Hundreds mourn Fatma Dogodogo

Fatma Ali Salimu

        Tanzania One Theatre’s (TOT Plus) vocalist Fatma Ali Salimu, or popularly known as ‘Fatma Dogodogo’, has died at the Mwananyamala Hospital last Sunday afternoon.

Dogodogo’s untimely death was confirmed by TOT’s executive director captain John Komba through a press statement availed to The Guardian yesterday.

It was cervical cancer that claimed the death of the Taarab band’s most popular and hard working lady.

       Komba said the entire TOT fleet of staff and Taarab Music fraternity has been shocked by the demise of the singer who used to win hearts of the fans in and outside the country.

Born on June 11, 1962 at Unguja Urban West in Zanzibar, Dogodogo is survived by a daughter and three grand children.

         The short but stocky beautiful singer crossed over to TOT in June 1998 from an art group with the Zanzibar’s Ministry of Education, Sports and Culture.

Since then she has been an ardent TOT singer loyal enough to shrug off any temptation to join any other group.

The grief-stricken Komba said Dogodogo has left a huge gap not only to the TOT as a staff but also as a family head.

He said the singer used to be a hardworking, tolerant and composed throughout her musical career.

Dodogogo was buried at the Mwananyamala cemetery yesterday with a huge turn up of family members, friends, relatives, music fans and many more.

We`ll continue supporting reforms in Tanzania - EU

              The European Union has said it is exploring ways to further support the constitutional reforms in progress in Tanzania, one of the bloc’s senior officials said at a media briefing in Dar es Salaam yesterday.

Nicholas Westcott, Managing Director for Africa at the European External Action Service (EEAS), made the remarks just before a closed-door meeting of the bloc’s Africa Delegation opened in the city.

He said relations between Tanzania and the EU “go beyond economic gain and encompass a collective political effort through which Europe has developed direct links with the people of Tanzania”.

“The parliamentary process needs to evolve with support from a free and open media because that will encourage people to express their views,” said Westcott, adding that “megaphone diplomacy” was unlikely to serve any useful purpose.               

             He described Tanzania’s media as critical to realising freedom of expression, but alerted them and other local agencies on the dangers of becoming advocates of what he called “extremist views”. 

The EU official said the bloc was committed helping forge to a strong political partnership with Tanzania that will ensure that the government delivers on the constitutional reform promise.

He added that, through EEASS, the EU hopes to raise the profile of political dialogue in African countries, bringing with it resources and a wealth of experience for the continent as it works towards greater regional integration. 

Tanzania is a trail blazer in the area of regional integration, according to Westcott, who said he is impressed by the fact that political dialogue in the country is free, liberal and participatory. 

“You are able to have robust discussions and the dialogues are open to everybody” he said, noting that “the trick to maintaining this momentum is to keep talking to each other”. 

Citing the partnership between the ruling CCM and the opposition Civic United Front (CUF) in Zanzibar as an example of what can be achieved if all parties are committed to the process, he said dialogue is crucial in making political collaborations in government a reality.

             He said the opposition has a valid role as a critic established in part to challenge the government and therefore keep it on its toes for the benefit of the nation.

“This is a good thing for a young democracy such as Tanzania, as it puts political choice in the hands of the people. It allows people to decide,” he pointed out.

But Westcott expressed doubts over the possibility of the dream of an East African political federation coming true in the near future, noting: “I don’t know whether East Africa is there yet.” 

He said most nations in the region are worried about the sovereignty-access tradeoff, meaning they were not decided whether to give up a degree of sovereignty for a chance at broader regional opportunities or retain control and be forced to try and develop in isolation.

              It is a question that only the East African Community (EAC) can answer, he explained, insisting that the EU is there to help if asked since it addressed similar questions relating to the link between political independence and shared regional growth during its formative years.

On a more optimistic note, Westcott said dialogue usually gets past any mistrust, adding that the EU became a reality only through “lots of talk” and the EAC would have to “engage in even more talk if it is truly committed to becoming a federation”.

He said until then, much needs to be done to strengthen the unity among the five EAC member states, and there is therefore a need for even more integration. 

