Tazara workers demand salaries

   EAST AFRICAN BUSINESS WEEK

Tazara workers demand salaries

Monday, 20 February 2012 04:54 Kenan Kalagho

DAR ES SALAAM, TANZANIA-  Former employees of the Tanzania -  Zambia Railways Authority (TAZARA) have not been paid their three months pensions since November last year.

 (The abandoned wagon at Tazara, workers have of recent months not been paid their three months wages Photo By Kenan Kalagho)

Officials from TAZARA confirmed that the Authority does not have money to pay the pensioners. 
"This issue is very sensitive because it involves the government of Zambia and that of Tanzania. There is no such money for now," said TAZARA Public Relations Manager Conrad Simuchile.
Mr Simuchile said the Chinese government has been rendering support to TAZARA but 'million of shillings' you usually hear are in form of equipment and training of experts in different capacities but TAZARA does not get cash from China.
He said TAZARA has been expecting new wagons from the Chinese but they have not yet arrived.
"We have been expecting new wagons out of that money from the Chinese government," he said. Probably the wagons will be in Dar es Salaam at the end of this month."
Speaking with the East African Business Week in Dar es Salaam last week, one of the former employees of TAZARA, Mr. Daudi Mbaga, said they were around 4,000 former employees whose pension salaries have not been remitted to their accounts.
He said last week their taxed funds were not being remitted to the National Insurance Company, a firm which deposits their pension salaries to Tanzania Postal Bank.
"I have worked in this company for my entire life in the production section till my retirement but my pension salaries were not being deposited to the National Insurance Company as we agreed with our employer, said Mr. Mbaga.
"Last week, we had a meeting with Mr Akashambatwa Lewanika (the firm managing director) to discuss our pension salaries' fate but he told us that the railway firm had no money to pay them," said Mr Mbaga.
Mr. Mbaga said; "Once we confronted him, he told us that he had no money to pay us and he will pay us once he gets the money."
An official from TAZARA who preferred anonymity said even the current workers were finding it hard to get salaries salaries.
"Just imagine we have been paid the December salaries in the first week of February and we are still not certain when our January salaries will be paid," the official said.
He said even the December salaries were borrowed from TAZARA Savings and Credit Corporative Society.
"The problem is that TAZARA can hardly transport goods.  We have a lot of goods in the depots of Kurasini, Yombo and Bandari in all depots located in Dar es Salaam awaiting to be transported but there are no wagons to transport them due to fuel shortage," the official said.

East Africa Business Week

Land shortage dogging Tanzania housing corporation

Monday, 13 February 2012 08:10 Kenan Kalagho

Muungano Saguya, is the  Corporate Social Responsibility Manager for National Housing Corporation (NHC). East African Business Week's Kenan Kalagho talked to him about the company achievements since its inception in 1962. Here are excerpts:

(Muungano Saguya the corporate Social Responsibility Manager with NHC.  Photo By Kenan Kalagho)
QN: Tanzania is experiencing a massive shortage of housing and you recently introduced the mortgage finance system in partnership with seven local and regional commercial banks in the country.  How beneficial is this system to the local Tanzanian?
ANS: The government reinstated the system, that has led the National Housing Corporation to sign an MoU with  seven local and regional commercial banks including National Bank of Commerce, KCB, National Microfinance Bank, Exim Bank , Bank of Africa, Azania and Commercial Bank of Africa.
With this system, Tanzanians will get loans from these banks to buy new houses that will be constructed by the NHC.

QN: What role will the National Housing play to make sure that more Tanzanians own homes using the mortgage finance system?
ANS: The National Housing Corporation leads as the corporation that has been assigned by the government to provide good shelter for citizens. One of the aims is that the NHC constructs many houses to enable more Tanzanians own homes.

