Booming human trade
By Polycarp Machira
4th July 2010
How Indian girls, Tanzanian women and children are sold in black market for sex, domestic work in Dar
The gate’s bell rang, stirring Suzan from her dream. She ran to open the gate for her boss as usual, noticing the twinkling stars poking through the canopy of light clouds like tiny daggers.
For Suzan, who had been a domestic servant for about five years, interruptions to her sleep were part of the job description, in addition to taking care of the children, washing clothes and generally keeping the house tidy, in order to earn a living in Dar es Salaam.
It seemed a night like any other, and Suzan never anticipated that her boss had other, more hostile plans for her than just opening the gate.
“It didn’t click in my mind that one day, I would ever sleep with my boss until that night — the night that changed my life,” Suzan said during our interview at Ohio Street in downtown Dar es Salaam recently.
“After entering the house, I gave him food but he refused to eat…a few minutes later he called me to his bedroom to fix a small problem,” she said.
There was no problem, and instead Suzan’s employer propositioned her for sex when she entered the room.
“He gave me Sh50,000 and ordered me not to tell anyone,” she said. “He also told me how his wife had become very busy with office work and that their marriage was falling apart.”
“This is how it all started about three years ago,” said Suzan, one of thousands of domestic workers who are lured into sexual relationship with their employers. “We became regular lovers and I actually began to enjoy this life — but I didn’t know I was digging my own grave.”
Thousands of girls like Suzana mainly from rural areas are trafficked in Tanzania annually to work as domestic servants as well as prostitution, according to a new report released by the US government about the human trafficking business in Tanzania.
The report titled ‘2010 Trafficking in Persons’ states that incidences of internal trafficking is higher than that of transnational trafficking, and is usually facilitated by family members, friends, and brokers’ offers of assistance with education or finding lucrative employment in urban areas. The new report by the United States of America has named Tanzania as one of the leading countries in human trafficking in the world.
It says the government does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so.
According to the report made available to The Guardian on Sunday yesterday the country was a source, transit, and destination for men, women, and children subjected to trafficking in persons.
It singled out forced labour and forced prostitution as specific cases in the country which the government has failed to contain.
It says the use of young girls for forced domestic labour continues to be Tanzania’s largest human trafficking problem.
“Girls from rural areas of Iringa, Singida, Dodoma, Mbeya, Morogoro, and Bukoba regions are taken to urban centres and Zanzibar for domestic servitude; some domestic workers fleeing abusive employers fall prey to forced prostitution.” reads the report.
Tourist hotels, according to the report reportedly coerce some Tanzanian and Indian girls employed as cleaning staff into prostitution.
Boys are subjected primarily to forced labour on farms, but also in mines, in the informal sector, and possibly on small fishing boats, according to the report.
Smaller numbers of Tanzanian children and adults are subjected to conditions of involuntary domestic servitude and commercial sexual exploitation in surrounding countries like South Africa, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, and possibly other European countries, says the report
During the year, trafficking victims, primarily children, from Burundi, Rwanda, Kenya, and Uganda were identified in Tanzania, particularly in the agricultural, mining, and domestic service sectors.
According to the report, Malawian men are subjected to forced labour as fishermen on Tanzania’s lakes while Indian women legally migrate to Tanzania for work as entertainers in restaurants and nightclubs; some are reportedly forced into prostitution after their arrival.
Small numbers of Somali and Chinese women, according to the report, are also subjected to conditions of commercial sexual exploitation in Tanzania.
Citizens of neighbouring countries, the report says may voluntarily migrate through Tanzania before being forced into domestic servitude and prostitution in South Africa, Europe, and the Middle East.
“The government made little progress in implementing its 2008 anti-trafficking law, in part due to poor inter-ministerial coordination and lack of understanding of what constitutes human trafficking; most government officials remain unfamiliar with the act’s provisions or their responsibility to address trafficking. “says the report in part.
It blames the ministries involved in anti-trafficking efforts failure to communicate or cooperate with each other and had no budgetary resources allocated to combating the crime.
The government, which has never convicted a trafficking offender, charged only one suspected trafficker during the reporting period and achieved no convictions.
Therefore, Tanzania is placed on Tier 2 Watch List, countries whose governments do not fully comply with the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA)’s minimum standards, but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards.
