Traditional elders in Tarime district calls for land Act review

AS the National Constitutional Review Commission team led by former Prime Minister, Judge Joseph Sinde Warioba is collecting people’s views for a new constitution from various parts in the country, traditional elders in some wards within Tarime district in Mara region have called for the amendment of the current land Act in the country Speaking in different interviews recently in Tarime district, they have said that, there is a great need to amend the existing land law Act of 1999 noting that it doesn’t give freedom and full right of land ownership to indigenous Tanzanians especially in rural areas when it comes to the issue of investments. The elders made their concern when met by this reporter at a prize giving ceremony during which fellow 19 elders from different wards in a district were awarded with cash and certificates for their active participation against war on crime which was organized by special police zone in the district. The elders with their representing wards in brackets are Mwita Kitosi (Nyanungu), Sinda Nyangore (Bukira), Nchagwa Mutongori (Bunchari), Samwel Magaigwa (Turwa) and Wambura Munanka (Nyandoto) According to them, they have suggested that, there should be an aspect of land ownership within the Act that would enable owners to possess national land title deeds as these documents certifies a planned area that guaranties immediate compensation whenever land is given to investors for development. Unlike at the moment whereby the majority uses village land permits which are unsurveyed.“Village land titles do not give full mandate in terms of ownership”, a situation which they have described as easily paves the way for land grabbers like investors who takes an advantage to acquire plots easily, thus resulting into endless land chaos in the country.

The current Director of Tarime District Council, Mr. Fidelis Lumato

Elaborating on the existing problem taking Tarime district as a case study, they have noted that, there has been certain minor problems which arises on land issues occasionally caused by district land officers. They claim that, they do not know clear demarcations of their lands which was issued by the colonialists to their Chiefs way back in 1947 when Tarime was first declared to be a district known by then as ‘North Mara district’. The name continued during post independence time up to 1972 when it was renamed Tarime district, and which half of its land has been partitioned by the government to form another district known as Rorya. The call by elders has come amid recent announcement by government through the Ministry of Local governments and Regional Administration which it issued during last year’s parliamentary budget session that, Tarime district has been upgraded and given the status of a town council. In the meantime, the newly formed town council is getting prepared to put in place a master plan that would outline various development initiatives to be run under various categories for social and economic gains of the people in a district, sources from the district have noted. Among such developments, the issue of land is among the key aspects to be put forward as already land in the surrounding villages of the five wards has been declared to be in the jurisdiction of the newly established town council. The five wards under which the council will operate are Nyandoto, Nyamisangura, Turwa, Sabasaba and Bomani. Investigation by this paper can reveal that, following the upcoming development changes, fear has amounted to villagers from Nyandoto ward whose land had not been surveyed even before the partitioning of the two district of Tarime and Rorya which came into being in 2008. The ward consists of four villages namely Gamasara, Mtana, Kemange and Nyagisya Interviewed district officials have disclosed that, new developments would take effect once a master plan for the district which currently is being worked upon is finished, and these would include the allocations of various social services and many others according to laws that govern town councils. Clarifying the matter, the current director of Tarime district council, Fidelis Lumato said in an interview that, the whole process will take longer as there are lots of preparations to be put in place and which requires huge sum of money depending on the national budget. However he couldn’t disclose how much will be used. “You know there are so many things such as infrastructure, social facilities like schools, police, hospitals and others like these which will be needed for expansion and promotion”, he said adding that it’s not an issue of today or tomorrow. An officer from the land department in the district Ruzama Misango said in an interview that, despite of being given a status of a town council, they are waiting for a certificate of approval from the government to start land surveying in appropriate areas to be designated later in a master plan. Tarime district was recently promoted into a status of being a town council following the partitioning of its division with Rorya district immediately when the fourth phase government of Jakaya Kikwete came in to being in 2005. The partitioning of the district was done so as to quicken the provision of both social and economic services for the development of the entire people. The newly formed town council according to district officials will be inaugurated towards the end of this year on a day yet to be established.

