Victorious Isles Hold Post-Election Rallies

Zanzibar — JUBILANT CUF fans turned-up in big numbers at public rallies on the Isles, organized to thank the electorate for participating peacefully in the October 31 elections.

Addressing both rallies, First Vice President Mr Seif Shariff Hamad who is also CUF Secretary General underlined unity and hard work, saying cooperation at top leadership was strong.

He also asked CUF members to start preparing for the next elections (2015).

"President Ali Mohamed Shein, Second VP Ambassador Seif Ali Iddi and I, have forged a strong bond, definitely because we conducted decent election campaigns.

We are committed to working together for the interest of Zanzibar," Mr Hamad said.

There would be no room for saboteurs and ministers and legislators should show commitment to serve Zanzibaris, he said, citing intervention to halt dumping of substandard foods (such as Mapembe rice) into Zanzibar market.

The public rallies are the first to be held after the general election. Earlier, the Minister of State- First President's office Ms Fatma Abdulhabib Fereji, introduced her colleagues (ministers) from CUF.

At a rally held at Tibirinzi ground in Chake-chake Pemba, the South Pemba Regional Commissioner Mr Kasim Tindwa said ministers should work hard for development.

A minister from CCM, Mr Hajo Omar Kheri (state minister- civil service and good governance) also attended the rally.

Mr Abubakari Khamis Bakari (Constitution and Legal Affairs), Mr Nassor Mazrui (Trade and Marketing) and Mr Hamad Masoud ( Infrastructure and Communication) attended the rally held at Kibanda Maiti.

"We thank you and pray that team work remains stronger for the development of Zanzibar," said Mr Khalifa Abdallah, CUF national youth secretary.

"CUF members and fans support the GNU. Since elections are over, we need now to start preparing ourselves for the 2015 general elections," he said.

A rally held in Pemba carried a similar message delivered by Mr Saleh Nassor Juma, the Island's CUF youth leader.

Meanwhile local government elections in nine wards of Unguja and Pemba were held peacefully on Sunday as confirmed by voters and Zanzibar Electoral Commission (ZEC) staff at the polling stations.

Cleaning Up Zanzibar

Sierra Brashear has a passion for trash.

She’s vitally interested in the amount and content of the crap we as a species manage to generate. (In case you're wondering, the EPA reports that the USA alone produces enough garbage annually to bury the state of Texas twice). She's been fighting for the environment since grade school.

Growing up in Conifer, Colorado, she was so appalled by plans to develop Elk Meadow that she took it upon herself to write a letter to the editor of the local paper expressing her concern. 'The developer,' she says, 'wrote back saying ‘If you’re so worried about it, buy it yourself.’ She was eight years old at the time.

Later, working on a degree in International Environmental Policy and Development at Colorado University, she volunteered at the student run CU Environmental Center, sorting and recycling campus waste. 'I was fascinated by the content and amount of the waste we generated on campus,' she says. 'We’d fill up a thirty-foot roll off twice a week.'

As part of her course work, Brashear went to Zanzibar to do a study on costal ecology in 2006. Zanzibar, an island off the coast of Tanzania, has in recent years become a destination for sun-seeking Europeans. It’s an island of stunning natural beauty, ringed with white sand beaches, crystal clear waters, and trash as far as the eye can see. 'Plastic bags, bottles, cans, batteries, chip bags,' she says. 'The landscape was covered with it.'

In her conversations with local teachers, government officials, hotel owners and ordinary citizens, Brashear came to a devastating realization. In pitching their trash out on the beach, the people of Zanzibar were not engaged in some form of aberrant behavior, nor were they being callous or indifferent to the environment. They were practicing an ancient form of recycling that up until now had worked just fine for them. In traditional Zanzibari culture, a shopping bag, for example, might be woven of grass, an organic material that could be discarded with the certain expectation that the earth would soon reclaim it. Not so with modern materials like plastic bags, which take forever to decompose.

Having brought capitalism to the island, and with it modern materials like plastics, we have, Brashear insists, 'a responsibility to help the people of Zanzibar figure out how to dispose of it.'

Back in Boulder, she spent a year thinking about the problem. Then one day her mother offered a simple suggestion, 'The solution,' she said, 'lies in education.' Mother, Brashear realized, was onto something.

She applied for and received a grant from the CU Undergraduate Research Opportunity Fund to design a curriculum to educate Zanzibaris on how to deal with their trash. While it emphasized reduction of consumption, Brashear’s program also contained some novel suggestions for recycling. Plastic bags, for example, could be cut into strips and crocheted into reusable purses and market bags.

An Italian environmental group active in Zanzibar, the Association of Rural Cooperation in Africa and Latin America (ACRA), was so impressed with her ideas, that they have funded a program to teach them to local school kids. They’re also pushing to have her suggestions included in the national school curriculum.

'To be honest,' she says, 'I still feel disheartened by the amount of trash we generate. I look at people’s grocery carts and see how much packaging it takes to produce just one meal…all that plastic and cardboard. There’s definitely a link to food production. So much of the trash in Zanzibar was food related… juice containers instead of juice from locally grown fruits, for example.'

Brashear is now working with an organization called Grow House in North Denver’s Swansea neighborhood, setting up greenhouses and encouraging area residents to grow their own organic produce. 'I believe,' she says, 'that the solution to the world’s trash problem lies in the localization of food production, and in the individual empowerment of people to control their own food sources.'

STATEMENT BY THE SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY, AMB. JUMA V. MWAPACHU

Hotel Diamonds La Gemma de l'Est
Zanzibar, Tanzania

Your Excellency Dr. Jean Ping;
Chairperson of the AU Commission,

Your Excellency Abdoulie Janneh,
UN Deputy Secretary General and
Executive Secretary of the ECA,

Your Excellency Dr. Donald Kaberuka
President of the African Development Bank,

My Colleagues, the CEOs of RECs
and Regional Mechanisms,

Distinguished AUC Commissioners,


Hon. Beatrice Kiraso,
Deputy Secretary General, East African Community,

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen.


On behalf of the East African Community, I warmly welcome you to the United Republic of Tanzania and specifically to Zanzibar, the world famous Spice Islands and home to the World Heritage Site of Stone Town. I truly hope that you will not miss the chance to explore the beauty, serenity and splendour of these Islands that are rich in Arabic and Islamic civilization. A special warm welcome to you, Dr. Jean Ping. Your presence at meetings of the AU-RECs Coordination Committee is of great significance. As RECs we feel honoured and respected when you allow us the opportunity to interact with you at close quarters.

We meet in Zanzibar at a most historic moment in the political life of these islands and, indeed, of the Tanzanian Union itself. The Tanzania Presidential and House of Representatives elections which took place exactly eight days ago have opened a new page of democracy, peace and stability for Zanzibar and for the United Republic of Tanzania.

Following the recent constitutional change in Zanzibar to allow the formation of a Government of National Unity as a fundamental political governance principle, Zanzibar has this past week gone through the most peaceful, free and fair elections in history. The political rancour that used to embroil past elections has given way to a political modus vivendi whose driving ethos is the realization of peace, stability and progress for all Zanzibaris.

This new political and constitutional dispensation in Zanzibar augurs well for the consolidation of the Tanzania Union which represents Africa's model of political integration.

Your Excellency and Colleagues,

I believe that all of us have also closely followed the trends in the just ended Tanzania Union general elections. Close observers of the Tanzanian political scene would tell you that the elections this year have reflected a radical departure from those experienced since 1992 when Tanzania re-adopted a multi-party political system government. There has been a marked change in the electoral performance of the political parties, notably of those that oppose the ruling party, CCM.


For true democrats, this change is an important one in the African democratic political process. It shows that democracy and pluralism are taking root and that the electorate is becoming ever more aware of its political rights and choices. Africa needs to share these experiences especially where they reflect powerful trends towards political change but in environments that also manifest strong culture of peace and tranquility.