The US in its recommendations for Tanzania urged the government to enforce the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act by prosecuting and punishing trafficking offenders since it formed the Anti-Trafficking Secretariat by the Ministry of Home Affairs and the presidential naming of a Secretary to coordinate inter-ministerial efforts.
The government should also establish policies and procedures for its officials to proactively identify and interview potential trafficking victims and transfer them to the care of local organizations when appropriate.
On the other hand it should also establish an anti-trafficking fund to support victims, as required under the law and begin compiling trafficking-specific law enforcement and victim protection data at the national level.
It also urges the government to provide additional training to law enforcement authorities on anti-trafficking detection and investigative methods. However the report says government made negligible anti-human trafficking law enforcement efforts during the reporting period.
As in previous years, it says the government failed to convict trafficking offenses during the reporting period, and was unable to provide information on cases reported in previous periods.
The Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2008, which came into effect in February 2009, outlaws all forms of trafficking and prescribes punishments of one to 20 years’ imprisonment, punishments that are sufficiently stringent, but not commensurate with those prescribed for other serious crimes.
It says in November 2009, Parliament passed the Child Act which prohibits but does not prescribe punishment for forced child labour.
The government, according to the report investigated cases of human trafficking, but did not secure any convictions.
In December 2009, for example, police in Tarime District investigated the case of two men who allegedly abducted two children from Isebania, Kenya and attempted to sell them at a mining site in the Nyamongo area.
The investigators referred the case to the Director of Public Prosecution’s Office in Mwanza for prosecution and it will proceed to trial following the completion of preliminary hearings.
These men were the first individuals to be charged with a crime under the anti-trafficking law. In December 2009, Tanzanian police assisted British investigators in locating and accessing witnesses in southern Tanzania, following the arrest of two Tanzanians in Birmingham on charges of perpetrating forced labour offenses against their Tanzanian domestic worker.
Although the Tanzanian Ministry of Labour, Employment and Youth Development reportedly conducted inspections and issued warnings to violators of child labour statutes, the report says there were no forced child labor cases brought to court in 2009.
Likewise, Zanzibar’s Ministry of Labour, Youth, Women, and Child Development did not take legal action against any cases of forced child labour. The Tanzanian government’s efforts to protect victims of trafficking during the reporting period were modest and suffered from a lack of resources.
It continued to rely on NGOs to provide care for victims of trafficking; NGO facilities for shelter and specialised services were limited to urban areas.
While the government lacked systematic victim referral procedures, NGOs reported that police, social welfare officers, and community development officers identified and referred approximately 47 trafficking victims to their organisations for protective services in 2009; these government officials also occasionally provided food, counseling, and assistance with family reunification.
In the previous reporting period, the government had engaged in partnerships with IOM and NGOs to draft a plan for the referral of trafficking victims for care; it is unclear whether this mechanism was officially instituted or used nationwide in 2009.
In December 2009, Tanzanian police worked in partnership with Kenyan authorities to repatriate two Kenyan child trafficking victims to their home country.
A 24-hour crime hotline staffed by police officers was available for citizens to make reports about suspected trafficking victims; the hotline received no trafficking tips in 2009.
The government did not provide information on the participation of Tanzanian victims in anti-trafficking investigations and prosecutions, the lack of national procedures for victim identification likely led to the deportation of foreign victims before they were identified or able to give evidence in court.
But the report also says the government usually treated foreign victims as illegal migrants and housed them in prisons until deportation.
The Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act provides foreign victims legal alternatives to their removal to countries where their safety or the safety of their families may be endangered; the government did not encounter a case that necessitated utilising these provisions during the reporting period.
The government made moderate efforts to prevent human trafficking during the year.
Understanding of what constitutes trafficking remained low among government officials and no government ministries launched formal anti-trafficking outreach or awareness raising activities
The report say that, the Ministry of Labour’s Child Labour Unit could not provide data on the number of child labour complaints it received in 2009 or the number of exploited child laborers identified and withdrawn by its 90 Labour Officers; inspectors continued to face myriad challenges, including chronic understaffing and lack of transportation to inspection sites.
Some local governments allocated funds to respond to child labour and trafficking; Iguna District Council, for example, committed $5,200 for child labour-related activities in 2009.
Local officials also continued partnerships with ILO-IPEC and various NGOs to identify and withdraw an unknown number of children from various forms of forced labor and provide them with educational opportunities.