SUMATRA turns against upcountry bus transporters

AS the Christmas religious occasion is around the corner, the Surface and Marine Transport Regulatory Authority (SUMATRA) has issued a strong warning to upcountry bus operators to desist from hiking fare tickets to passengers travelling to upcountry regions, a common malpractice shown when the occasion is nearing. Sumatra’s warning has come about when it was rumoured that there is a looming fare hike at Ubungo upcountry bus terminal in Dar es Salaam as passengers who go for booking are told the seats are full for a particular day they want to travel. Sumatra’s Public Affairs Manager, David Mziray said early this week in Dar es Salaam that, his firm as a regulator has imposed a fine of Sh. 250,000 cash to those found guilty of such a malpractice as they would have violated the legal conditions slated in their operating transport licenses or otherwise will face revocation. A random survey which was carried out on Wednesday this week at Ubungo bus terminal found out that, passengers at the terminal were getting normal services from ticket agents with some of them requesting for a discount on a particular fare price. However, when contacted for comments, one booking clerk who preferred anonymity dismissed claims leveled against them and noted that, if such malpractice were there then it must have been done by few unscrupulous middlemen at the terminal. The Secretary General of the Association of upcountry Bus Transport Agency Hamisi Maneno also refuted the allegations when contacted for clarification and noted that, his agency has been faced with such claims and without proof, but he is surprised to see that claimants have failed to prove their argument beyond reasonable doubts. However, contrary to other sources, the Secretary General of the Tanzania Bus Owners Association (TABOA) Ernea Mrutu has asked passengers to book their tickets right from the designated booking offices located within the bus stand as most conmen are middlemen who hoards tickets and later sell them illegally. Mrutu was speaking in a telephone interview on Thursday when contacted for comments about the matter. However, he added that passengers must be careful at this time of the year when there is a great influx who aspires for traveling tickets.

Meanwhile, Sumatra has amounted a crackdown to net the defaulting commuter buses which are notorious for violating various traffic rules including that of shortening their routes in the city of Dar es Salaam. The exercise by SUMATRA which started three weeks ago came about as a result of the public outcry most of whom commuters who have been complaining about the misbehaviors shown by the daladala operators especially during evening pick hours. “There are some daladala operators who have been charging higher the amount of fare along their designated routes, while others shortens their routes and double charged their passengers” he said.According to Mziray, this is a long standing problem and is a continuous exercise and in order to succeed he has asked for people to cooperate with law enforcers in order to help net the defaulters who are causing inconveniences to passengers. A preliminary investigation by this paper has discovered that, most commuter buses shorten out their routes in a bid to charge their passengers twice or thrice for a single trip. A spot check carried out throughout last week in some bus stages within the city like Mwenge, Ubungo, Buguruni, and Tazara saw some buses which are not designated for the route alights their passengers pretending to be the end of the journey, and thereby a conductor announces to passengers his next destination and proceeds ahead by connecting with other passengers. According to Mziray, his organization has been taking stern measures against defaulters wherever possible though sometimes is difficult to control all of them. When contacted for comments, bus drivers and conductors who preferred anonymity said that, they have to do this in order to accumulate enough sum of money needed by their employer at the end of a day’s contract before they stop. However, others cited the regular increase of fuel prices and also the spiraling operational costs.

