Italian earthquake,escuers continue efforts to find survivors

The death toll in the Italian earthquake has risen to at least 247 as thousands of rescuers continue efforts to find survivors.

Dozens are believed trapped in ruined Amatrice, Accumoli and Pescara del Tronto, in mountainous central Italy.
The search went on through the night, and there was a strong aftershock which rocked already damaged buildings.
More than 4,300 rescuers are using heavy lifting equipment and their bare hands.
Many of the victims were children, the health minister said, and there were warnings the toll could rise further.

Soma Zaidi

Thursday, August 25, 2016 No Comments

PRESIDENT MAGUFULI

PRESIDENT Magufuli's government has launched a major tax crackdown, faces some intriguing questions ahead of the unveiling of the much-anticipated 2016/17 fiscal year budget, how do you encourage investment through tax incentives and collect revenues needed to build flagship infrastructure projects?
The issue of tax exemptions has come under sharp focus following revelations that former president Jakaya Kikwete's administration waived taxes worth close to 8 trillion/- in just the past five years alone
But top government officials in the Magufuli administration yesterday defended the use of tax exemptions as a tool to court both foreign and domestic investment companies, saying it was a necessary evil.
According to the government's investment chiefs, tax waivers are used by different nation's around the world to woo foreign direct investments (FDIs) and boost local manufacturing industries.
Like other African countries, Tanzania is competing for scarce FDI inflows, hence has to offer some tangible incentives to investor companies, they said.
“This is a global tradition that we, as a country, cannot shy away from ... but there is a lot of misinformation out there among members of the public concerning tax exemptions,” Tanzania Investment Centre's (TIC) acting executive director, Clifford Tandari, told The Guardian.
According to Tandari, even some developed nations such as Ireland and Turkey have also been using tax incentives as a magnet to lure investors and have successfully benefited from the practice.
Likewise, the director general of the state-run Economic Processing Zone Authority (EPZA), Col.(rtd) Joseph Simbakalia, defended tax incentives, saying the government does not waive taxes without conducting thorough research on the beneficiaries and the expected benefits to the national economy at large.
He said government tax is exempted only after a well thought out cost-benefit analysis is done.
Simbakalia explained that most investors who are given tax exemptions have something substantive to offer the country, such as job creation.
“We do not forfeit government taxes just like that ... we have done our research and we have concrete numbers on everything that we carry out," he insisted.
"Look at this on both sides of the coin then you will come to notice the reason why we grant such incentives.”
His sentiments were echoed by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Investments, Dr Adelhelm Meru, who also threw his weight behind tax exemptions, saying there was a misconception on the matter.
According to Meru, there was no nation in the world that does not give some sort of tax incentives to investors.
The PS, himself a former director general of the EPZA, said tax exemptions were not only offered to investment companies, but also to various other sectors.
“We are in a very competitive world where every country is striving to attract more investors, therefore if we frustrate them, they will definitely not come to our country and we will lose out,” Meru said.
He noted that some countries have even changed the name of tax exemptions to "subsidies" to highlight their importance to the economy.
The recent trend of tax exemptions shows that Tanzania has consistently failed to cap tax waivers to 1 per cent or below of the gross domestic product (GDP).
Latest data from the Ministry of Finance and Planning seen by The Guardian indicate that tax waivers have amounted to 7.78 trillion/- since 2010.
The recent report by the Controller and Auditor General (CAG) slammed government tax exemption as "over-generous", saying they only benefited a few individuals, companies and groups at the expense of the country’s economy.
The tax waivers have even forced the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) to consistently miss its revenue collection targets and in turn compelled the government to borrow heavily to fill yawning fiscal gaps.
It remains to be seen how the Minister for Finance and Planning, Dr Philip Mpango, will tackle tax exemptions in his maiden budget speech on June 9.
Magufuli's government is expected to unveil an infrastructure-heavy budget, with massive public investments in a new standard gauge railway, flyovers, ports, roads and power plants.
A new government initiative to wean itself off donor dependency means that the funding of development projects would have to increasingly rely on domestic financial resources, which are under threat from tax incentives.

