Dar es Salaam. Good morning! The Chanzo is here with a rundown of major news stories reported in Tanzania on Tuesday.

Samia holds phone call with US.’s Blinken

President Samia Suluhu Hassan held phone conversations with the United States Secretary of State Anthony Blinken yesterday where among other things they discussed about the importance of the international partnership in combating the COVID-19,  regional security issues, including Tanzania’s positive role as a peacekeeping contributor, democracy and trade.

A statement released by the director of presidential communications Jaffar Haniu said yesterday that during the conversation, which is the first since Samia became the sixth leader of the East African nation, the US government promised to continue its support for Tanzania’s development efforts through its international development agency USAID.

“Mr Blinken also lauded President Samia for her efforts to promote democracy in Tanzania, particularly her willingness to meet with the country’s opposition politicians,” said Mr Haniu in a statement. President Samia made the pledge to meet with the opposition in April this year while addressing the Parliament in the capital Dodoma.

On her part, President Samia assured Mr Blinken of her administration’s plans aimed at improving the 60-year-old US-Tanzania relations for the benefit of both countries’ people. The Head of State also seized the opportunity to invite US President Joe Biden to Tanzania.

According to a recent statement by US ambassador to Tanzania Donald Wright in honour of the 245th anniversary of U.S. Independence and the 60th anniversary of the start of U.S.-Tanzania relations, the two countries are currently working together to reduce the spread of infectious diseases such as AIDS, malaria, and COVID-19; to strengthen the delivery of healthcare, especially for mothers, children, and the most vulnerable; and to expand access to quality education.Other areas of partnership include empowering women, youth, and marginalized communities; strengthening democratic institutions and ensuring human rights are protected; and boosting economic growth and trade.

Since assuming office President Samia has made revamping Tanzania’s diplomacy as one of  her top priority, and so far she has met several foreign leaders including UK Ministers for Africa, foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, and Russia. President Samia also held phone conversations with China’s President and participated in the Africa-France Heads of States Summit chaired by the French President.

Mbowe: No reforms, no elections for CHADEMA

CHADEMA national chairperson Freeman Mbowe reiterated the party’s decision to boycott all by-elections that will be organized in Tanzania until substantial electoral reforms that would contribute to making the elections organized free and fair are implemented.

Mr Mbowe, who is touring Pemba as part of CHADEMA’s programs to strengthen the party’s presence in the grassroots levels across the country, said that electoral reforms are some of the issues that the party would like to raise with President Samia Suluhu Hassan during the meeting that the 61-year-old Head of State has promised to organize.

“Once we have discussed the future of elections in this country, then as a political party we may start considering taking part in the elections organized,” said Mr Mbowe during an internal meeting with CHADEMA’s members in Pemba. “Because [by then] we might already have achieved a consensus [with the government] that would guarantee [opposition’s] rights in the elections.”

Mr Mbowe said CHADEMA was surprised to see the National Electoral Commission (NEC) appointing someone as the party’s flag bearer in the upcoming by-election in Konde, North Pemba while the party has appointed nobody to run through its ticket.

NEC is organizing the Konde by-election following the death of its Member of Parliament Mr Khatib Said Haji (ACT-Wazalendo) that took place on May 20, 2021. Apart from the CHADEMA’s ‘candidate’ Mohammed Suleiman Said, NEC has also appointed eleven other candidates, including Sheha Mpemba Faki of the ruling Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM) and Mohamed Said Issa from ACT-Wazalendo.

The Konde by-election is expected to take place on July 18, 2021.

Manyara: 5-year-old-child kidnapped, raped & killed

Police in the Manyara district of Babati is looking for a thirty-year-old Emmanuel Naasi who is accused of raping and killing a five-year-old child of his brother, whose name and sex were not revealed for privacy purpose.

Mwananchi newspaper quoted Manyara regional police commander Merrison Mwakyoma yesterday as saying that the incident took place in the village of Mutuka on July 5, 2021, around 6 PM when the child was on a way back from fetching water in the company of two other children.

According to police reports, when Naasi saw the children he started chasing them, each one running in a different direction. Naasi pursued his would-be victim whom he raped and then hit the child with heavy stuff on the child’s face which led to the child’s death.

The body of the child was found two hours later after the other children reported the incident back to the village where the search for the murdered child was launched, according to police reports.

Arrested for allegedly killing mother, daughter

Police in the Geita region is holding Petro John who is accused of kidnapping Ester John, 28, and her thirteen-year-old daughter Winfrida Masumbuko and murdering them and abandon them in a bush after Ester’s parents failed to agree to Petro’s demands to be paid Sh30,000 ransom to let his victims free.

Reports indicate that Petro kidnapped the two when they were harvesting rice.

Earlier reports suggested that Petro was Ester’s fiancé who had kidnapped her to force her parents to yield to Petro’s demands to have him compensated for all the costs he had incurred in providing for Ester. It was not immediately established why the man demanded such compensation.

Hyundai Rotem wins $297m deal in Tanzania

Hyundai Rotem Co., a South Korean railway system and plant equipment maker, said Tuesday that it has received a $297million order for electric locomotives and electric multiple units in Tanzania, South Korean media reported yesterday.

According to reports, Hyundai Rotem will supply a total of 80 electric locomotives and 17 electric multiple units to the Tanzanian Railway Corporation (TRC) by 2024.

“It is the first time for the company to win an order in Tanzania,” the Yonhap News Agency, a major South Korean news agency, said in its reporting Tuesday. “[But] Hyundai Rotem expects to win further deals as [Tanzania] is pushing for a $7billion railway infrastructure project.”

Hyundai Rotem is an affiliate of Hyundai Motor Group, which has Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Corp. under its wing.

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