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

Why Zanzibar Referendum Outcome Left CCM More Bruised

Zanzibar made history last Saturday by overwhelmingly endorsing constitutional changes in a referendum that will pave the way for the formation of a government of national unity later this year.

Such a government will be the first ever in the country since the armed revolution that rooted out the Arab Sultan rulers in the early sixties, and also in the modern times following the introduction of multiparty politics in Tanzania in 1992.


The momentous verdict was issued by 188,705 voters who participated in the exercise at 66.4 per cent against 95,613 at 33.6 per cent of those who were not in favour of the outcome that will now significantly alter the way politics is played in Zanzibar.

Political leaders, representatives of the donor community and even the common man on the streets have immediately welcomed the referendum outcome, with a majority saying it would finally guarantee peace and tranquillity in the Isles that had hitherto remained perilous every election year.

But as the dust settles, different interest groups will take stock of what transpired on the campaign trail and what the final result would mean for their role in the future of Zanzibar. Some are not entirely ruling out new political realignments prior to and after the October 31 General Election.


"It was a positive vote for unity by the people but as observers we could not fail to notice that deep antagonism, mainly within the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi remained," explained Dr Benson Bana, the Chairman of Tanzania Election Monitoring Committee and also head of the University of Dar es Salaam's Research for Democracy and Education in Tanzania (Redet).

That voters on Pemba Island regions gave an emphatic 'Yes' vote and are still the more enthusiastic of the new political order than their colleagues in Unguja Island may have not been entirely surprising. As in the past elections, Pemba has tended to vote for the opposition Civic United Front (CUF) to the last man standing and in the referendum sided with their leaders who campaigned for 'Yes'.

The opposition's supremacy in the referendum results showed that the people of Mtambwe District in North Pemba Region, the home town of Mr Seif Hamad, the CUF leader, had the highest Yes votes, with 95.1 per cent of the 5324 people who cast their votes. Mr Hamad is CUF's secretary general and will run for the presidency under the party in the October 31 general election.

"The people in Pemba voted the way they did because they know this was their only chance to end decades long feeling of alienation from government. They are the ones who have suffered more and paid the huge cost of a system of winner takes all despite the fact that polling results divided Zanzibar into two, almost equal parts," said businessman Said Mohammed said.

Mr Hamad has already been nominated by his party to run for the Presidency in what would be his fourth attempt. Having served as Chief Minister in the CCM government, the opposition leader has not shied from admitting that deliberately skewed government planning have consigned Pemba to poverty due to past political rivalry.

For the sake of this huge constituency, Mr Hamad, who alongside President Amani Abeid Karume engineered the final and significant push for reconciliation and tagged alongside the President to campaign for 'Yes', was at hand to welcome the victory last Saturday.

He declared; "This is a win for Zanzibar, its people and the united republic of Tanzania." President Karume whose extra energy to drive through the vote was pleased with the voters who have given him what political commentators say would be one of his presidency's most important legacy.

While this task is almost done, the remaining few days could prove trickier if divisions within CCM that played out ahead of the referendum are anything to go by. In Zanzibar today, it was expected that Karume could after all now have reason to whip those in CCM's inner circles and in government who gave lukewarm support for the referendum.

A District Commissioner in the seat of government was last week sent packing in a move linked more to his remarks critical of the government's campaigning for a 'Yes' vote. "I will not be surprised if that did happen but what is dangerous for CCM will be what kind of realignments that could follow if he was to sack ministers in the last days in office," a senior party official who requested to remain anonymous said.

All Africa

Hamad Masauni aibuka kidedea Kikwajuni

Aliyekuwa Mwenyekiti wa Umoja wa Vijana CCM, Hamad Masauni Yusuf, ameshinda katika kura za kugombea nafasi ya ubunge kwa tiketi ya CCM katika jimbo la Kikwajuni kwa kura 990.

Hamad ameweza kumshinda Naib Katibu Mkuu wa CCM Saleh Ramadhani Feruzi ambae aliweza kupata kura 155 na kushika nafasi ya tatu chini ya Ahmed Mohamed aliyepata kura 511.