Your Excellency and Colleagues,

As we meet here today we cannot fail to be seized of the enormity of the mandate of the RECs as the building blocks of the African Union. We cannot also fail to be seized of the complexities of the issues and the serious capacity constraints the RECs face in discharging their mandate. The fact that we have structured this platform is clear recognition of the seriousness we place on our collective quest to share insights and experiences to better deliver on our lofty mandates.
The challenges we face hinge on a number of goals: good governance, peace and security; and social and economic development.

Similarly, there are challenges of a global dimension, such as climate change and unfavorable terms of trade, both of which require joint efforts and effective responses of essentially national but also of regional nature and scope. I am pleased to note that some of these challenges constitute the agenda of our deliberations at this meeting. But I am equally happy that our meeting will focus on how AU's building blocs are working together within the spirit of realizing broader African integration. The COMESA-EAC-SADC Tripartite is a unique model that should be hailed and replicated in other parts of Africa. The view that resides in certain quarters of integration opinion that this tripartite model seeks to undermine the larger continental quest is simply bizarre and impolitic.

Let me end my welcoming remarks by once again thanking the African Union Commission for accepting EAC's wish to host this meeting in Zanzibar. I trust you will find the environment here highly supportive of serious work. As we say in Kiswahili, KARIBUNI SANA.

Tanzania listed one of top 10 tourist destinations in 2011

DAR ES SALAAM, Nov. 8 (Xinhua) -- Tanzania has been named as one of the top 10 destinations in the world to visit in 2011 by an Australia-based international travel advisory firm as the east African country has a surprise to offer for tourists who are eager to visit the nation.

Tanzania is a place of great wonders, with national parks such as Serengeti and Kilimanjaro, the Spice Islands of Zanzibar and the famous Ngorongoro crater, said the local media on Monday, quoting a report issued by the Tanzania Tourist Board.

Besides, the country also has big herd of elephants, tree-climbing lions, chimpanzee sanctuaries in Gombe and Mahale and packs of wild dogs in Selous Game Reserve.

The country has the whole panoply of east Africa's wildlife including such rarities as the red colobus monkey, black rhino, hawksbill, leatherback turtles and Pemba flying foxes concentrated in an unrivalled collection of parks and reserves.

Besides Tanzania, Albania, Brazil, Cape Verde, Panama, Bulgaria, Vanuatu, Italy, Syria and Japan are the other top nine countries listed by the travel advisory firm Lonely Planet.

DK ALI MOHAMMED SHEIN - RAIS MTEULE WA ZANZIBAR.

Jumla ya kura zilizopigwa: 364,924

Kura halali:358,815

Kura zilizoharibika:6109

DK ALI MOHAMMED SHEIN :179,809 - 50.1%

MAALIM SEIF SHARIF HAMAD :176,338 - 49.1%

Who's Who - Election Backgrounder

Tanzanians go to the polls on 31 October to elect their President and Members of Parliament for the next five years. Seven presidential candidates will take part in the polls, including the incumbent Jakaya Kikwete who is running for a second term.

Other candidates are Willibrod Slaa and Ibrahim Lipumba of the main opposition parties, the Chama Cha Demokrasia na Maendelo (CHADEMA) and the Civic United Front (CUF) respectively.

Kikwete is representing Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM), which has been in power since independence in 1961.

The Tanzanian parliament, the Bunge is made up of 232 members that are elected while the remainder is appointed. Under the country's Constitution, there are 75 seats guaranteed for women, representing an additional 30 percent of the figure of elected seats.

The 75 women members are appointed by the National Electoral Commission drawn from lists submitted by the parties in parliament, and based on the number of votes won by the parties represented in parliament.

In the last election, CCM won 206 of the elected seats, that is almost 90 percent of the elected seats in parliament. Kikwete won the presidential election with 80.2 percent of the popular vote.

The CUF won 19 seats with the five going to CHADEMA and one each to the Tanzania Labour Party (TLP) and the United Democratic Party (UDP).

The national elections are conducted on the same day as those in the Zanzibar islands, where Zanzibaris vote twice, once for the national President and parliament, and once for their own local President and parliament, which is more like local government.

In the Zanzibar elections, the outcome of the polls will usher in a historic achievement that will see the formation of a unity government, which includes a President from the wining party, first Vice President from the second-placed party and second Vice President from the wining party. Ministries are to be allocated on a proportional basis.

CCM has selected Vice President Ali Mohamed Shein as its candidate for the Zanzibar presidential polls. Shein replaces President Amani Abeid Karume, whose second and final term as Zanzibar President ends in October.

CUF will be represented by Seif Sharif Hamad, who is contesting the polls for the fourth time after failed attempts in 1995, 2000 and 2005.

Zanzibar is a part of the United Republic of Tanzania. However, the Zanzibar archipelago, comprising the two main islands of Unguja and Pemba, retains its own governance structure and electoral system in addition to the Union structures.

Zanzibar and Tanganyika, as the mainland was then known, entered into a Union agreement in 1964 to form the United Republic of Tanzania, whose main objective is to build a unified society based on freedom, human rights and peaceful existence.

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) Election Observer Mission (SEOM) has deployed more than 100 observers to monitor the electoral process in three phases, namely, the pre-election, the election and the post-elections.

SADC Director for Politics, Defence and Security, Tanki Mothae said the pre-election period has been peaceful, adding that the atmosphere should prevail throughout the electoral process.

He said a draft report on how the polls were conducted would be released after the elections. This is in line with the SADC Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections, which encourages Member States to promote common political values and systems.

The SADC observer team is expected to interact with other regional and international missions such as the African Union and European Union that are in Tanzania at the invitation of the government.

The conduct of the different observer missions will be guided by the Constitution and electoral laws of Tanzania. Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Minister Bernard Membe has urged observers to adhere to these standards so that the polls are free and fair.

"Observers are expected to be impartial, operate within their mandate and respect the law of the land and authorities responsible for regulating the elections," he said


AllAfrica.com

Kikwete tipped for re-election

Dar es Salaam - East Africa's largest country prepared for its fourth multi-party polls on Sunday, with President Jakaya Kikwete expected to keep his job despite feistier-than-usual opposition.

Voters will also choose leaders on Tanzania's semi-autonomous Zanzibar island under a new power-sharing system aimed at ending perennial election violence.

Two opinion polls have given Kikwete, 60, a wide margin over his six opponents as he seeks a second and final term in office.

Opposition to his ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM - Revolution Party) is at its strongest since the resumption of multiparty politics in 1992 and Kikwete is expected to win with a lower margin than his 80 percent landslide in 2005.

Kikwete, a former foreign minister, has promised to reduce poverty, improve health, education and transport, but his opponents criticised the new pledges, saying poverty is still high despite CCM's rule since 1961 independence.

Tanzania is one of the world's least developed countries, with an economy reliant on non-industrialised agriculture that employs nearly 80 percent of the workforce.

Other economic sectors include mining, construction, manufacturing and tourism Ä for which it boasts the expansive Serengeti park and Kilimanjaro, Africa's tallest mountain, as well as the idyllic Zanzibar archipelago.

The ruling party remained confident it would win the elections, in which some 19 million voters will also elect lawmakers and local leaders.

“We are satisfied with the trend of our campaigns so far,” said Abdulrahman Kinana, CCM's election committee chairman.

“We are going to emerge with a big victory in the presidential, parliamentary and councillors' polls,” he told reporters earlier this month.

One of Kikwete's main opponents is three-time presidential loser Ibrahim Lipumba of the Civic United Front (CUF).

A former University of Dar es Salaam economics professor, Lipumba lost twice to Kikwete's predecessor Benjamin Mkapa in 1995 and 2000 and to Kikwete himself in 2005, and opinion polls have placed him third.

First-time presidential candidate and veteran lawmaker Wilbrod Slaa is Kikwete's closest challenger, but registered a paltry 10

percent in opinion polls released earlier this month.

