31/10/2009 by admin.

TANZANIAN drug dealers are reported to have toppled Nigerian barons who have been leaders in supplying illicit drugs in Botswana.

At the same time, Ledumang Secondary School has also scooped the top position in illicit drug consumption in local schools.

It is also reported that some urban-based refugees are also implicated in drug dealing with mainly students.

Detective Assistant Superintendent Kenosi Tsaanang, of the Drug and Narcotics Squad, revealed that they had discovered a new trend in which Tanzanian drug dealers are now topping the police list in drug dealing in Botswana. Read the rest of this entry »

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31/10/2009 by admin.

Uranium Resources, the AIM listed uranium exploration and development company, is pleased to announce that it has entered into a conditional share sale and purchase agreement (‘Agreement’) to purchase the joint venture interests of Indago Resources Limited (‘Indago’) and certain of its group companies (together ‘the Indago Group’) in the Tanzanian uranium joint ventures between the Indago Group and the Company. Read the rest of this entry »

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31/10/2009 by admin.

Education stakeholders are demanding amendments to education acts to resolve disputes over student loans in higher learning institutions.

They cited the laws as Education Fund Act of 2001 and Vocational Education and Training Authority Act of 2004. The stakeholders gathered in Dar es Salaam yesterday to discuss the financing of tertiary education in Tanzania. Read the rest of this entry »

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31/10/2009 by admin.

The expedition guide for a BBC children’s programme tracing the footsteps of explorer David Livingstone in Africa has been killed by a charging elephant.

Anton Turner, 38, was assisting with the filming of an episode of the CBBC series Serious Explorers, a corporation spokeswoman said.

“We understand at this stage that he was charged by an elephant and was mortally injured,” she added. Read the rest of this entry »

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31/10/2009 by admin.

The U.N. refugee agency says one of the longest-running refugee sagas in the world is ending with the return of 400 Burundians who fled to Tanzania in 1972. The UNHCR has helped 53,500 refugees return to Burundi from Tanzania since it began its voluntary repatriation operation in March 2008.

The U.N. refugee agency calls the return of the last Burundian refugees from Tanzania an important milestone. The UNHCR says the 400 remaining refugees are departing for home from Katumba, one of the so-called “Old Settlements’ in western Tanzania. Read the rest of this entry »

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31/10/2009 by admin.

Somali pirates have demanded a $7 million ransom for a British couple captured on their yacht in the Indian Ocean, according to a phone call from a man purporting to be a member of the gang broadcast by the BBC on Friday.

Gunmen kidnapped Paul and Rachel Chandler, both in their 50s, last Friday while they sailed in international waters north of the Seychelles and took them to the Somali coast.

“We only need a little amount of $7 million,” the BBC quoted the unnamed caller as saying. “If they do not harm us, we will not harm them.” Read the rest of this entry »

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30/10/2009 by admin.

PANGANI Township is likely to be submerged in a few coming years unless concrete measures are taken to stop the continuous abrasion of the coastal bedrock due to global warming.

The Minister of State, Vice President�s Office, Environment, Dr Batilda Buriani said in parliament yesterday that for the last 100 years, the global temperature has increased by 0.74 degrees Centigrade leading to gradual melting of icebergs in both north and south arctic.

�The government is aware of the problem facing the coastal areas of Tanzania mainland and Zanzibar and scientific assessment has been carried out for the preparation of the National Adaptation Plan of Action, NAPA to identify areas of priority and measures to combat the problem that resulted from climatic changes,� Minister Buriani said. Read the rest of this entry »

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30/10/2009 by violah.

 FAO is to provide the United Republic of Tanzania with advisory support for farmers that will help them better respond to market opportunities and thus heighten food security.

Tanzania’s farmers - for the most part traditional smallholders - will get technical assistance in farm management and marketing and will be encouraged to join producers’ groups. Read the rest of this entry »

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30/10/2009 by violah.

Over a million people have registered with Vodacom’s M-Pesa mobile phone-based money transfer service in the past 18 months, senior Vodacom officials said.

Addressing journalists in Dar es Salaam, the officials said registered customers make an average of 30,000 transactions worth Sh700 million each day.

“This translates into transactions worth Sh17 billion in a month.we have managed to reach out to Tanzanians who do not own bank accounts,” marketing managing executive Ephraim Mafuru said.

Only about 11 per cent of Tanzania’s population have bank accounts, of which 16 per cent are in urban areas and four per cent in rural areas, according to a 2006 survey conducted jointly by FinMark Trust, Steadman Group and the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

Vodacom’s head of M-Pesa sales, Mr Franklin Bagalla, said the service had made a significant impact on people’s lives since it was launched in April, last year.

“It is estimated that 11 million Tanzanians solely rely on receiving money from family and friends and that most of these people live in the rural areas,these are the people who significantly benefit from M-Pesa,” he said.

The company plans to make the service international. Kenya’s Safaricom, which pioneered in the service and had over five million customers by early this year, has already done so.

“By June next year, we will be in position to say what has been done in the regard to have the service go international,” Mr Bagalla said, noting that this would be done after thorough consultations with the relevant regulatory agencies.

The company will also be required to address issues pertaining to exchange rates and put the requisite security systems in place.

With about six million subscribers out of the country’s total of 15 million mobile phone users, Vodacom is the market leader in the sector that currently comprises seven operators.

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30/10/2009 by violah.

A major creditor of Independent Power Tanzania Limited (IPTL) opposed in court the decision to activate the IPTL plant in Dar es Salaam to ease the nationwide power crisis.

Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) lawyers told the High Court that the decision by IPTL’s provisional liquidator to allow the plant to start operating again was contrary to a court order that placed the company under receivership. Read the rest of this entry »

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