Zanzibar ni Mseto

Matokeo rasmi ya kura ya maoni juu ya serikali ya umoja wa kitaifa yametolewa. Kura za ndio ni 188,705 na kura za hapana ni 95,613. Hii inamaanisha kuwa serikali ijayo ya itakuwa ni ya umoja wa kitaifa.

Zanzibar votes to install unity government

Zanzibar, Tanzania - Tanzania's politically volatile Zanzibar island votes in a referendum Saturday to install a power-sharing government aimed at ending the archipelago's persistent election unrest.

The ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM - Revolutionary party) and the main opposition Civic United Front (CUF) are backing the deal and have called on voters to endorse it.

A new form of government would see Zanzibar have a president with two deputies. The first vice president would be from the party which comes second in the polls and the second from the winning party.

Ministers are to be allocated on a proportional basis.

If passed, Zanzibar's constitution will then be amended to pave the way for a unity government in readiness for general elections on October 31.


"Vote 'yes' in the referendum so that we remain united. We need to work together and heal hatred caused by unnecessary political conflicts after every general election," Zanzibar President Amani Karume told a gathering this week.

"Zanzibaris should not allow a return to division," CUF leader Seif Sharif Hamad told AFP.

"We need to build our country which has been ruined by the prolonged conflicts. I hope that the majority people of Zanzibar will vote 'yes'."

A positive outcome of the July 31 referendum will propel Zanzibar to the league of African governments to have negotiated power-sharing accords in the aftermath of disputed elections.

It will however be set apart from Kenya and Zimbabwe by making the deal a constitutional provision ahead of its next elections.

The Indian Ocean archipelago comprises three islands of Unguja, Pemba and Mafia. Mafia is however administered by mainland Tanzania.

Zanzibar declared independence on January 12, 1964 after a bloody revolution that ended several centuries of rule by Arab sultans.

Three months later, it merged with mainland Tanganyika to form the United Republic of Tanzania, but maintained a semi-autonomous government with its own president, constitution, flag and national anthem.

Rivalry between the CCM and CUF has been bitter and at times bloody since the re-introduction of multi-party politics in 1992.

The CCM has won all subsequent elections in 1995, 2000 and 2005, sparking protests by the opposition, which repeatedly charged that results were rigged in favour of the ruling party.

At least 30 people were killed in January 2001 during clashes between police and supporters of CUF in Zanzibar and Pemba. Dozens of Pemba residents fled to Kenya.

Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete deplored the perennial enmity between the Zanzibar parties, which he said had also divided the society.

"People of the same island and even clan stopped talking to each other," he recently told parliament.

"CCM or CUF members failed to turn out at funerals of relatives who belonged to a different party. This is too bad. I am pleased that things are now changing for the better."

Some 400,000 voters have been registered to take part in Saturday's referendum, whose results are to be announced two days later. Observers from the European Union and the US will monitor the exercise.

Zanzibar, an idyllic travel destination with palm fringed beaches and historic sites, is home to around 1.2 million people.


AFP

FFU kupereka mzuka wa dansi FRANKFURT !

Bend maarufu ya mziki wa dansi barani ulaya "The Ngoma Africa Band" aka FFU
wanatarajiwa kutua kwa nguvu zote !katika onyesho kubwa la Afrika & Karibik Festival,
litakalofanyika katika Viwanja vya Robestock Park, Frankfurt,Ujerumani siku ya Jumamosi
07-08-2010 maelfu ya washabiki wa mziki nchini ujerumani wanaisubiri bendi hiyo kwa hamu kubwa...
kutokana na mdundo wake unaochezeka.