On the Zanzibar archipelago, a top tourist destination but politically volatile, some 400 000 voters are also called to cast their ballots on Sunday.

CCM's Ali Mohamed Shein, 62, and CUF's 67-year-old Seif Sharif Hamad are the top candidates for Zanzibar's presidency. The two also backed a July referendum to entrench a power-sharing government in the constitution.

Under the new accord, the winning pary takes the presidency while the runners-up are handed the position of vice-president.

Despite a peaceful campaigns, the CUF has voiced concern about the Zanzibar Electoral Commision's (ZEC) transparency.

“We are still concerned about transparency. ZEC has released a copy of voter registers with some irregularities,” the party's poll director Juma Sanani said.

“There are about 10 000 uncollected voters cards which were supposed to be stored by ZEC, but the cards are now in the wrong hands and may be used for double voting.”

Geographically, Zanzibar archipelago comprises three isles, but the third, Mafia, falls under the mainland administratively.

Zanzibar formed a union government in 1964 with mainland Tanganyika, as it was then known, to establish the United Republic of Tanzania.

The CCM has been at the helm since 1977 after replacing a party that ruled the country since independence from Britain in 1961. -

AFP

VOICES II PROJECT SUPPORTS SWAHILI FASHION WEEK 2010

Press conference at RSVP Much More where Co-founder of MTOKO designs discusses with a journalist about their designs for Malaria Hikubaliki being shown at Swahili Fashion Week 2010..


Anna McCartney-Melstad (L), three designers showacasing ideas from Malaria Haikubaliki campaign(Middle) and Fauziyat Abood, during the press conference at RSVP Much More, Dar es Salaam

African, Arab partnership must overcome history of slavery (Feature)

By Anaclet Rwegayura, PANA Correspondent Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (PANA) - When Libyan leader Mouammar Kadhafi recently apologised on behalf of Arab countries that were involved in the African slave trade, some observers regarded his remarks as whimsical, especially because few are wil ling to broach new ideas about the denigration of human dignity engendered by the subjection of Africans to the evils of slave trade.

Many in Africa learnt about slavery as part of history lessons at school, while many have also seen or travelled along the trail of sites, towns, road markers a n d seaports retracing the Arab Slave Trade in Tanzania and in the rest of East Africa. Beyon d that, not much has happened.

According to available studies, more than five million Africans were captured, e nslaved, and shipped to the Middle East, India, Asia, and also to the West.

Today's African population abhors slavery as much as their ancestors did and, as it appears, many will want more than an apology. Analysts have however commende d the Libyan leader for his courage in not only talking openly about the issue but als o apologising on behalf of the Arab countries that were involved in slave trade.

''Though coming belatedly, brother Kadhafi's apology is commendable,'' said Edis on Maige, a retired Tanzanian teacher. ''No Arab leader had shown such courage a n d openness to admit the atrocities that their forefathers committed against the Af rican race.

''Despite the passage of time, hidden grudges are still there in our societies a gainst foreigners who perpetuated slave labour. Accounts of people who had suffe r ed under Arab slavery have been handed down from generation to generation. This explains why local people of Arab descent are sometimes detested, especially when they seek in fluential positions,'' Maige said.

As an outcome of entrenched slavery, Arabs became major planters of coconuts, cloves and other spices in Zanzibar and along East African coastal areas in the 1800s. The crops have since then been the economic mainstay of the islands, though their production no longer booms as they used to be until the 1970s.

Official abolition of slavery in the isles in 1897 did not make a big difference for the majority of the population. The abolition decree by the colonial rulers

and the measures taken to implement it, as it turned out, were designed to bolster Arab slave own ers, to tie ex-slaves to the plantations through contracts and to discourage the independence of workers.

For several years, it became apparent that the number of slaves who were being f reed remained modest and that ex-slaves were restricted from accessing free labour market.

According to records, the end of the slave trade in coastal East Africa, including Zanzibar, came through the gradual destruction of the complex networks that g a thered and distributed slaves.

Zanzibar's clove plantations had survived to enrich Arabs because of slave labour, while slavery itself became an integrated social system under which Africans w ere controlled as personal property.

The changing political landscape of East Africa greatly contributed to the freed om of slaves and reduced their economic dependence on Arab landowners. The expan s ion of British imperial activity increased the demand for caravan porters and Zanzibar became a centre of recruitment.

With Mombasa port in Kenya becoming a staging area for caravans to Uganda and co nstruction of the railway linking the two countries, new demand for workers were
created.

Therefore, slave owners in Zanzibar witnessed a great exodus as slaves escaped t o freedom and new economic opportunities in railway camps.

Although the work in those camps was menial and often dangerous, a slave who deserted his master in the late 1890s could survive in dignity. Wages on the rail road were above the going rate for hired labour on the coast, where economic options for ex-slaves were narrower.

They had no difficulty with the concept of wage labour, but they wanted to contr ol the condition under which they worked, to make cash earnings part of their ec o nomic lives rather than to subordinate themselves to plantation labour. The fertile soils of Zanzibar made it possible for a small plot to produce enough crops for a family ' s subsistence and a surplus for sale.

With a cash income, they could buy all provisions for which they had in the past relied on their owner.

Arab landowners eventually failed to keep ex-slaves as personal dependents tied to their estates and, as the wind of freedom swept across sub-Saharan Africa, th e role of the Arab sultanate and the colonial state in Zanzibar came into question.

By 12 January 1964, the Arab predominance and their ruling structure were topple d by a revolution that gave birth to the present Zanzibar, where all citizens enjoy the social and economic benefits of the state.

Despite the history of slavery involving Arabs, however, the relationship betwee n Africa and the Arab world is not so much represented by the fate of slavery victims.

According to Maige, it is heartening to see African and Arab leaders coming together to put a new life in the relationship of their worlds.

''The basis of our relationship had to change fundamentally. We no longer accept subordination in whatever joint ventures the two sides may agree to undertake,' ' he said.

But Maige warned that African politicians should not use slave trade as an excus e for Africa's underdevelopment.

''Slave trade did not mean the demise of the African race. Renewed partnership w ith the Arab nations should not be a source of disputes with Africa, but it shou l d enable populations on both sides to advance to better standards of living beca u se we all need each other,'' he added.

Commonwealth to Deploy Election Observers

A Commonwealth Observer Group (COG) will be present during Tanzania's General Elections due to be held on 31 October 2010. The COG will be led by former New Zealand Attorney-General, Rt Hon Paul East QC.

The Group was constituted by Commonwealth Secretary-General, Kamalesh Sharma, at the invitation of the National Electoral Commission of Tanzania.

"The Commonwealth has a history of engagement with Tanzania, and we are pleased to observe these important elections," the Secretary-General said. He went on, "We very much hope that they will further strengthen the democratic process and advance development in the country."

The Group's mandate is to observe the preparations for the election, the polling, the counting and the results process, and the overall electoral environment. The team will be there to assess the conduct of the process as a whole and, where appropriate, make recommendations for the future strengthening of the electoral framework in Tanzania, including the process in Zanzibar.

The Group will act impartially and independently, and will conduct itself according to the standards expressed in the International Declaration of Principles for Election Observation, to which the Commonwealth is a signatory.

The Group's report will be submitted to the Commonwealth Secretary-General, who will in turn send it to the Government of Tanzania as well as to the authorities in Zanzibar, the National Electoral Commission, the Zanzibar Electoral Commission and political parties, and eventually to all Commonwealth Governments.

The Commonwealth Observer Group is expected to comprise 15 experienced persons, including the Chair. The team will arrive in Tanzania on 24 October 2010, and stay until 7 November 2010.