The EU official was in Tanzania for a two-day goodwill visit during which he held talks with, among others, Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation minister Bernard Membe and National Assembly Speaker Anne Makinda. 

The talks revolved around the need to deepen the EU’s partnership with Tanzania, including on issues of mutual concern such as piracy, democratisation, regional integration and prospects for constitutional reforms in Tanzania.

Kikwete: Britain ready to help Tanzania get back radar cash

 

           President Jakaya Kikwete and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with their spouses, Salma Kikwete (L) and Gursharan Kaur, at State House in Dar es Salaam yesterday. (Photo: Khalfan Said)

President Jakaya Kikwete has asked the British government to hand over to the Tanzanian government the 29.5bn/- BAE Systems Plc it agreed to pay as part of its plea bargain settlement with Serious Frauds Office (SFO) over bilking allegations on a 2002 radar sale.

This was said by Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation minister Bernard Membe at a press conference held in Dar es Salaam yesterday.

Membe said that the president had said that the money belongs to all Tanzanians, and should rightly be returned to a government of their representatives. 

             He added that the British government has not refused to give the radar money to the Tanzania government, but cautioned against media reports that point to the contrary.

He singled out reports that claim that the money will be given back to Tanzania through a nongovernmental organizations as untrue. 

“These are silly words that have no truth in them,” the minister said, adding, “I want to tell you that the money belongs to the citizens of this country, and have to come back to their government.”

Membe said: “The UK government has agreed to work with us to get the cash back”.

For his part, Henry Bellingham, UK Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Responsible for Africa promised that he will take up the issue with higher authorities back in Britain.

       “I spoke to President Kikwete (and) he raised the issue of BAE,” Bellingham said, adding, “It is a big case but I agreed to take it up with (the UK) government through my office.”

Back in 2002, the European defence contractor sold the Tanzanian government military radar it valued at 52bn/- then, which was later found to be excessive.

Subsequently, the Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB) made an investigation into the purchase following allegation that a 16bn/- ‘commission fee’ paid to a third party might have been bribes to top government officials.

A British Court later established that BAE Systems failed to keep proper records of this transaction, and directed a fine of GBP 500,000. 

       “The victims of this way of obtaining business, if I have correctly analysed it, are not the people of the UK, but the people of Tanzania,” said British Justice David Bean of Southwark Crown Court in his sentencing notes.

As part of a plea bargain deal between BAE Systems and the UK’s SFO, the defence contractor offered the Tanzanian government 29.5bn/- as settlement for allegedly overcharging the state for the radar in question.

Tanzania, India set to put up modern heart hospital in Dar

         President Jakaya Kikwete and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with their spouses, Salma Kikwete (L) and Gursharan Kaur, at State House in Dar es Salaam yesterday. (Photo: Khalfan Said)

Tanzania and India yesterday signed an agreement for construction of an ultra-modern heart specialty hospital in Dar es Salaam.

The hospital will be constructed at the University of Dar es Salaam near Mlimani City, according to an agreement signed in Dar es Salaam yesterday by President Kikwete and visiting Indian Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh.

Addressing journalists and delegates at State House after signing the agreement, President Kikwete said the construction would be undertaken jointly by Apollo Hospitals Enterprises Limited of India on the Indian side and the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) and the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare on the Tanzanian side. 

         Kikwete said the hospital will help Tanzania to save almost 11bn/- which was spent in treating patients abroad last year.

He said apart from heart related diseases, the hospital will be curing patients with neurosurgical, kidney and cancer diseases.

He said that India has so far trained 29 medical practitioners from Tanzania who are now able to perform open heart surgeries, and that they had so far succeeded in 155 cases.

“We thank India for their support in helping us build our own hospital to treat complicated diseases”, he said.

He said Tanzania wanted to deal with health care internally and had asked experts from Apollo hospital to come and examine the patients here every few months.  

The president said in future, they planned to build similar hospitals in Mbeya, Mwanza, Arusha and Zanzibar.

Under the agreement signed yesterday, India also pledged to provide USD 190 million for water and capacity building projects.

           President Kikwete hailed the bilateral cooperation between Tanzania and India which, he said, had resulted in increased trade volume which currently stood at 1.1bn/- while the Indian investment in Tanzania was 1.3bn/-.

