Author: Giza Mdoe

A Zimbabwean public service officer, the former Chief Executive Officer of the Zimbabwe National Road Administration (Zinara) is allegedly involved in a graft cases that has cost the agency losses in excess of USD40 million. Mr Frank Chitukutuku, the accused official, is facing  a list of economic sabotage cases all surrounding what local media is calling ‘dubious payments’ for supposed public works.  The list of irregularities is long, from payments for substandard work to over payment for projects without the agency’s board ever approving. There are also issues of flouting tender procedures, hand-picking firms, payment for incomplete work and the…

Tanzania is in the processes of constructing mega court buildings that are large enough to house all levels of judicial services from the Primary Court all the way to the Court of Appeal. The actual value of the project has not been made public but due to the size and scope, it is estimated to cost onward of multi-million dollars. The initiative is undertaken by the Judiciary of Tanzania and the resulting six High Court buildings are christened the Integrated Justice Centres (IJC) of Tanzania. The project is already underway across five regions of the country. The court buildings will…

Based in Ethiopia’s capital of Addis Ababa, Coop Bank is growing by leaps and bounds, with profits up 29 percent in the 2018/19 financial year closing the year with USD 20.4 million under lock and key. More than profit, the Bank also enjoyed huge growth if it’s total assets which shot up by 40 percent, a sector high for Ethiopia’s banking industry. Likewise, its loans and advances also went up an impressive 56 percent representing more than double its performance in the previous year. The bank has credited the asset growth to deposit mobilisation which pushed up loans and advances.…

In the backdrop of Tanzania’s Central Bank announcing a stimulus package for commercial banks, loans advanced by banks have shot up significantly over the last year and the stimulus package is expected to sustain if not increase lending. The Central Bank, the Bank of Tanzania (BoT) has this week released its Consolidated Zonal Economic Performance Report which shows lending by commercial banks have increased considerably in the last year. The report shows that the highest amount of growth in bank loans was parallel to ongoing national infrastructure development works. The highest increase in loans was to companies operating in the…

Tanzania’s Controller and Auditor General (CAG) has unveiled the country’s Local Government Authorities (LGA) have been involved in the embezzlement of millions of dollars issued to fund nonexistent projects. Reporting to the country’s President John Magufuli, the CAG’s report indicated that LGA’s across the country have been corruptly siphoning tax payers money for individual gain. The 2018/19 report shows what can only be described as gross mismanagement of public funds. In the report, Tanzania’s CAG Mr Charles Kichere also reported the gross misuse of funds in excess of USD 342.2 million by the country’s Local Government Authorities (LGA). Worse still,…

Barely a week after Tanzania’s President John Magufuli ordered engineers to be sacked should a bridge (or any infrastructure) under their jurisdiction fails, the heavy toll of rains on infrastructure in the country has been estimated at 40bn/- Its only the beginning of the first heavy rains season but infrastructures across the country are taken a heavy beating and succumbed. The damage caused is not only destroying bridges, rails and roads, it is also destroying careers as well. The country’s President Dr. John Magufuli ordered sacking of any engineer where bridges and other infrastructures collapse, should they fail to respond…

In a bid to keep the sector going, the Tanzanian government has announced plans to significantly lower hunting permit fees. The relief comes shrouded by coronavirus threat which is the push behind the announced review of annual hunting blocks license fees. Local media quoted the Deputy Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, Mr Constantine Kanyasu, announcing the fee slash plans. According to the high government official, the planned fee cut is in response to requests by hunting companies who are complaining of reduced bookings owing to the global coronavirus threat. “The Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism will meet hunters…

Food security has always been a matter of much concern across Africa, the threat has only been extenuated by the worsening coronavirus outbreak. With the rest of the World tied up with response to the coronavirus in their own countries, scientists in Africa have to step up to the food security threat on the continent. Up to the task are Tanzanian scientists who early this week, in the nick of time, announced a breakthrough in maize research that may very well answer the impending food security threat. The Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute, announced its scientists have developed two genetically modified…

There is need to regulate the wage amount paid to labourers in Tanzania particularly in the construction industry  if the country is to reduce poverty levels and increase professionalism in the sector. Last month I hired a Dar es Salaam based wage labourer to do some basic construction work for me. As he worked, we ventured into conversation deliberating the working conditions of wage labourers in the country. ‘Richie’ the only name he was willing to offer me, said his regular day starts before dawn. “I have to wake up before the sun comes up,” he chuckles but…

Tanzania has shutdown all activities at one of its largest open air livestock market, the Meserani Livestock Auction Market in Monduli, Arusha. To enforce the ban, the government sent down armed police officers to stop any trading from taking place; a daunting task when you take into consideration the fact that the market handles well over 1,000 traders every single day. The move is in line with the national ban on mass gatherings in the face of the ongoing Covid-19 threat. Safety first, but the close to 200 000 pastoralists who exclusively rely on cattle trade now have to find…