Commonwealth Observer Group - Tanzania 2010

Chair: Rt Hon Mr Paul East, QC, Former Attorney-General, New Zealand

Mrs Judy Hopwood MP, Member of Parliament, Australia

Ms Juliette Maughan, Youth Representative, Barbados

Mr Pierre Paul Martin, Elections Expert, Canada

Hon Omar Jallow, Politician, Gambia

Mrs Pauline Dadzawa, Election Commissioner, Ghana

Dr Rupert Roopnaraine, Politician, Guyana

Mr Akshay Rout, Director General, Election Commission, India

Ms Jane Godia, Media/Gender Expert, Kenya

Ms Cheryl Dorall, Media Consultant, Malaysia

Sheikh (Dr) Abdul Karimo, Co-ordinator, Elections Obsevatory, Mozambique

Mr Charles Munyaneza, Executive Secretary, National Election Commission, Rwanda

Mr Pesi Fonua, Publisher/Editor, Tonga

Hon Irene Ovonji-Odida, Former Member of the East African Legislative Assembly, Uganda

Mr Frank Martin, Former Diplomat, United Kingdom


AllAfrica.com

THIRD SWAHILI FASHION WEEK OFFICIALLY LAUNCHED....

From Left to Right Alex Galinoma from EATV & Radio, Saphia PR & Media SFW, Mustafa Hassanali organiser of SFW, Judith Muya of Southern Sun -Home of SFW and Washington Fashion Coordinator, during the 3rd SFW Launch.

24 DESIGNERS TO SHOWCASE OVER A PERIOD OF 3 DAYS

LAUNCH OF THE FIRST EVER SWAHILI FASHION WEEK SHOPPING FESTIVAL

The third annual Swahili Fashion Week will take place at Karimjee Gardens on the 4th, 5th and 6th November 2010 in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania.

Swahili Fashion Week 2010 will collectively bring together 24 designers from Swahili speaking countries to showcase their creativity in designing a variety of clothing with an assortment of materials.

The Tanzanian designers showcasing at this years event are Ailinda Sawe, Manju Msita, Kemi Kalikawe, Christine Mhando, Shellina Ibrahim, Farha Naaz Sultan, Gabriel Mollel, Robi Morro, Asia Idarous, Zamda George, Khadija Mwanamboka, Jamilla Vera Swai and Made by Africa. Designers from Kenya to showcase are Sonu Sharma, Moo Cow, KikoRomeo, John Kaveke and Kooroo. Stella Atal from Uganda will also show her designs.

“In addition to the Fashion Show presentations, this year Swahili Fashion Week has incorporated Swahili Fashion Week Shopping Festival which will capture the spirit, style and essence of the Swahili coast” said Mustafa Hassanali, organiser of the event.

“Opening Swahili Fashion Week to a new audience, the Shopping Festival will showcase not only traditional Swahili arts and culture but the inspired innovation, and dynamic creativity of the modern Swahili speaking world, offering stalls to all participating fashion designers to exhibit and sell their unique, often hand-made clothing, accessories and products. Stall priority to those not on the runway will be given to artists, crafts-people, etc who are disabled or underprivileged”, added Hassanali.

Throughout the exhibition, there will be a variety of entertainment including performances from different music groups, henna painting and adornment and weaving. There will also be a choice of workshops for designers to participate in.

Swahili Fashion Week has organized several awards in order to recognise the prospective talent showcasing, these include the Emerging Designer Award, Best Runway Model and Best Swahili Fashion Week Shopping Festival stand.

Swahili fashion week 2010 has been sponsored by the home of Swahili Fashion Week - Southern Sun, Origin Africa, USAID Compete, EATV, East Africa Radio, Malaria Haikubaliki, BASATA (Baraza La Sanaa Taifa), Ultimate Security, Monier 2000, Colour Print Ltd, Global Outdoor Ltd, Amarula, Vayle Springs Ltd, ZG Films, Darling Hair, Danish make up designs, Nipashe, Bilicanas, Perfect Machinery Ltd, 1&1 Internet Solutions, Sengi Tours, iFashion and 361 Degrees.

NOTE TO EDITORS

Swahili Fashion week is a platform for designers – both fashion and accessory – from Swahili speaking countries to showcase their creativity, market their art and network with their clientele. This is all aimed at promoting fashion as an income generating, job creating industry while emphasizing a “Made in East Africa” concept.

Swahili Fashion Week is set to be an annual fashion extravaganza showcasing the best of creative talent in the fashion from Swahili Speaking countries. This being the regions highly acclaimed premier Fashion event founded created and conceptualised in year 2008 by Mustafa Hassanali

“Initiating a dynamic and promising platform for the fashion industry in the region, Swahili Fashion Week is geared towards being the most sought out fashion platform in Eastern Africa for the international market”, explained Mustafa Hassanali, founder and organizer of Swahili Fashion Week.


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


CONTACT PERSON: Saphia Ngalapi, Media & PR Manager
TELEPHONE NUMBER: +255-712-099834
EMAIL ADDRESS: media@swahilifashionweek.com

Judge Releases Full Ruling That Blocked Terror Trial Witness

Southern District of New York Judge Lewis A. Kaplan on Thursday released his full opinion on the credibility of a critical witness he blocked from testifying at the trial of accused al-Qaida conspirator and U.S. Embassy bomber Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani.

In his 60-page opinion elaborating on his Oct. 6 three-page public order barring Hussein Abebe from the witness stand, Kaplan called Abebe's testimony "false" and "quite incredible" on the key issue of whether he was coerced into testifying by threat of prosecution either in New York or in Tanzania.

The judge also offered a more expansive review of the law concerning Abebe, a Tanzanian who allegedly sold the explosives to Ghailani used in the truck bomb detonated outside the U.S. Embassy in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on Aug. 7, 1998, 10 minutes after a similar bomb destroyed the embassy in Nairobi, Kenya. In all, 224 people, including 12 Americans, were killed and more than 4,000 were wounded.

The law in this matter was the Fifth Amendment, and the issue was whether Ghailani's right to be free from self-incrimination was violated because the identity and whereabouts of Mr. Abebe were "allegedly extracted by physical and psychological abuse of" Ghailani in a secret CIA prison.

Abebe, who one FBI agent testified "feared the knock at the door" after seeing Ghailani's face on Tanzanian television just after the bombings, was picked up in August 2006 and detained for 11 days.

He was first questioned by Tanzanian authorities and then visited by an FBI team that secured his promise to testify against Ghailani. The last four days of his detention were spent in lockup in Dar es Salaam. He was ultimately released on a bond describing him as having been "accused of committing the offense of conspiring to murder and terrorist acts."

That bond was eliminated over a year later after Abebe's brother-in-law, the chief judge of the Supreme Court of Tanzania, intervened on his behalf.

Abebe, who insists he is willing to testify voluntarily, flew to New York in August.

He was questioned in a two-day hearing before Kaplan in September, and the judge indicated then that his story did not add up. On Thursday, he made that even clearer.

"Abebe testified that he knew he was in trouble by the time he got to Zanzibar, but that he had no idea why he had been arrested until he was asked about the 1998 bombings in Zanzibar two days later," Kaplan wrote in his opinion. "This is quite incredible. Abebe had lived in fear of this arrest for years and understood from the moment he arrived at the police office in Arusha that the arrest related to the embassy bombings. He was very frightened."

The full opinion, the first extended analysis of the consequences of finding a witness through so-called "enhanced interrogation techniques," was released to the public Thursday after being vetted by a court security officer.

But the full opinion was delivered to lawyers on Oct. 6, giving the prosecution team led by Michael Farbiarz only a few days to decide whether to make an appeal as of right or finish jury selection and start Ghailani's trial.

The prosecution elected to proceed to a trial that Thursday completed its third day of testimony.

While the government's decision avoided a lengthy delay and the attendant risk that the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals might make new law on "poisonous fruit" derived from illegal CIA interrogations of terror suspects, it also left Kaplan's opinion standing, giving it more force as precedent.

The prosecution has sought to avoid a head-on collision with judges over the consequences of the government's detention and interrogation program, a move that might isolate the law made here to the facts presented in Ghailani's case.

To that end, and no doubt for other reasons of strategy, the prosecution has vowed not to Ghailani's statements to the CIA and have admitted that he was abused only for purposes of the argument.