He asked India to provide support in the education, agriculture, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and manufacturing sectors. 

The president said his government was committed to improving agriculture because 80 per cent of the country’s population resided in rural areas and depended on farming. 

He said agriculture was growing at a slow pace compared to other sectors such as tourism which was growing by 40 per cent and communication by 20 per cent while agriculture growth remained at only 4.3 percent.

“Our main focus is to increase productivity through the use of fertilizers and modern agricultural equipments. We also want to improve our rural roads”, he said.

Meanwhile, Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh said the USD 190 million credit will be used in improving water supply projects in Dar es Salaam (USD 180 million) and the USD 10 million for capacity building projects in the social and education sectors.

             He said the Indian government was committed to support the President’s national agriculture first initiative as Tanzania is India’s important trading partner.

Dr Singh said they would also focus on small and medium industries, healthcare and human resource development. “Looked at from any point of view, whether geographical proximity, cultural influences or the stages of our development, it is essential for the two countries to have close relations. We will accelerate our efforts to this end”, Dr Singh said.

THE Director of Small Industries Development Organization (SIDO), Michael Laizer said the agreement signed yesterday would help boost small scale entrepreneurs. 

He said the Indian government was likely to support them in building processing industries since the country was facing a shortage of industries for its agricultural produce. 

Mjomba: Tinkling political nerves by poetic monologues

Mrisho Mpoto

           It takes a while and perhaps a bit of patience to actually figure out what separates the ‘music’ from the ‘poetry’ and if there is an element of artistic monologue or innovative speech making to escape censors for unregistered political activity, all sewn up together in performances of Mrisho Mpoto.

The cultural globe trotter seems to represent something unique, which is likely to be everything to everyone – as to whether people follow what he says for its content, its rhythm, or even for its music, as he also runs a music band; it always does drumming in the background as he conducts a poetic monologue. Does the music ever start?

        It is hard to find equivalences of Mpoto in recent or decades long African music, as there are similarities and dissimilarities, since he comes up as eloquently in a political sense like Fela Anikulapo Kuti, but the latter was talking while doing throbbing music, not ‘distant drums.’

On the local scene there was the late Ramadhani Mtoro Ongala or famously Dr Remmy Ongala, who talked more or less without hindrance, but again the musical part was vivid, and one could say this or that song was performed. There aren’t quite songs performed by Mpoto but rather poems sung, in a monologue style of presentation, which breaks some old rules here.

Since Mpoto comes across as a keeper of tradition rather than a musical campaigner or political poet in that sense, interest in a dialogue would have featured in how he performs, was it a matter of keeping to the tradition, here of ‘ngonjera,’ platform exchanges, dialogues of a mildly competitive sort.

It is as if there is an ethical debate about something where two forms of the matter are presented, but as they come from the same community it becomes a sharing of feelings and exploration of shades of similar sentiments. What one says is complemented by the other, as each is only a witness of broader, shared social experience.

It is unlikely that the ‘ngonjera’ tradition, which is close to praise singing in a traditional ceremony context, actually animates Mpoto, but rather comes close to the Dr Remmy version of things, where it is his viewpoint that is being aired. The ‘band’ becomes something of an instrumental back up rather than a community of artists who are actually doing singing, or even mutually shared poetry.

It is clear who has the stage and what he seeks to say is the purpose of that stage – that it is this expression, the poetry which is intended to be put across, not the potential music that could otherwise be produced by the band.

          As a portion of local audiences have not seem images of Mpoto performing to foreign audiences, it becomes a bit interesting to hear from write ups about the poet, that his main interest in foreign appearances is to promote Kiswahili poetry through music.

Unless there is another set of activities which he would embark on for those audiences, locally it wouldn’t add up, to take up punchy political commenting through poetic rhythms, deliver it to audiences who know little of that subject, and in Kiswahili. Unless perhaps it was Kenya or Burundi, and a bit of Uganda, Rwanda and much of the Congo DR, who would grasp the issue?

Chief Secretary commends Mzumbe University for role in Tanzania`s development

              The government has expressed appreciation for the pivotal role played by Mzumbe University in the development of the country.

