of Zanzibar within the United Republic. Addressing an Idd el Hajj festival on Saturday, Hamad reminisced his days as Chief Minister, saying the old solidarity among islanders is going to come back. “A united Zanzibar will give rise to a united Tanzania. If we unite and defend our interest, Tanzania can also be united. A weak Zanzibar will beget a weak Tanzania. Our meeting will thus strengthen Tanzania,” Hamad claimed. Earlier, welcoming Hamad, CUF deputy chairman Machano Khamis Ali called upon Zanzibaris to ignore those who smear the Hamad-Karume rapprochement. (Habari Leo, Mwananchi)

Governance

Appeal Court violates procurement law

Public procurement tribunal (PPAA) has repealed a decision by the Appeal Court to award to the Emerging Market Group a Sh 450 million tender for training of court staff. The tender is said to have violated public procurement regulations. The Appeal Court awarded the tender to the Group and its associates Rex Attorney in December 2007 when only two bidders submitted their quotations. The Group thus ‘defeated’ Kilimanjaro International Corporation. Following appeal filed by Kilimanjaro, PPAA quashed the tender and asked the Court to float fresh tender. (Mwananchi)

Opposition

Mnyika – CCM is instigating row in Chadema

Acting Secretary General of Chadema, John Mnyika said CCM is smearing his party. Addressing a meeting of party youth council, Mnyika said CCM spreads rumours that Chadema is expelling young leaders. “This can't be true, especially when our motto is ‘youth is the nation of today’ unlike CCM who says of tomorrow. We are the only party with 30 percent of its lawmakers being young,” Mnyika said.

He also challenged CCM to say how it intends to spend Sh 40 billion in 2010 elections, keeping in mind that it comes to Sh 200 million for each constituency. That amount of money can’t be clean, he said, reminding that in 2005 President Jakaya Kikwete claimed to have raised donations from members only to discover later that it was slush fund that came from EPA. “If they really spent clean money then let them take action against Kagoda,” Mnyika challenged.

Similar statement came from CUF in a press release issued by deputy head of publicity, Ms Ashura Mustapha. She said CCM is cheating its members by claiming that it is not going to accept donations from corrupt tycoons. She said many of them are in fact prominent members of CCM Central Committee and National Executive Committee (NEC), yet the party claims to be distancing itself from them. Mustapha said: “Some of them are prosecuted or accused yet CCM hasn’t taken any steps against them.” She was responding to a statement by CCM treasurer, Amos Makala that his party is going to collect donations ‘from members through SMS and not from corrupt tycoons’. (Majira, Habari Leo, Nipashe, Mwananchi, Tanzania Daima

Private Sector

Precision Air accused of racism

More than 15 Tanzanian passengers travelling by Precision Air flight from Arusha to Dar es Salaam were disembarked and their seats given to foreign passengers. This happened yesterday at Kilimanjaro International Airport (KIA), causing commotion that lasted for 30 minutes. The airport security had to intervene and force the passengers to get off the plane. They later told reporters they were asked to hand over their seats to white passengers without explanation. “This is sheer racial discriminations,” they complained. One of them, Pamela Msuya, said just before the take-off at 7 am the pilot switched off the engine and said there was an emergency. At 11.40 am the engine was again switched off and then they were told to give way to passengers going to Zanzibar. “We were insulted though we had confirmed and advanced booking, unlike the whites who did on-the-spot booking,” she said. When contacted, the airline official said: “We are dealing with the matter.” (Tanzania Daima)

Snippets

1 Another Richmond scam simmering in Tanesco (Kulikoni, Nipashe)
2 Membe tells UN to apologise over arming of Rwanda rebels (Majira, Mtanzania, Habari Leo, Nipashe, Mwananchi, Tanzania Daima)
3 Veteran women MPs risk being booted in 2010 (Mtanzania)
4 Dr Magufuli – My doctorate is not fake (Mtanzania)
5 Two law professors say bigwigs must explain their ‘fake’ degrees (Mwananchi)
6 Two Zanzibar women pilgrims die in Mecca (Habari Leo)
7 Morogoro DC condemns rampart sale of village land (Habari Leo)
8 BoT hands to CAG report on insurance of twin towers (Mwananchi)
9 Pyramid scheme victims admitted to hospital (Tanzania Daima)
10 Tanzania Oxygen officers to be prosecuted (Tanzania Daima)
11 Retired police officers live in abject poverty (Tanzania Daima)