Soma Zaidi

Wednesday, May 4, 2016 No Comments

Brazil's embattled President Dilma Rousseff says she is 'innocent victim' in impeachment fight, vows to 'keep fighting' - BBC

Brazil's beleaguered President Dilma Rousseff has told the BBC she is an "innocent victim" and she will fight on as possible impeachment looms.
She vowed to "keep fighting... to come back to government if the impeachment request is accepted".
Ms Rousseff is accused of manipulating government accounts, which she denies.
The Senate will decide whether to start an impeachment trial next week. If that happens she will be suspended from office for 180 days.
Recent polls conducted by Brazil's major newspapers suggest that a majority of the 81 senators will vote in favour of the trial.
In the wide-ranging interview with the BBC's Wyre Davies, President Rousseff also said:
torture in prison under the military government in the 1970s was common practice, reliving her three years of incarceration
"not enough efforts" had been made to tackle corruption in Brazil, but "the degree of effectiveness" increased during her administration
receiving the Olympic torch for the Rio 2016 Games was a "bittersweet moment", as there was no certainty that she would attend the summer event as president
'Resist, resist, resist'
"Yes, I believe, indeed, that I am a victim. And, of course, yes I am innocent. And at the same time, I am an innocent victim," Ms Rousseff said.
"What we in the government believe and what my supporters believe is that the ongoing impeachment process is illegitimate and illegal.
"Because it is ultimately based on a lie, i.e. an indirect election under the guise of an impeachment process."
And the president stressed: "What we will do is to resist, to resist, and to resist. And further fight to ensure that we will come out victorious on a merit basis and resume office."
Ms Rousseff is accused of manipulating budget figures in 2014 to make her government's economic performance appear better than it was - ahead of her re-election.
The president has defended her government's fiscal measures as common practice in Brazil.

visit http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-36209789 to get more informations.

Soma Zaidi

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study this::"Breast cancer: Scientists hail 'very significant' genetic find"

Scientists say they now have a near-perfect picture of the genetic events that cause breast cancer.

The study, published in Nature, has been described as a hugely significant moment that could help unlock new ways of treating and preventing the disease.

The largest study of its kind unpicked practically all the errors that cause healthy breast tissue to go rogue.

Cancer Research UK said the findings were an important stepping-stone to new drugs.

To understand the causes of cancer, scientists have to understand what goes wrong in our DNA that makes healthy tissue turn cancerous.

The international team looked at all 3 billion letters of people's genetic code - their entire blueprint of life - in 560 breast cancers.

They uncovered 93 sets of instructions, or genes, that if mutated, can cause tumours. Some have been discovered before, but scientists expect this to be the definitive list, barring a few rare mutations.

'Mutational signatures'

Prof Sir Mike Stratton, the director of the Sanger Institute in Cambridge which led the study, told the BBC News website: "In the latter part of the last century we were able to identify the first individual genes that became mutated.

"Now with our ability to sequence the whole genome of very large numbers of cancers we're moving to essentially a, more-or-less, comprehensive or complete list of those mutated cancer genes so it is a very significant moment for cancer research."

And crucially, each of those mutations is also a potential weakness that can be used to develop drugs.

"This is no longer speculation or hand-waving," said Prof Stratton. Targeted drugs such as Herceptin are already being used by patients with specific mutations.

Prof Stratton expects new drugs will still take decades to reach patients and warns: "Cancers are devious beasts and they work out ways of developing resistance to new therapeutics so overall I'm optimistic, but it's a tempered optimism."

There is also bad news in the data - 60% of the mutations driving cancer are found in just 10 genes.

At the other end of the spectrum, there are mutations so rare they are in just a tiny fraction of cancers meaning it is unlikely there will be any financial incentive to develop therapies.

But why do those genes mutate in the first place?

Mutations leave unique scars - known as mutational signatures - on our DNA and that allowed the team to identify 12 types of damage that cause mutations in the breast.

Some are related to family risk, but most are still unexplained.

One class of mutation seems to stem from the body attacking viruses by mutating their genetic code, but also suffering collateral damage in the process.

Whether any of these processes can be altered is still unknown in this nascent field, but researchers hope the findings could eventually lead to ways of reducing the risk of cancers.

Dr Serena Nik-Zainal, another researcher at the Sanger Institute, added: "In the future, we'd like to be able to profile individual cancer genomes so that we can identify the treatment most likely to be successful for a woman or man diagnosed with breast cancer.

