Dar es Salaam. Good morning! The Chanzo is here with a rundown of major news stories reported in Tanzania over the weekend.
Kenya, Tanzania commence Joint Reaffirmation Exercise of their international boundary
Tanzania and Kenya on Sunday commenced the joint boundary reaffirmation exercise of their shared boundary, an exercise that will be taking place from November 2021 to January 2022, Kenyan-based Capital FM reported yesterday.
Jointly coordinated by the Kenya International Boundaries Office (KIBO) and Tanzania’s Ministry of Lands, Housing and Human Settlements Development, the exercise aims at ensuring that the boundary between the two East African countries is visibly marked on the ground by erecting boundary pillars that mark the limits of the respective territory.
These pillars will be constructed using iron rods, binding wire, cement, sand and ballast.
The reaffirmation process shall is expected to commence from Lake Victoria to the Indian Ocean covering a distance of approximately 760 kilometres. The process will entail re-establishment of destroyed boundary pillars, construction of pillars where none exist and drafting a new agreement to replace the old colonial agreements.
Also being undertaken during the exercise is the collection of geographical names, features and public utilities from coverage of two kilometres on both sides of the border by the cartographic team.
The joint cartographic team will cover the entire expanse of the international boundary by visiting all the villages within all the sub-locations touching the international boundary and interviewing various people to gather information.
As a result of this exercise, different names are given to different places within the boundary area, for instance, Sirari/Isebania and Mwishoni/Muhuru Bay are joint community names at the boundary.
In the end, the exercise is expected to create a boundary that will enhance security and protection of citizens; facilitate the management of transboundary resources, and unite communities and ensure peaceful co-existence.
Zanzibar announces over Sh400billion stimulus package
Zanzibar President Dr Hussein Mwinyi on Saturday announced a Sh460 billion stimulus package to stir economic recovery from the COVID-19 induced recession.
The money is part of the $100 million (about Sh230 billion) that Zanzibar received from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan to Tanzania as well as a $100 million loan that Zanzibar has taken from an undisclosed lender, bringing the total to $200 million (about 460 billion).
According to Dr Mwinyi, the IMF fund will be directed to health, education, water and power sectors, as well as economically empowering citizens.
The stimulus package will also target the health sector where the government is determined to invest in strengthening infrastructure, including the construction of a new five-storey Lumumba regional hospital with the capacity of admitting 200 patients in Unguja.
The money will also be used to supply Pemba-based Abdalla Mzee Hospital with medical equipment and medics and construct 10 district hospitals, with 100-bed capacity each.
The government will also purchase 12 ambulances for all two regional and 10 district hospitals in the country.
The education sector will get Sh69 billion for the construction of 706 new classrooms and the completion of 425 classrooms under different stages of construction by citizens.
The money will also be spent on the construction of 35 new schools; 1,693 toilets; rehabilitation of old schools; construction of teachers’ houses and purchase of 8,000 desks.
The Sh34.2 billion allotment to the water sector will be directed into increased water production and storage through the drilling of 28 new wells; procurement and installation of water pumps as well as the construction of water tanks.
The government further envisages investing 11bn/- into the power sector to subsidise power connection charges to citizens from over Sh600,000 to Sh200,000.
Small entrepreneurs have Sh85.4 billion that will be directed into the procurement of 577 modern, fully equipped fishing boats; purchase of seaweed farming tools and improvement of business environment as well as loans to entrepreneurs in various sectors.
Warning dishonest government officers bent on pilfering the money, Dr Mwinyi said: “Already, there are indicators of some people preparing themselves to steal this money; I have all the information and let me caution you…not a penny will be stolen.”
Dr Mwinyi said that it was his belief that the projects his government is going to implement will boost money circulation in the market and create thousands of jobs for Zanzibaris.
Tanzania targets daily COVID-19 vaccinations of up to 100,000 people
The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health Dr Abel Makubi said Saturday that between 80,000 and 100,000 people will be vaccinated daily against COVID-19 during the second phase of the inoculation campaign.
Dr Makubi revealed the acceleration of the vaccination in a meeting with regional medical officers and COVID-19 vaccination coordinators in the capital Dodoma.
He pointed out that the second phase of the vaccination campaign will mainly focus on rural communities.
Dr Makubi noted that the new campaign will go in tandem with raising awareness at community levels on precaution measures issued by health authorities against the pandemic.
At least one million Tanzanians have been vaccinated between July 28 when President Samia Suluhu Hassan launched the campaign and October 31.
Tanzania’s exports to Africa rose 11.8 pc in 2020
Tanzania’s exports to African countries increased to $2.27 billion in 2020 from $2.03 billion in 2019, an increase of 11.8 per cent, according to the Chief Executive Officer of the East African Business Council (EABC) Mr John Bosco Kalisa.
The EABC boss made the revelation on Friday at the launch of the African Due Diligence Platform in the commercial capital Dar es Salaam.
The Due Diligence Platform is among innovative solutions put in place to transform Africa’s trade and helped to solve challenges African countries are facing in trading with each other.
Kalisa urged the East African Community (EAC) to align trade policy, eliminate non-tariff barriers, ease access to trade finance for small and medium enterprises, enhance productive capacity and factor market integration to tap into the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) market.
Paul Makanza, the chairman of the Confederation of Tanzania Industries (CTI), said intra-Africa trade is still low at approximately 16.6 per cent of total Africa exports to the globe.
Makanza said January 1, 2021, signalled a new dawn for Africa as trading under AfCFTA commenced.
He commended the EAC heads of state for ratifying the AfCFTA and called upon the Tanzania private sector to seize the moment and opportunities availed by the continental market.
BoT: Employees of some banks and financial institutions are responsible for the high rate of non-performing loans
In the statement issued yesterday [sunday] evening, The Bank of Tanzania (BoT) said it has found the reason behind the high rate of non-performing loans are practices of fraud, corruption and irregularities in issuing loans by employees in some banks and financial institutions in Tanzania. According to the statement, this announcement has come after the review of the bank to establish the main reasons behind high non-performing loans in the banking sector in Tanzania.
In reiterating the reasons established, the BoT has decided to examine banks and financial institutions to determine causes and employees who are directly responsible for non-performing loans and the bank decided to blacklist and bar all responsible employees from being employed in any bank and financial institution in Tanzania.
Other measures include prohibiting banks and financial institutions to grant any credit accommodation to unscrupulous borrowers who borrowed with the intention of not repaying the loans or using fraudulent means. In other way BoT has requested banks to submit names of civil servants who have non-performing loans so that it can submit to their employers for appropriate action against them.
‘High rate of non-performing loans is among major causes of high lending rates and may lead to instability of the banking sector’ the statement said. Also, the BoT has requested citizens to report to the bank, financial institution or BoT any fraud or corruption incident they come across when accessing any service from the bank or financial institutions.
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