In past reporting periods, some districts incorporated prohibitions against child labour into their by-laws. While there were no reports of local governments taking legal action against parents whose children were absent from school, the resulting fear of penalties is believed to have reduced child labour.
Some social welfare officers used IOM-provided materials to informally educate members of the communities in which they work. The government did not make any efforts to reduce the demand for forced labour or commercial sex acts during the reporting period.
SOURCE: GUARDIAN ON SUNDAY
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Sunday, November 29, 2009
GENITAL MUTILATION - THE FATE OF AFRICAN FEMALE CHILDREN
On IPPmedia.com 26th november 2009, it was reported that a woman fainted after returning home to find her 4 months old female baby, has had her genitals cut off while she was doing groceries shopping for teh family.
Alas, this is just one out of a 1,000 cases that get's reported. In most rural villages genital mutilation for female children is still part of the culture. It is not something for the public or other tribes to know ... this is why in most African tribes like my own - Chagga- we are continuously warned NOT to have partners from another tribe because you never know what you might be getting yourself into.
African tribal cultures/traditions are well protected and only those who belong in a paticular tribe gets to learn the real truth.
This is not the story of one woman, it is the story of many women who have to stay silent. These women need the power to fight for their rights and the rights of their children. It is still our world ..............
Woman faints recounting how her baby-girl was `cut`
By Edwin Agola
26th November 2009
A Dar es Salaam-based woman, Rachel Kasute yesterday fainted when narrating how her husband and mother-in-law conspired to have her four-month old baby girl undergo female genital mutilation.
Narrating how she was forced to run away from her dear family, Rachel said that her mother in law travelled from upcountry to Dar es Salaam, purposely to circumcise her first-born baby girl.
She was narrating her inside story at the launch of worldwide 16 days of campaign against gender-based violence in Dar es Salaam.
“I wasn’t aware of the mission. One evening, my husband asked me to go to the market to buy some items. I went without my baby.”
“On my way back I found my baby was already circumcised, crying uncontrollably, with a lot of blood.”
“I couldn’t stand what had happened. I decided to run away with my wounded child,” she sadly said, before fainting.........................''
Alas, this is just one out of a 1,000 cases that get's reported. In most rural villages genital mutilation for female children is still part of the culture. It is not something for the public or other tribes to know ... this is why in most African tribes like my own - Chagga- we are continuously warned NOT to have partners from another tribe because you never know what you might be getting yourself into.
African tribal cultures/traditions are well protected and only those who belong in a paticular tribe gets to learn the real truth.
This is not the story of one woman, it is the story of many women who have to stay silent. These women need the power to fight for their rights and the rights of their children. It is still our world ..............
Woman faints recounting how her baby-girl was `cut`
By Edwin Agola
26th November 2009
A Dar es Salaam-based woman, Rachel Kasute yesterday fainted when narrating how her husband and mother-in-law conspired to have her four-month old baby girl undergo female genital mutilation.
Narrating how she was forced to run away from her dear family, Rachel said that her mother in law travelled from upcountry to Dar es Salaam, purposely to circumcise her first-born baby girl.
She was narrating her inside story at the launch of worldwide 16 days of campaign against gender-based violence in Dar es Salaam.
“I wasn’t aware of the mission. One evening, my husband asked me to go to the market to buy some items. I went without my baby.”
“On my way back I found my baby was already circumcised, crying uncontrollably, with a lot of blood.”
“I couldn’t stand what had happened. I decided to run away with my wounded child,” she sadly said, before fainting.........................''
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Why Recycling is important for environmental sustainability
Everyday that goes by, our Ecological footprint increases in strides. We have put an amount of focus on the damage caused by shipping industries, chemical industries etc. But we haven’t put enough focus on damage caused by unregulated dumping especially in developing countries.
Unregulated dumping are natural breeding places for mosquitoes, rats, flies and other beasts that are a source of multiple diseases including malaria, cholera, typhoid.
Also, rotting garbage emits greenhouse gasses that cause damage to the stratosphere as well as to our health. Many diseases of the lungs can be caused by poisonous gas emissions. Damage on stratosphere causes skin cancer.
Individuals can not control unregulated dumping. They depend on municipality and the governments to do their work.