QN: What effects will this mortgage finance have to the economy of Tanzania and its citizen at large?
ANS:The  mortgage finance system is a forum through which many citizens will have access to loans from the banks and the positive effects on this is that it will boost production of the housing industry in the country and this will in turn reduce rental charges. This will mean that the economy will grow because people will have access of loans from banks and build houses for business and therefore generate revenue for the government through taxation.
This can also have a negative impact to the economy because the housing sector is a very fragile industry, which means that if a lot of money is borrowed from banks to finance construction and these constructed houses fail to attract more customers, that will mean that the borrowed money and its interest rates charged will fail to be remitted to the banks and this might lead to the economic crunch.

QN: Recently the National housing  have focused much on public-private partnership in as far as the construction of houses is concerned. Is this partnership open to all individuals willing to partner with the National Housing Corporation and what are the conditions for one to enter into this partnership?
ANS: We had this policy of public-private partnership since 1988 because we realized that the National Housing Corporation had no financial resources, but this policy was revised in 2008 and the joint venture activities were halted in 2010. This was in a bid to create a win-win situation because we realized that the National Housing was not being treated fairly in these policies. We are hoping that the policies will be revised this year and hopefully the private-public partnership will be reinstated in a more meaningful way that will benefit all the parties.

QN: There has been a negative perception about the National Housing failure to beat the growing demands of housing in the country, what expectations should the public have to the National Housing Corporation especially with the mortgage system in place?
ANS: This is true because the National housing Corporation was mandated to cater for the housing industry in Tanzania, however there were various hindrances that were holding back the growth of the national housing sector in the country like the issue where the national housing could not evict its tenants who fail to pay for their rents except with an order from the court. These laws and many others which have now been revised were a hindrance to us and for the past five years we have barely been able to construct less than 600 houses.

QN:  It is said that the construction industry contributes barely 0.3% to the national economy, is there any way of reversing this trend?
ANS: We still believe that the housing sector can play a great role in contributing to the GDP of this country because housing is a business, employment and can lead someone to get capital from different banks. We believe that if the government can play its part in this sector, it can contribute heavily to the national economy. However with the new system of mortgage finance that the National Housing Corporation have signed with different local and regional banks, we can be sure of realizing this dream.

QN: The National Housing Corporation strategic plan  (for 2010/2011-2014/2015) targets on constructing 10,000 houses for middle income earners and 5,000 for low income earners. Why should the target dwell much on middle income earners yet the housing demand is even worse for the low income earners?
ANS: People with low income need to have subsidy that means that the profit that will be obtained from the 10,000 houses that will be constructed for the middle income earners will be used to subsidize the low income earners and if the profit beats the margin then the number of houses to be constructed for the low income earners might also increase.

QN: The country celebrated 50 years of its independence in December.  What would you say are some of the challenges that you have faced during the period?
We have survived but face challenges like the scarcity of land. There has also been a negative mindset of most Tanzanians to see the National Housing Corporation houses being rented or sold at a low cost. This mindset needs to be reversed.

Food prices remain high on dry season regional demand

East African Business Week

Food prices remain high on dry season regional demand

Monday, 13 February 2012 07:50 Kenan Kalagho

DAR ES SALAAM, TANZANIA - Food prices in Dar es Salaam continued to rise despite the end of the festive season.
A random survey made last week by East African Business Week at the city's main market of Kariakoo in Dar es Salaam, revealed that there has been a sharp increase in prices of food produce since the end of the festive season. The survey showed that the best rice, which during the just ended season was being sold at TShs 2,100 (US$1.35) a kilogramme was now hovering around TShs 2,500 (US$1.59) a kg, whereas the lower grade rice that was previously sold at TShs 1,900 (US$1.22) a kg is now selling at TShs 2,200(US$1.35) a kg.