Habari zinatonya kuwa bendi hiyo pia itatingisha jukwaa katika onyesho lingine kubwa
la Festival mjini keiserslautern,Ujerumani siku ya Jumapili 8-08-2010 ambako katika kila
hali washabiki wapo tayari kwenda sambamba na gwaride la FFU wa Ngoma Africa band.
usikose kujipa raha mwenyewe kwa kuwasikiliza hapa http://www.myspace.com/thengomaafrica

Maduka kadhaa yateketea kwa Moto - Darajani

Maduka kadhaa katika mtaa wa Darajani yameteketea kwa moto. Habari zaidi na picha tembelea hapa

Tom & Jenny in Tanzania. Sasa kinapatikana Dar es Salaam

Kwa habari zaidi wasiliana na BASELINE AFRICA

Hamad Masauni aibukia Kikwajuni...

Baada ya kulazimika kujiuzulu Uenyekiti wa Umoja wa Vijana(CCM) kutokana na kashfa ya kughushi umri wake, Hamad Masauni amechukua fomu ya kugombea ubunge katika jimbo la Kikwajuni...

Swali la kizushi, katika fomu hiyo atajaza umri gani?

Zaidi kama inayosomeka hapa

Wapanda Baiskeli Wasaidia Mradi wa Hospitali Makunduchi

Dr Jon Rees, of Brockway Medical Centre in Nailsea, travelled to Zanzibar in June to take part in a bike ride around the tropical island, off the coast of Tanzania, East Africa.

The 38-year-old GP was among a 40-strong group on the sponsored cycle ride for the Makunduchi Project which in total raised a staggering £80,000.

The aim of the trip was to raise funds for a maternity services in a rural area which currently has almost no medical care for mothers during delivery.

Maternal mortality rates are currently 170 times higher than in the UK, with one in 180 mothers dying in childbirth.

Jon said: “The trip was a great success – the local bikes were slightly crude and you were very lucky to have working brakes or gears, the roads were rough, and the temperature high.

“Cycling between 60 – 80kms per day proved a great challenge, but was highly enjoyable also – it was the first time Zanzibar had seen a bike trip of this scale, so the reception in the villages was noisy to say the least.”

The fundraising will allow the Makunduchi hospital to begin maternity services later this year and hopefully lead to significant reductions in maternal and infant mortality, added Jon.

He said: “I had never done anything like this before but I enjoyed the challenge.”

The ride took etween seven-10 days along a route close to the equator.

Jon who is married to Seema, a GP in Portishead, said: “Although there is a sense of paradise on the Indian Ocean Spice Island with its white sandy beaches and coral reef lagoon the average life expectancy is 47 years

“One in 180 women die during delivery of their child and one in six children die under the age of seven with the majority dying when aged less than two years.”

Jon took his one-year-old son Krishan out a lot of the back of his bike is helping with his training.

The doctor, who also has seven-year-old twins Kamran and Jaya, also cycled back and forth from his Bristol home as part of his training.

He said: “My training regime was to cycle into work from Bristol and back is approximately a 21 mile round trip and going out on call on my bike whenever possible.”

Jon is a trustee of the charity with a slogan ‘Money raised is not just a drop in the ocean’.

He said: “We have complete control over the fund, so there can be no corruption.

“People can see exactly where their money is going and monitor progress. People can and will make a difference.

“I am involved with this charity having worked in Zanzibar's main hospital approximately seven years ago as a surgical trainee.

"I spent some time there learning some operative procedures that we rarely carry out in this country.

“I worked at Mnazi Moja Hospital in Stonetown, the capital of the island - the hospital is completely unable to cope with the huge numbers of patients coming in from rural areas, and a terrible lack of resources.

“This project aims to help manage the less sick patients in the community and allow the main hospital to concentrate on more major illness.

“I became involved in a twinning project between this hospital and Musgrove Park where I was working at the time.”

It was a consultant at the Taunton hospital who is the founder of the charity.

Backwell and Nailsea Medical Group practice manager Maggie Robins collected toys for Jon to take out and Backwell & Nailsea Rotary Club is supporting the project by raising funds for an anaesthetic machine for the maternity unit at the hospital.


