TABOA wants corruption among police traffick stopped on roads

THE government has been urged to take stringent measures in order to curb corruption and negligence on part of law enforcement agencies so that accidents could be minimized in the country.
The call to that effect was echoed by the Tanzania Bus Owners Association (TABOA) secretary general Ennea Mrutu in an interview he granted to the Guardian in Dar es Salaam yesterday.
He said Tanzania Bus Owners Association (TABOA) has decided to use information and communication technology to educate its members on the increased road accidents, so as to avoid making mistakes while on the road.
"The national road safety committee should also show the way by discussing with relative transport stakeholders and road users alike on the importance of curbing road carnage in the country,” he said.
He added that although Tanzania amended its Road Safety Act in 1996 to require all bus owners to fix speed governors in their buses, the exercise couldn't yield the expected results as accidents increased dramatically.
Of course something is wrong somewhere, and a solution to the problem must be found quickly.
According to latest statistics, last year alone, 926 bus accidents claimed 332 lives and injured 1833 people.
He said this year alone, a total of 8,164 accidents has occurred, causing 1,126 deaths and 6,910 people were injured.
He said Tanzania Bus Owners Association has signed a contract with the Arusha-based Utrack system for the latter to install a tracking system for buses.
However, talking to this reporter at a meeting involving all Taboa members, some bus owners were unhappy with the initiative apparently because it will be difficult for them to install the equipment because it involves a lot of money.
Other Taboa members believe that the association is right to urge its members to install the U-Track System for the safety of passengers and the buses.
However some transport experts in the country have broken the silence and are warning the alarming wave of fatal road accidents will not abate unless only professional drivers are allowed to man lorries and passenger buses.
The road carnage continues to claim hundreds of lives and leaves thousands with permanent disabilities.
Speaking to this paper, some experts categorically stated that shortage of professional drivers, particularly of passenger vehicles, was the major cause of accidents  currently claiming  an average of 2,600 lives each year.
Statistics on  road accidents  in Tanzania have remained shockingly high for years now.
Apart from almost 3,000 people dying annually, thousands are left with permanent disabilities caused by severe injuries.
Alarming occurrences have involved upcountry-bound buses and the government is yet to find a lasting solution to the nagging problem.
The experts are particularly worried by an apparent failure by authorities to strictly enforce existing road safety regulations, sighting high level of corruption as the root cause of the problem.
Dr Emmanuel Mushaka, a retired university professor said it should be mandatory for lorries and buses to be handled only by professional drivers who have passed the necessary tests.
“The government should firmly declare that drivers must go to school, otherwise they are not allowed to operate vehicles,” he said.
He said although they have not done research on the matter yet, unqualified drivers account for over 70 per cent of bus and lorry drivers in Tanzania, because they get driving licences through dubious means, including bribery.
He estimated that as many as half of passenger bus drivers in the country are using fake or illegally obtained licences.
He urged police to make extra efforts to boost road safety in order to reduce persistent road accidents, which cost lives of innocent civilians and their properties.
Mr Mrutu said should serve as a challenge to the police and other road safety security organs to intensify efforts to make roads safer for all users.
“We want road safety laws to be enforced including the safety of vessels and passengers. The police must ensure that this is implemented,” he concluded.

He reminded traffic police to not only jump into action when an accident has happens by arresting the driver of the bus, and Sumatra imposing a ban on its operations.
Mrutu said the problem will persist and grow unless police and other law enforcers strictly enforce safety rules by holding accountable all those who break the road safety rules and regulations.

Shirika la ndege la Precision na Kenya Airways wadhamini mashindano ya Gofu

PRESS RELEASE/TAARIFA KWA VYOMBO VYA HABARI

Dar es Salaam, November 18th 2011. Shirika la ndege linaloongoza Tanzania la Precision wakishirikiana na shirika la ndege la Kenya Airways wanayofaraja kutangaza udhamini wao katika umoja wa Gofu (TGU) ikiwa imeandaliwa na Gymkhana Club mjini Arusha ikifanyika kuanzia tarehe 10 hadi 11 Desemba 2011 jijini Arusha.

