Dar es Salaam. Good morning! The Chanzo is here with a rundown of major news stories reported in Tanzania on Tuesday, November 2, 2021.
Samia on climate change: ‘the time to act is now’
President Samia Suluhu Hassan on Tuesday addressed the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, also known as COP26, describing climate change as “the scourge of our time” that has not spared Tanzania as a country, telling the world leaders “the time to act is now.”
The 26th United Nations Climate Change conference is taking place in Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom, between October 31 and November 12, 2021, under the co-presidency of the United Kingdom and Italy. It is the biggest and most important climate-related conference on the planet.
During the 26th conference, delegates will be aiming to finalize the ‘Paris Rulebook’, or the rules needed to implement the Paris Agreement, an international treaty on climate change, adopted in 2015 that covers climate change mitigation, adaptation, and finance.
“Sea level rise is eating [Tanzania’s] arable land,” President Samia said of ways through which climate change has affected the country. “Our proud Mount Kilimanjaro is drastically becoming bald due to glacier melting. [In Tanzania also] we are experiencing unprecedented drought and floods.”
The Head of State mentioned that the effects caused by climate change mean that thirty per cent of the East African nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) that comes from agriculture, forestry and fishery is not sustainable.
President Samia also took issue with global efforts to combat climate change-related effects, calling them “low-paced.” She pointed out: “We, in Tanzania, are determined to take swift actions [against effects associated with climate change] as our inactions mean risking our development agenda and prosperity.”
She said that Tanzania already has in place the National Climate Change Response Strategy and nationally determined contributions aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions by between 30 and 35 per cent by 2030.
“On mitigation front, through hydrothermal and solar, we have managed to increase power generation [which in turn] has increased access rate from 43 per cent in 2017 to almost 70 per cent in 2020,” noted President Samia in her address. “Our reforestation rate increased from 25 per cent to 27 per cent in 2020, with every year an average of 276,000,000 trees are planted throughout the country.”
She challenged large emitters of fossil fuel carbon dioxide (CO2) gathered in Glasgow to attend the conference to do more in fighting the effects of climate change, not allowing themselves to be left behind by developing nations like Tanzania.
Over dozen CHADEMA cadres released as DPP drops murder case against them
A total of eighteen members and leaders of opposition party CHADEMA on Tuesday were released from remand prison in the Songwe District of Mbozi after the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) Sylvester Mwakitalu withdrew the murder case against them, saying his office is no longer interested in pursuing it.
This is according to a statement released yesterday by CHADEMA’s Director for Protocol, Communications and Foreign Affairs Mr John Mrema.
The cadres are among several CHADEMA members who were arrested before the October 2020 General Election in the wake of widespread complaints from opposition parties and independent electoral observers who criticized the manner with which the government was organizing the election.
The eighteen cadres who were released on Tuesday have been in remand prison since August 2020 when they were first arrested and charged for the crime of committing murders.
You can find the list of released CHADEMA cadres and leaders here.
According to Mr Mrema, a list of 22 other CHADEMA cadres and leaders remain in prison in Mbozi, facing several charges including murder, armed robbery and economic sabotage.
“We call on the DPP to cancel all the cases against our leaders and members in various parts of [Tanzania] because the cases are baseless and are politically motivated,” Mr Mrema said in the statement.
Finland approves over Sh13billion funding to UNFPA to support women in Tanzania
Finland has provided the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) – Tanzania with $6.1 million (about Sh13.8 billion) for a three and a half year programme, “Chaguo Langu Haki Yangu – My Choice My Rights,” which will support women in Zanzibar and the Mara and Shinyanga regions to uphold their right to live free from violence and harmful practices, including female genital mutilation (FGM) and child marriage.
According to a statement released on Tuesday, the programme will be implemented in collaboration with the regional and local government authorities as part of multisectoral and coordinated efforts to eliminate violence against women and children and harmful practices.
According to the UNFPA, one in 10 women in Tanzania is subjected to FGM, with more than half of adolescent girls being married by the age of 18 in the Mara and Shinyanga regions, two of the three areas where programme activities will be implemented.
“Every young woman and girl has within her possibilities that should flourish as she moves into adulthood, shaping her future and, with it, the world,” the statement quoted Jacqueline Mahon, UNFPA Representative in Tanzania as saying. “UNFPA is committed to eliminating the obstacles that stand in the way of women and girls’ voices, choices, consent and equality.”
Finnish Ambassador to Tanzania Ms Riitta Swan said in the statement that Finland aims to ensure that Tanzania’s women and girls can participate more fully in society and live free from violence while delivering on the promise of the Sustainable Development Goals.
“When young women and girls cannot exercise their rights, including their right to live free from violence, their potential is squandered and economic growth and inclusive development suffer,” the statement quoted Ms Swan as saying. “We must work together, and do more and do it better, including with persons with disabilities, to deliver on our vision of a future where all young women and girls can live in peace, freedom and equality, reaching the furthest behind first and leaving no one behind.”
US Embassy releases over Sh120million to fund community projects
Deputy Chief of Mission (DCM) at the US Embassy in Dar es Salaam Mr Robert Raines on Tuesday signed funding agreements worth $52,540 (about Sh120 million) for six community-led projects through the Ambassador’s Special Self Help Fund, a statement released yesterday said.
Set up in 1965 to give a boost to groups that have demonstrated commitment to transforming their communities the Ambassador’s Special Self Help Fund has been used over the period of past 50 years to support small-scale community development projects in every region of Tanzania.
According to DCM Raines, the Ambassador’s Special Self-Help Fund is a valuable program that allows the United States to partner with community groups that are working hard to transform their communities and create positive change.
“I believe that real, lasting change comes when people join together at the grassroots level to make positive changes in their communities,” the Embassy’s statement quoted DCM Raines as saying.
You can find the list of the fund’s beneficiaries here.
Elephants destroy 250 hectares of farm crops in northern Tanzania
A herd of 70 elephants has raided villages in Tanzania’s northern district of Simanjiro in the Manyara region, destroying a total of 250 hectares of farm crops belonging to villagers, a CGTN reporting, quoting a local government official, said on Tuesday.
The marauding elephants have been wreaking havoc to some villages in the district for quite some time now, said Albert Msole, a councillor for Ngorika ward.
“The marauding elephants are a nuisance to the villagers,” Msole told a meeting of councillors for the Manyara region, adding that some villagers have lost hectares of their farm crops bringing to 250 the number of hectares destroyed by the mammals.
He appealed to wildlife authorities to drive away the elephants reportedly strayed from Lake Manyara National Park before they caused more devastating damage to the villages.
Athuman Iddi, one of the villagers, said the elephants have destroyed five hectares of his maize crop, threatening his household’s food security.
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