RC suggests on reinvestments on dead industries

The Regional Commissioner for Mara region has said that state owned industrial firms that once operated in Mara region– but now stalled – must be given new lease on life.  Dr Charles Mlingwa said on Friday last week that “Mara was home to thriving industries like Mutex and dairy factories they are not operating now they must be made to operate under whatever circumstances in order to boost the regional economy”, he emphasized. The RC was speaking during the region’s 2017 Press Freedom Day hosted by Mara Regional Press Club (MRPC) at Matvilla Beach and attended by key development partners including North Mara Gold Mine which has spent significant resources on the development of local communities in the area. The RC is bullish that Mara Region was geared for bigger things to come: new large factories to produce sugar, cooking oil and cement, among others. Investment into the envisaged sugar factory which starts with the introduction of sugar farming in Tarime District would begin this year, opening up opportunity for establishment of a meat factory later. Currently, the whole region has more than 400 various industries –most of them small industries. He invited more local and foreign investors to turn up and invest in the region. In their reports through the regional press club, Mara journalists assured the RC that they would continue reporting stories that will help to promote investment on industries in the area. Dr Mlingwa congratulated the journalists and also assured them of continued cooperation. Earlier, the Mara Regional Small Industries Development Organization (SIDO) Manager Ms Frida Mungulu cited agriculture as a key area, where livestock products hold immense investment opportunities within the region– and beyond. “Mara has a large number of livestock …let us all promote investment in the livestock sector and it’s also important to showcase stories of the best performing available industries,” she counseled. She also called for serious investment in the region’s tourism sector.

Shaming women should not be afraid as ‘Fistula’ disease is curable

THE government plans to improve 100 health facilities to enable women suffering from Obstetric Fistula undergo surgical repair, a swift response to a new revelation that only 50 per cent of 3,000 new fistula cases are being handled. The Minister for Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children Ms Ummy Mwalimu said yesterday that the state was all out to ensure it raises awareness to women that “the disease is treatable.” “Of about 3,000 women who develop fistula, only 1,500 victims receive medication. “The government will use the International Day to End Obstetric Fistula to raise awareness among women that the disease can be treated,” she said yesterday ahead of International Day to End Obstetric Fistula, whose observance is slated for today. Speaking on the same, Dr Hashina Begum, the Representative of United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) noted in Dar es Salaam that it was vital to raise awareness on the disease. “Many women and girls who suffer from fistula are excluded from daily community life and often abandoned by their husbands and families,” said the UNFPA envoy. Dr Begum added that isolating them socially and emotionally makes it difficult for them to maintain a source of income or support -- thus deepening their poverty and magnifying their suffering. She said UNFPA and the UN system within the country had in this year procured 67 ambulances to help referral systems and eight coordination vehicles, pointing out both ambulances and coordination vehicles had since been handed over to the health ministry. “We’ve increased access to availability of family services to all women and men including young people, who wish to delay and reduce the number of pregnancies at an early age which is another factor leading to developing fistula,” she observed. “This condition affects those who lack access to timely, high-quality, and life-saving maternal health care they need and deserve.... So more awareness, funds to cater for their treatment is needed to help women and girls who suffer from fistula,” said Dr Begum. Dr Begum acknowledged the participation of partners including AMREF, CCBRT, MOHDGEC and the Tanzania Midwives Association (TAMA) for their collaboration to end obstetric fistula in the country. The Comprehensive Community Based Rehabilitation in Tanzania (CCBRT) Programme Manager, Mr Clement George, said CCBRT had for the past five years provided lifechanging surgery to over 4,000 women living with fistula, saying there were still 15,000 women still living with fistula. “The youngest fistula patient to undergo surgery in CCBRT was aged 12 while the oldest was aged 82… and she had lived with fistula for 66 years,” he observed. Nineteen year old Sikujua Mabula from Kagera region who is currently receiving treatment at Comprehensive Community Based Rehabilitation in Tanzania (CCBRT) pointed out that she was impregnated at the age of 17 and therefore had to get married. “A few months after the marriage, my husband told me to return home because life was getting tough, promising to come for me when things are better I used to attend clinic and the doctors said the baby was big and I could only give birth through caesarean, a few months before my due date, my mother in law told me to return home,” noted Mabula.

