Dar es Salaam. Good morning! The Chanzo is here with a rundown of major news stories reported in Tanzania on Wednesday.
Samia’s ‘vichokochoko’ remarks stir debates online
President Samia Suluhu Hassan yesterday warned people against falling for vijichokochoko whose loose translation is petty nagging that she claims were going around in Tanzania and from her perspective threaten the peace and security of Tanzania.
Speaking in the Msamvu area in Morogoro yesterday where she had gone for a two-day official visit, President Samia said that Tanzania’s development efforts are intrinsically linked to issues of peace and security in the country, urging people to shun violence because they will be its first victims.
“Let me ask you to maintain the peace and harmony of our country. The more we maintain peace and security the more progress our country will achieve,” said President Samia. “I’m earnestly pleading with you brothers and sisters, vijichokochoko have started out there. I’m asking you not to fall for them. Those who come up with them know how to get their stomachs filled. [They know] where they get their food [and] where they are getting the money to clear their medical bills. I’m seriously warning you against falling for that trap because when violence erupts [in Tanzania] it is you and your family who will remain inside your house without knowing where you’ll get the food.”
The Head of State did not clarify what the vijichokochoko were all about but many online think that the Tanzanian leader was referring to the small but growing movement to demand the New Constitution in the country led mainly by opposition parties and members of Tanzania’s civil society. President Samia has made her position on the issue of the New Constitution crystal clear. She has asked for more time to fix Tanzania’s economy first and then the process to write the New Constitution will be revived.
“[President Samia] is free to refer to our movement [to demand the New Constitution] however she wants,” wrote one activist Reuben Lukumay on Twitter in reaction to Samia’s remarks. “But our demand is that we want the New Constitution. [Tanzania] is being destroyed thanks to the lack of the New Constitution.”
Speaking elsewhere during an impromptu stop of her entourage, President Samia reminded people that the third wave of the novel coronavirus was in Tanzania and that “there is nothing to hide about it,” urging people to continue taking all necessary precautionary measures advised by Tanzania’s health experts.
She said already COVID-19 patients are available in Dar es Salaam, Arusha, Mwanza, Dodoma and other many regions, adding: “The third wave [of coronavirus] that is claiming the lives of so many people around the world should not have the same effect here in our country. We need to take precautions because when the disease starts claiming our lives it does so unstoppably.”
Majaliwa launches Magufuli Tanzanite Centre
Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa yesterday directed the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Minerals Prof Simon Msanjila to make sure that there are legal and regulations amendments that would make all Tanzanite trading take place at the Magufuli Tanzanite Centre, located in Mirerani, a village located about 39 kilometres South-East of Arusha town, which the premier launched yesterday.
Named after the late President John Magufuli, the Magufuli Mineral Centre is a One-Stop-Centre built inside the Mirerani mining complex and it involves the immigration Department, National Intelligence Services, Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA), the police force, a conference hall and offices for other agencies.
“An absolute poverty characterizes this [entire town of Mirerani]. It is supposed that the town reflects the value of the mineral that is extracted from its land,” a statement from the Office of the Prime Minister quoted Mr Majaliwa as saying. “This is why we insist that everything must be conducted here in Mirerani. All Tanzanite trading should be conducted in Mirerani.”
Arrested for allegedly killing her mother
Police in Moshi, Kilimanjaro are holding a Form Four student at the Kindi Secondary School in the district for allegedly killing her sixty-four-year-old mother Marietha Mushi by strangling her with a piece of cloth, hitting her with heavy stuff and gouged out her eyes.
Moshi district commissioner Mr Said Mtanda said that the incident took place on July 5, 2021, in the Kibosho Sambarai area in the district. Reports indicate that Mushi was suffering from an arm impairment, something that made her fail to defend her life.
Mr Mtanda pointed out that preliminary investigation has found that the student whose name was not revealed was experiencing mental suffering and she is now receiving treatment at the Mawenzi Regional Referral Hospital in the region.
Man dies after suspected gas explosion in Mtwara
A forty-six-year-old worker at Dangote Cement Company Masila Mganga died yesterday while being rushed to the hospital following a gas explosion accident that is said to have taken place at the company’s production plants.
Dangote Cement is a subsidiary of Dangote Industries Limited, an international conglomerate dealing with construction, cement manufacturing and many other businesses in the African continent.
A senior acting medical officer at the Ligula Regional Referral Hospital in the Southern region of Mtwara Dr Mwajabu Miraji told journalists yesterday that fifteen other victims of the explosion were sent to the hospital and they continue receiving treatment there.
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