"It is a step closer to personalised health care for cancer."

Dr Emma Smith, from Cancer Research UK, said: "This study brings us closer to getting a complete picture of the genetic changes at the heart of breast cancer and throws up intriguing clues about the key biological processes that go wrong in cells and drive the disease.

"Understanding these underlying processes has already led to more effective treatments for patients, so genetic studies on this scale could be an important stepping stone towards developing new drugs and boosting the number of people who survive cancer."

FRM BBC

for more knowledge Follow James on Twitter.

Soma Zaidi

Monday, May 2, 2016 No Comments

Israel Accused Of West Bank 'Ethnic Cleansing'

With demolitions rising in the occupied West Bank, the UN claims Israel is using planning laws in a "discriminatory" manner.

The Israeli military has dramatically increased the number of demolitions of Palestinian homes and other buildings in the occupied West Bank, according to the United Nations.

Figures collated by the UN's Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) show that there have been an average of 165 demolitions a month since January.

In February alone, 235 buildings were taken down, and the UN agency has claimed people are being driven from the land as a result.

The Israeli military, which has occupied the West Bank for nearly 50 years, claims it carries out the demolitions because the structures are illegal and do not have the necessary planning permits

But left-wing politician and member of parliament, Dov Khenin, claims the government is trying to appropriate the land so Israelis can settle there in the future.

In a statement to Sky News, it said: "The civil administration, by its power, takes enforcement measures against any sort of illegal construction in Area C." 

finaly The UN says the use of the law is "restrictive" and "discriminatory", and the people most affected are Bedouin and Palestinian farmers.

Soma Zaidi

Sunday, May 1, 2016 No Comments

Turkey: deadly car bomb targets Gaziantep police HQ

At least one policeman has been killed in a car bomb blast near a police headquarters in the south-east Turkish city of Gaziantep, officials say.

Nineteen police and four civilians are reported to have been injured by the early-morning explosion.

The blast was heard several kilometres away, CNN Turk TV reported.

Turkey has been hit by a series of deadly blasts over the past year, linked either to Kurdish militants or so-called Islamic State (IS).

Ankara, Istanbul and Bursa are among cities that have been targeted by suicide bombings.

How dangerous is Turkey's instability?

Some reports said gunfire was heard after the blast, which occurred at about 09:30 local time (06:30 GMT). There was no immediate word on who is behind the latest blast.

The police building is close to several government offices, including that of the governor and mayor, the AP news agency said.

Gaziantep, which is near the Syrian border, is known to have several IS cells.

In another development, Turkish police detained four suspected IS members in Ankara, the Anadolu news agency reports.

Soma Zaidi

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Iraqi forces fire tear gas at protesters(news now)

BAGHDAD (AP) — The Latest on anti-government protests in Iraq

Iraqi security forces have fired tear gas on protesters at one of the entrances to the Green Zone as hundreds of supporters of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr continue to stream into the highly fortified government compound.

Associated Press reporters at the scene say thousands of protesters have entered the Green Zone since breaching the walls and storming parliament earlier on Saturday.The heavily guarded area is home to most government ministries and foreign embassies.

The entry of the protesters marks a major escalation after months of demonstrations and sit-ins by al-Sadr's followers, who are calling for wide-ranging political reforms aimed at combatting corruption and waste.

Soma Zaidi

Saturday, April 30, 2016 No Comments

Somalia mosque collapses kills 15 in Mogadishu

A mosque under refurbishment has collapsed in Somalia, killing at least 15 people and injuring 40.

It happened during Friday prayers in the mosque in the capital Mogadishu. Details emerged on Saturday.

Hundreds of people are reported to have been inside the building when it collapsed and some are still believed to be trapped under the rubble.

An engineer on the refurbishment project has been arrested on suspicion of negligence, local media report.

Heavy rains have fallen on the area over the past few days.

The Somali government controls Mogadishu and other cities, but militants from the al-Qaeda-linked group al-Shabab dominate many rural areas.

More than 22,000 African Union soldiers and police are deployed in the country to protect the government.

Soma Zaidi

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Seven Dead After Nairobi Building Collapse

At least seven people are reported to have died after a six-storey building collapsed in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, following days of heavy rain and flooding.

Dozens of others are feared trapped beneath the rubble.

