Dar es Salaam. Good morning! The Chanzo is here with a rundown of major news stories reported in Tanzania on Thursday, April 20, 2023.
Tanzania’s public procurement scheme is not empowering women, youth. Here’s why
Government entities have been reminded of their duty to ensure that 30 per cent of their procurement budgets goes to buy goods and services from businesses led by women, youth, and persons with disabilities to empower the groups economically.
The call was made on April 17, 2023, during a meeting organised by The Chanzo that brought together women- and youth-led organisations to reflect on the 30 percent preferential scheme to special groups, examining its successes and challenges since it was introduced in 2016 through an amendment into the Public Procurement Act, 2011.
The meeting is part of activities that The Chanzo, in partnership with Tanzania Youth Vision Association (TYVA) and Mwanamke na Uongozi, plans to do in the coming few days to raise public awareness of the scheme but also lobby policy-makers on how better it can be improved.
Both based in Dar es Salaam, TYVA is a youth-led organisation focusing on youth awareness raising and empowerment, while Mwanamke na Uongozi seeks to promote women’s participation in leadership roles at all levels.
During the meeting, TYVA Executive Director Yusuph Bwango said that a lot needs to be done until the scheme can finally serve its intended objectives. This will include doing away with some requirements that many youths and women find inconvenient.
“The law requires women, youth, and persons with disabilities to access opportunities offered by the scheme only as groups,” Bwango pointed out. “This requirement should be removed to allow other forms of businesses such as sole proprietorship, limited companies, and the group to participate.”
Full story here.
Students from National Defence College meet Kenya’s NPS as part of educational tour
Students from the Tanzania National Defence College on Thursday met with Kenya’s National Police Service (NPS) as part of their educational tour to familiarise themselves with the law enforcement agency.
According to a report by the KBC, the discussion was held at the Ministry of Interior and National Administration, the docket under which the NPS falls.
In the meeting was the Head of Delegation Commodore Baganchwera Traseas Rutambuka; Senior Directing Staff Brig Gen Congnian; and Amb Robert Kainunula Vedasto Kahendaguza Senior Directing Staff and Lt Col S C Langat – Senior Escorting Officer.
Representing the Inspector General of Police was Kenya’s Director of Human Capital Development and Administration, Rosemary Kuraru.
In her address to the class, Kuraru said that as an alumna of NDC-K herself, she appreciated the NDC-T for having selected Kenya as one of their destinations for the study tour.
The class included senior military officers of the Brigadier and Colonel and civilian officers drawn from Tanzania, Malawi, Rwanda and Namibia.
Tanzania now to treat Zambian, Rwandan heart patients
The Jakaya Kikwete Cardiac Institute (JKCI) on Thursday signed Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with Rwanda and Zambia that would see the two countries bringing cardiovascular patients into Tanzania for treatments.
The signing ceremony occurred in Dar es Salaam, witnessed by JKCIA’s director, Dr Peter Kisenge.
In his remarks shortly after signing the MoUs, Dr Kisenge said that the move would enable them to exchange treatments between the countries and provide training to Rwanda and Zambia health experts.
For a month, Kisenge said that JKCI receives about 20 patients from different countries.
“Patients are coming from Malawi, Comoros, Kenya, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Rwanda and Burundi,” he clarified. “We also received patients from Norway, England, India and Poland for medical tourism.”
He pointed out that according to JKCI’s 2022 statistics, the centre treated 150,000 patients, of which 600 patients underwent major surgery and 1,456 minor surgeries.
Dr Kisenge said that due to the present improvement of cardiac services in the country, only two per cent of people get referrals to be treated abroad.
“The government has invested a lot in human resources and infrastructure, thus making JKCI a leading institution in Africa for heart treatment,” he noted.
This is it for today, and we hope you enjoyed our briefing. Please consider subscribing to our newsletter (see below) or follow us on Twitter (here), or joining us on Telegram (here). And in case you have any questions or comments, please consider dropping a word to our editors at editor@thechanzo.com.