Akiongea wakati wa mkutanao na waandishi wa habari katika klabu,,Mkurugenzi wa Biashara wa shirika la ndege la Precision Mr. Phil Mwakitawa alisema kwamba mashindano ambayo yamedhamiria kukusanya wahiriki zaidi ya 100 mpaka 150 kutoka Nairobi, Arusha na Dar es Salaam ni nafasi nzuri kwa washirika wa kampuni zote mbili za ndege kujihusisha katika kutangaza uboreshaji wa afya kwa njia ya michezo ya gofu.

Na wakati huo huo Meneja wa nchi ya Tanzania wa Shirika la ndege la Kenya Airways Bi. Lucy Malu aliongeza kwamba shirika la ndege la Kenya na Precision Air waliwahi kuunga mkono hapo awali na pia wanayofaraja ya kuendelea kuunga mkono hata kwa mwaka huu kwasababu ni sehemu ya kutangaza gofu ya ubora kwa Afrika Mashariki nzima.

Mwenyekiti wa Umoja wa Gofu Tanzania , Bwana. Paul Matthysen ameomba udhamini katika shirika la ndege la Precision na Kenya Airways’ kwenye mashindano haya kama njia ya kuchangia katika kutangaza Gofu Tanzania na Afrika mashariki kwa ujumla.

“Mchezo wa Gofu Tanzania na Afrika Mashariki bado ni mchezo unaaokua. Kwa kupitia mashindano kama haya ndipo tunapata uzoefu na kuwa katika nafasi ya juu duniani katika mchezo,” Alisema huku akisisitizia watu waje kushuhudia Mchezo huu utakaofanyika pale Gymkhana Arusha.

Shirika la ndege la Precision na Kenya Airways wametia saini katika mkataba wa makubaliano ya udhamini na Klabu ya Gymkhana Arusha kama wadhamini wakuu wa mashinano haya kwa mwaka 2011.

‘WAMATO chatoa huduma ya ARVs kwa wagonjwa wa UKIMWI Mbezi Beach’

Mama Basila Chuwa, Mwenyekiti wa WAMATO huko Mbezi Beach

Na Nasser Kigwangallah
KIKUNDI cha Akina Mama na Watoto (WAMATO) cha Mbezi Beach jijini Dare s salaam, ni miongoni mwa vikundi ambavyo hutoa huduma za kijamii kwa kuwasaidia watoto, akina mama na wajane ambao kwa namna moja au nyingine wameachwa na wazazi wao au waume wao waliofariki kutokana na ugonjwa wa UKIMWI.
Hivi sasa kikundi hicho kinatoa chakula, dawa za kurefusha maisha (ARVs), elimu n huduma za fya kwa wagonjwa wa UKIMWI wapato sitini hivi; wanake na wanaume khmsini n watoto kumi katika eneo la Mbezi Beach.
Hizi ni juhudi za kupongezwa sana na zinapaswa kuungwa mkono na wasamari wema hapa jijini na nchini kote kwa ujumla.
Pia WAMATO inaendesha shule ya awali na msingi hapo hapo Mbezi Beach, kwa kusomesha wanafunzi kutoka familia za kimaskini wa eneo hilo.
Shule hiyo, inayoitwa kwa jina la Bajeziro; ina wanafunzi mia tatu na tayari imesomesha wanafunzi elfu moja na mia mbili toka kuanziswa kwake miaka kumi iliyopita.
Wengi wa wanafunzi hao hivi sasa wako katika shule za sekondari na wengine wako chuo kikuu.
WAMATO inafadhiliwa na shirika moja la Canada ambalo limesema litasitisha msaada wake kwa kikundi hicho ifikapo mwezi Machi mwaka kesho kwa kuwa limekuwa mfadhili wake mkuu kwa takriban miaka kumi sasa.
“Kutokana na kukoma ufadhili wake huo, WAMATO sasa iko njia panda, haijui itawasaidia vipi akina mama na watoto wanoishi na virui vya UKIMWI na pia kutoa huduma ya chakula, dawa na sare za shule kwa watoto yatima, ambao wengi wao ni maskini sana,” anasema Mama Basila Chuwa, Mwenyekiti Mtendaji wa WAMATO.
Anaongeza kusema kuwa wagonjwa ambao anawahudumia hivi sasa ni maskini mno, hawajiwezi kwa lolote na hapana budi kuendelea kuwasaidia ili maisha yao yaweze kuimarika.
Anasema na kama hatopata msaada wa kutoha kutoka serikalini, mashirika ya kijamii na wahisani mbalimbali wa ndani na nje; bila shaka huduma zake za kutoa chakula, dawa na elimu bure kwa watoto yatima, maskini na wale wanaoishi katika mazingira magumu zitazorota.
Akizungumza kwa uchungu sana, Maria Magdlena Hasara (umri miaka 65) mama anayeishi kwa UKIMWI na kupewa msaada wa chakula, dwa n matibabu mengine kutoka WAMATO, anasema hali yake sasa imeimarika kutokana na msaada huo.