The government to scrutinize foreign workers in private sectors

DESPITE of the existing of various departments dealing with the employment related matters to foreigners in the country such as the immigration department and the Tanzania Investment Centre (TIC), the government does not have a comprehensive report of foreigners working in various professional fields in the country. It has been learnt. In view of this, after having realized of such a discrepancy, the government has set up a format which will enable to know the status of foreign employees working in private sectors in the country, the Minister for Labour and Employment Hon. Gaudensia Kabaka has said. The move aims to help the government know the distribution of employees so as to help capture the statistics of both foreign and local employees who are employed at least on monthly basis just in the same way as it records the number of employees in public sector. Minister Kabaka gave the concern yesterday in Dar es Salaam when addressing members of the Association of Tanzania Employers (ATE) who gathered for a one day high level conference which was later on followed by their 53rd Annual General Meeting (AGM). She said that, her ministry has prepared a survey form which will be sent to all employers of the private sectors to fill-in each month indicating the type of occupation their workers are doing, gender and their citizenship, minimum wage, sex and also the ministry would know their future projections on the same grounds. According to the Minister, the system among other things will put private sector employers who are the main covering 97 percent of the employment opportunities and the government which covers the remaining 3 percent in close relationship and cooperation in the job creation ventures in the country. However, she added that, the system would be coordinated and make it more effectively through regional offices in the country and will include all types of workers, and the motive behind is to ensure that more Tanzanians are considered for employment as per the government set up. The Minister who is optimistic with the performances of various private sectors, has also ordered members of the ATE to give her the feedback starting from next week so that she could inform the public on the development of these statistics. Earlier in her introductory remark, Minister Kabaka said that, with the East Africa Community already up and running, Tanzanian youths and workforce in general are exposed to a high risk of loosing jobs and other business opportunities due to attitude problems which can be out competed by the neighboring regions. “It has come the right time as many youths are facing numerous challenges to find out solutions to their day-to day’s problems facing their life”. She said adding that, the problem is not only in Tanzania but also in Africa and suggested that, with these problems African governments should take appropriate steps to solve them. However, she admitted that the situation is mainly caused due to low wages which cannot match with the present high living standards. In view of this, the Minister has urged employers not to show bad attitude towards their workers and instead they should be working in collaboration with their workers in order to ward off the root cause of the problem at all levels. Commenting on the event which was tailored by the theme titled, “Work attitude towards business development in Tanzania”, she stressed a point that, it was important that Tanzanian workers should build the right attitude now in order to avoid future challenges that might lead to a more frustrating life. However, she added that, lack of right attitude also has contributed to poor living standard which depends on a number of things. In vice versa, she noted that in employing the right attitude is the recipe to outstanding organizational performance which will therefore lead to economic prosperity. Responding the Minister’s call, ATE’s Chairman Adv. Carnelius Kariwa assured the government that his members will work in collaboration as per the laid down regulations in order to succeed. When asked how ATE would ensure the employment security to the local, he noted that, they would work in close cooperation with the relevant bodies such as Tanzania Investment Centre to accomplish the need. He earlier noted that, ATE had gathered with a view to brainstorm the consistent problems which have been facing local Tanzanians in various levels of professional fields and what needs to be done in order to build the right attitudes of employers to their workers in both private and public sector. Speaking during the conference, the main speaker of the event Dr. Fred Mwita, Chief Officer, Human Resources for Vodacom Tanzania urged employers to empower right attitude towards work in order to promote productivity and competitiveness in the country. He said most of employers complain of retarded job performance but the poor cause of all these is work attitude. However, he said adding that, cases of fraud, corruption, job turnover and gossips cause poor performance at work at work and employers spend most of time dealing with hearings and terminations instead of augmenting production. The ATE is the most representative employer’s organization in the country with more than 1,000 members’ organization countrywide. 70 percent of these are based in Dar es Salaam region, while 30 percent are in upcountry regions. One of the duties of the association is to promote harmonious labor relations at work places as well as best practices in HR management for smooth running of businesses.

The Minister for Labour and Employment Hon. Gaudensia Kabaka

NEEC to empower beekeepers in the country

THE National Economic and Empowerment Council (NEEC) has started to work on a five year sustainable beekeeping development program, the project which it had proposed to be conducted in eight regions in the country. It has been learnt. The program with the aim of empowering stakeholders in beekeeping industry will come to an end in 2017. It will look together with other things various impediments affecting beekeeping sector and how to overcome them with a view to increase honey production in the country. Speaking in an exclusive interview, the NEEC’s Executive Secretary Dr. Anacleti Kashuliza said recently in Dar es Salaam recently that, the main objective of the program is to establish and develop modern technology of beekeeping which involves taking care of environment that will effectively contribute to the economies of the key stakeholders at the national level. He said through the program, NEEC would give education to beekeepers on various methods and techniques they should use in order to successfully manage quality production output of honey and how to curb with other challenges facing the whole sector in general. The program also involves sensitization so that people might effectively participate in beekeeping activities. In addition to that, the program also goes alongside with the establishment of business clusters aimed at stimulating beekeeping activity in the country. Under this sensitization program, beekeepers would be introduced and directed how to use protective gears while taking out honey from beehives and many other as related to the general beekeeping activity, he said. The program by NEEC which is spearheaded by the Prime Minister’s Office comes amid a thorough research activity it conducted in collaboration with a private National Beekeeping Supplies Company in Manyara region.