Nailsea People

Umuhimu wa Kura ya NDIO hapo Julai 31, 2010

Sio siri tena kwamba siasa za umimi,chuki na utenganao hazina nafasi tena katika visiwa vya Zanzibar. Hii ni kutokana na muafaka wa kihistoria uliofikiwa na Rais anayemaliza muda wake hapo Zanzibar Mhe. A. Karume na Mhe. Maalim Seif, ambao kwa pamoja waliona uhumimu wa kuwa na Zanzibar moja yenye kuelewana licha ya tofauti za kisiasa.

Utengano wa Zanzibar na hasa kijografia umesababisha kuwepo kwa mikwaruzo mingi kwa watu wa visiwa hivyo licha ya baadhi yao kuwa na maingiliano ya kifamilia. Tatizo la utengano huu lilitokana na Mapinduzi ambapo upande mmjoa wa visiwa hivyo kujiona kuwa unahusika zaidi na mapinduzi hayo kuliko upande mwingine wa visiwa hivyo. Hivyo basi utaona kuwa utengano huu ulijengeka zaidi kisiasa.

Imechukua zaidi ya miaka arobaini na sita kwa wanzazibari kuona kuwa kuna umuhimu wa kuelewana na hasa katika uwanja wa kisiasa, ambao umecheza nafasi kubwa katika mgogoro na mtafuruku wa utengano visiwani humu. Awali rais wa kwanza alikuwa akitamka hadharani nafasi ya wananchi wa kisiwa kingine katika uongozi wa juu visiwani hapa. Kauli zake hizo ni baadhi ya mizizi ya utengano visiwani.

Machafuko ya hali ya hewa mwanzoni mwa miaka ya themanini hayawezi kuwekwa kando katika mtafaruku huu. Kwani yalionyesha wazi ni kwa kiasi gani baadhi ya wanavisiwa wanavyochukuliwa katika hatima ya uongozi wa juu visiwani humu. Hii iliongeza mbolea katika utengano na chuki miongoni mwa wanavisiwa.

Kurudi kwa mfumo wa vyama vingi, ndio ilikuwa kilele cha utengano. Kwani kwa mara ya kwanza Watanzania wengi waliweza kujua nini kinaendelea katika visiwa hivi. Kauli nyingi za ajabu ajabu zilisikika katika kuona kuwa utengano wa kisiasa, itikadi na hadi kifamilia unaendelea visiwani hapa, hadi kusababisha kupoteza maisha ya baadhi ya wanavisiwa ambao walikuwa wamechoshwa na kadhia hizo.

Leo hii sio vyema kutupa lawama kwa upande wowote uliohusika na kujenga migogoro hii. Kwani pande zote kwa namna moja ama nyingine zimehusika kikamilifu katika kujenga utengano huu.

Hii ndio inafanya kuwa kila mpandae maelewano visiwani humu aone umuhimu wa kupiga kura ya NDIO. Kura hii ina umuhimu mkubwa sana katika maendeleao ya kijamii visiwani humu na kufuta kabisa historia chafu ya utengano na migogoro isiyokwisha ya kisiasa.

Matokeo ya kura ya NDIO yatawezesha wanavisiwa wote kufungua ukurusa mpya katika maisha yao ya kila siku. Ukurasa ambao utaweka historia miongoni mwetu na ulimwenguni kwa ujumla.

Napenda kusema kuwa hii ni nafasi adhimu iliyotukuta wanavisiwa, ya kuweza kujiamulia wenyewe hatima ya maisha yetu kisiasa kiuchumi na kujamii. Kumbuka kuwa hapo awali maamuzi yote makubwa juu ya maisha yetu yalikuwa yakitoka juu, kabla la hili la tarehe 31/07/2010.

Ni vema kwa kila mwananchi mwenye sifa ya kupiga kura siku hiyo kupiga kura ya NDIO, ili kuweza kuwa na visiwa venye umoja na kuelekea kwenye kuunda serikali ya umoja wa kitaifa mara baada ya Uchaguzi Mkuu.

Tatizo letu tunalijua na tiba yetu ni kura ya NDIO.