Anasema alipata UKIMWI miaka mitatu iliyopita kutoka kwa binti yke aliyekuwa na ugonjwa wa ukimwi na kupata uja uzito.
Alimsaidia kujifungua, bahati mbya ana hakutumia mipira wakati akimsaidia kujifungualia nyumbnani.
“Toka wakati huo, hali yangu ilibadilika ghafla na kujikuta nikiwa nimeambukizwa UKIMWI,”anasema.
Anongeza kusema kuwa kwa msaada wa WAMATO, hali yake ni nzuri na analea wajukuu sita, wawili wa huyo binti yake ambaye alifariki dunia mwaka 2007 na kumwachia watoto wawili; Tausi (15) na Neema (3)na wengine wanne ni watoto wa ndugu zake ambao nao wamekufa kwa ukimwi.
Maisha ya bibi huyu ni magumu sana. Anaishi kwa kugonga kokoto na wajukuu zake hao wanamsaisdia, hivyo maisha yanakwenda.
Na bila ya msaada wa WAMATO sijui hali yake leo ingekuwaje?
Kwani WAMATO wanamsaidia chakula, dawa na elimu kwa wajukuu zake hao, zikiwemo sare za shule.

TGNP MISTREATS JOURNALISTS AT GENDER FESTIVAL 2011 IN DAR

Miss Lilian Liundi, the TGNP Communication Officer

AS per invitation, journalists turned to the Gender Festival-2011 at TGNP Mabibo in Dar es Salaam from 13th September, 2011 to September 16th, , but were disappointed by the way they were treated by Kenny Ngomuo-TGNP, Lilian Liundi-TGNP and Ananilea Nkya-TAMWA.
In fact these three people are very dangerous to the media fraternity. They are the ones who were there to mistreat journalists.
TGNP should take note of these people if they want to continue working in harmony with journalists in Tanzania.
Once journalists are invited to attend any of the programmes, it is essential, as a matter of hospitality, to be paid some allowance for taking their time on the matter.
But alas, on Friday September 16th September, 2011 during the closing ceremony last week, things turned ugly as journalists left TGNP offices disappointed, when Lilian Liundi, the Communications Officer broke out news that no allowance was available to them, as per agreement prior to the festival.
Lilian, with no respect at all to the journalists said that no allowance was available to journalists from Dar es Salaam, unless they produced cuttings of their reporting of the festival events, while other participants, including upcountry journalists and gays were being paid on their presence.
She said: “You are not entitled to any allowance unless you bring your cuttings, showing how you have reported the event.”
This is a disgrace to the journalism profession, showing how journalists are being mistreated by TGNP and her partners.
Please make sure that journalists are paid their due whenever they attend any of your functions and if you cannot pay them, please do not invite them at all.
Due to act of disregard to journalists, we have decided that no journalist will ever attend any of the functions conducted by TGNP in future and editors should take note of that.
Journalists are not there to be used to foster TGNP campaigns and then ignored in that manner.
According to reports, most journalists who had been reporting the event fo four consecutive days, left TGNP offices without having any food as nothing was served to them, who were there since morning.
Time has passed when journalists were used as mere tools to send messages through, just to be ignored like that.
Journalists must be respected due to their profession so that they could perform their duties diligently.
I think this message will be heeded in order to have a good working relationship with TGNP and other such organisations in future.