TV station KTN said that while 58 people including a baby had been rescued, "most residents" were still inside.

A large crowd surrounded the building as police and rescue workers removed chunks of masonry.

Kenya is in the middle of its rainy season. 

Dozens of people are feared trapped after a six-storey building came down following days of heavy rain and flooding.

Soma Zaidi

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North Korea 'will halt' nuclear tests if US stops S Korea exercises

North Korea has said it will suspend its nuclear tests if the US stops its annual military exercises with South Korea.

Foreign minister Ri Su-yong also told the Associated Press news agency that his country would not be cowed by international sanctions.

A US official has defended the drills as a sign of commitment to South Korea.

Meanwhile, Pyongyang said Saturday's submarine-launched ballistic missile test was a "great success".

"It fully confirmed and reinforced the reliability of the Korean-style underwater launching system and perfectly met all technical requirements for carrying out... underwater attack operation," the North Korean news agency KCNA said.

It added that the test gave the country "one more means for powerful nuclear attack".

North Korea is banned from nuclear tests and activities that use ballistic missile technology under UN sanctions dating back to 2006.

• Can South Korea defend itself?
• Dealing with the North: Carrots or sticks?
• How advanced is North Korea's nuclear programme?
• How potent are the threats?

Earlier, Ri Su-yong defended his country's right to have a nuclear deterrent and said the US drove North Korea to develop such weapons as an act of self-defence.

He suggested that the suspension of the military drills could open the door to talks and reduced tensions.

"If we continue on this path of confrontation, this will lead to very catastrophic results, not only for the two countries but for the whole entire world as well," he told AP.

"Stop the nuclear war exercises in the Korean Peninsula, then we should also cease our nuclear tests."

It was a rare interview by a top North Korean official with a foreign media outlet. The conversation took place in the country's diplomatic mission at the UN, the agency said.

An unnamed US official quoted by AP defended the drills in South Korea as demonstrating Washington's commitment to its alliance with Seoul.

The US has insisted the North give up its nuclear weapons programme first before any negotiations and has ignored similar proposals in the past, according to the agency.

Ri Su-yong also said sanctions would not sway his country: "If they believe they can actually frustrate us with sanctions, they are totally mistaken.

"The more pressure you put on to something, the more emotionally you react to stand up against it. And this is important for the American policymakers to be aware of."

'Hitting the puppet forces'

The interview came hours after North Korea said it launched a ballistic missile from a submarine, a type of missile hard to detect.

Some experts, however, think the North has fired missiles from submerged platforms, rather than from submarines.

The North's official news agency also said the country's leader Kim Jong-un observed from a test facility as the ballistic missile surged from a submarine and spewed out a "massive stream of flames'' as it soared into the sky.

It said the missile met all technical thresholds, but did not specify where the test took place.

South Korean officials, however, said the launch took place near the eastern coastal town of Sinpo.

The report also quoted Kim Jong Un as saying that the North was now capable of "hitting the heads of the South Korean puppet forces and the US imperialists anytime as it pleases".

North Korea has so far conducted four nuclear tests - the first one in October 2006 and the latest in January this year.

The UN Security Council responded to the latter by imposing its strongest sanctions to date over the North's nuclear weapons programme.

Last month North Korea said it had developed nuclear warheads small enough to fit on ballistic missiles, although experts cast doubt on the claims.

Analysts believe the North may be gearing up for a fifth test as a show of strength ahead of the North Korean Workers' Party Congress in early May, the first such meeting since 1980.

bbc story

Soma Zaidi

Sunday, April 24, 2016 No Comments

Syria conflict: Obama rules out ground troops for Syria

President Barack Obama has ruled out deploying US ground troops in Syria and says military efforts alone cannot solve the country's problems.

"It would be a mistake for the United States, or Great Britain... to send in ground troops and overthrow the [Bashar al-] Assad regime," he told the BBC.

He also said he did not think so-called Islamic State would be defeated in his last nine months of office.

But he said: "We can slowly shrink the environment in which they operate."

Mr Obama, who has been in the UK for a three-day visit, said Syria was a "heart-breaking situation of enormous complexity".

"I don't think there are any simple solutions," he said.

"In order for us to solve the long-term problems in Syria, a military solution alone - and certainly us deploying ground troops - is not going to bring that about."