How DFID program helps cover water shortages in Tanzania

LOCAL Government Authorities (LGAs) have greater chance to expand water coverage network through the use of more than 78.6 million UK Sterling Pounds (about 250bn/-) disbursed by the Department For International Development (DFID) to implement rural water supply programme (2016- 2020). The Ministry of Water and Irrigation Assistant Director Eng Jackson Mutazamba said at the technical orientation workshop on payment by results scheme for council directors in Morogoro yesterday that only few councils have accessed to the donor funds after fulfilling all the requirements. “There is sufficient funds compared to the councils’ capacity to access them that would help establish and rehabilitate water projects for reliable water supply particularly to the rural population,” he said. Payment by Result programme is a performance based programmed implemented by DFID in partnership with the government with a view to expand and provide support in order expand rural water coverage network. He said eligibility of the council will be based on the quality of data submitted particularly accuracy and a timely month to month reports. The qualifying LGAs will receive two levels of payment namely 50 British Pounds per each water point and 1,500 British Pounds for an additional functioning of water point above previous baseline. Last year, only 57 councils qualified for the large grant and received each 5,000 British UK pounds. On her part, the Assistant Director, Rural Water Supply Department in the Ministry of Water and Irrigation Ms Rita Kilua said the technical solutions retained are based on functional options relating to water sources, point water supplies, transmission, storage and distribution, as adopted on similar water schemes that were recently implemented in the country. The government is implementing a twenty year (2006-2025) Water Sector Development Programme (WSDP), which encompasses rural and urban water supply and sanitation, sanitation and hygiene, water resources management and institutional capacity building components. According to the WaterAid state of the world’s water 2016 report, in 16 countries, more than 40 per cent of the population does not have access to even a basic water facility such as a protected well. People from impoverished, marginalised communities have no choice but to collect dirty water from open ponds and rivers, or spend large chunks of their income buying water from vendors.  “This water is always a health risk; in many cases, it proves deadly. Globally, diarrhoea diseases caused by dirty water and poor sanitation are the second biggest child killer after pneumonia, taking 315,000 young lives every year,” the report reads in part.

Trains Overcrowded in South Africa's Most Congested City

Train commuters in Cape Town complain of overcrowding and delays, adding that they arrived late for work and, with winter arriving, they returned home after dark, making them vulnerable to criminals. According to the TomTom traffic index Cape Town is the most congested city in the country and 48th in the world, ahead of cities such as New York. For rail commuters, the situation isn't much better, with trains overcrowded to the point of bursting and long delays. GroundUp found people clinging from the outside to coaches and even locomotives. Some trains were only six coaches long. Daphne Kayster, Western Cape PRASA (Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa) Acting Marketing and Communication Manager said the equivalent of 11 train sets were destroyed by arson between October 2015 and April 2017. "The main reason for the dramatic decrease in train performance is directly related to pressure on the fleet due to losses from train fires as well as vandalism to the infrastructure as a result of arson and community protests," she said. "The demand for services far exceeds the available train supply as a result of decades of disinvestment in rail and unprecedented growth of informal settlements. "The continuous theft or vandalism of assets, mainly cables and other metal bearing components has led to a situation where services have generally been unreliable and therefore not meeting customer expectations," said Kayster. Commuters, however, blame Metrorail for the increasingly poor service, and reports of corruption and mismanagement in PRASA lend weight to their view. GroundUp spoke to a number of commuters. 

They said they arrived late for work and with winter arriving they returned home after dark making them vulnerable to criminals. Mzwandile Cuba of Langa, 60 and a father of five, said it was often impossible for him to make it on time to work. "I usually caught a 7:17am Cape Town-bound-via-Pinelands train and changed at Maitland for my work at Elsies River." But that train is now so overcrowded he has to wait for the next one. He says his employers do not understand his difficulty and have issued him with harsh warnings. He tried getting the earlier 7:20am train, but it was very often delayed. Lucy Somtsewu, 41 of Gugulethu and a mother of two, travelled every weekday on a Cape Town-bound train for Mutual. She says the situation is now so bad that instead of her monthly R150 train ticket for Nyanga to Mutual Station she has to spend R32 a day on a taxi to get to work (R19 to Mutual and R13 for a return to Gugulethu). Mavis Bhelesi, 58 and a mother of two, said it was usually only one day in a week that the trains were on time on her route of Nonkqubela Station (Site B, Khayelitsha) to Bellville. "I was normally supposed to catch a 6am train and start work at 8:30am, but I am compelled to catch an earlier train because of the serious delays," she said. "I have used trains for more than 30 years ... but the issue appears too appalling nowadays ... much worse since PRASA took over in the past few years." "The company's personnel tell us to move to another transport mode every time we lodge complaints with them," she said.

SOURCE: All Africa News

Taifa Stars soccer team eyes Cosafa Cup

Tanzania's Taifa Stars have been grouped in the same group as Angola in the forthcoming COSAFA Senior Challenge Cup slated to held in South Africa next month. According to the draw released yesterday, the Taifa Stars have been drawn in Group A alongside Angola's Palancas Negras, Mauritius and Malawi. The draw took place on Tuesday in Johannesburg, South Africa with Salum Mayanga's boys placed in what seems a fair preliminary round group A of the 2017 COSAFA Castle Cup. Taifa Stars will be competing for the third time after 1997 and 2015, with Comoros Islands having declined to take part this year. The Tanzanian outfit performed poorly last time out when they lost all their three group matches. Taifa Stars fell 1-0 to Swaziland in their open ing game as well as 2-0 defeat against Madagascar that dashed their hopes of reaching the knockout stages. A 1-0 loss to Lesotho in the final group match meaning they packed their bags without a win and without scoring a single goal. The overall winner will clinch a quarter-final berth against defending champions, Bafana Bafana, who were seeded, based on their performance in the cup alongside Botswana, Swaziland, Namibia, Zambia and Lesotho, www.cosafa.com reported Tuesday. The draw shows that Swaziland will face the winners of Group B, which is a hugely competitive pool that includes Zimbabwe, Madagascar, Mozambique and Seychelles. The other two quarterfinals will see Botswana take on Zambia in a titanic battle and 2015 winners Namibia play Lesotho in another COSAFA Castle Cup classic clash.

SOURCE” Daily News