Most individuals don’t understand the bigger picture and the long term health effects. Is it right that we should just let things slide? Shouldn't the municipality be held responsible for all the damage they allow to happen?
Sometimes it is easier, because our hands are tied in so many ways.........
Reported by www.ippmedia.com Saturday 17th October 2009
A woman washes her kitchen utensils near garbage surrounding her house at a Kigogo dumpsite in Dar es Salaam yesterday. The dump was reportedly closed by the Ilala Municipal Council but Omar Musa, a resident of the area, says garbage collection trucks still unload waste at the site.
Unregulated dumping are natural breeding places for mosquitoes, rats, flies and other beasts that are a source of multiple diseases including malaria, cholera, typhoid.
Also, rotting garbage emits greenhouse gasses that cause damage to the stratosphere as well as to our health. Many diseases of the lungs can be caused by poisonous gas emissions. Damage on stratosphere causes skin cancer.
Individuals can not control unregulated dumping. They depend on municipality and the governments to do their work.
Most individuals don’t understand the bigger picture and the long term health effects. Is it right that we should just let things slide? Shouldn't the municipality be held responsible for all the damage they allow to happen?
Sometimes it is easier, because our hands are tied in so many ways.........
Reported by www.ippmedia.com Saturday 17th October 2009
A woman washes her kitchen utensils near garbage surrounding her house at a Kigogo dumpsite in Dar es Salaam yesterday. The dump was reportedly closed by the Ilala Municipal Council but Omar Musa, a resident of the area, says garbage collection trucks still unload waste at the site.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
`Leadership failing Nyerere`s legacy`
By The guardian team
14th October 2009
Many dissatisfied by level of public accountability
Founding Father, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere.
As the nation marks the tenth anniversary of the death of the Founding Father, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere today, Tanzanians have expressed mixed feelings about the level of accountability among public officials.
Both academicians and politicians described Nyerere as an exemplary leader with qualities that most leaders holding public offices lack.
Prof Issa Shivji, who lectured at the University of Dar es Salaam and is now heading the Mwalimu Nyerere Professorial Chair in Pan-African Studies, said Mwalimu was a strong personality who believed in leadership principles, a quality not found in most leaders of our time.
The don was speaking at a special forum organised at the Diamond Jubilee Hall in Dar es Salaam ahead of the Nyerere Day today, to revisit Mwalimu's legacy.
He said until his last days, Mwalimu was a great believer of socialist policies and openly opposed the capitalist mode as it did not provide for the poor, who constitute the majority in the country.
Shivji said one of the most pressing challenges that the present leaders are facing, especially in developing countries, is exercising leadership in systems which enrich a few at the expense of the majority poor.
According to him, the capitalist system has promoted corruption and brought problems to the ordinary people and no solutions to the poor majority, mostly residing in rural areas.
“Mwalimu Nyerere fought against the capitalist system, because he knew that it promotes classes of the haves and the have-nots; classes of those who are suffering and those who are enjoying the national cake,” said Shivji.
“People now have no humanity at all, they think of how to generate and accumulate wealth - a tendency that Mwalimu didn’t allow or entertain during his leadership,” he added.
He, however, said the world was now tired of capitalism, a system which he blamed for fuelling corruption all over the world, and that some big nations were now thinking of adopting some socialist values.
Speaking at the same occasion, State Minister in the President’s Office (Public Service Management) Hawa Ghasia said Mwalimu was an example of good leaders who adhered to leadership ethics.
She said all leaders were trying to compare themselves with Mwalimu, a clear sign that for many he was an exemplary leader.
NCCR-Mageuzi national chairman, James Mbatia, said in his open letter to the public yesterday that his party would remember Mwalimu for being a champion of educating the public practically on matters of human dignity.
“This is shown in his life. Mwalimu Nyerere as a father of a family; in his profession as a teacher, in his socialist politics and in his leadership as the chairman of a political party, and particularly in his position as the first President of Tanzania,” Mbatia said.
He added: “For him, human dignity was a fundamental right given by God; it was the responsibility of the government to protect this right and it was a must for the society to develop it.”
Mbatia said “Nyerere taught us that God is one; Tanzania is one, and Tanzanians are one. He also reminded us that our National Anthem starts with the word God.”
The NCCR-Magaeuzi chairman said Nyerere insisted on national unity particularly by using one language, Kiswahili and the word Brethren (Ndugu).
