Author: Giza Mdoe

There are thousands upon thousands, if not millions, of African artifacts scattered all across Europe. According to the most commonly cited figures from a 2007 UNESCO forum, 90 per cent to 95 per cent of sub-Saharan cultural artifacts are housed outside Africa. Many, like the works from Benin, were taken during the colonial period and ended up in museums across Europe and North America. 

Be they in national museums or private collections, African masks, paintings, carvings, sculptures, potteries—all ancient and priceless—are being held abroad, and the keepers refuse to return them. 

For the purpose of formalities let us look at the arguments posed by museums.  After all these are the places where the artifacts are on public display and clearly labeled, for instance, ‘Ancient Benin Bronze Axe 1897’ yet the piece is in a French museum and the museum will not release it back to the Kingdom of Benin—present day …

CRDB is enjoying a remarkable dash for its shares having sold an impressive 5.0 million shares this week alone. The sudden increased appetite for CRB shares is not without cause, the bank strategically announced a possible 6.52per cent increase in dividend payout.

Now, even though the percentage increase is only a proposal (subject to approval by the Annual General Meeting) the public is gabbling up the shares in lure of the possible increased payout.

The new amount was first proposed in the bank’s annual report for 2020, the 6.52 percent raises the initiatial USD 0.0073 (17/-) that was the payable dividend in 2019 to a lucrative USD 0.0025 (22/-) per share.

In its weekly Market Synopsis, Orbit Securities said that CRDB shares closed the week at usd 0.11 (245/). The impressive increase set CRDB ahead of the park in a week that had only three gainers on the Dar …

Forbes recently. released a list of Africa’s top dollar musicians and here is the list in descending order.

1. Youssou N’Dour (Senegal) – Net worth $145

Youssou N’Dour, AKA Youssou Madjiguéne Ndour, is a Senegalese singer, songwriter, composer, occasional actor, businessman, and, wait for it, a politician too. Yes, Africa’s wealthiest musician is shooting for the executive office and is not the only one on the list with aspirations of becoming their country’s president.

Youssou owns the biggest media house in Senegal with radio and Tv stations. He also boasts vast investments in real estate.

1. Akon – net worth $80 million

World fames Akon is Africa’s second richest musician. Born Aliaume Damala Badara Akon Thiam, the US based star is also originally from Senegal. Akon who is also an actor and a businessman, has accumulated wealth from a diverse range of investments.

Akon writes songs and produces …

Tanzania set aside over 110 hectares for the construction of the Mtwara Free Port Zone over a decade ago (2009) but since then, only 10 hectares have been put to use. Now Tanzania’s parliament wants answers as to why the project is lagging behind.

Special Seats Member of Parliament (CCM) Anastasia Wambura raised the concern recently in the August House citing that the project was very promising yet little groundwork has actually been done.

Responding the Deputy Minister of Agriculture Hussein Bashe acknowledged the slow pace of investment in the Mtwara Free Port Zone but blamed it on the overall drop in global economies that have affected the oil (and gas) industry gravely.

However, as to the MP’s suggestion that the government reassign the remaining 100 hectares to some other economic activity, Minister Bashe who was addressing the House on behalf of the Minister of Industry and Trade, said the …

Tanzania has earned a record $3 billion from gold sales as price for the precious metal soars in the world market.

Publicized by the Bank of Tanzania, the value of gold exports clocked $3.025 billion in the year ending March 31, 2021, a considerable jump from $2.324 billion that was earned last year.

In fact, gold is doing so well that it has become the country’s top foreign exchange earner, and even overtaken tourism.

Gold prices have been edging up since the corona outbreak last year owing to jittery investors fearing a collapse of other currencies (including the dollar) and opting to store their value in gold.

“As financial markets were hit by the pandemic, investors rushed for gold which they consider as one of the safe haven assets,” report local media.

Consider this, gold represented more than half (55.9 percent) of the value brought home from sell of …

Within her first two months in the executive office. With Uganda, President Samia Suluhu Hassan and counterpart Yoweri Museveni inked an oil deal with Total and China’s CNOOC to start the construction of a $3.5 billion pipeline to export Ugandan crude oil to international markets.

Right after that, President Samia went on to Kenya where together with her Kenyan counterpart President Uhuru Kenyatta, she signed a pact to start working on a gas pipeline from Dar es Salaam to Mombasa.

In their subsequent speeches, the two leaders said the gas deal is part of a long-term project to share energy resources. Rebuilding wary diplomatic ties, Tanzania’s President Samia made it clear that the two countries will build more interconnecting infrastructure including roads and rail and that the gas pipeline was but a starting point.

“The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Cooperation in Natural Gas Transportation means the countries’ ministers …

ECOWAS countries in West Africa have long reasoned that the issue of food security cannot be left to a single country to shoulder. Instead, the regional bloc embraced the fact it takes collective efforts to secure the food security of a single nation and in so doing protect the whole region.

In is address to member countries during the ongoing virtual meeting, the ECOWAS Commissioner for Agriculture, Environment and Water Resources, Sékou Sangaré said the regional goal of stockpiling some 40, 000 metric tonnes of food reserve is a visionary course that will protect each member state of the sub region.

The conference begun on April 28^th and will carry on through to May 10^th. The conference falls is part and parcel of the EU-funded Support Project to the West African Food Security Storage System.

The Food Security Storage System came into being back in 2015 and …

The government of Tanzania is working on a blue print to increase sell of the country’s agro-produce by setting up bonded warehouses in foreign markets in a bid to boost sells.

The bonded warehouses will for starters be piloted in China and Saudi Arabia and are expected to ease access to markets for agro-produce.

Well first things first. What is a bonded warehouse? These are building or other secured areas in which dutiable goods may be stored or even manufacturing without payment of duty.

Bonded warehouses provide specialized storage services such as deep freezers for perishables as well as bulk liquid storage. They also allow for commodity processing and make up an integral part of the global supply chain by giving the importer opportunity to bring in raw goods, process, package and then sell the final product all under one roof with no duty charged.

Further still, bonded warehouses may …

“The change of tone ushered in by President Samia Suluhu Hassan over the last month could indicate a welcome to a whole new economic direction in Tanzania’,” remarked Peter Leon, Partner and Africa Co-Chair, Herbert Smith Freehills

Investors have been wary of dipping their feet in Tanzania’s investment pool, more so investors in the extractive industries. In March 2017, a total ban on the export of unprocessed mineral concentrates and ores was instated.

Just four months later, in July 2017, after six days of deliberation, three new laws assented. The new laws gave significant power to the government, empowering it to control the extractives sector autonomously.

The three laws that were altered are:

• The Natural Wealth and Resources Contracts (Review and Renegotiation of Unconscionable Terms) Act, 2017 (Unconscionable Terms Act);
• The Natural Wealth and Resources (Permanent Sovereignty) Act, 2017 (Permanent Sovereignty Act); and
• The Written Laws(Miscellaneous Amendments) Act, 2017 which

In what has been christened her first official state visit, Tanzania President Samia Suluhu Hassan has today begun her two day visit to neighbouring Kenya.

The visit is considered her first state visit and not her recent trip to Uganda, which was more of a ‘business trip’, meant to but sign the multi-billion-dollar oil pipeline deal and not a diplomatic visit to discuss diplomatic relations and economics.

The highly anticipated visit is expected to strengthen diplomatic ties as well as iron out economic creases that the two countries had wrangled themselves in over the course of the past few years.

The trip comes as a fulfillment of President Samia’s pledge to parliament that her administration will without fail ‘restore and improve economic diplomacy with partners in the region and across the world.’

The visit is also seen as part of the president’s move to attract investors, a goal that needs …