Mr Obama said the US-led coalition would continue "to strike ISIL (Islamic State) targets in places like Raqqa, and to try to isolate those portions of the country, and lock down those portions of the country that are sending foreign fighters into Europe".

But he said the international community would have to continue to apply pressure to all parties, including Russia, Iran and moderate opposition groups "to sit down at the table and try to broker a transition".

But he added: "That's difficult."

Mr Obama criticised those countries whose parliaments had not approved actions in Syria but still "want the United States to do something about it".

"You can't have it both ways," he said.

Mr Obama said Syria was one of many issues that are "transnational in nature... and require a transnational response".

He said: "It would be, I think, tempting, for a lot of people, to believe that we can pull up the drawbridge and that we can carve a moat around ourselves and not have to deal with problems around the world."

But without co-operation and alliances "we are far weaker and we won't solve these problems", he said.

On so-called Islamic State he said: "Prosecuting the campaign is critical, and although I don't anticipate that in the next nine months it will be finished, because, unfortunately, even a small pocket of extremists, if they're prepared to die themselves, can still wreak havoc on many of our cities.

"But I do think that we can slowly shrink the environment in which they operate and take on strongholds like Mosul and Raqqa that are the beating heart of their movement."

At least 250,000 people have died in five years of conflict in Syria and millions have fled the fighting.

Mr Obama and the UN fear a fragile truce between the government forces and non-jihadist rebels, in place since February, is in danger of collapse amid renewed clashes.

Current talks in Geneva between the Syrian government and opposition delegations will continue into next week, but there have been bitter exchanges.

The Syrian opposition delegation, known as the High Negotiations Committee (HNC), and rebel forces inside Syria have accused the government of repeatedly violating the terms of the truce brokered by the US and Russia.

The HNC said the Syrian government was "not a serious partner" while the government hit back by accusing the HNC of "sulking".

Any peace process would require a transitional government, but the role of Mr Assad is a key sticking point.

bbc report

Soma Zaidi

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Health fund launches special scheme for elderly(Tanzania)

IN a move that aims to minimize personal expenditure on health, the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) has come up with a new scheme dubbed ‘Wazee Kwanza’ to enable the elderly access both in- and out-patient medical services.

The Fund has also introduced other schemes including ‘Toto Afya Kadi’ for children under 18 years, ‘Mama na Mwana’ for expectant mothers who are not members of the Fund, and KIKOA, which targets special entrepreneur groups such as VICOBA and Savings and Credit Co operative Societies (SACOS).

“Our aim is to ensure universal health coverage. The government wants 85 per cent of the country’s population to be enrolled with insurance health services by financial year 2025/2026”, said NIHF Acting Director General Michael Mhando during a brief meeting with journalists in Dar es Salaam on Tuesday.

He said the Fund had been able to reach 27 per cent of Tanzanians through NHIF and Community Health Fund (CHF) by end of December, last year, adding that the target was to reach 50 per cent of the population by the year 2020.

Mhando said the institution has been offering medical treatment to retired members. He called on the elderly to grab the opportunity since it was the fund’s priority to serve them.

As of December 2015, NHIF had registered 27,056 retired members whose beneficiaries amounted to 51,598 including their spouses. There are 2, 507, 568 elders in Tanzania which is equivalent to 5.6 percent of the population, according to the national census of 2012.

He said the Fund was also striving to improve its Information and Communications Technology (ICT) systems to enhance provision of services to its customers and service providers. He said in future the Fund would be able to verify its members electronically as well as receiving/sending services providers’ claims.

“We have established a call centre. It has so far reached 5,257 customers in four months,” said the NHIF boss.

In her presentation titled ‘Retirement and health,’ Dr. Aifena Mramba said the Wazee Kwanza scheme was crucial since retirement was accompanied by many basic lifestyle challenges including economic comfort, loss of social networks.

“We are fulfilling our role in health care, most diseases that afflict the elderly are chronic and costly, afflicting the elderly at a time when they do not have sufficient and sustained income,” she said.

Dr Mramba said most old-age diseases required complex services which were costly and were available in referral facilities. She mentioned some of the medical services that the elderly could access at hospitals as dialysis, immunosuppressant, anticancer, medical and orthopaedic appliances, joint replacement implants, invasive cardiac procedures, MRI and CT-Scan.