“He believed and showed practically that the presence of classes in the community was against humanity,” he said.
Nyerere Day is marked annually on October 14 – the day Mwalimu died at a London hospital. He was born on April 13, 1922 at Butiama village in Mara Region and served as the first President of Tanzania, previously Tanganyika, from the country's independence in 1961 until his retirement in 1985.
Nyerere, son to Zanaki chief Nyerere Burito (1860-1942), is known by the Swahili name Mwalimu or 'teacher', which was his profession prior to politics.
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN
REF: http://www.ippmedia.com/
14th October 2009
14th October 2009
Many dissatisfied by level of public accountability
Founding Father, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere.
As the nation marks the tenth anniversary of the death of the Founding Father, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere today, Tanzanians have expressed mixed feelings about the level of accountability among public officials.
Both academicians and politicians described Nyerere as an exemplary leader with qualities that most leaders holding public offices lack.
Prof Issa Shivji, who lectured at the University of Dar es Salaam and is now heading the Mwalimu Nyerere Professorial Chair in Pan-African Studies, said Mwalimu was a strong personality who believed in leadership principles, a quality not found in most leaders of our time.
The don was speaking at a special forum organised at the Diamond Jubilee Hall in Dar es Salaam ahead of the Nyerere Day today, to revisit Mwalimu's legacy.
He said until his last days, Mwalimu was a great believer of socialist policies and openly opposed the capitalist mode as it did not provide for the poor, who constitute the majority in the country.
Shivji said one of the most pressing challenges that the present leaders are facing, especially in developing countries, is exercising leadership in systems which enrich a few at the expense of the majority poor.
According to him, the capitalist system has promoted corruption and brought problems to the ordinary people and no solutions to the poor majority, mostly residing in rural areas.
“Mwalimu Nyerere fought against the capitalist system, because he knew that it promotes classes of the haves and the have-nots; classes of those who are suffering and those who are enjoying the national cake,” said Shivji.
“People now have no humanity at all, they think of how to generate and accumulate wealth - a tendency that Mwalimu didn’t allow or entertain during his leadership,” he added.
He, however, said the world was now tired of capitalism, a system which he blamed for fuelling corruption all over the world, and that some big nations were now thinking of adopting some socialist values.
Speaking at the same occasion, State Minister in the President’s Office (Public Service Management) Hawa Ghasia said Mwalimu was an example of good leaders who adhered to leadership ethics.
She said all leaders were trying to compare themselves with Mwalimu, a clear sign that for many he was an exemplary leader.
NCCR-Mageuzi national chairman, James Mbatia, said in his open letter to the public yesterday that his party would remember Mwalimu for being a champion of educating the public practically on matters of human dignity.
“This is shown in his life. Mwalimu Nyerere as a father of a family; in his profession as a teacher, in his socialist politics and in his leadership as the chairman of a political party, and particularly in his position as the first President of Tanzania,” Mbatia said.
He added: “For him, human dignity was a fundamental right given by God; it was the responsibility of the government to protect this right and it was a must for the society to develop it.”
Mbatia said “Nyerere taught us that God is one; Tanzania is one, and Tanzanians are one. He also reminded us that our National Anthem starts with the word God.”
The NCCR-Magaeuzi chairman said Nyerere insisted on national unity particularly by using one language, Kiswahili and the word Brethren (Ndugu).
“He believed and showed practically that the presence of classes in the community was against humanity,” he said.
Nyerere Day is marked annually on October 14 – the day Mwalimu died at a London hospital. He was born on April 13, 1922 at Butiama village in Mara Region and served as the first President of Tanzania, previously Tanganyika, from the country's independence in 1961 until his retirement in 1985.
Nyerere, son to Zanaki chief Nyerere Burito (1860-1942), is known by the Swahili name Mwalimu or 'teacher', which was his profession prior to politics.
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN
REF: http://www.ippmedia.com/
14th October 2009
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Customers unhappy with LUKU
By Gadiosa Lamtey
28th September 2009
Many incur `unrecoverable loss` as network collapses again
Pre-paid meters (Luku).
The Tanzania Electric Supply Company (Tanesco) pre-paid meters (Luku) network collapsed over the weekend, the third time this year alone.
The failure partly frustrated business and domestic life, a survey by ‘The Guardian’ has established.