The judge's Oct. 6 decision prompted Ghailani defense lawyer Peter E. Quijano to claim a victory for the Fifth Amendment, telling the media, "This case will be tried upon lawfully obtained evidence only. Not coercion. Not torture."

The trial is being closely watched by people on all sides of the debate over whether terror suspects should be tried in civilian courts or whether trial by military commission is the better route. Ghailani is the first Guantanamo Bay detainee to be tried in civilian court.

The judge alluded to this controversy in footnotes in his opinion, United States v. Ghailani, S10 98 Crim. 1023.

"It is very far from clear that Abebe's testimony would be admissible if Ghailani were being tried by military commission, even without regard to the question whether the Fifth Amendment would invalidate any more forgiving provisions of the rules of evidence otherwise applicable in such a proceeding," the judge said.

Military Commissions Act §948r(a) and the Military Commission Rules of Evidence, Rule 304, he said, "preclude or restrict the use of 'statements obtained by torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment,' and evidence derived therefrom, and could require exclusion of Abebe's testimony."

He added, "Even if they did not, the Constitution might do so, even in a military commission proceeding."

The judge in his opinion said Abebe's decision to testify in New York was not "a free and unconstrained" one.

"He quite plainly is no eager volunteer," the judge said. "He never would have come forward on his own. He is 'willing' to testify now only because he fears that things will go badly for him if he does not."

The judge also found hard to believe Abebe's statement at the hearing that he was coming forward to "cleanse" his heart and soul.

"If indeed Abebe's heart were moved by his having supplied the explosives that killed hundreds and wounded thousands of people, it would be very difficult to understand why he did not come forward on his own," the judge said. "The need for cleansing his heart and soul was at least as strong over the eight years before his arrest as it has been since."

The judge also explored further the distinction between the "deterrence analysis" of suppression under the Fourth and Fifth amendments, saying, "As this is a Fifth Amendment case, the receipt in evidence of Abebe's testimony itself would constitute a violation of the self-executing exclusionary rule inherent in the Constitution, not a matter of compliance with a purely utilitarian judge-made rule that was created in the twentieth century only to deter illegal searches and seizures."

He continued, "The CIA, acting upon the highest authority, used coercive methods to gain intelligence. This court has declined to this point to express an opinion on the constitutionality of such methods, considered in and of themselves. It declines to do so now because that issue is not before it.

"What is before it, however, is the question of whether the Fifth Amendment -- which provides that 'no person … shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself' -- is violated if a court receives in a criminal case evidence that is the fruit of statements coerced from the defendant, at least where the relationship between the coerced statements and the evidence is as close as it is here."


Law.com

Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani profile

Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani is accused of involvement in the US embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya in 1998, which killed more than 200 people.

Mr Ghailani, a Tanzanian, was arrested in Pakistan in July 2004 and handed over to the US at the beginning of 2005.

He was one of 14 detainees transferred in September 2006 from secret CIA prisons abroad to the Guantanamo Bay prison camp in Cuba.

And he is the first former Guantanamo Bay detainee to go on trial in a civilian court in the US.

He pleaded not guilty in June 2009 to charges of conspiring to commit the embassy bombings. If found guilty, he could face the death penalty.

According to a transcript of a closed-door hearing in March 2007, Mr Ghailani admitted delivering explosives used to blow up the US embassy in Tanzania in 1998.

However, he said he did not know about the attack beforehand and apologised to the US government and the victims' families, the transcript said.

'Scouting the embassy'
A short, squat man, Mr Ghailani is said to have had dozens of aliases, including "Foopie" and "Ahmed the Tanzanian".


The bombings in Tanzania and Kenya were almost simultaneous
He is thought to have been born on the Tanzanian island of Zanzibar in 1970 or 1974, making him 40 or 36 years old, and is said to speak fluent Swahili and English.

He was number eight on the FBI's most wanted list - his baby-faced photograph belying the severity of the charges on which he was indicted by New York authorities in 1998.

The Tanzanian national is accused of buying the truck that carried the bomb used in the Dar es Salaam attack.

He and his accomplices are also accused of buying oxygen and acetylene tanks used to enhance the force of the explosion.

He is also said to have escorted the bomb maker between Dar es Salaam and the Kenyan city of Mombasa after the bomb was made as well as scouting the US embassy with the suicide bomb driver.

The near-simultaneous bombings in August 1998 killed 213 people in Nairobi and 11 people in Dar es Salaam as well as injuring thousands more. Twelve Americans were among the dead.

Big bounty
Analysts described Mr Ghailani as a very important figure, who was probably sent to East Africa at the time of the bombings by Osama Bin Laden's second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahiri.

It is suggested that Mr Ghailani fled to Afghanistan after being indicted in 1998.

According to the US transcript, he admitted visiting an al-Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan after the bombings. But he denied being a member of al-Qaeda.

Mr Ghailani was reported to have been in the Liberian capital, Monrovia, in 2001, with another suspect in the embassy bombings, a Kenyan man Fazul Abdullah Mohammed.

The UK's Observer newspaper reported in 2002 that the two men allegedly ran a lucrative al-Qaeda financing operation, trading illegal "blood diamonds" for cash.

The paper said the operation ran into trouble in June 2001, when reports reached al-Qaeda that Mr Ghailani and Mr Mohammed were lavishing money on women, presents and alcohol.

In May 2003, the FBI named Mr Ghailani on a list of seven people it suspected of concocting a fresh al-Qaeda plot, and increased the bounty on his head to $5m.

On 25 July 2004, he was arrested in Pakistan along with his Uzbek wife.

Pakistani officials at the time said Mr Ghailani's arrest was the most significant since the detention in March 2003 of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the suspected mastermind of the 11 September attacks on the US.

BBC

Tanzania: The Use of Social Media in 2010 Tanzania General Election

Tanzania will go to the polls on October 30, 2010 and the general election campaign is well underway. As the campaigns heat up, presidential candidates and other candidates fighting for parliamentary seats are using new media tools to communicate with potential voters. Along with campaign rallies, which target the majority of the population, a small number of politicians have started to use social media tools such as blogs, online videos, Facebook and twitter to create deeper engagement with voters.

It is hard to accurately comment on the impact of the ongoing online campaigns because of lack of up-to-date statistics on usage of social media tools in Tanzania. The number of Tanzanians using the Internet is still small in comparison to the total population. In a country of 41 million people there are only 676,000 Internet users representing 1.6% of the total population. Among those with access to the internet there are only 141,580 Facebook users, with 74% of them aged between 18-34 years.

Whether created by fans or formal campaign officials, there are a few websites, blogs, facebook pages and twitter accounts running campaigns for presidential candidates and those fighting for parliamentary seats from the ruling CCM party. The official website of the current president and the ruling CCM party candidate, Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, has a link to a facebook page with more than 4,500 followers. There is also another facebook page dedicated to Mr Kikwete with more than 13,500 fans.

Kikwete’s running mate who is also the candidate for the Vice President's post, Dr. Gharib Bilal, has more than one campaign websites. One site is linked to Mr Kikwete’s website and Dr. Bilal’s twitter account, while the other website has a link to a facebook page dedicated to his campaign.

One of the opposition parties presidential candidates Dr. Wilbrod Slaa from CHADEMA party has a facebook page linked from his official website with about 910 fans. Likewise there are more than two facebook pages dedicated to Dr. Slaa’s campaign with about 9000 people who ‘like’ Dr. Slaa. He also has a twitter account with very few tweets.

Similar to Tanzania Mainland, election manifestos, pictures and videos of the campaign rallies are on display on the websites of the Zanzibar’s CCM presidential candidate Dr Ali Mohamed Shein as well as on his main opposition contender Maalim Seif Sharif Hamad from the Civic United Front (CUF).

