Dar es Salaam. Good morning! The Chanzo is here with a rundown of major news stories reported in Tanzania on Wednesday, June 23, 2021.
SADC to deploy standby force mission to Mozambique
Member states of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) have resolved to deploy a standby force mission to Mozambique. The news was released yesterday after the conclusion of a one day extraordinary summit of SADC heads of state and government, ‘summit endorsed the recommendations of the report of the chairperson of the Organ on Politics, Defense and Security Cooperation and approved the mandate for the SADC Standby Force Mission to the Republic of Mozambique, to be deployed in support of Mozambique to combat of terrorism and acts of violent extremism in Cabo Delgado’ reads the communique.
Other issues discussed during the summit include a call to end of vaccine nationalism, regional food and nutrition security, gender and development, and progress in the regional response to HIV and AIDS and the COVID-19 pandemic.
You can learn more about the summit here.
Man arrested in connection with the murder of his mother-in-law
Police in Babati, a northern region of Tanzania, are holding Emmanuel Richard for allegedly being responsible for the murder of his sixty-one-year-old mother-in-law Maria Bartholomeo by hitting her in the chest. Bartholomeo had allegedly intervened in an altercation that involved her daughter and Mr Richard.
Manyara regional police commander Merrisone Mwakyoma told journalists yesterday that the incident took place on June 21, 2021, in the village of Ngolei in the Manyara region. According to police, Batholemeo died while she was being rushed to hospital.
The percentage of women parliamentarians have doubled over the last 26 years
The gender and inclusion report by the International Republican Institute (IRI) which was released yesterday shows that the proportion of women parliamentarians has increased from 16.5 percent in 1995 to 37 percent in 2020. Also, the number of women in constituency seats has been observed to rise from 8 women in 1995 to 26 women in 2020. The report also noted several arguments on special seats, one of them is on if there should be a term limit on special seats to allow for more women to gain experience. Another issue raised is the fact that there is no national guidance on how parties can nominate candidates for special seats, there have been numerous complaints in the past on the nomination process for special seats in political parties. Moreover, the report shows that the number of female candidates in the last election was remarkably low, about 10 percent of all candidates.
Police under the spotlight over officers’ murder by fellow cops
Mwananchi newspaper reported yesterday that police in Kilimanjaro is holding a total of seven police officers from various police posts in Kilimanjaro’s districts of Same, Moshi and Rombo in connection to two incidents that involved the law enforcers killing themselves with firearms.
According to the paper, within twenty days two tragic incidents have taken place involving police officers shooting each other. The first incident took place on May 31, 2021, outside a public house Ndafu Kijiji cha Kituri after a police officer from Mwanga district Linus Nzema allegedly shot his fellow cop and killed him.
Another incident took place on June 21, 2020, in Moshi, Kilimanjaro region, involving officers from the economic wing of the National Service, Suma JKT, Emmanuel Mallya and Eric Mollel. According to reports, while the two were out patrolling, an altercation arose between them and Mollel (who was without a weapon) grabbed a shotgun from Mallya and shot him to death.
Kilimanjaro regional police commander Amon Kakwale was not immediately available to comment on the matter.
Dar police announce Sh2million bounty to catch armed robbers
And, are you in need of money and in a position to help police in Dar es Salaam to arrest armed robbers? Well, Dar es Salaam Special Zone police commander Jummane Muliro has set aside a total of Sh2million bounty for you. Briefing journalists in Dar es Salaam yesterday, Muliro said the operation would continue as long as armed robberies continue to be reported in the Tanzania’s commercial capital.
Yesterday’s announcement from the police came hardly two weeks since the law enforcement agency reported on June 12, 2021, to have arrested fifteen people who were accused of armed robbery. The arrested followed a special operation launched by the Dar es Salaam Special Zone police following a directive by the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Simon Sirro who ordered such an operation to be launched.
On May 26, 2021, IGP Sirro mentioned Kinondoni to be the hotbed of crime in Tanzania, warning that police will do whatever is in their capacity to put an end to the situation.
Tanzania: Over nine thousand drug addicts on methadone maintenance treatment
Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office (Policy, Parliamentary Affairs, Labour, Employment, Youth and the Disabled) Ms Jenista Mhagama yesterday briefed journalists in the capital Dodoma on Tanzania’s current drug abuse situation, revealing that as of December 2020, Tanzania had a total of nine centres nationwide which provide methadone maintenance treatment to a total of 9,188 drug addicts free of charge.
Methadone maintenance treatment – which has been around for over 40 years – is regarded by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as the most effective therapy for heroin users. According to Ms Mhagama, the centres that offer the treatment are available in Dar es Salaam, Mbeya, Mwanza, Dodoma, Tanga and the Coastal region.
Giving the report on the drug abuse situation in Tanzania, Ms Mhagama said that for the year 2020, authorities seized a total of 13.23 tonnes of marijuana which involved 7601 culprits. She pointed out that authorities also burned up a total of 28 pot farms, with 26.2 hectares, which involved 34 culprits.
Authorities also seized a total of 11.80 tonnes of khat which involved 1,156 culprits. A big chunk of the khats was imported from Ethiopia and they were in transit to Europe and North America, according to the minister. In the same year of 2020, authorities seized 359.81 kilograms of heroin which involved 424 culprits. Mhagama said also that the government seized a total of 4.52 kilograms which involved eighty culprits.
Ms Mhagama pointed out that while the use of these drugs have gone down recently thanks to the enforcement of anti-drug laws many of those who were previously abusing them now have turned to drugs which are medicinal but also addictive like tramadol, ketamine, valium, and pethidine.
“The use of these drugs without a doctor’s advice is very dangerous,” Mhagama said. “[Their abuse] has always brought severe consequences [to users] but also they have caused addictions and other diseases like kidney and liver. But [the abuse of these drugs] for recreational purposes also causes shortages of the drugs to the needy who consume them legally.”
Elsewhere on The Chanzo’s platforms
A claim surfaced on Twitter timelines on Tuesday that President Samia Suluhu Hassan has allowed teenage girls who get pregnant while at schools to continue with their education, reversing the late John Magufuli’s policy that prevented them from doing so. Our team fact-checked the claim and found it to be false. You can read our report here.
And if you’re interested in learning how the government is going to spend half of the money it is going to get through mobile money transfer as well as airtime that were introduced recently, you can check out this thread on The Chanzo’s Twitter page.
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