Most vending stations were down for the most hours of Saturday and yesterday. Tanesco authorities have blamed the failure to hitches on the Tanzania Telecommunications Company Ltd (TTCL)’s network.
According to Tanesco, the TTCL is responsible for managing operations of the systems of its Luku vending stations.
Interviewed, some customers who endured the brunt of living in darkness for about 24 hours talked of unrecoverable losses they incurred as a result of the Luku system failure.
A Luku customer from Mwananyamala, Nuru Mhina, said on Saturday she slept in darkness and was forced to throw away some foodstuffs which were stored in the fridge.
“The food rot in my fridge because Tanesco failed to supply us power through its vending stations,” she complained.
She said the problem of network failure was now becoming common with increased occurrence.
Nuru was also very much concerned over failure of the power utility company to notify the customers on the failure.
Complaining about delays, she said: “You may go to a vending centre at 10 am and get caught in a long queue until say 12. Sometimes, we are being forced to postpone other activities just to buy power,” she said.
Another customer at Oilcom Science area Hamisi Songoro who spoke to ‘The Guardian’ while standing in queue waiting for his turn to get the service proposed that it would be better for Tanesco to return to the previous system of post-paying because the Luku system was becoming ‘cumbersome.’
“It’s very bad that the system is becoming inefficient…Tanesco should tell us what all this means and for how long this problem will continue,” a frustrated Songoro said.
Songoro said while it was true that some customers purchased power through mobile phone special services, the system covered only those with digital meters.
“They should bear in mind that a large section of customers are living in houses installed with old Luku meters which operates by using punching cards,” he said.
Tanesco Public Relations Manager Badra Masoud admitted there was problem of network on Saturday which was caused by the TTCL communication network failure.
Badra said such failures were ‘normal’ and wherever they happen customers shouldn’t worry or panic.
She said Tanesco vending stations were open 24 hours to ensure people get the service without problems or delays.
‘The Guardian’ survey established that the system went off around 2pm on Saturday until at around noon yesterday whereby customers around the City were forced to return back home without power thus incurring losses in their business.
Among the Luku centres visited include Mwananyamala Kwa Manjunju, Oilcom at Science area, BP Kijiweni at Sinza, Mwanamboka at Sinza and Komakoma at Mwananyamala.
The system failed at least twice this year alone apart from the weekend’s incident. The previous failures were attributed to attack by an unknown virus and apparent failure of the computer system.
Last September, the Luku network collapsed abruptly due to a technical fault in its main computer system controlling the pre-paid services.
Luku vending machines first came into use in Tanzania in 1995, with most of them installed in Dar es Salaam. Besides Dar es Salaam, Luku metres are in use in Arusha, Dodoma, Mara, Mwanza and Shinyanga regions and several other major urban centres.
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN
28th September 2009
Many incur `unrecoverable loss` as network collapses again
Pre-paid meters (Luku).
The Tanzania Electric Supply Company (Tanesco) pre-paid meters (Luku) network collapsed over the weekend, the third time this year alone.
The failure partly frustrated business and domestic life, a survey by ‘The Guardian’ has established.
Most vending stations were down for the most hours of Saturday and yesterday. Tanesco authorities have blamed the failure to hitches on the Tanzania Telecommunications Company Ltd (TTCL)’s network.
According to Tanesco, the TTCL is responsible for managing operations of the systems of its Luku vending stations.
Interviewed, some customers who endured the brunt of living in darkness for about 24 hours talked of unrecoverable losses they incurred as a result of the Luku system failure.
A Luku customer from Mwananyamala, Nuru Mhina, said on Saturday she slept in darkness and was forced to throw away some foodstuffs which were stored in the fridge.
“The food rot in my fridge because Tanesco failed to supply us power through its vending stations,” she complained.
She said the problem of network failure was now becoming common with increased occurrence.
Nuru was also very much concerned over failure of the power utility company to notify the customers on the failure.
Complaining about delays, she said: “You may go to a vending centre at 10 am and get caught in a long queue until say 12. Sometimes, we are being forced to postpone other activities just to buy power,” she said.
Another customer at Oilcom Science area Hamisi Songoro who spoke to ‘The Guardian’ while standing in queue waiting for his turn to get the service proposed that it would be better for Tanesco to return to the previous system of post-paying because the Luku system was becoming ‘cumbersome.’