NEEC’s Executive Secretary Dr. Anacleti Kashuliza presenting a paper. Seated on his left is the Minister of State in President's Office responsible for Empowerment Dr. Mary Nagu

The research was done as part of fulfillment of the directives issued by the Prime Minister’s office the department concerned with privatization and empowerment, and this was confirmed on the presentation of the proposed plan by NEEC and after which the council was officially directed and allowed to prepare a five year development plan The findings of the research work indicated that, most beekeepers in the country still uses outdated techniques to conduct their beekeeping activities, and it had recommended that if they could unite their efforts in cooperative societies they could be in a better chance to increase the current low production capacity level of honey and earn the nation more profits. NEEC has prepared this program to be conducted in eight regions through the assistance of the regional secretarial Councils of a particular district councils selected to implement the targeted program. The regions and their selected district in brackets are Manyara (Babati and Hanang), Dodoma (Chamwino), Tabora (Urambo), Kigoma (Kigoma), Tanga (Korogwe). Iringa and Coast regions have yet selected their districts. Other objectives set alongside with the main program includes to establish and or develop beekeepers’ cooperative societies so as to accumulate capital investments and establish special honey markets through various honey centers, to emphasize fishing development activities as well as reinforcing best use of arable land for cultivation, forests and to establish tree seedbeds and continue promoting environmental friendly crops for bees. To achieve all these objectives regulations and bylaws would be compiled to help stand for coordination, measure and value the implementation of the program.  Other challenges to curb with are the poor price offered to honey sellers and lack of strategic market though there is a great demand on the use of quality honey. The migration of bees around because of lack of water, trees and flowers and other disturbances such as smoke and many others have been exacerbating issues which needs urgent attention.

The embossing sexual harassment in Dar es Salaam city

AN Investigative piece of information can reveal that, there are some young ladies who suffer from arbitrary assault of the sexual harassments, a commonly ridiculed habit being practiced by few rowdy male teenagers at Mwenge daladala bus stand terminal on the outskirts of the city of Dar es Salaam. The mostly suffered are those young ladies of the teenage group who tend to wear shameful dresses such as mini skirts that leave them appear in half naked a situation that change their physical appearance and look like sex workers before the society. It has indeed become a common practice for male youths to jeer at those ladies when come into contact with and tend to touch parts of their bodies and make some annoying remarks, utter abusive words and sometimes when they show resistance threatens an attack. In response, the scornful ladies feel afraid and rather ashamed of such an arbitrary action and tend to run away unable to mount a counter attack against their adversaries due to their lower physical advantage and instead resort to hide from their sight far from being ridiculed. Sources from the scene have revealed that, male youths normally practices such mischief while under the influence of the intoxicating drug use, a situation which ultimately drives them into severe extreme emotion, others practices the habit while in sober mood as long as they take a practice as a normal drama. Investigations by this paper has discovered that, a temporary encroachment caused by petty traders within the bus stand which occurs as from the evening till night hours has been an exacerbating factor causing misery among women including young ladies who visit such areas with a view to acquire transport services or buy materials for personal use. Further investigations reveals that, scorers of rowdy young men pretends to be petty traders, sometimes could be seen touting for the products on sale while inviting potential customers in their unique style uses the opportunity to make fun of the ladies who passes along them. They get hold of their breasts, touching their arms and waists and without their consent are sometimes pulled forcefully as a sign of inviting them to buy their products, but ironically all this is done on pretence as though to inconvenience the presence of ladies around them, narrates Lucia Patrick in an exclusive interview when cornered by this writer early this week in Dar es Salaam. Lucia, who owns a salon nearby said that, she has since refrained from walking alone when going to buy things within the bus stand for what she claims to be a disturbance she used to experience while confronted by petty traders. She says most ladies used to walk around in company of few men in order to protect themselves from such harassments. Narrating the ordeal, Halima Mrisho a 21 year old lady became surprised one Friday evening as she was at the stage waiting to board a daladala, as a tall and black gay man grabbed her ass, she was so startled that she glared at him and walked away. Mwenge daladala bus stand has of recent discovered to have no longer enough space to accommodate as many passengers as the area has been invaded by petty traders known as ‘Machingas’.

