Dar es Salaam. Good morning! The Chanzo is here once again to bring you all the big stories that broke in Tanzania on Tuesday, July 13, 2021.
PM Majaliwa holds talks with Moroccan PM
Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa, who is in Morocco for an official visit, yesterday held talks at different occasions with the country’s Prime Minister Saad-Eddine El Othmani and the country’s foreign affairs minister Nasser Bourita Mr Majaliwa discussed with the Moroccan leaders the ways with which the relations between Morocco and Tanzania can be improved for the benefit of both countries.
This is the first visit by Tanzanian government officials to Morocco since the sixth phase administration under President Samia Suluhu Hassan came into office on March 19, 2021. The relations between the two countries was redefined in 2016 following the visit to Tanzania by King of Morocco Mohammed VI which saw Morocco signing 22 cooperation agreements with the government of Tanzania.
Tanzania’s Agriculture Minister Prof Adolph Mkenda, Zanzibar’s Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Ms Leila Mohamed Mussa, and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Mbarouk Nassor Mbarouk are accompanying PM Majaliwa in the visit. According to a statement released by the office of the Prime Minister yesterday, the sectors that dominated the discussion between PM Majaliwa and his hosts in Morocco include agriculture, education, tourism and energy.
Prior to King Mohammed VI’s visit to Tanzania in 2016, the monarchy did not have any close relations with Tanzania. The fraught relations between the two countries followed Morocco’s withdrawal from the Organisation of Africa Unity (OAU), now the African Union (AU), following the body’s decision to accept the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) as a member state.
Given its recognized stance to stand with SADR for more than 32 years, Tanzania’s embrace of Morocco raised some questions over its commitment to support Sahrawi people, something that forced the then John Magufuli administration to issue a statement clarifying that its renewed relations with Morocco do not mean it was turning its back on SADR.
High Court stops Sh30 billion payment to Dubai-based firm
The High Court of Tanzania on Tuesday issued an order of injunction against the Dubai-based Alchemist Energy Trading DMCC from receiving money under letters of credits, citing the company’s failure to deliver petroleum products to Petroleum Bulk Procurement Agency (PBPA), a government agency mandated to administer and manage the importation of petroleum products in Tanzania.
The injunction means that Alchemist Energy Trading DMCC will no longer be able to receive over Sh30 billion from various international banks over a tender to supply to PBPA. The banks include ABSA Bank Tanzania, Stanbic Bank Tanzania LTD, National Micro-Finance Bank, National Bank of Commerce, NBCA Bank Tanzania LTD, Citibank UAE, Natixis Bank, I & M Bank Rwanda PLC and Standard Bank of South Africa. Others are Rabobank Singapore Branch, Bank of Kigali, Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank (TDB), ING Bank, ABSA Bank Mauritius and Citibank.
“It has been revealed through hearing that, to date, the 1st respondent [Alchemist Energy Trading DMCC] is yet to deliver the consignment while she has already started through some financial institutions to benefit from the matured letters of credit illegally,” read the part of the High Court injunction seen by The Chanzo.
Alchemist Energy Trading DMCC was expected to deliver the consignment of petroleum products in February and March 2021 after being awarded a tender in December 2020 to do so. It was noted during the hearing that PBPA has filed an arbitration proceeding at the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) against Alchemist Energy which is yet to be heard.
CHADEMA activist released after spending five hours in detention
Police in Shinyanga yesterday released Iringa’s secretary of opposition CHADEMA Youth Wing Mr Vitus Nkuna after holding him for about five hours over his claims that Shinyanga Referral Regional Hospital was overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients, a claim dismissed by both Shinyanga regional commissioner Dr Philemoni Sengati and the ministry of health.
On July 10, 2021, Mr Nkuna wrote in a Twitter post that the Shinyanga Regional Referral Hospital was being overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients, with the hospital facing a critical shortage of oxygen for treating patients with respiratory diseases. No evidence, however, was presented to support Mr Nkuna’s claims.
While addressing reporters shortly after touring the hospital on July 12, 2021, Mr Sengati dismissed Mr Nkuna’s claims as “false [and] aimed to cause unnecessary tension in the country.” He said that he visited the hospital and found that none of what Mr Nkuna reported was truthful. Neither did Mr Sengati present any evidence that would refute Mr Nkuna’s claims.
“The government must take strict legal actions [against Mr Nkuna] for making false statements that caused unnecessary tension to people of Shinyanga region,” Mr Sengati was quoted as saying. “It is true that we have COVID-19 patients in the region but they are not many as it is being reported [by Mr Nkuna].” He did not say how many patients were there nor did he provide the information about the availability of oxygen at the hospital.
Following this directive, Mr Nkuna was summoned from Iringa to Shinyanga where he was reportedly detained for five hours before he was released. Writing on his Twitter timeline shortly after the release, Mr Nkuna said: “I’m finally free after being detained for five hours as a price to speak the truth. I thank God as well as my lawyers.”
Man arrested for allegedly killing his son
Police in Kilimanjaro is holding seventy-seven-year-old John Kavishe for allegedly killing his son, thirty-one-year-old Amadeus Kavishe after cutting his throat with a machete when the father attempted to solve a family feud between Amadeus and his wife.
Kilimanjaro regional police commander Simon Maigwa told Mwananchi newspaper yesterday that the incident took place on July 10, 2021. It is reported that Amadeus was not pleased by his father’s interference in his family’s affairs, verbally attacking him when he showed up at his place supposedly to solve a family feud. Following the stream of verbal attacks, Kavishe senior got angry and went ahead to kill his son.
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