Dar es Salaam. Good morning! The Chanzo is here with a rundown of major news stories reported in Tanzania on Tuesday, January 11, 2022.
Five journalists die in Simiyu car crash
Five journalists were confirmed dead on Tuesday following a deadly car crash that took place in the Nyamikoma area of Busega District, Simiyu region, South East of Lake Victoria.
They are Abel Ngapemba, who worked as Mwanza region information officer; Steven Afisa, Ukerewe district information officer; Johari Shani, a reporter with Uhuru Digital, freelancer Antony Chuwa and ITV Tanzania reporters Husna Mlanzi.
They are among the 14 people who died when the car they were in crashed with a Toyota Hiace, a passengers’ bus. The deceaseds were a part of the Mwanza regional commissioner Robert Gabriel’s entourage.
Busega district commissioner Gabriel Zakaria told Mwananchi newspaper on Tuesday that four journalists died on spot together with seven others, including the person who was driving them.
Others died on the way to the hospital while others died while receiving treatment at a nearby hospital.
Tuesday’s accident came hardly a week after another grisly road accident was reported to have occurred on the morning of January 3, 2021, in the village of Lidumbe, in the district of Newala, Mtwara region, southern of Tanzania, killing fourteen people.
Car crashes that involve government leaders’ entourages are common in Tanzania, with many associating the accidents with the speed with which the entourages travel.
In 2021, for example, a number of car crashes that involved government leaders’ entourages were reported.
They involve the entourages of Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa, Ngorongoro district commissioner Albert Msando, and Mtwara regional commissioner Marco Gaguti to name but a few.
Tanzania eyeing $3 billion loans from BADEA
Tanzania’s Minister of Finance and Planning, Mwigulu Nchemba and Minister of Agriculture, Hussein Bashe yesterday held a virtual meeting with the Director General of the Arab Bank of Economic Development in Africa (BADEA), Dr. Sidi Ould Tah.
The discussion was around fastening of the process toward the release of the $3 billion loan. The loan was committed by the Bank Director following his meeting with the Tanzania President in October 2021 and the subsequent engagement with the Finance Minister.
“Government is intending to direct this loans to 32 project in the Tanzania mainland and Zanzibar, reads the statement from the Ministry of Finance, aside from investment in strategic sectors that guarantee employment, the loan will also be used to strengthen the private sector” .
The Minister of Agriculture also highlighted the expected use of the fund “Funds from BADEA will support 19 irrigation schemes projects in a 1.2 hectare area out of the available 29 hectare”.
From BADEA end, the Bank is expected to send a team of experts who will come to discuss terms of the loan and implementation with Tanzanian experts.
The meeting comes a week since the President had explained on plans of investing more in agriculture and that the government was looking for for affordable loan for these plans.
Landmine-sniffing hero rat Magawa dies aged eight
Apopo, a Belgian-based NGO that trains rats to save lives, announced on Tuesday the passing away of Magawa, the famous Tanzanian mine-clearing rat who was awarded a gold medal for his heroism.
In its announcement that it posted on Instagram on Tuesday, Apopo said that Magawa “passed away peacefully” over the weekend.
“Magawa was in good health and spent most of last week playing with his usual enthusiasm, but towards the weekend he started to slow down,” Apopo said.
During his career, Magawa found over 100 landmines and other explosives, making him APOPO’s most successful HeroRAT to date, the charity group said.
“His contribution allows communities in Cambodia to live, work, and play; without fear of losing life or limb,” it added in a statement.
In September 2020, Magawa was presented with a PDSA Gold Medal – the highest award for gallantry an animal can receive. Magawa retired in 2021.
Magawa underwent a year of training before moving to Cambodia to begin his bomb-sniffing career. There are thought to be up to six million landmines in the South East Asian country, according to the BBC.
Although Magawa weighed 1.2kg and was 70cm long he was so small that he could not trigger mines if he walked over them.
According to Apopo, Magawa could search a field the size of a tennis court in just 20 minutes, something the NGO says would take a person with a metal detector between one and four days.
Lightning strike kills four in Mbeya
Chunya district commissioner Mayeka Mayeka said Monday that four people who were digging a grave for burying their relative died on Sunday after they were hit by a lightning strike.
Mayeka said during a press conference on Monday that one man who was also digging the grave was seriously injured when the lighting hit on Sunday afternoon.
He said the four victims were digging the grave for burying their relative who died on Saturday, adding that all died on the spot.
The reports came hardly a week after five people, including four children, were killed by a lightning strike in the Kigoma district of Kibondo.
James Manyama, the Kigoma regional police commander, said the four children were hit by lightning on Tuesday at 6PM in Kibuye village. Manyama said the fifth victim, a woman, was hit by lightning when she was farming.
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One Response
Africa is impoverished and CONTROLLED by MASSIVE FOREIGN LOANS from every corner of the globe!
All the borrowed foreign loans are squandered by the corrupt African ruling elites who are so imbecilic that they cannot say NO to these predatory foreign loans!
African ruling elites African s worst enemies!!
QUOTE
The discussion was around fastening of the process toward the release of the $3 billion loan. The loan was committed by the Bank Director following his meeting with the Tanzania President in October 2021 and the subsequent engagement with the Finance Minister.
“Government is intending to direct this loans to 32 project in the Tanzania mainland and Zanzibar, reads the statement from the Ministry of Finance, aside from investment in strategic sectors that guarantee employment, the loan will also be used to strengthen the private sector”
Unquote