Announced mostly through twitter and blogs, online campaign videos with clips from election rallies have so far received a little more than 12,000 views in total at the time of writing this post. Some of the videos appear to have been uploaded directly from the rallies, like this one from CHADEMA’s Kigoma North candidate, Hon. Zitto Kabwe

More details click here

Chombo cha Ushahidi

Vijana FM inatumia Crowdmap, chombo kilichotengenezwa na Ushahidi, kukusanya taarifa, mawazo na uzoefu wakati wa Uchaguzi Mkuu Tanzania. Ni matarajio yetu kwamba chombo hiki kitawapa jukwaa watu kutoa taarifa, maoni, kuanzisha mijadala na kueneza ujuzi wa mchakato wa uchaguzi na matukio mbalimbali.

Taarifa zinaweza kuwasilishwa kwa njia tatu:

1. Kwa kutuma barua pepe: TZelect (at) gmail (dot) com

2. Kwa Twitter hashtags #TZelect au #uchaguzitz (Shukrani Jamii Forums)

3. Kwa kujaza fomu kwenye tovuti

11 NORWEGIAN MPS IN TANZANIA TO LEARN ABOUT DECENT WORK

A group of 11 Norwegian parliamentarians is visiting Tanzania 22-26 September. Their aim is to learn about Tanzanian strategies to promote decent work in the country, and the mission is part of Norway's efforts to promote workers' rights on a global level.

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) is responsible for coordinating the MP programme, which includes a visit to project sites in both Moshi and Zanzibar. The programme in Dar es Salaam involves a meeting with Minister for Labour Hon. Prof. Juma Athumani Kapuya as well as representatives from The Association of Tanzania Employers (ATE) and Trade Union Congress of Tanzania (TUCTA).

In 2008 Norway as one of the first countries in the world adopted a strategy for promoting Decent Work including safeguarding workers' rights on a global level. The partnership with ILO is key to implementing this strategy.

- I am very pleased to welcome the MPs to Tanzania. Their visit is a signal of the important and longstanding partnership between our two countries. The focus of the mission is also crucial, as decent work is central to people's lives, says Ambassador designate Ingunn Klepsvik.

The group of 11 parliamentarians has members from 5 different Norwegian political parties. They are all members of The Standing Committee on Labour and Social Affairs in the Norwegian Parliament. 6 of the parliamentarians represent the coalition government in Norway, while 5 come from the opposition parties. The visit to Tanzania is part of a mission to Ethiopia, Tanzania and South Africa.

Zanzibar's island idyll under threat....

Travel down the east coast of Zanzibar on board an Arab dhow, and the spice island seems not to have changed for centuries. A row of white surf, open sand and coconut palms marks the shoreline.

For miles, there is no intrusion from anything man-made, save for the triangular white sails of other dhows, so graceful and slender that they seem entirely as nature intended.

From time to time, the thatched, conical roofs of a handful of relatively small hotels appear among the palm trees. But the Indian Ocean's turquoise waters still lap a largely undeveloped coast.

This may not be true for much longer. Prodded by the central authorities in Tanzania, Zanzibar's semi-autonomous government is promoting the development of big hotels along the eastern shore.

The idea is to change the focus of the island's tourism. At present, Zanzibar benefits from a high-value, low-volume model where most visitors come to the spice island after a safari in Tanzania's national parks. They stay for an average of five nights in a few, comparatively small hotels, often directly overlooking the sea.

But Amani Abeid Karume, the president of Zanzibar, wants to change this. The idea is to make Zanzibar a mass destination in its own right – independent of "bush and beach" visitors who go on safari first. This means lower prices, more hotel beds, more tourists and, perhaps inevitably, an end to the undeveloped beauty of the east coast.

"Sadly, the government of Zanzibar has this idea that they have to be like Kenya and Mauritius and they need big investors to build big hotels," says one local operator. "Zanzibar might end up being a cheap destination for mass tourism."

If so, small retreats, like Ras Nungwi Beach Hotel on the island's northern peninsula, will become rare exceptions. Set on a perfect tropical beach, where the afternoon tide brings turquoise water lapping against honeycombed rocks and white sand, Ras Nungwi has only 32 rooms.

Most are found in thatched rondavels, often directly overlooking the ocean. Ras Nungwi was built before a new regulation came into force, specifying that all hotel rooms must be at least 250ft from the high-tide mark.

If you stay in the Ocean Suite, you will have a small beach to yourself, complete with your own two-storey house with more than 2,000 sq ft of living space.

Elsewhere in Zanzibar, seaweed and cloudy waters can make the beach disappointing. At Ras Nungwi, however, the sand could scarcely be finer nor the water clearer.
"There is a big turnaround of oceanic currents here, which gives us our clear water," explains Chris Goodwin, the general manager.

If Zanzibar eventually succumbs to the mass tourism model, small and intimate havens such as Ras Nungwi will become rarer.


Telegraph

Tawi la CCM Chokocho

Tawi la CCM Chokocho Pemba, katika uzinduzi wa kampeni za CCM Pemba mapema wiki hii.

Tanzanian ruling party presidential candidate for Zanzibar launches campaign

Tanzania's ruling revolutionary party of Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) presidential candidate for Zanzibar Ali Mohamed Shein has launched the party's election campaigns in the Indian Ocean archipelago with a commitment for agriculture development through use of modern farming technology and maximum use of irrigation.

At a registered turn up record on Saturday in Zanzibar, Shein noted that his government would maintain good governance, noting that CCM is in a position to apply good governance in its leadership, the local newspaper Daily News reported on Sunday.

He said that he would uphold and implement CCM's manifesto and policies and that he would sustain two-government structure of the Union government and Zanzibar government, opposing the Civic United Front (CUF)'s three-tier government.

The CCM's policy has always upheld two governments for the past 46 years and he will continue to uphold this in order to protect the Union for the public benefit, said Shein.

With the attendance of CCM high level officials, from Tanzania mainland and Zanzibar, the campaign rally were preceded by songs, dancing and reading of poems and Shein also promised to continue bringing development to the Isles if voted to leadership.

In Zanzibar, 66.4 percent people in Tanzania's Indian Ocean archipelago of Zanzibar voted in favor of the formation of government of national unity after the amendment of the constitution in July, indicating that rivalry witnessed in the previous elections since 1995 will be unlikely after the election this year.

Under the proposed structure of a government of national unity likely to be formed after the next elections, if Shein wins the presidential election in Zanzibar, CUF's Seif Sharif Hamad would become First Vice-president of Zanzibar, and the second vice president would come from CCM.

Tanzania is considered Africa's most politically stable country, where the ruling party CCM has been in power for the past 49 years and there have been four successive transfers of power.

The local, legislative and presidential polls on Oct. 31 are the country's fourth since the re-introduction of multi-party politics in 1992 in the east African country with the current population of more than 40 million.


Xinhua

Dr. Shein na tovuti yake

Tovuti rasmi ya Mgombea urais kwa tiketi ya CCM Zanzibar ipo hewani sasa... Tembelea hapa

Taxi Bubu

Kapteni wa mtumbwi akisubiri abiria hapo pwani ya Michamvi.



TrekEarth

9 tons of fake medicine seized in East Africa

(CNN) -- Authorities have seized 9,072 kilograms (20,000 pounds) of counterfeit medicine and arrested 80 people suspected of illegal trafficking in six East African nations, Interpol said Thursday.

More than 300 premises were checked or raided in the two-month operation across Uganda, Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Zanzibar, according to a news release from the international police agency.

The confiscated loot included anti-malaria drugs, vaccines and antibiotics. There was also a significant quantity of government medicines diverted to illegal resale markets.

It was the third such seizure operation in as many years in East Africa, intended to curb the manufacture and distribution of counterfeit medical products.

Representatives of the six nations are scheduled to meet in Zanzibar next week to discuss the seizure and the extent of the counterfeiting problem, Interpol said.
The World Health Organization defines counterfeit drugs as "medicine, which is deliberately and fraudulently mislabelled with respect to identity and/or source."