The acknowledgement was made by Chief Secretary Philemon Luhanjo when talking at a forum on strengthening linkages between the university and key stakeholders held in Dar es Salaam yesterday. 

“The role played by Mzumbe is highly appreciated by the government,” Luhanjo said, adding that apart from training, Mzumbe has, and still does, offer consultancy services to the public and the private sector.

          He said the public service has been receiving demand-oriented advisory services in the introduction of new systems and tools or the assessment of capacity and providing in-service training.

“Such a relationship is very useful as it makes it possible for the public service to develop practical solutions to unique, as well as common, institutional problems,” he said.

He said Mzumbe University should continue to maintain and strengthen its competitive edge through finding ways that will strengthen its links with both the public and private sectors by understanding new demands of the sectors and working hard to meet them, while maintaining its special areas of excellence.

For his part, Education and Vocational Training minister Dr. Shukuru Kawambwa said the challenge facing Mzumbe and other higher learning institutions is to produce graduates who are relevant to the current and future development needs.

               The bottom line here is about having a proper and dynamic curriculum,” he said in his speech read on his behalf by deputy permanent secretary Celestine Gesimba.

Dr. Kawambwa said it is important to recognize that University-Industry linkage can come about and be effective and beneficial to both sides if there is a large degree of responsiveness and desire by both sides.

Infotech president Ali Mufuruki stressed that a deliberate and continuous engagement between academia and private sector is crucial if Tanzania wants to go ahead.

“This is what has helped various countries such as Germany to be where it is today,” he said.

Chairman of the Mzumbe University Council Prof.

             Daniel Mkude thanked the assistance provided by various development partners and stakeholders, both from within and outside Tanzania.

“We, as an academic institution, have benefited a lot from their contribution,” he said, adding that they hoped the stakeholders would continue to assist the university to pursue its mission vigorously and contribute to the development of the country.

The one-day forum brought together the university’s key stakeholders such as employers, alumni and partners so they could share experiences and set a strategic platform for strengthening the linkage between it and the world of industry and business.

Devise better strategy to lure domestic tourists - call

               Regional and districts tourism officers have been blamed for failure to come up with a comprehensive tourism strategy to attract domestic visitors, who are said to be potentially many.

Risasi Mwaulanga of Universal Peace Federation, who recently toured wide range of tourist attractions 

Ngorongoro Crater, Manyara, Olduvai Gorge, Snake Park, Arusha National Park and those in Singida and Iringa region observed that many tourism officers are not creative enough to attract visitors, particularly the local ones.

“

             Tourism officers in Iringa and Singida regions are not creative. They don’t play their roles accordingly, thus deny local visitors to build the culture of visiting the tourist attractions,” he said.

Apart from that they don’t organise seminars or promotional campaigns to educate people on the sector and how they could benefit from this, he said.

“Most of them don’t undertake special tourism campaigns in their respective areas to attract local communities to explore the country’s exceptional blend of scenery of wildlife and human culture,” he added.

            He said most of them spend much of their time in offices, while much of their work is supposed to be done outside of the office.

“Instead of depending on foreign tourists they should also make some efforts to sensitise local visitors, who also know little about the attractions, he said.

Their work is necessary because that is the support the government needs in order to expand the local market, and hence add more to the country’s GDP, he observed.

        He said although the tourist board and the ministry of tourism have intensified efforts to attract more visitors of recent, still there are many Tanzanians who do not know how rich their country is in terms of tourism, he said.

“As experts engaged in this sector play your role accordingly give them clear information on the tourist attractions that we have so that they can visit, help TTB to market Tanzania as a tourist destination in the world and make tourist agencies to be specialists for destination Tanzania,” he said.

With 17.2 per cent contribution to the GDP, tourism is booming at present

            . Tanzania has always stressed for quality tourism that hinges much on the safari experience whereby land and wildlife conservation considered most rather than looking for mass tourism.

“Being the largest country in East Africa, Tanzania can accommodate increased numbers of travellers and still maintain the prevailing high standards of ecological conservation,” he observed.

Approximately 25 per cent of Tanzania’s land is protected by the government, while the country boasts 15 national parks and 32 game reserves and it is the home of the tallest mountain in Africa, the legendary Mt Kilimanjaro and sensational islands of Zanzibar.