Dar es Salaam. Good morning! The Chanzo is here with a rundown of major news stories reported in Tanzania on Wednesday, March 22, 2023.

Arusha High Court postpones case of missing 85-year-old man from Loliondo

The Arusha High Court has on yesterday postponed case no 67 (2022) involving a missing 85-year-old Oriais Oleng’inyo from Ololosokwan village in Loliondo

Oleng’inyo went missing on June 10, 2022, following the commotion that ensued after the government’s decision to demarcate 1500 square kilometers of land in Loliondo. Maasai people came out in numbers to protest the demarcation exercise which would mean eviction from an important piece of village land that was used for grazing.

The applicant in the case is the Oleng’inyo family and the respondents are the Police Officer in Charge of Ngorongoro District, the Arusha Regional police commander, the Arusha Regional Commissioner, and the Attorney General. Judge Mohamed Gwae postponed the case as the respondent did not show up, the Judge ordered the respondent as well as the applicant to be present on March 30.

The family which is represented by Advocate Joseph Ole Shangay, William Ernest, and Simon Mbwambo wants the authorities to produce and release Mr Oleng’inyo who has gone missing for nine months now.

Speaking with The Chanzo, Advocate Joseph Ole Shangay said that it’s believed that Mr Oleng’inyo was injured during the protest and later on arrested but he was never charged or produced with other arrested individuals in June 2022.

Loliondo remains an area of controversy after the government’s decision to form a new game-controlled area, Pololeti Game Controlled area on June 17, 2022, on the contested 1500 square kilometers of village land.

The community around the area continues to complain that their interest has been quashed to preserve the interest of game-hunting companies, specifically the  Otterlo Business Corporation which operates in the area.

A human rights defender who wants Samia to run unopposed in 2025 elections

One of Tanzania’s leading human rights defenders, Onesmo Olengurumwa has asked opposition parties not to field a presidential candidate in the upcoming general election in 2025, urging them to focus on getting more members of parliament, councillors, and village chairpersons.

The national coordinator of the Tanzania Human Rights Defenders Coalition (THRDC) made the proposal on Tuesday during a wide-ranging, 74-minute interview with a digital media outlet Jambo TV.

The activist proposed that this should be a deal between opposition parties and President Samia Suluhu Hassan that the former commit not to field a presidential candidate. In return, Samia helps opposition parties get more MPs, councillors, and village chairpersons.

Mr Olengurumwa was responding to a question that sought his assessment of the position of opposition parties in Tanzania in the context of the ongoing reconciliation drive spearheaded by President Samia.

He said opposition parties are still “fragile,” thanks to the repression they faced during the previous administration, describing their power as “weak.”

“My advice to opposition parties is, first of all, to thank President Samia for allowing them to continue to operate as, if she wanted, she could pursue policies that would eliminate them,” Mr Olengurumwa began.

“I’d also like to advise them that in the 2025 elections because as things stand right now, it is as if the opposition parties are starting afresh, they should focus on local government elections, councillors, and members of parliament.

“The focus should be to ensure that at least one-third of MPs in the upcoming parliament come from opposition parties, at least one-third of all councillors in the country, and at least one-third of all village chairpersons.

“If they do that in the 2025 elections, they’ll have enough power to field their presidential candidate in the 2030 elections because by then, they might have grounded themselves at the grassroots levels.

“Because when you take part in an election and want to support presidential, parliamentary and councillorship candidates financially, where are opposition parties going to get that money in the current situation? They cannot afford to do that.

“I think in the upcoming election, if we agree that financial resources are a challenge, the opposition should focus on getting more MPs, councillors, and village chairpersons.

“They should not field a presidential candidate because that will mean more financial burden, and it’d prevent their efforts to get more MPs, councillors, and village chairpersons,” he observed.

Full story here.

Uganda dispatches team to TZ following the outbreak of Marburg virus disease

Uganda has sent a medical team to Tanzania to do a Marburg Virus Disease (MVD) spread risk assessment at the Tanzania-Uganda border after authorities in Tanzania confirmed the presence of the disease in its northwestern region of Kagera.

Kagera is on the Tanzania-Uganda border. 

Uganda’s New Vision newspaper quoted the country’s Ministry of Health spokesperson Emmanuel Ainebyoona as saying they have dispatched teams to do risk assessment in Uganda’s districts that neighbour Tanzania, including Isingiro, Kyotera and Kalangala.

The teams are also doing a risk assessment in Kampala, the paper said in its report.

The reports come one day after Minister of Health Ummy Mwalimu identified the mysterious disease that has killed at least five people in Kagera as a Marburg Virus Disease.

Full story here.

Survey deep dives into challenges, opportunities faced by EA’s tech start-up ecosystem

A new survey has revealed lack of access to investors, reliance on international VCs and global recession trends as the biggest perceived barriers for East African tech start-ups to access funds as COVID-19 has slowed down investments across the region’s start-up landscape.

Titled ‘A Deep Dive into East Africa’s Start-up Ecosystem: Challenges & Opportunities’, the survey attracted hundreds of respondents, with 25.9 per cent being seed businesses, 28.7 per cent being Series A businesses, 25 per cent being Series B businesses and 20.4 per cent being Scale-up businesses. 

The survey, conducted by regional tech event East Africa Com and tech news portal Connecting Africa, is part of a benchmark survey mapping barriers regional start-ups face and opportunities to power nascent tech businesses in the region.

It reveals that the lack of access to investors, the reliance on international VCs and global recessions trends are perceived as threats by 59 per cent, 56 per cent and 55 per cent of respondents. 

Twenty-eight per cent of respondents indicated that COVID-19 had slowed down investment across the East African start-up landscape, making it the biggest impacting factor over the last twelve months. 

Fifty-four per cent of seed businesses rely on family and friends to provide funding, and 74 per cent of respondents needed to meet up to five investors before securing funds.

“We are proud to present these survey results, which help us keep the pulse on East Africa’s vibrant tech start-up scene to assess better how our programme and networking experiences can help deliver solutions for promising tech businesses to access funding, be agile and resilient, whilst remaining both innovative and competitive,” said Ciara McDonald Heffernan, Head of Events for East Africa Com, in a statement. 

“Start-ups are a driving force towards economic growth in East Africa, but now more than ever, we are determined to focus our efforts on creating a favourable environment for tech start-ups to thrive,” she added.

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