Counterfeiting can apply to both brand-name and generic products, and forged products may include those with the correct ingredients or with the wrong ingredients, without active ingredients, with insufficient active ingredients, or with fake packaging, WHO says.

The United Nations agency created a global task force in 2006 to deal with the problem, which has been growing as international markets expand and become globalized and internet commerce has taken off.

The fake products can prove detrimental to public health efforts in disease-ridden countries and in worst-case scenarios can cause death, according to the WHO task force.

U.S. Envoy Hopes for Fair Polls

The US ambassador in the country, Mr Alfonso Lenhardt, has expressed his hopes that this year General Election will be peaceful and fair.

He made the remarks in Chukwani, just outside Zanzibar town, when talking to reporters after inspecting a new building for House of Representatives which was inaugurated recently by President Aman Abeid Karume.



Mr Lenhardt said he is happy that the recent move to reconcile Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) and Civic United Front (CUF) has gone well and there are indication that October 31 General Election would result into a government of national unity.

He noted that without peace there was no democracy which can be practiced. He said if it is held under peaceful atmosphere, the election would create a conducive atmosphere for the resultant government to implement the development agenda.

He said the recent referendum has shown that Zanzibaris were ready and able to make decisions without fighting.

"My message and a message from American people is to wish you peaceful and fair elections. Even President Barack Obama has told President Jakaya Kikwete that he wishes Zanzibaris peaceful elections," he said.

He noted that Zanzibaris were duty bound to ensure they cherish the peace and tranquility even after the election.

He said the new building for House of Representatives should save as a catalyst in building true democracy in the Isles.

Ambassador Lenhardt also congratulated journalists for their hard work to educate wananchi on the importance of maintaining peace during the referendum process.

Speaking earlier, the chairman of a six member committee formed by the House of Representatives to oversee the referendum, Mr Ali Mzee Ali, congratulated US government for its assistance to Zanzibar.

He said US government contribution to Zanzibar was immense in various sectors of economy, social and political.


All Africa.com

"Kilimanjaro III" Kuimarisha Usafiri wa Baharini Zanzibar

Incat Crowther Designs Another Fast Cat Ferry

Incat Crowther announced a contract to design a third 121.3-ft Catamaran Passenger Ferry for Coastal Fast Ferries in Tanzania, Africa. To be built by Richardson Devine Marine (RDM), Kilimanjaro III will build on the experienced gained in the operation of sisterships Kilimanjaro I and Kilimanjaro II, previously designed by Incat Crowther for Coastal Fast Ferries.

Kilimanjaro I and II are significantly larger vessels than any fast ferries that have been deployed on the Zanzibar – Dar Es Salaam route, yet the vessels are nearly always running at full capacity. Needless to say, the operator is extremely happy with the success of these vessels, and has been working with Incat Crowther and RDM to develop a vessel that can take further advantage of the operation’s revenue-making potential.

Kilimanjaro III’s two significant enhancements are its increased passenger capacity and new generation hull form, which offers increased efficiency and improved seakeaping. The result is a vessel that will carry more passengers at less cost per-passenger to the operator.

As well as supplementing the operational capacity on the Zanzibar - Dar Es Salaam run at a higher service speed, Coastal Fast Ferries plan to use the vessel to expand their operation by extending the route to the island of Pemba. Kilimanjaro III is specifically suited for this added offshore work.

Taking advantage of its increased beam, Kilimanjaro III will carry 558 passengers in a mix of seating levels and styles. The main deck passenger deck features 249 economy class seats, with those nearest the aft kiosk equipped with tables. The aft end of the main deck has been reconfigured with a larger luggage room, located directly adjacent to the side crew ramps to speed up turn around.

The upper deck has outdoor seats for 107 passengers. Amidships there is a first class cabin with 74 seats. The sundeck has seats for a further 60 passengers. Kilimanjaro III will be powered by a pair of Cummins KTA50 engines, each producing 1340kW, and will have a service speed of 30 knots.

Incat Crowther is pleased to continue its relationship with Coastal Fast Ferries and believe the growth in business is a result of the company’s attention to client service and adding value to the client’s operation.

Specifications:
Length, o.a. 125 ft
Length, w.l. 122.5 ft
Beam, o.a. 34.5 ft
Draft, hull 3.7 ft
Draft, prop 5.11 ft
Depth 12 ft
Construction Marine grade aluminum

Capacities:
Fuel oil 1,585 gal
Fresh water 330 gal
Sullage 330 gal
Passengers 558

Propulsion & performance:
Speed 29 knots
Main engines 2x Cummins KTA50
Power 2x 1340kW @ 1900rpm
Propulsion 2x Propeller
Generators 2x Cummins, 170kVA, 50 Hz
1 x Cummins, 17kVA, 50 Hz

Angalizo:
Boti za Kilimanjaro awali zilikuwa zinajulikana kama Sea Express. Hadi sasa kuna Kilimanjaro I na II.


MarineLink.com

Mabadiliko ya address

Blog iliyokuwa inakwenda kwa address ya http://www.angaliabongo.co.tz, sasa hivi inapatikana kwa address hii:
http://wwww.angalia-bongo.com na ikiwa na mtazamo mpya na mambo kem kem.

Wakimbizi wa Kizenj, karibuni tena Zanzibar

Wale wanzenji wote waliokimbimba Zanzibar kutokana na mtafuruku wa uchaguzi wa mwaka 1995 na mwaka 2000, mnakaribishwa tena Zanzibar.

Zanzibar ya leo ni tofauti sana na ile mliyoikimbia. Sasa kuna makubaliano na kutakuwepo na serikali ya umoja wa kitaifa mara baada ya uchaguzi mkuu mwaka huu. Hivyo basi sio sahihi tena kujiita wakimbizi ilhali hali ya nchi ni shwari.

Aidha naiomba serikali ya Uingereza kuwarudisha wazenj wote waliongia nchini humo kwa madai ya ukimbizi, ombi hili ni pamoja na serikali ya Kenya ambako kuna wakimbizi wa kizenj katika mapango huko Mombasa.

Sina shaka kuwa Wazenj wa UK wengi wao wamepata bahati ya kusoma huko na kuwa na taaluma, hili ni muhimu kwa kujenga taifa jipya la Zanzibar... Kule mapangoni sina hakika kama waliweza kupata nafasi ya kujiendeleza.

Cha msingi kwenu wakimbizi wa kisiasa ni kurudi nyumbani, kwani hakuna vujo tena, kura zenu tunazihitaji hali kadhalika maarifa yenu. Hii ajialishi kama ukuweza kufanikiwa huko ugenini.

Karibuni tena nyumbani, tena mjisikie huru kuliko huo uhuru wa kubaguliwa katika nchi za kigeni. Karibuni sana

Skuli....

Shughuli

Halikuniki

Halikuniki bin Gozi gumu

Meghji family saga exciting enough to be a miniseries

An enterprising writer should quickly pen a multi-generational miniseries about the Meghji family.

Who, you ask, are the Meghjis?

They are the people who will begin building a 189-room Courtyard by Marriott Hotel at the Edmonton International Airport next spring.

The next-to-the-planes, eight-storey hotel will be linked to the airport by a heated pedway and boast everything from a fitness spa and top-notch restaurant to banquet facilities and large presidential suites.

"You could say it's the icing on the cake for our family-owned Platinum Investments company," 37-year-old Rahim Meghji told me.

Rahim and his brother, Ali Meghji, 35, are the young face of the Ismaili Muslim family and are gradually taking over the business reins from their uncle, 64-year-old Amin Meghji.

Rather than icing on the cake, it's the natural ending to the first miniseries.

As for the beginning, it goes back more than a century to Gujarat in northwest India. "Our family lived in poverty; and led by my great-grandfather, they sailed across the Indian Ocean in a small boat in 1893," Amin says.

"The boat was so overloaded they threw everything they had overboard, including their shoes. They arrived in Zanzibar penniless."