“It’s very bad that the system is becoming inefficient…Tanesco should tell us what all this means and for how long this problem will continue,” a frustrated Songoro said.
Songoro said while it was true that some customers purchased power through mobile phone special services, the system covered only those with digital meters.
“They should bear in mind that a large section of customers are living in houses installed with old Luku meters which operates by using punching cards,” he said.
Tanesco Public Relations Manager Badra Masoud admitted there was problem of network on Saturday which was caused by the TTCL communication network failure.
Badra said such failures were ‘normal’ and wherever they happen customers shouldn’t worry or panic.
She said Tanesco vending stations were open 24 hours to ensure people get the service without problems or delays.
‘The Guardian’ survey established that the system went off around 2pm on Saturday until at around noon yesterday whereby customers around the City were forced to return back home without power thus incurring losses in their business.
Among the Luku centres visited include Mwananyamala Kwa Manjunju, Oilcom at Science area, BP Kijiweni at Sinza, Mwanamboka at Sinza and Komakoma at Mwananyamala.
The system failed at least twice this year alone apart from the weekend’s incident. The previous failures were attributed to attack by an unknown virus and apparent failure of the computer system.
Last September, the Luku network collapsed abruptly due to a technical fault in its main computer system controlling the pre-paid services.
Luku vending machines first came into use in Tanzania in 1995, with most of them installed in Dar es Salaam. Besides Dar es Salaam, Luku metres are in use in Arusha, Dodoma, Mara, Mwanza and Shinyanga regions and several other major urban centres.
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Three albino killers to hang
By Correspondent
24th September 2009
Three albino killers, from left is Masumbuko Madata, Emmanuel Masangwa and Charles Masangwa escorted by police at Shinyanga Court.
The High Court, sitting in this Shinyanga Region town specifically to preside over cases involving albino killings, delivered its first judgement yesterday. It convicted and sentenced to death three accused persons.
Reading the ruling, which lasted about an hour, High Court Judge Gabriel Rwakibalila said the court was satisfied that the evidence presented by the prosecution side proved beyond reasonable doubt the involvement of the three convicts in the killings.
He said the trio conspired and killed schoolboy Matatizo Dunia (13), an albino, on December 1 last year at Bunyihuna village in Shinyanga Region’s Bukombe District.
Those found guilty and now on death row are Masumbuko Madata (32) of Itunga Village, Emmanuel Masangwa (28) of Bunyihuna Village and Charles Kalamuji alias Charles Masangwa (42) of Nanda Village, all in Bukombe District. The court ruled that they committed the crime as per Section 16 of Criminal Act No. 196, as amended in 2002.
“This court has found all of you, first accused Masumbuko Madata, second accused Emmanuel Masangwa and third accused Charles Kalamuji alias Charles Masangwa, guilty of killing Matatizo Dunia, and therefore you will be hanged to death. However, you can appeal the sentence if you so wish,” the judge pronounced.
The long-awaited judgment appeared to please most of the people who had turned up at the court premises in huge numbers for an eyewitness account of the climax of the historic proceedings.
Judge Rwakibalila said the defence furnished the court with evidence meant to present the accused as innocent, adding: “But later evidence from the same side proved that the three accused were in fact solidly behind the killings.”
He explained that despite an inconsequential mix-up of some facts in submissions by the prosecution side, “the truth remained intact and hence the fairness of the judgment delivered by this court against the accused”.
The judge said among the trivial “slip-ups” he was referring to was the number of vehicles used by an unspecified number of police officers during arrest of the suspects.
“It is impossible for human being to remember every detail. However, this cannot change the truth,” he noted.
Added the judge: “The evidence presented in court included statements by Madata’s wife and Masumbuko’s third wife Yunis Peter, who stood as the second prosecution witness. The two women narrated in court how they saw their husbands returning home accompanied by Rajab Luchoronga, who is still at large. They also witnessed Matatizo’s severed legs being recovered from a nearby bush which Masumbuko frequently visited for soothsaying.”
Judge Rwakibalila pointed out further that the evidence presented in court by a bother to Madata showed how the accused fled alongside Luchoronga as the police approached.
“Again, third accused Kalamuji’s wife identified as Sofia Andrew explained how her husband disappeared from the family home on November 30 last year before it was reported that he had been arrested in connection with the killing of an albino,” added the judge.