The Kinondoni Municipal Mayor Hon. Yusufu Mwenda addressing municipal councillors in one of their internal meetings

The area becomes so congested and rather impassable to would be buyers who mixes up with commuters most of whom women who are inconvenienced whenever they visit the area to buy the most cheaply selling commodities. Plans by Kinondoni Municipal Council of removing petty traders from the area seem to have hit a snag despite of the promise by the Municipal Mayor Hon. Yusufu Mwenda which he gave earlier in March this year to look for an alternative solution of relocating them in a permanent area, but seemingly no action has been taken so far. When contacted for comments, police officer in charge at Mwenge police post who preferred anonymity told this paper in an interview that, most victims who are subjected to such sexual harassments are afraid of reporting such malpractices before the police as many of them are not well dressed, and therefore, might be ashamed to do so. “You know there are so many cases of sexual harassments against ladies, but here at a police post we mostly deal with criminal cases and such matters are not reported as mostly affected victims are afraid to expose themselves while they know are in a shameful dress:” he said. The police officer at the police post was contacted with a view to find out the truth about the matter to see if there has been any reporting of such incidences by the victims at their police station. Jehovaness Zacharia a lawyer working for the Women and Legal Aid Centre (WLAC) says that in her experience, many women do not report sexual harassment cases because most of the time the police are not helpful. She also says that there is a lot of stigma surrounding sexual harassment and women are not empowered enough to report the cases as they arise. “Sexual harassment is a criminal offence, and women are supposed to report it once attacked,” she urges. According to one report entitled ‘Stopping abuse of power for purposes of sexual exploitation’ a program of the Tanzania Women Judges Association (TAWJA) describes sexual harassment as a criminal offence as stipulated in the Tanzania’s criminal procedure code. The report notes that the specific Criminal Code offence of "criminal harassment" was only created in 1993. In the past, the police would charge a person with an offence like trespassing at night, loitering or uttering threats. These crimes still exist and may still be charged. However, since 1993 the police force in the country usually addresses this type of conduct through a charge of criminal harassment. Criminal Harassment legislation is a response to the increasing violence against women, especially women leaving a marriage or intimate relationship. As the society continues to complain about the harassments caused to women on streets and other public areas, some social studies have revealed that, there are a number of ladies who during at night hours tend to roam about on the streets looking for men in order to make them to be their friends. According to Emmanuel Shemaghembe, a social anthropologist at the University of Dar es Salaam, women who dress indecently and in defiance of socio-cultural norms are more likely to be harassed, especially in close quarters like at a bus stage, or like in public areas and in daladalas. The social anthropologist says the problem of sexual harassment is rooted in the importation of Western culture that many conservative Tanzanians are yet to adopt. “Sometimes women dress in a manner that causes men to react inappropriately,” he says. “Obviously, harassing a woman based on the way she is dressed is not the right way to address the situation. “This is because for a long time the existing tradition in Tanzania has made them believe that those who wear revealing clothes are immoral. But if a European wears the same clothing no one cares because we know that that is their culture,” he says.

Former TANU legislator challenges the government

FORMER Member of Parliament during the first phase government has thrown a challenge to the government of Jakaya Kikwete suggesting the idea of education should be given priority in all matters pertaining to the execution of national development programmes. Gregory Mogendi Nyanchini (75) once a member of Parliament for Tarime constituency between 1971 and 1975 said in an exclusive interview recently at his Gamasara village in Tarime that, failure to achieve targets for the national development programs is to a certain extent as a result of lack of civic education many Tanzanians have. Nyanchini ostensibly pointed out that, he is surprised to see that there are some national developments programs which do not catch up as planned for reasons he termed as due to lack of proper education amongst Tanzanians the majority of whom are rural dwellers. Elaborating on the constitutional review process which is going on countrywide, the former legislator has observed that, most Tanzanians especially rural dwellers do not know what a constitution is all about an aspect that they might have nothing to comment about during its debate. In view of this, he has however suggested the government should take time to educate its people on the importance of the national constitution so as to let as many of them participate effectively at this time people’s views are collected by a special commission led by Judge Joseph Warioba. According to him, if the government is not serious, scores of Tanzanians are likely to loose their precious chance of contributing their views on what they see should be the right to be done for their future life. “Many people are not well educated when it comes to the issue of the national constitution and its importance to the society as many families are illiterate and still ignorant about their rights” he said adding that there is a need of educating people first prior to giving out their views.  He has also suggested Members of Parliament in the country to take on the responsibility of enlightening their people from various constituencies in the country as illiteracy amongst Tanzanians is still a national disaster. Citing an example during his tenure as a legislator, the government had assigned every Member of Parliament to work with their people for the promotion of the adult education, a program he said was introduced to wipe off illiteracy amongst the people when villagisation program took effect in rural communities in early 1970s. He said the program had some significance pertaining to the promotion of ‘Socialism and self reliance’ policies which were the major ideological basis of the republic. To his dismay, he is surprised to see that most development programs are not given the priority on education a factor he noted that such initiatives ended up with poor results. “During the reign of TANU and socialist policies, the government put much emphasis on adult education a program that aimed at enlightening the masses on the awareness of the impeding development programs in the country” he said adding that, now there is nothing which is being done as a guidance to achieve the required goals. He has however warned Tanzanians to be careful as the issue of constitution is very sensitive and that people must take precautions and shouldn’t give an opportunity for the few to benefit amongst them while the majority is suffering.

