Author: Giza Mdoe

You have a debtor, it is time for them to pay, you pick up your mobile phone dial the number and the most annoying automatic response comes on; ‘Sorry, the number you are calling is not available.’ 

Upset you hang up and redial, same message, now you are really getting mad, you hang up redial and voilà! You are connected. You exchange a barrage of why are you switching off your phone, they reply no, my phone was on, you finally settle on, it must be bad network! 

Sound familiar? 

Well here is some good news, finally the telecomm services watchdog, the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) has taken note of this poor service ordeal and taken action. 

Six telecoms fined for poor service delivery

Six major mobile phone operators have been slapped fines reaching a grand total of USD16.4 million for what authorities describe as ‘violation …

The Central Bank of Nigeria has banned all cryptocurrency transactions as of February 5^th 2021 citing terrorism concerns. The central bank is of the view that cryptocurrency transactions are been used to fund terror groups.

As a result, it has ordered all banks as well as non-bank financial institutions and all other financial institutions that deal in cryptocurrencies or facilitate payment for cryptocurrencies to stop with immediate effect.

The development comes after the Central Bank issued a warning back in January cautioning against the use of cryptocurrency.

Cryptocurrencies are volatile and risky since unlike in regular banking transactions, these are transactions that are irreversible. Further still, transactions are anonymous so you do not know who you are dealing with and also, there are no regulators for cryptocurrency dealings, it is all just you and a host of other people that you do not know trading online, to call it …

In its fight against Covid-19 Rwanda has opted to have robots replace humans when coming into contact with infected persons.

With the support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Rwanda is to deploy its second set of three ‘THOR UVC’ robots.

What are these avenger bots all about? As its name suggests, the THOR ultra-violet (UVC) uses UVC to disinfect. Using room mapping technology, THOR UVC is able to go around a given cleaning space and disinfect it efficiently.

It uses UVC energy to kill germs and pathogens that way, the robots minimize contact of persons with the pathogens.  So the deployment of the THOR UVC robots will help clean and disinfect Covid-19 risk areas like hospitals.

The robots will also serve to disinfect areas of mass gathering like border areas and market places as well as office spaces.

This second dispatch of robots was handed over on …

The Paris Club (Club de Paris), a group of officials from major creditor countries has approved Kenya’s request for more debt relief to help it ease Covid-19 related financial weight.

Formed in 1956, the Paris Club, which works to find sustainable solutions to payment difficulties experienced by debtor countries, announced earlier this month that it had accepted Kenya’s request for debt-servicing suspension and gave the East African country a six-month leeway (January to June) before it resumes to pay its national debt.

“Kenya is committed to devoting the resources freed by this initiative to increase spending in order to mitigate the health, economic and social impact of the COVID19-crisis,” said the Paris Club.

Maybe the rest of East Africa can learn from Kenya and take advantage of the G20 bilateral creditors that offer what is called the Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI). Launched last year, the DSSI serves to suspend …

The African Union (AU) has been conducting an initiative subbed ‘Silencing the Guns’ that is meant to fight illicit financial flows (IFFs).

Just so we are on the same page, illicit financial flows refer to the illegal movement of money from one country to other various channels including but not limited to tax fraud, money laundering, and other criminal activities.

Now, here is who, what, and how of the matter, but not in any particular order.

How grave is this IFF problem? Every year, Africa is robbed of a shocking $50 billion to IFF. Describing the annual illicit outflow as staggering losses to the continent, UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed said;

“These flows pose a threat to stability and security in African countries, undermine institutions and democracy, and jeopardize sustainable development and the rule of law.”

The United Nations Conference of Trade and Development 2020 report placed the IFFs losses …

Absa suffered a major data leak in South Africa and even though the breach did not occur at the bank itself, the data leak still raises security questions concern the safety of client’s money.

Absa is new in Tanzania, the newest big player in the banking industry and has invested a great deal in creating a positive image. However, earlier this month, that image was gravely tainted after an Absa employee allegedly leaked some of the bank’s customer data.

The incident occurred in the bank’s South African main branch where it is reported that the said employee provided customer information to unknown third party interests. The leaked customer info included client ID numbers, bank account numbers, credit card numbers and even mobile phone numbers.

The information that was leaked includes names and surnames, identity numbers and physical addresses, the bank admits.

Further still it also admitted other leaked data includes …

Irony of the hungry farmer

‘Armed with machetes…and borrowed guns, two of three nations are fighting each other, what is to stop a nuclear holocaust should Africa be allowed to develop nuclear energy? First it will be to power their villages then they will weaponize and a nuclear catastrophe will follow…’ anonymous.

Yet nuclear energy may be the very power thrust that Africa needs to pull itself out of the bottomless pit of abject poverty. Its clean, its efficient and comparably cheap. It will by large cut the cost of doing business and powering African homes.

The cost of living in Africa is very high because the cost of production is also very high, why? Easy, the cost of energy is very high. Africa relies mainly on hydroelectric power stations that are very, very expensive to build and maintain.

As such, the cost of electricity is relatively high and in …

The East African Community (EAC) business conglomerates are anxiously awaiting the Joe Biden administration to come into power. It is hoped that a Biden administration will revive negotiations and implementations of the already signed EAC-US Trade and Investment Partnership.

While Trump continues to taint his administration’s short rule with prompting rioters to even invade Capitol Hill the ‘law body’ of the country, leaders from the EAC have gone ahead to congratulate Joe Biden for his election win.

It is clear that businesses in Africa see Biden as a beacon of hope that will reignite the Trump dampened US trade ties with the regional bloc.

Consider the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA), a trade pact that covers and governs ‘the framework for expanding trade and resolving outstanding disputes between countries, was agreed between US and EAC partner states in June 2012 but was never implemented.’

However, since 2016, the negotiations …

Only a fort night after the collapse of Beit-al-Ajaib or the House of Wonders in Stone Town, Zanzibar, the island’s tourism earnings are reported to be down 38 percent compared to last year.

The report comes from the Bank of Tanzania (BoT) which states that despite the tourism sector racking in a surplus of $62.7 million, however this is still 37.7 percent lower than what it was able to amass during the same period in 2019.

Zanzibar’s economy greatly relies on tourism and historical sites like the House of Wonders are a great attraction for tourists. Now with the building having collapsed during restoration efforts, the island is suffering the effects.

Granted the single event is not the cause for the dropped revenue, which the BoT blames on Covid-19, the loss of such an important site has an impact in the sector.

In its monthly economic review for December, BoT …

Businesses in  Zimbabwe are feeling the covid sting has the government moves to reinforce a strict countrywide lockdown in response to renewed breakout of Covid-19 infections.

The lockdown came to effect at the end of the week and involves restriction of movement as well as business operations. With borders closed, businessmen in the country fear worse losses than they are already suffering.

As of January 15, 2021 Zimbabwe had 25,365 confirmed coronavirus (COVID-19) cases and 636 deaths prompting more restrictions.

The lockdown means effective closure of what the country says are non-essential businesses and with it comes also the prohibition of large gatherings like weddings, parties and even religious events.

Issuing the announcement, Zimbabwe’s Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga said the government admits that there is a new Covid-19 outbreak and overwhelmed the country’s health institutions.

Chiwenga, who is also the Health Minister, said the lockdown also means a dusk-to-dawn curfew will …