A customer weighs his options at one of the markets in dar es Salaam. (Photo by Kenan Kalagho)

There has been an increase in prices of commodities such as beans, spices, maize flour, meat and other essentials.
The prices of beef at many Dar es Salaam  butcheries also have shot up from the previous TSh 6,000 (US$3.87) during the festive season to TShs7,000 (US$ 4.45) a kg where as in other places like Buguruni to the outskirts of the city the price of beef has relatively gone down to the previous TShs 5,000 (US$ 3.18) a kg.
The price of maize flour on the other hand has gone up from the previous TShs 800 (US$0.50) a kilo to TShs 1,200 (US$0.76).
Mr Hamisi Mzee, a trader at the Dar es Salaam Kariakoo main market says the prices of food are being driven mainly by the high costs of living in terms of house rent and fuel as well as the country's bad economic shape.
"The costs of fuel and transporting these produce to Dar es Salaam is expensive and this leads us to increase prices as well, says Mzee.  "Even in the houses we are staying in the rent has gone up so high so that you rarely find a room below TShs 30,000  (US$19.10) a month.”
Speaking in Dar es Salaam last week, the Minister of State in the Presidents office,  Civil Society Relations and Co-ordination, Mr Steven  Wassira, said the prices of food in Tanzania were  a result of the increased fuel prices and the cost involved in transporting them to their markets.
"The prices of fuel are very high and these produce needs to be transported from their place of produce to find customers in the cities" the minister said. He said Tanzanians should also know that neighbouring countries like Kenya, Sudan, and Somalia which have been experiencing long droughts have driven the prices of food in Tanzania as well.
Wassira said Tanzania should produce more food in order to get the surplus which will have a positive effect in reducing the escalating of food prices in the country.
"As much as we need investment in agriculture sector, we need to focus on providing  support to Tanzanians so that they move out from the hand hoe system of agriculture to a modern large farming technology which will allow them to produce more food for business benefits," Wassira said.
Wassira noted other challenges like poor infrastructure that hinder the produce from reaching the market. "Tanzania produces more food in Rukwa, Kagera and Kigoma but there are no good roads that connect such places so that food produce can be transported to Dar es Salaam and or across other regions of the country."

Dar es Salaam’s car business a blessing or curse?

Dar es Salaam’s car business a blessing or curse?

Saturday, 21 January 2012 12:04 Kenan Kalagho

DAR ES SALAAM, TANZANIA - Of recent, Dar es Salaam city has been dotted with car showrooms where reconditioned vehicles, mostly Japanese, are sold.

(Vehicles at one of the showrooms in Dar es salaam Photo By Kenan Kalagho)
The prices are far lower than new cars imports. Hundreds of these showrooms are seen within and on the outskirts of Dar es Salaam City where old structures have been pulled down.Forexample Ali Hassan Mwinyi Rd in Kinondoni area of the City, along Morogoro Rd and Kilwa road, among others.
Most of the car imports are brought in from Dubai, Japan and China where it is believed the prices of reconditioned vehicles are relatively low.
My previous employer, Jafarai Michael said, bought his reconditioned Toyota Rav4 model at only US$$8,300 directly from Dubai. With Customs clearing at Dar es Salaam Port, the final cost was $12,300. The difference in price for similar models being offered at City showrooms is a hefty $22,000.
It is estimated that around 50,000 imported vehicles pass through the Dar es Salaam every week and almost a quarter of such vehicles end up in Dar showrooms while others are being transported to the land locked neighboring countries of Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, the Democratic Republic of Congo and other countries.
An economist with the Confederation Trade of Industries (CTI), Hussein Kamote, says that the cars in Dar es Salaam city means that the economic poison of individual Tanzanians is improving and that there is a demand for vehicles in the country.