Wazee Kwanza scheme was launched early this month in Morogoro by Minister for Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children, Ummy Mwalimu.

The minister said her ministry had prepared an Elderly Bill which would soon be tabled in the National Assembly for endorsement. She said the law was expected to ensure that the elderly got their rights as well as improved their welfare.

Mwalimu directed district executive directors to ensure free medical treatment for the elderly at their respective areas. She mentioned some of the regions with a big number of elderly people as Kilimanjaro (6.4%), Mbeya (6.1%), Dar es Salaam (6.1%), Morogoro (5.6%), Tanga (5.6%), Dododoma (5.6%), Kagera (5%) and Mwanza (4.9%)
.

Soma Zaidi

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MPs form Lugumi contract probe subcommittee

The parliamentary oversight committee on public accounts—PAC- has formed a nine-member sub-committee to probe the Sh37billion forensic equipment contract between Lugumi Enterprises Ltd and the police force.

The nine-member team to be headed by Josephat Asunga (Vwawa-CCM) includes Livingstone Lusinde (Mtera), Stanslaus Mabula (Nyamagana), Haji Mponda (Malinyi) and Hafidh Ali Tahir (Dimani) all from CCM.

The other four from the opposition are Ms Naghenjwa Kaboyoka (Same East-Chadema), Musa Mbaruk (Tanga Urban-CUF), Tuza Malapo (Special Seats-Chadema) and Khadija Nassor Ali (Special Seats-CUF).

Aeshi Hilary, the deputy chairman of the Public Accounts Committee made the announcement yesterday in Parliament grounds in Dodoma shortly after the committee held yet again a meeting to discuss the controversial equipment contract.

The team will develop terms of reference from earlier meetings conducted with both the police and Lugumi Enterprise officials, so as to verify the facts involved.

The 2011 contract signed during the tenure of ex-Inspector General of Police (IGP) Said Mwema, involved installing scanners in over 100 district police stations across the country, but as the matter stands only 14 scanners were installed.

This is despite the fact that the government had already made the bulk of payments relating to the total cost of the project.

The modern fingerprint technology was touted as crucial in significantly improving police efficiency in carrying out criminal investigations and positively identifying suspects.

But the PAC recently raised questions over a report by the Controller and Auditor General (CAG) which affirmed that only about 10 per cent of the agreed number of scanners had been installed.

PAC issued a demand note to Police Force headquarters to present the contract with Lugumi Enterprises for parliamentary scrutiny, only to be rebuffed by incumbent IGP Ernest Mangu who said the police force is not answerable to Parliament and therefore not obliged to respond to all its demands.

Section 117 (18) allows parliamentary committees to form subcommittees for better execution of its responsibilities.

In an unexpected twist, the just formed sub-committee will have to revive investigation into the matter which includes assessing and evaluating a project implementation report submitted by police headquarters to PAC.

The PAC deputy chairman when listing subcommittee members to reporters skipped to say if the police had handed over the contract but insisted the sub-committee will have four weeks to complete the work.

Hilary (Sumbawanga Urban-CCM) said the team will also seek audience with the CAG and several top police officials.

Shortly after the subcommittee submits its report to the full PAC, the report will be submitted to the National Assembly Speaker Job Ndugai for tabling before the House
.

Soma Zaidi

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Smallholders’ role in addressing food insecurity in Africa

SMALL-SCALE food producers are collectively the leading investors in agriculture, estimated to produce 70 per cent of the food in Africa.

However, addressing food and nutrition insecurity on the continent requires the full participation of those who are already producing, and promoting an agricultural system based on human rights and food sovereignty through local control over natural resources, seeds, land, water, forests, knowledge and technology.

This is crucial for small-scale women and men farmers, pastoralists, livestock farmers, fisher folks, as well as hunter and gatherer societies. However, African governments’ and international donors’ support to African agriculture increasingly focuses on the extension of corporate-led food and agricultural systems to the detriment of small-scale food producers.

During the 12th Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme Partnership Platform (CAADP PP) held last week with a focus on Innovative Financing and Renewed Partnerships to Accelerate the Implementation of CAADP countries have noted the need to improve access to food and nutrition security information across countries, sectors and actors for enhanced and informed decision making.

