Dar es Salaam. Good morning! The Chanzo is here with a rundown of major news stories reported in Tanzania on Monday, February 19, 2024.

LHRC weigh-in on power rationing: ‘There is no accountability’

The Legal and Human Rights Centre issued a statement yesterday condemning the ongoing power rationing that is depriving Tanzanians of their basic human rights.

The rights body said that it is currently evaluating the impact of the power cuts on Tanzanian citizens to determine the most effective course of action, whether it involves legal recourse or further advocacy efforts.

LHRC has identified several areas where the country has been adversely affected, including citizens’ livelihoods and essential social services such as healthcare, which rely on electricity.

Anna Henga, the Executive Director of LHRC, expressed frustration, saying, “The government has repeatedly promised to address the power issue, making assurances since the inception of the gas project. However, no tangible progress has been made, and there is a lack of accountability.”

Although President Samia Suluhu initially gave TANESCO a deadline of six months to resolve the issue, with the deadline set to expire in March 2024, for unknown reasons, Speaker of Parliament Tulia Ackson extended the deadline to June 2024, despite the government’s assurance to meet the original deadline.

This decision has sparked criticism from many citizens, a sentiment echoed by LHRC. The organization’s statement underscores the importance of accountability, particularly urging Parliament to hold the executive branch accountable for its promises.

Over 1000 primary school teachers rewarded for boosting student learning in 2023

A regional non-governmental organization Twaweza announced yesterday that about 1,317 primary school teachers will be paid a total of Tshs. 401 million as a performance bonus for school year 2023 performance.

The bonuses are part of the Kiufunza program, a program that assesses the reading and numeracy skills of early-grade students. Teachers will receive their awards for the number of students in their class who have mastered foundational reading and numeracy skills including reading stories, addition, and subtraction.

A total of 1044 subject teachers will be paid TZS 334.4 million in total and 273 head teachers will receive a total of Tshs 67 million. On average teachers will receive a bonus that is equivalent to 3.4 percent of their annual salary.

Kiufunza is currently in its third phase since its commencement in 2015. Through the collaboration between Twaweza and the Government of Tanzania supported by the Hempel Foundation, the program is expected to expand reaching 77,000 pupils.

Consistent results from the study show that there is a difference between schools under Kiufunza and those not under the program. The study had a randomly selected control group of primary schools that started at the same level as Kiufunza schools.

In 2023 schools under Kiufunza recorded a higher pass rate in reading Kiswahili at 49 percent compared to 44 percent in non-Kiufunza schools. For numeracy, the pass rates are 45 percent in the control group and 52 percent in KiuFunza schools.

UDSM celebrates a milestone of Journal recognition in the international database Scopus

Scholars from the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) yesterday celebrated the achievement of having the University of Dar es Salaam journal, The African Review (TARE) indexed at the world-renowned database, Scopus.

Hosted by publisher Elsevier, SCOPUS is a multidisciplinary database with citations and abstracts from peer-reviewed journal literature, trade journals, books, patent records, and conference publications. For a journal to be indexed it needs to undergo a comprehensive assessment to test its credibility.

The African Review was established in 1972 at the University of Dar es Salaam by the Department of Political Science and Public Administration. The journal hosts intellectual debates and discussions on African politics, development, and international affairs.

Underscoring the significance of the milestone, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Research at the University of Dar es Salaam,  Prof. Nelson Boniface said the move is important in ensuring visibility of work published by UDSM scholars.

“At the University of Dar es Salaam, we have our articles mostly published by the Tanzania Journal of Science, Tanzania Journal of Engineering, and the African Review,” said Prof Boniface.“But others such as Muhimbili, Sokoine are publishing outside, that is why you will see the numbers of published article is close to us, but we are publishing more than them our papers are not discoverable and not visible.”

“It’s a great milestone that one of our journals is registered to Scopus, this will increase the discoverability of our articles,” emphasized Prof. Boniface.

The TARE Editor-in-Chief Prof. Alexander Makulilo said that the indexing of articles will cover articles that stem back from 2019 to the present.

Is Willibrod Slaa ‘officially’ back to Tanzania’s opposition party CHADEMA?

After a long political hiatus which he called a retirement from politics, Dr Wilbroad Slaa is making a political comeback. In 2015, Slaa, then CHADEMA Secretary General, announced that he had quit the party and politics in general. He was protesting the arrival of Edward Lowassa into the party. He was seen as the likely joint candidate of the opposition coalition UKAWA in the 2015 elections.

In 2017, Dr Slaa was lured into government and appointed Tanzania’s ambassador to Sweden by former President John Magufuli. During his time away from CHADEMA, Dr Slaa was full of praise for the Magufuli administration and on several occasions threw shade at his former party.

In 2018, while serving as ambassador he released his book titled Nyuma ya Pazia: CHADEMA Ilivyosalitiwa 2015 loosely translated as Behind the Curtains: How CHADEMA was Betrayed in 2015. In this book, he lifts the veil on the intricacies that surrounded the arrival of Lowassa into CHADEMA in 2015. In the book, Slaa says he was not ready to betray the Tanzania people, so he decided to step aside.

In early 2023, Dr Slaa seemed to have joined CHADEMA’s cause for a New Constitution.

Read the full analysis here.

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