(Traffic jam at one of the streets in Dar es salaam, the importation of used vehicles has resulted into traffic jam in most of African cities Photo By Kenan Kalagho)
He noted that a lot of companies offer their employees car loans a facility that encourages imports.
It is no wonder that one will see the dotted cars showrooms at several locations such along the Ali Hassan Mwinyi Rd in Kinondoni area of the City, along Morogoro Rd and Kilwa road, among others, spotting signposts reading: "Japan used vehicles sold here".
In these showrooms different models of vehicles are sold from Toyota, Nissan, and Mazda are showcased selling at prices sellers will bargain for.
However, Kamote cautioned that the influx of such used cars could be unwanted types in the countries of manufacture - in other words cars that could sooner or later become scrap.
"You will realize that many of these vehicles are 'used vehicles' and in such manufacturing countries there are almost at every time "new brands" that flood their local markets making it necessary for owners of older models to keep aged vehicles.
"You will realize that in the past there was a lot of congestion at the Dar es salaam port that that took up space for other imports. Some businessmen turned the port into their sales yards, not any more,' he noted.
Of course most showrooms in Dar City are in bonded warehousing facilities controlled by the Tanzania Revenue Authority. The vehicles in these facilities must be fully paid Customs duties to TRA before being released to buyers.
A Toyota Mark II will cost a buyer between $13,000 and $16,000, whereas a Toyota Rav4 goes for $22,000 at the show room - which is far more expensive compared than direct imports to individuals.
The influx of cars in Dar city, a city already bogged down jam, is certainly not a blessing to commuters.  "I use almost two hours every day going to work from Makumbusho area to Dar  City centre - "Ms Fatuma Mboga complained.

Bulk oil imports hits cash snag

Bulk oil imports hits cash snag

Saturday, 21 January 2012 12:07 Kenan Kalagho

DAR ES SALAAM, TANZANIA - Take off of the newly adopted bulk oil importation which was to begin from January, 2012, failed to start as scheduled for lack of financing to operate the system.
The petroleum products importation system, to be undertaken by the Commercial Petroleum Company Limited (COPEC), is expected to import into Tanzania some 540,000 tones of oil products worth $500 million.
The new system has been devised by the Government to cut the number of oil importers aims to curb price fluctuations of fuel prices in the country which was distorting the pricing of the products.
In an exclusive interview with the East African Business Week in Dar es Salaam last week, the Senior Principal Marketing Officer, Leo Lyayuka, said COPEC company has yet to secure oil stocks as COPEC was still arranging for the sources of funds to run the company
"We are still looking for sources of funds from banks and other financial institutions to see whether we can proceed with the business of bulk oil fuel procurement … we are in discussion with financial institutions."
The first oil consignment was supposed to have been in Dar es Salaam towards the end of December 2011.  The Tanzania Government announced its plans to engage in marketing petroleum products to stabilize prices and provide competition to the private oil marketing fraternity in a bid to guard against oil price distortion of the strategic fossil fuel.
The move was undertaken after experiencing after the 50-plus foreign oil marketing firms operating in the country formed an oil cartel in a liberalized environment.  When EWURA - the Energy and Water Utilities Regulatory Authority (EWURA) - towards the end of last year announced new pump prices which were lower than the previous fortnight, a group of oil marketers shut down their fuel station and thereby forcing a critical shortage of oil products in the country.
However, Lyayuka says the Government is determined to ensure that the newly introduced oil importation mechanism works successfully.
"We still haven't been able to start operations as a company, but as a subsidiary company of Tanzania Petroleum Development Cooperation (TPDC)."
When pressed for the take of the system, Lyayuka said "I don't know when it will begin… but financing discussions are going on."

Pressure forces Dar es Salaam to pay teachers’ arrears

Pressure forces Dar es Salaam to pay teachers’ arrears

Saturday, 21 January 2012 12:10 Kenan Kalagho

DAR ES SALAAM, TANZANIA- The Tanzanian Teachers Union has called off a national strike that was supposed to be staged countrywide this month before schools open, following the release Tshs 22.5 billion (US$7.8 million) to settle the teacher's overdue arrears.
Speaking with the East African Business Week in Dar es Salaam the President of the Tanzania Teachers Union, Gratian Mukoba, said that the association has decided to call off the strike after seeing the Government's good will of listening to the teachers' demands.
Mukoba said that the Teachers Union had received from the Government the relevant documents for the payment of the amount last week the amount which will be channeled through the districts councils and the Ministry of Education and Vocation and Training not later than January 15.
The Teachers Union has previously threatened to stage a national strike while if the Government refused to listen to their demands by the start of this year's scholl term.
However, Mukoba said despite the promised payments being released, the teachers are still asking the Government to pay the remaining arrears that amounted to Tshs 32 billion ($20 MILLION) by end of last year.
"The Government had already disbursed Tshs 2 billion ($1.25 million) by December last year, and if it decided to pay us at monthly pace it will take 15 months for the Government to clear our bill, this practice is unwelcomed by teachers," Mukoba insisted.

