Dar es Salaam. Good morning! The Chanzo is here with a rundown of major news stories reported in Tanzania on Thursday, December 23, 2021.
Taskforce formed to follow up on Dodoma democracy talks
The Registrar of Political Parties Judge (Retired) Francis Mutungi yesterday announced the formation of a 23-member task force that will follow up on the main issues raised during a recently concluded stakeholders’ conference called to discuss the future of multiparty democracy in Tanzania.
Officiated by President Samia Suluhu Hassan, the two-day conference took place in the capital Dodoma from December 15 to December 17, 2021, and was attended by key stakeholders of Tanzania’s political development namely political parties, the Office of the Party Registrar, security organs, Political Parties Council, civil societies and religious leaders.
Four arguments preoccupied participants of the conference that opposition CHADEMA and NCCR-Mageuzi boycotted, namely the need to review the existing Political Parties Act; that an Independent Electoral Commission is established under a new elections law; that the process to establish a New Constitution be completed; and that the ban on political rallies is lifted.
According to Judge Mutungi, the task force will be tasked with the responsibility of preparing the recommendations on these arguments and submitting them to the Political Parties Council, which in turn it will submit to the government.
The members of the task force have been drawn from a wide range of areas including political parties, academia, government agencies, religious institutions from both sides of the Union, that is, Tanzania Mainland and Zanzibar.
You can read the entire list of the members of the task force here.
Zanzibar appoints two Emirati companies as master concessionaire at Abeid Amani Karume International Airport
The Zanzibar government has appointed two Emirates Group subsidiary companies, Maritime and Mercantile International (MMI) and Emirates Leisure Retail (ELR), as a master concessionaire at the Abeid Amani Karume International Airport’s newly-built Terminal 3.
MMI, a beverage distributor based in Dubai and ELR, which runs restaurants, cafes and bars around the world, will jointly operate all duty-free, food and beverage as well as all other commercial outlets at the airport, a statement released jointly by the company said.
Officially opened on October 2020, the New Terminal 3 is reserved for international flights. It is expected to serve over 1.5 million passengers with Dubai National Air Travel Agency (dnata), an Emirati airport services provider, expected to serve over 4,000 flights annually at the airport.
Thursday’s announcement came a few days after dnata announced that it was planning to recruit more than 400 staff over the next month in Zanzibar while investing about $7 million in the Zanzibar local aviation industry.
“The companies’ vast international expertise will bring a mix of Zanzibarian inspired food and beverage outlets, alongside a multi-category duty-free shopping experience showcasing a carefully selected range of the world’s best brands,” MMI and ELR said in a joint statement.
Creative collective, Eight Inc, has been appointed to work with MMI and ELR to develop a new blueprint concept, which is set to create a unique airport customer experience.
Tanzania: World Bank approves over Sh345b funding for strengthening land administration system
The World Bank Board of Executive Directors has approved a $150 million (an equivalent of Sh345.7 billion) funding to Tanzania that will strengthen the East African nation’s land administration system and increase tenure security for at least two million landholders, the international lender said in a statement.
World Bank says that its recent analysis shows that while most men and women in Tanzania lack formal documentation of their land and property, men are more than three times as likely as women to claim to be the sole owners of land or property assets.
The Land Tenure Improvement Project (LTIP), which will be implemented by the Ministry of Lands, seeks to close that gap by promoting gender equity in the mass certification activities by ensuring that women can register land either individually or jointly with their husbands with the full range of rights.
“Securing land rights and improving land management systems will enable opportunities for agricultural investment and will increase household resilience to climate change and other potential crises,” the statement quoted the bank’s country director for Tanzania Mara Warwick as saying. “This is crucial for Tanzania’s economic development and poverty reduction.”
The project is expected to cover approximately 40 districts and supports the issuance of one million Certificates of Right of Occupancy (CROs), 500,000 Certificates of Customary Right of Occupancy (CCROs) and one million Residential License (RLs).
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