Amin's father was nine at the time and went to live on a coconut farm. Later, his father bought the farm with help from his wife's family before moving to Dar es Salaam, then Tanzania's capital.

"My father and my two older brothers created a soap, glycerine and oil manufacturing business that did very well," Amin says. "But the government nationalized everything, including residential and commercial properties. We lost everything except some savings.

"My mother was paralyzed with shock at the loss of our empire, suffered a brain hemorrhage and died within the hour in 1972."

The family left for Kenya and rebuilt their business in Nairobi.

"Again we did very well, but the government began taking over businesses and we feared for our future," Amin says.

"My father died in 1975, but not before telling us to get out of the country. We sold our business for about half of what it was worth and came to Canada in 1976."

Finding themselves amid the Alberta oil boom at the end of the 1970s, the close-knit, extended Meghji family bought and expanded a 10-unit, west-end motel. That was followed by a 178-unit, $12-million downtown apartment building.

"We lost everything again in 1981 when the market crashed," Amin says. "The building was 70-per-cent vacant and we couldn't make mortgage payments at 21-per-cent (interest)."

The Meghjis rose again in 1998 and bought the Forum Inn near Rexall Place, renaming it Coliseum.

In 2004, the family opened the 160-room Hilton Garden Inn in the west end, followed two years later by the Hampton Inn and Suites.

"They are rated the top two city hotels by travellers on the Trip Advisor website," Rahim says.

"We hope our Marriott Courtyard opening soon in the west end, and our nearby Marriott Residence Inn, due to open next year, will be just as successful."

Amin is sad his older brother, Aladdin, the visionary of the family, died just before the Hilton opened.

This miniseries would end with Marriott Canada senior vice-president Michael Beckley saying at the airport Friday: "We see Platinum as a key partner in Alberta, Western Canada and beyond.

"Marriott is the fastest-growing hotel brand in North America and has gone from 12 hotels to 60 in Canada in the last 10 years."

Rahim quipped: " The airport hotel will be our flagship. If hotels in Canada are nationalized, the whole family will jump off the High Level Bridge."


Canada.com

After Zanzibar Referendum Comes Constitution Dilemma

The constitutional amendments in Zanzibar on Monday evening, which redefined its territory as a sovereign state within the United Republic of Tanzania, have reignited the controversy over the future of the Union.

Constitutional experts faulted the changes endorsed by the House of Representatives, which they charged, were "meant to neutralise the Union, if not to kill it systematically".

With the Constitution of the United Republic proclaiming Tanzania to be a country resulting from the merger of Tanganyika and Zanzibar, as the one and only sovereign state, the experts were of the opinion that the recognition of Zanzibar as a state would "steal Tanzania's statehood". And they warned that this could herald the break-up of the United Republic of Tanzania.

An extraordinary session of the House of Representatives on Monday evening overwhelmingly passed 10 amendments, which also paved the way for the formation of a government of national unity in Zanzibar after October 31 General Election.

According to the amendments, Sections 1 and 2 of the Zanzibar Constitution, which previously identified Zanzibar as part of the United Republic of Tanzania, have been deleted.

The changes redefine Zanzibar is a state formerly known as the 'People's Republic of Zanzibar' with its territory composed of Unguja, Pemba and all the small surrounding islands, as it was before the 1964 merger with Tanganyika.

Moving the Constitutional Amendment Bill, the State Minister (Constitution and Good Governance), Mr Ramadhani Abdallah Shaaban, said: "The new clause stipulates that Zanzibar is among the two countries that form the United Republic of Tanzania."

But a senior law lecturer at the University of Dar es Salaam, Dr Sengondo Mvungi, described the amendment as the biggest threat ever to the existence of the United Republic of Tanzania. He explained that the House of Representatives had disregarded the laid-down procedure by altering constitutional provisions touching on the Articles of the Union.

Dr Mvungi cited Article 98 (b) of the Union Constitution. Under the article, any Bill for an Act to alter any provisions of the Constitution or any provision of any law relating to any of the matters specified in List Two of the second schedule to the Constitution shall be passed only if it is supported by the votes of not less than two-thirds of all Members of Parliament from Tanzania Mainland and not less than two-thirds of all MPs from Tanzania Zanzibar.

And the matters specified in List Two, which require to be supported by two-thirds of all MPs from Mainland Tanzania and two-thirds of all MPs from Zanzibar, include the existence of the United Republic of Tanzania.

"This article of the Constitution cannot be altered by the Zanzibar House of Representatives alone. They have totally no mandate or authority on this issue," Dr Mvungi said.


He also pointed out that the fact that President Jakaya Kikwete had already dissolved Parliament in readiness for this year's elections, meant there was no room to initiate such changes.

Contacted for comment last evening, State Minister Shaaban strongly defended the amendments, saying they were meant to emphasize Zanzibar's position as a partner state in the United Republic and not a part of the Union Government.

"The United Republic is nation. The amendment means that Zanzibar is a second country forming the union between Tanganyika and Zanzibar. What we have done is to confirm our state boundaries," he said.

For his part, Dr Mvungi said that declaring Zanzibar one of the two countries that form the United Republic of Tanzania was to change the structure of the Union to form a confederal authority between the people to Zanzibar and Tanganyika.

"This means that Tanganyika retains its sovereignty and statehood and so does Zanzibar. So you form a confederation. The statehood automatically moves out of that the United Republic of Tanzania and goes to Zanzibar and Tanganyika," he explained.

If the amendments are implemented there is not going to be a united republic of Tanzania. The nation has broken up," he said in a conversation with The Citizen on Monday before the Zanzibar approved.

Zanzibar's Attorney General could not be reached for comment yesterday, but a senior official in his Chambers said the amendments were the 10th on the Zanzibar Constitution. The changes, he clarified, only affected the Zanzibar Constitution and had nothing to do with the Union.

When The Citizen pointed out that the amendment of Union matters needed approval by two-thirds of the MPs from both Tanzania Zanzibar and Mainland Tanzania, Mr Saleh Mbarouk, said: "The interpretation of the changes will be given by the Attorney General. What I know is that members of the House of Representatives are not forbidden to pass such amendments."

But the Union Government's Deputy Attorney General, Mr George Masaju, contacted in Dar es Salaam to comment on the developments, said he had not seen the final draft of the Bill passed in Zanzibar on Monday.
"I'm hesitant to address this matter, as I have not seen the final draft. Give me time to find out what exactly has been passed by the House of Representatives in order to comment on the issue," he said.

Another lawyer, who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter, said the changes had violated the Constitution. He said Article 98 (b) of the Union Constitution stipulated the procedure for effecting amendments touching on the existence of the United Republic.

"Strictly speaking, such changes do not any value in the eyes of the law. They actually do not exist. They are unconstitutional," he said.

The president of the Tanganyika Law Society (TLS), Mr Felix Kibodya, speaking in his personal capacity, said although he strongly supported the reconciliation process that had culminated in the constitutional changes, the declaration that "Zanzibar is a state has gone beyond the aim of bringing Zanzibaris together".

He said that for the changes to have any legal authority, they must be endorsed by the Parliament of the United Republic of Tanzania, as specified in Article 98 (b).

"My understanding is that for the amendments making Zanzibar a state to have legal effect, they must have the blessings of parliamentarians from both sides through a procedure stipulated in our constitution," he said.

He added: "How can Zanzibar be a state without a commander-in-chief of the armed forces? How can it be a country without defence minister, Inspector General of Police or a foreign minister?"

He said though it was crucial to bring about peace and unity in the Isles, this should not come at the expense of the Union. "Zanzibar is a part of the United Republic of Tanzania," he insisted.

Under the newly amended Zanzibar Constitution, the Isles' President has been given powers to mark the territory's borders without consulting the Union Government.

According to the laws enacted by the House of Representatives, for effective implementation of government responsibilities, the Zanzibar leader is also empowered to divide the Isles into regions, districts and other areas.



AllAfrica.com