Tanzania: East Africa’s biggest democracy

Tanzania: East Africa’s biggest democracy

Sunday, 04 December 2011 13:33  BY Kenan Kalagh, EAST AFRICAN BUSINESS WEEK

FOUR  PRESIDENTS IN 50 YEARS: Tanzania this week celebrates 50 years of independence from British colonial rule. The country has had a stable period since its founding father Julius Nyerere (1961 - 1985) handed power to Al Hassan Mwinyi (1985 - 1995) who handed over power to Benjamin Mkapa (1995 - 2005) who then handed over to the incumbent Jakaya Kikwete (from 2005).                     
                                          

DAR ES SALAAM - Tanzanians across this vast territory, have everything to celebrate the 50th anniversary of their independence on  December 9, 1961 when they received their freedom from the United Kingdom.
The country was then called Tanganyika until it united with Zanzibar in 1964 to form the United Republic of Tanzania.
The history of the people of Tanzania, which is inhabited by over 120 tribes - mostly different in their cultures and languages- can be traced centuries back. However, from the slave traders and Indian Ocean markets emerged the Kiswahili language which to date unites the people of Tanzania and indeed East African.
In 4th century AD the Bantu-speaking people began to migrate into Tanganyika. They brought along iron tools and weapons. People on the east coast of Africa had contact with the Mediterranean civilizations through foreign traders who plied the Indian Ocean coast in search of wealth. The Persians and later the Romans sailed as far as Tanganyika.
Later, in the 8th century, Arab merchants sailed to this part of the African continent bringing with them the Islam religion and ever since many Tanzanians have been converted Muslims. Many Arabs settled along the coast and eventually traders came from as far away as India and China.
In the 11th century AD the ancestors of the Maasai began to migrate to Tanzania from southern Sudan. Most of them arrived between the 15th century and the 18th century. The first European to reach Tanzania was a Portuguese explorer named Vasco Da Gama who arrived in 1498.
However, the Portuguese rule did not extend inland. At first the Portuguese were peaceful, but not for long. In 1503 a ship commanded by Rui Lorenco Ravasco came to Unguja Island of Zanzibar. The Portuguese captured 20 Arab dhows and killed about 35 people. The ruler of Zanzibar, the Mwinyi Mkuu was forced to submit, who grant the Portuguese access to Zanzibar islands as a port of call for  Portuguese ships seeking food and fresh water. He also had to pay tribute to Portugal. In 1505 the Portuguese captured Mombassa port in Kenya and in 1056 they captured Pemba Island of Zanzibar. In 1510 the people of Unguja Island and Pemba Island rebelled, but they were crushed by the Portuguese.
During the 16th century the Portuguese took control of the coast and they built forts. In 1560 they founded Zanzibar town. However, the Portuguese also introduced two plants from Brazil - cassava and cashew nuts. The Portuguese only controlled the coast of Tanganyika till the 17th century when they were driven out by Arabs from Oman. The Arabs captured Unguja in 1652. The last Portuguese were expelled from Pemba island in 1695.
In the 18th century and 19th century Arab slave traders took huge numbers of slaves from Tanganyika and exported them to the Gulf states where they were resold to Arabs or to European colonies in the Indian Ocean. In 1812 a man named Saleh bin Haramil introduced cloves to Zanzibar which soon became a major export. Clove plantations were worked by African slaves.
In the 19th century Europeans began to explore inland Tanzania. In the 1840s two Germans, Johann Ludwig Krapf and Johannes Rebmann reached Mount Kilimanjaro. In 1857 two Britons - Richard Burton and John Speke reached Lake Tanganyika. Then in 1885 the Germans began taking over the region led by Karl Peters. He formed a company, the German East Africa Company (Deutsch-Ostafrikanische Gesellschaft).
Karl Peters persuaded African chiefs to make treaties with his company. Legally Peters acted independently of the German Government. Nevertheless his government approved his actions.