Head of Nutrition Department at the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) Isatou Jallow said regional Platform is expected to foster evidence-based dialogue and a multi-sectorial approach in information and knowledge sharing among countries and regional stakeholders.

“NEPAD agency embarked on consultative processes with the six countries on the establishment of a food and nutrition security knowledge sharing and monitoring platform in Africa,” she said.

She added that the initiative was aimed at improving the strategic use of data and information on food and nutrition security by enhancing knowledge creation and sharing.

“A Food and Nutrition Security Knowledge-Sharing and Monitoring Platform is an important and unifying tool to promote the generation and use of quality data in planning, monitoring and decision making by different stakeholders and sectors working to ensure food and nutrition security in Africa,” said Jallow,.

According to the consultation, the establishment of the platform is a direct response to the Malabo Declaration on accelerated growth and transformation for shared prosperity and improved livelihoods.

The declaration is an African Union recommitment to the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme Partnership Platform (CAADP PP) and its results framework for Africa’s agricultural transformation and food security agenda in the 2015-2025 decade.

The Declaration and CAADP further emphasize the need for performing systematic mapping, monitoring and evaluation at national and regional levels to establish targets for enhancing food and nutrition security and agriculture and food insecurity management.

The countries consulted include Tanzania, Congo, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Lesotho

According to media reports, Tanzania has one of the world’s highest rates of chronic malnutrition. Measured as stunting (when children are too short for their age), malnutrition affects 42 per cent of children under five.

This rate has fallen only two percentage points since 2005. Malnutrition takes a major toll on human health in the country while chronic malnutrition during the first two years of life leaves children permanently vulnerable to ill health throughout their lives, even if they have better access to food as adults.

Over the last four years, Tanzania has seen a growing recognition that addressing undernutrition needs to be a political priority.

One significant response has been a large-scale food fortification programme, which aims to reach 10 million Tanzanians by 2015.

However, the programme faces major challenges in the informal markets, as small businesses are unlikely to comply with the legislation where the majority of poor and undernourished people buy their food
.

Soma Zaidi

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Ex-TPA chiefs have case to answer

THE Kisutu Resident Magistrate’s Court yesterday ruled that the former director general with the Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) Ephraim Ngiza Mgawe and his assistant Hamadi Musa Koshuma, who are charged with abuse of office, have a case to answer.

The accused will therefore embark on their defence testimony from May 6 with Mgawe fielding eight witnesses, while Koshuma will give only his testimony.

Principal Resident Magistrate Cyprian Mkeha said the prosecution, through defence testimonies, has delivered a prima facie case against the defendants, hence the ruling that they have a case to answer.

The prosecution, led by Senior State Attorney Pius Hila, closed its case last month after calling five witnesses to demonstrate that the charges against the accused can stand in court.

The charges relate to contracts on expansion of the Dar es Salaam Port, in particular construction of berths number 13 and 14 tasked to the China Communications Construction Company Limited (CCCCL), billed at about $523m (over Sh800bn at the time the contract was concluded).

According to the charge sheet, the accused committed an offence on December 5, 2011 at the Tanzania Ports Authority, within the city of Dar es Salaam.

On the material day, the accused being employed by the TPA as Director General and Deputy Director General, Mgawe and Koshuma, respectively, abused their positions while discharging their respective functions.

It said that they signed a commercial contract between the TPA and the CCCCL for the construction of berths number 13 and 14 at the Dar es Salaam Port without invitation of tenders.

That was in violation of provisions of Section 31 of the Public Procurement Act, No. 21 of 2004 and was intended to obtain undue advantage for the Chinese construction company.

In another development, the Kisutu Resident Magistrate’s Court in Dar es Salaam yesterday failed to give a ruling in the case facing former Commissioner General of the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA), Harry Kitilya and two others, as the magistrate was yet to complete writing the ruling.

They are charged with eight counts including money laundering of over Sh12bn payments which they asked the court to strike off.

Adjourning the session, Resident Magistrate Emilius Mchauru said he was yet to finish writing the ruling, asking for the prosecution and defence to bear with him for taking their time.

The ruling was postponed until April 27, after defence advocates, led by advocate Richard Mgongolwa had last week asked the court to reject the money laundering charge, on grounds that it was fatally defective.