Ministry of Energy to construct a network for natural gas in Dar city

THE Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources is underway to construct infrastructure network of pipelines at the Dar es Salaam city’s designated centres in preparation for the distribution of the natural gas from Mtwara region to be used for both domestic and industrial usage in the city of Dar es Salaam. The Minister in charge of the Ministry Professor Sospeter Muhongo said recently in Dar es Salaam that the government has issued a total of Sh. 20 billion to accomplish the task which is intended to end towards the end of 2014. The call by Professor Muhongo comes amid President Jakaya Kikwete’s order to his ministry which he issued on the same day when he laid down a foundation stone for the construction of a multi billion project which involves the construction of the 532 Km gas pipelines of Mnazi Bay and Songosongo natural gas processing plant from Mtwara to Dar es Salaam. President Kikwete told members of public who turned up in a sudden heavy downpour to witness the historic event that of the inaugural ceremony of the processing plant which took place at Kinyerezi area in Kinondoni district, Dar es Salaam region. He said that, the ministry should start such a preliminary preparations so that when the 18 month long project between Tanzania and Exim Bank of China is completed and starts operation, the gas should be transported to consumers easily and without instead of waiting until the project is finished. The project which is wholly owned by Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) is expected to generate 3,600 MW which is approximately 10 percent in excess of the 2015 national target which was set at 2,780 MW for both domestic and industrial usage. According to Professor Muhongo, Tanzania is now producing 1438 MW but upon completion of the project at Kinyerezi the country will enjoy 54.8 percent of electricity from natural gas, 29.8 percent of electricity by heavy oil and 15.4 percent from water which the government spends $ 24 million on purchasing heavy oil to generate electricity annually.

President Jakaya Kikwete being shown a map for the gas pipeline which will be constructed from Mnazi Bay in Mtwara region to Kinyerezi on the outskirts of Dar es Salaam city recently duruing the inauguration of the project. 

However, the Minister has highlighted that the project will ensure the reliable supply of electricity help protect the environment from rampant deforestation which currently is on the rise to meet demand in the urban centers whereas at the moment in Dar es Salaam city alone it’s estimated that about 40,000 sacks of charcoal is used everyday. Earlier the project was signed by a team of Tanzanian technocrats from the Ministry of Energy and Minerals, the Attorney General’s office, Ministry of Finance and TPDC itself which was held in Beijing-China in July this year.  The signing involves $ 1.2 billion credit agreement (about Sh. 1.92tri). The project aims at increasing transportation capacity of natural gas for power generation as well as industrial and domestic use. The project is jointly implemented by the China Petroleum and Technology Development Company (CPTDC), a unit of China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) and state-run TPDC. The deal involves construction of a 24 to 36-inch diameter pipeline from Mnazi Bay in Mtwara which will be connected at Somanga, with Songo Songo gas field in Lindi region and then to Dar es Salaam. It is also expected to connect Kiliwani/Nyuni, Mkuranga and offshore natural gas reserves. During the preliminary survey, TPDC had engaged Ardhi University (ARU) to survey the route of the envisaged natural gas pipeline from Mnazi Bay in Mtwara Region to Dar es Salaam via Somanga. With recent discoveries of gas in offshore and onshore wells in southern Tanzania, gas reserves are presently estimated at about 40 trillion cubic feet. Since the country discovered natural gas in 2004, the government has saved over $ 2 million (over Sh. 3bn) from importation of fuel used to run generators. Natural gas generates 416 megawatts to the national grid, accounting for 35 per cent of all the electricity produced in the country. Since the discovery of the Mnazi Bay gas field in 1982 the substantial gas resources in this concession have been effectively “stranded”. Gaining access to the greater markets of Tanzania is expected to allow full production from the Company’s existing and future gas wells.