Commenting on the evidence presented by the Chief Government Chemist, the judge said the first and the third accused were directly implicated in Matatizo’s brutal killing “as DNA samples collected from the boy’s blood technically proved them to have hand a hand in the killing”.
Soon after Judge Rwakibalila was through, the defence side declared that they intended to appeal the ruling.
Defence counsel Kamaliza Kayaga said he was not satisfied with the ruling against his clients and contesting it was the only option they would pursue.
The court adjourned until September 28, which is set for the hearing of another murder case. This time the accused is Joseph Lugota of Kagongwa Village in Isagehe Ward, who stands charged with killing Ng’wana Gimbishi (75) of Kilimbi Village in Mwalugulu Ward in Kahama District.
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN
www.ippmedia.com
24th September 2009
Three albino killers, from left is Masumbuko Madata, Emmanuel Masangwa and Charles Masangwa escorted by police at Shinyanga Court.
The High Court, sitting in this Shinyanga Region town specifically to preside over cases involving albino killings, delivered its first judgement yesterday. It convicted and sentenced to death three accused persons.
Reading the ruling, which lasted about an hour, High Court Judge Gabriel Rwakibalila said the court was satisfied that the evidence presented by the prosecution side proved beyond reasonable doubt the involvement of the three convicts in the killings.
He said the trio conspired and killed schoolboy Matatizo Dunia (13), an albino, on December 1 last year at Bunyihuna village in Shinyanga Region’s Bukombe District.
Those found guilty and now on death row are Masumbuko Madata (32) of Itunga Village, Emmanuel Masangwa (28) of Bunyihuna Village and Charles Kalamuji alias Charles Masangwa (42) of Nanda Village, all in Bukombe District. The court ruled that they committed the crime as per Section 16 of Criminal Act No. 196, as amended in 2002.
“This court has found all of you, first accused Masumbuko Madata, second accused Emmanuel Masangwa and third accused Charles Kalamuji alias Charles Masangwa, guilty of killing Matatizo Dunia, and therefore you will be hanged to death. However, you can appeal the sentence if you so wish,” the judge pronounced.
The long-awaited judgment appeared to please most of the people who had turned up at the court premises in huge numbers for an eyewitness account of the climax of the historic proceedings.
Judge Rwakibalila said the defence furnished the court with evidence meant to present the accused as innocent, adding: “But later evidence from the same side proved that the three accused were in fact solidly behind the killings.”
He explained that despite an inconsequential mix-up of some facts in submissions by the prosecution side, “the truth remained intact and hence the fairness of the judgment delivered by this court against the accused”.
The judge said among the trivial “slip-ups” he was referring to was the number of vehicles used by an unspecified number of police officers during arrest of the suspects.
“It is impossible for human being to remember every detail. However, this cannot change the truth,” he noted.
Added the judge: “The evidence presented in court included statements by Madata’s wife and Masumbuko’s third wife Yunis Peter, who stood as the second prosecution witness. The two women narrated in court how they saw their husbands returning home accompanied by Rajab Luchoronga, who is still at large. They also witnessed Matatizo’s severed legs being recovered from a nearby bush which Masumbuko frequently visited for soothsaying.”
Judge Rwakibalila pointed out further that the evidence presented in court by a bother to Madata showed how the accused fled alongside Luchoronga as the police approached.
“Again, third accused Kalamuji’s wife identified as Sofia Andrew explained how her husband disappeared from the family home on November 30 last year before it was reported that he had been arrested in connection with the killing of an albino,” added the judge.
Commenting on the evidence presented by the Chief Government Chemist, the judge said the first and the third accused were directly implicated in Matatizo’s brutal killing “as DNA samples collected from the boy’s blood technically proved them to have hand a hand in the killing”.
Soon after Judge Rwakibalila was through, the defence side declared that they intended to appeal the ruling.
Defence counsel Kamaliza Kayaga said he was not satisfied with the ruling against his clients and contesting it was the only option they would pursue.
The court adjourned until September 28, which is set for the hearing of another murder case. This time the accused is Joseph Lugota of Kagongwa Village in Isagehe Ward, who stands charged with killing Ng’wana Gimbishi (75) of Kilimbi Village in Mwalugulu Ward in Kahama District.
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN
www.ippmedia.com
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