“A money laundering offence must contain four elements, like illicit source, placement, layering and integration” with normal flows of money, the advocate insisted.

That observation came after the court refused to grant bail to the accused persons, including forgery, uttering false documents and obtaining six million US dollars (about 12bn/-) by false pretences.

The magistrate said that the offence of money laundering was not bailable under the law. “Under such circumstances, this court may have no power to entertain an application for bail,” he said.

Other accused persons comprise former Miss Tanzania and head of investment banking at Stanbic Bank, Shose Sinare and Sioi Graham Solomon, the former chief legal counsel to the bank.

The accused persons allegedly engaged themselves directly in a transaction involving six million US dollars by transferring, withdrawing and depositing money relating to that transaction in different bank accounts maintained by EGMA Limited at Stanbic Bank (T) Ltd and KCB Bank Ltd
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Soma Zaidi

Friday, April 22, 2016 No Comments

PCCB in jubilant mood as special anti-graft court is fast-tracked(Tanzania)

• Establishment of court is culmination of JPM’s poll pledge to wage total war on corruption and embezzlement in government
• THE Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB) Director General Valentino Mlowola was yesterday beside himself with joy after it was announced in the National Assembly in Dodoma

that a special court to try corruption and embezzlement of public funds cases would become operational in July, this year.

“This shows how the government is committed to fighting corruption,” the anti-graft czar said.
In January, this year, PCCB had completed investigations into 36 grand corruption cases.

Mlowola, the former head of the anti-crime unit in the police force, vowed that he would fight grand and petty corruption at a pace the anti-graft body had hitherto never witnessed.

“The president has shown that he is serious when it comes to fighting corruption and we need to embrace his pace,” he said.

The PCCB chief’s elation came following an announcement by Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa in the National yesterday that an anti-corruption and economic sabotage special court, a new division of the High Court of Tanzania, was set to begin work by July, this year.

The much-talked-about and awaited special court to try corruption and economic sabotage suspects is in line with the new government’s resolve under President John Magufuli to declare total war against the vice.

Presenting his ministry’s budget estimates in the National Assembly yesterday, Prime Minister Majaliwa, without much elaboration, said already a division on corruption and embezzlement of public funds had been established at the High Court of Tanzania and it would officially become operational in July, 2016.

The new development was announced by the prime minister when tabling his office’s budget estimates for the financial year 2016/17. He outlined the government’s priority areas in the next financial year, insisting that war on corruption would be waged seriously without end.

According to government figures, during fiscal year 2015/16 a total of 3,911 corruption allegations were recorded and investigation into 324 cases were concluded.

Of the investigated cases, 252 were forwarded to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) who approved 156 cases for prosecution.

The Controller and Auditor General (CAG) also came up with 329 corruption allegations, 19 of which were probed and forwarded to the DPP, who subsequently approved 12 for prosecution.

The prime minister said that 8 files on grand corruption were forwarded to the DPP, two of which were approved for prosecution and the suspects had already been arraigned in court.

“There are 69 development projects worth Sh8 billion being implemented by local government authorities which were found with gross accounting anomalies,” the PM said, adding: “The government will continue investigating 3,444 corruption allegations and finalise investigation into 10 other grad corruption cases.”

Minister for Constitutional Affairs and Justice Dr Harrison Mwakyembe was earlier quoted by the media as saying that a taskforce comprising officials from the police force, Tanzania Intelligence and Security Service (TISS), Attorney General’s Office (AG) and the Director of Public Prosecution’s (DPP) had already met on the matter.

The minister, who is expected to table Bills in the National Assembly to enact laws to fight corruption, said some of the things to be addressed prior to the introduction of the special anti-graft court was operational costs.

The Guardian could not independently verify how the court would operate, but information from the office of the Chief Justice hinted that after a case was filed, there would be no delays as cases would be heard continuously.

In his speech when inaugurating the 11th Parliament last year, President Magufuli reiterated his promise made during his campaign that, if elected, he would form a special court to try graft cases.

However, the oversight parliamentary committee on constitutional affairs and justice expressed concerns over a limited budget for development, saying it would affect implementation of various programmes initiated by the ministry.

The prime minister requested parliament to endorse Sh236.8billion for his office for financial year 2016/17
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Soma Zaidi

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