TGNP WALETA WASENGE KWENYE TAMASHA LA JINSIA 2011

KITENDO CHA TGNP KULETA WASENGE KWENYE TAMASHA LA JINSIA 2011 HUKO MABIBO WIKI ILIYOPITA NI CHA KULAANIWA. SERIKALI INAPASWA KULIANGALIA SUALA HILO KIKAMILIFU NA IKIWEZEKANA KUWAFUNGIA KABISA WATU HAWA AMBAO WANATAKA KUTUPELEKA PABAYA.

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MR.Thomas Mihayo
MR.Thomas Mihayo, the Retired High Court Judge has brushed speculations from amongst the people in the country that a top government stalwart exerted pressure on judges to impose harsh life imprisonment on Nguza Viking 'Babu Seya' the accredited musical practinioner and his sons.
He said: “It’s not true at all…I went through the proceedings of the case and came to realise that what was being said in the streets about this case was purely gossip, with no elements of truth.”
He said surprisingly, the media were reporting these gossips,in full gear.
Judge Mihayo, the incumbent Media Council of Tanzania (MCT) Ethics Committee, said he had thoroughly read court proceedings of the sodomy case against Babu Seya and his sons, as prepared by the Kisutu Resident Magistrate, before making a final verdict.
Since it has no jurisdiction to determine on the matter, the Kisutu Resident Magistrate Court received initial facts on the case, and forwarded it to the High Court for its ruling.
“In fact, as a high court judge who presided over this case, and made final verdict by sentencing Babu Seya and his sons to life imprisonment,” he confessed.
He added that in the course of reading these documents and proceedings of the case from the lower Court (Kisutu Magistrate's Court), I realised that what people had been saying on the streets was not true.
“It was not true that there was a certain top official in the government who put pressures on the judges in arriving at such a verdict,” he said.
According to him, he spent time to talk to the children alleged to have been molested by Babu Seya and his sons and noticed that these children had infact been sodomised, the acts which had been going on for some months before.
Judge Mihayo said he heard the story of the children and got the real picture of what transpired in the acts.
"Therefore I came to realise that parents of these children were not aware of the behaviour of their children," he said.
Babu Seya and his son are still in jail, serving a life sentence after being convicted of molesting the school children.
On February 12, last year Nguza Viking (55) alias Babu Seya (R) and his son, Johnson Nguza (27) alias Papii Kocha- lost their appeals against the life imprisonment.
But the Court of Appeal, sitting in Dar es Salaam, acquitted and set free two other Babu Seya sons - Nguza Mbangu and Francis Nguza – of the defilement charges for which they had been similarly convicted and jailed. It cited lack of evidence with which to uphold the earlier ruling.
Judge Mihayo said some media were giving wrong reports on Babu Seya and sons’ case, noting: “Had journalists conducted extensive investigative journalism, they would have uncovered the truth.”
“The bad thing is that journalists did not do thorough investigations on this case, otherwise they would have known the truth,” said Mihayo.
Investigative journalism is lacking in Tanzania, he noted, urging members of the media fraternity in the country to read the newly launched MCT print monitoring report with a view to identifying their weaknesses and correcting them

YAH: KUOMBA RADHI KWA NDUGU ZETU WALIOPATWA NA MAAFA YA AJALI YA MELI HUKO ZANZIBAR .