Swahili gift "Khanga" transgresses boundaries

It was just a cloth that came with the emergence of slave trade along the coastal line of East Africa, but its revolution and esteem put it on the map of Africa's lifestyle.

The Leso or Khanga as it is commonly known (wrapper or shawl worn around the waist ), is no longer much of a fashion statement in Kenya today or any other East African country -- certainly not what it was in the 1980s, when our mothers would strut around elegantly wrapped in it, making very respectable fashion statements.

Nonetheless, even today, any African women strongly attached to her culture must wear a leso as respectable attire at some point, especially during important social festivals. So how did this legendary piece of clothing come to influence African fashion for so long?

Incredibly, the origin of the Khanga (leso) was in the nefarious slave trade. Female slaves in the 19th century had to be "adequately" clothed before being transported to the Middle East. Because of the local religious obligations, many considered the Khanga a cloth befitting the occasion.

Traders from Gujarat in the Indian sub-continent, who had been visiting the East African coast for centuries, cleverly noted this and responded to the market demand by supplying a black cloth called the Kaniki. Whack was worn by slaves and poorer women.

The Merikani, another expensive cloth worn by high-society ladies, was supplied from North America. A pure cloth, it was embellished using simple dots and lines. Later, red color was added to the initial white, as artists experimented with dyes.

Block printing was the next progression, as patterns chiseled into cassava and sweet potatoes were imprinted onto the cloth. These, therefore, became the hallmarks of the Khanga.

As women wearing the colorful fabric gathered in the groups and chattered in the evening breeze of the Zanzibar sea-shore, men likened them to East Africa's ubiquitous guinea fowl (black and white dots resembling a guinea fowl) -- "Khanga" in Swahili -- with its brightly coloured spotted plumage.

Emancipated female slaves from the East African coast and Zanzibar, together with other women in the region, demanded ever- changing designs, setting in motion the trends that would make the Khanga a high-fashion item in the 20th century.

After the socialist revolution in Zanzibar, there was a lull in the leso trade, but only briefly. Soon, entrepreneurs from India were manufacturing the garments and exporting them to Zanzibar and the whole of the East Africa.

Before India became the leader in the industry, most machine- made Khangas came from Europe and China. In Kenya , there is only one manufacturing plant, while there are five in Tanzania.

The general presentation of the Khanga has improved with time. Text messages and proverbs are among its most recent additions.

This development was pioneered by the famous Hajee Essak family, who originally came from Zanzibar but settled in Mombasa in 1910. Back then, the language used was Swahili and the script Arabic.

The sayings are not just decorative. They have profound meaning both to the wearer and viewer. A typical one goes" Mama ni mama hata hawe nani" (a mother is a mother whatever else she may be).

Historically, such inscriptions solved the communication barrier in a culture where women were not heard or seen publicly. They gave a voice to the voiceless.

Interestingly the cloth is not worn in India , where it is made, because of the enduring stigma of its close association with slave women.

Seyyid Barghash who ruled Zanzibar in the early 20th century, banned noble ladies in his court from wearing it, claiming that it reminded him of the "dirty stinking black woman at the slave market."

The Khanga has not entirely escaped the onslaught of modernization, both in its material and message. Synthetic fabrics such as polyester have been employed in its production and it is now common to see political, religious and social messages written on it.

Even portraits of powerful leaders have found their way onto its material. The hard face of Ernesto "Che" Guevara -- the famed Latin American communist revolutionary -- is seen on many fashionable Khangas in Nairobi.

Other notable faces include the felled South African liberation movement activist Steve Biko, Mau Mau war hero Dedan Kimaathi and Agustinho Neto, the Angolan poet and revolutionary.

Spreading far and wide from its heartland in Zanzibar, the versatile Khanga can now be found on the East African coast, in the hinterland, in Madagascar and the Comoro islands and throughout the Middle East.

As Christed De Wit, a leading researcher of early forms of fashion in East Africa, notes in her book Evolution of Fashion in East Africa: "The Khanga has transgressed all boundaries of culture, religion and language. It has become the Muslim Swahili gift for those who seek to embrace it."

Xinhua