Dar es Salaam. Good morning! The Chanzo is here with a rundown of major news stories reported in Tanzania on Wednesday, September 15, 2021.
Samia hints at 2025 run
President Samia Suluhu Hassan on Wednesday suggested she could run for president in the 2025 General Election, telling her supporters that Tanzania’s women are yet to put their fellow woman in the State House, referring to herself as a president thanks to only “God wishes and constitutional requirements.”
President Samia revealed her plan during a rally in Tanzania’s commercial capital of Dar es Salaam to mark the International Day of Democracy that is celebrated globally on September 15 of every year. The day is observed with the purpose of promoting and upholding the principles of democracy worldwide.
“What women of this country succeeded at was pushing for this country to have the first female Vice-President,” President Samia told her supporters who gathered at the Diamond Jubilee social hall. Before becoming the president on March 19, 2021, Samia served as Vice-President under the late President John Magufuli.
“But me being here is simply God’s wishes. Now, brothers and sisters, we’ll elect [Tanzania’s] first female President in 2025. If we do our things properly and stand together in solidarity, we’ll elect a female President, and we shall meet here with great ecstasy. They Have Started to Provoke Us By Writing in Newspapers That I Will Not Run, Who Told Them?,” said President Samia.
On August 11, 2021, the government banned Uhuru newspaper, the ruling Chama cha Mapinduzi’s (CCM) mouthpiece for fourteen days, for allegedly publishing a false story about President Samia, claiming that the Head of State does not have a plan to run for the presidency in 2025.
Uhuru had carried a front-page story reading ‘Sina wazo kuwania uraisi 2025 – Samia,’ which translates to ‘I do not intend to run for the presidency in 2025 – Samia’ in English. The paper did the story based on an interview the Head of State, who doubles as CCM’s national chairperson, did with BBC Swahili earlier that week.
Observers of Tanzania’s political developments commented then that the incident says a lot about the ongoing suppressed but growing fractions within one of Africa’s oldest political parties, especially between the camp of former president John Magufuli’s loyalists and President Samia’s base.
During Wednesday’s function, President Samia called Tanzania one of the countries observing democratic principles. She admitted that some challenges remain in making Tanzania an ideal democratic nation, calling democracy a process that requires time to realize.
“It is a continuous process,” the Head of State said, before adding that there is no universally acceptable “formula of democracy that nations have agreed on to adopt. It depends on the particular country’s norms, laws and constitution.”
Fintech platform Thunes partners with M-Pesa Tanzania to enable instant money transfers to bank accounts in Kenya and Rwanda
The cross-border payments platform Thunes on Wednesday launched a new service for users of M-Pesa Tanzania, enabling Tanzanians to seamlessly move money from their M-Pesa mobile wallets directly to any bank account in Kenya and Rwanda, a statement released yesterday said.
Thunes provides payment rails to mobile wallets, banks, and, in some cases, cash payouts in Africa. According to the statement, Thunes currently has over 50 intra-Africa corridors helping to facilitate faster, cheaper and more transparent transactions for the consumers, giving access to over 200 million mobile wallets in Africa.
“We are glad to be able to strengthen our partnership with M-Pesa, and jointly help millions of people in Africa access financial services and affordable international payments,” Thunes Vice-President for Africa Sandra Yao said in a statement. “We continue to see tremendous growth opportunities on the continent and are committed to building payments infrastructure that will benefit businesses and communities.”
Thunes and M-Pesa Tanzania have been working together since 2018, with M-Pesa Tanzania using Thunes’ cross-border payments network to enable remittances to most major e-wallets within East Africa.
“This cooperation with Thunes broadens the reach across East African markets for millions of Tanzanian-based businesses and individuals,” Vodacom Tanzania M-Pesa Director Epimack Mbeteni said. “More entrepreneurs and consumers connected to the M-Pesa platform will be able to benefit from the speed and convenience for payments beyond borders that the Thunes’ network provides.”
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