Bwana Hashimu Lundenga, mratibu wa Miss Tanzania

USIKU wa kuamkia Jumamosi tarehe 10 / 09/ 2011 tukio kubwa na la huzuni lilitokea huko Zanzibar.
Wananchi wengi walipoteza maisha yao na wengine kujeruhiwa kutokana na ajali ya kuzama kwa MELI iitwayo 'Zanzibar Spice Islanders' iliyokuwa ikitoka Unguja kwenda kisiwa cha Pemba.
Kwa bahati mbaya siku hiyo ya Jumamosi taasisi yetu ilikuwa inakhitimisha fainali za taifa za mashindano ya urembo ya Miss Tanzania-2011.
Kama waandaaji wa Mashindano haya na wenye Mamlaka kamili ya maamuzi juu ya ama kuendelea au la kuahirisha jambo hili, tulipatwa na mshituko mkubwa sana juu ya tukio hilo .
Kamati yetu ilikaa na kutakafari katika tukio hilo kwa kuzingatia mambo yafuatayo:
Taarifa kamili ya maafa hayo tuliipata rasmi saa tisa na nusu mchana siku ya Jumamosi ambayo ilikuwa ni masaa machache tu kabla ya fainali za miss Tanzania kuanza katika ukumbi wa Mlimani City.
Pamoja na msiba huo, wenzetu wa TFF waliendelea na mechi zao za ligi kuu, ikiwemo mechi kati ya Yanga na Ruvu Shooting.
Na katika kumbi za starehe ikiwemo mabaa na burudani za muziki wa bendi na kumbi za disco ziliendelea kama kawaida.
Muda uliokuwa umebakia kuwakilisha jina la mshiriki wetu kwenye fainali za Miss World zilikuwa zimekwisha hivyo kulikuwa na hatari ya kupoteza nafasi hiyo.
Pia tamko rasmi la kusimamisha shughuli zote za burudani lilianza tarehe 11 septemba 2011 kuomboleza kitaifa msiba huo.
Hata hivyo kama waandaaji tulifanya mashindano tukiwa katika maombolezo kwani kabla ya kuanza shindano Watu wote waliokuwepo ukumbini walisimama kimya kwa dakika moja na hata washiriki walipoingia kwenye jukwaa kwa mara ya kwanza walikuwa wamevaa vitambaa vyeusi katika mikono yao ikiashilia maombolezo.
Hali hii imetupa mkanganyiko na kujikuta tukiendelea na mashindano kitu ambacho tunaona tumewakosea Watanzania wenzetu.
Kama Waandaaji tunapenda kusistiza kwamba tunawajibika kwa hayo yaliyotokea na si Taasisi yeyote au Kampuni yeyote na tunaomba ichukuliwe kama ni makosa ya kibinaadamu hasa ukizingatia mazingira magumu tuliyokuwa nayo kwa wakati huo na mkanganyiko wa matukio na taarifa za tatizo hilo.
KUOMBA RADHI
Hata hivyo shughuli hiyo inawezekana imewakwaza watu wengi na kwa sababu hiyo na pia hali halisi ya janga hilo na kwa niaba ya viongozi wenzangu na wadau wa shughuli zetu tunatoa tamko la dhati kwa familia za ndugu wote walikumbwa na maafa haya, wale wote walionusurika katika ajali hiyo na Watanzania wote kwa ujumla.
TUNAWAOMBA RADHI KWA MKANGANYIKO ULIOTUTOKEA HADI KUFIKIA HALI HII. Hatuna neno zaidi ya kusema na kusisitiza ila kuomba radhi...
Mwenyezi MUNGU aziweke roho za marehemu mahali pema peponi,
ameen!

Hashim Lundenga
MKURUGENZI
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