Meanwhile, the British took control of the island of Zanzibar, but in 1890 Britain and Germany signed a treaty dividing the area between them. Britain took Zanzibar and Germany took Tanganyika. Then in January 1891 the German Government took direct control of the new territory.
From the start Germans faced resistance. The first uprising was the Abushiri revolt of 1888. The people on the coastal areas resented German interference and they rose in revolt led by Abushiri bin Salim al-Harth, but was crushed by Germans.
From 1891 to 1898 the Germans fought the Hehe people of southern highlands.  The Hehe were defeated and their leader, Mkwawa, who committed suicide instead of being taken prisoner. In 1905-07 came the Maji Maji rebellion in rebellion against forced labour on cotton plantations and that lead to the whole of southern Tanganyika to rise in rebellion.
The rebellion was crushed after the Germans adopted a 'scorched earth' policy. At least 100,000 people died both as a result of the fighting and as a result of starvation. Between 1909 and 1913, some 250 tonnes of dinosaur bones were discovered at Tendaguru, north of Lindi and shipped to a museum in Berlin.
During the 1914 First World War a small German force, led by Colonel Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, was defeated. When a British force landed at Tanga in November 1914 it was defeated and fled leaving many weapons in German hands. The British invaded again in 1916, but they were unable to defeat the Germans.
However, by 1917 the Germans in Tanganyika were running out of food and ammunition so they turned to guerrilla warfare. They continued to fight until Germany itself surrendered in November 1918.
After the war Tanganyika was handed over to the British as a protectorate under the League of Nation - now the UN. In 1925 Sir Donald Cameron became the first Governor.
In 1929 Africans began to mobilize by forming the Tanganyika African Association in Dar es Salaam disguised as a social club although it had political aims until the 1950s when emerged as political force of sorts.
Thus in 1953 Julius Nyerere was elected president of the Tanganyika African Association. In 1954 it was renamed the Tanzania African National Union (TANU). It campaigned for independence with the slogan Freedom and Unity (Uhuru na Umoja). TANU having been a protectorate, Mwalimu Nyerere demanded for freedom from the 'protectors' from the UN which made things easier that countries that were colonies such as Kenya, Rhodesia - now Zimbabwe and Zambia. The UN was accommodating to the independence idea and the British agreed to let go the real estate. TANU participated in elections for the legislative council in 1958 and 1959 in an environment that obliged two-thirds of the seats to be reserved for non-Africans.
In 1960 that restriction was removed, and TANU won almost all the seats. The move to independence was now unstoppable and Tanzania became independent on 9 December 1961 with Julius Kambarage Nyerere Nyerere, - a teacher by profession, as first prime minister. A year later on 9th December 1962 Tanganyika became a republic and Mwalimu Nyerere became its first president.
Modern day Tanzania
The armed revolt in 1964 in Zanzibar against the Sultanate regime, led by Abeid Amani Karume - speeded up Nyerere's dream to unite Africa. That was an era of Pan-Africanism. In 1967 Nyerere adopted a policy of socialism popularly known as 'Ujamaa' under the Arusha Declaration which was a blue print of the social development patterned on the Russian socialism, but this ujamaa was restricted to the Tanganyika side as Zanzibar pursued capitalistic policies.
Nyerere planned to create huge communes where people would be  encouraged/forced to move into to produce food and live in brotherhood.
It also entailed nationalization of properties such as plantations of tea, coffee, sisal, buildings  and banks, among others. The policy proved disastrous for Tanzania's economy because it did not receive honest support from leaders and the people alike. Agricultural production slumped and the Tanzanian economy was wrecked. Furthermore by 1973 only about 20% of the population had moved to Ujamaa villages. So Mwalimu Nyerere virtually forced people to move from their ancestral homes to communes, and by 1977 about 80% of the population had been resettled.
The war against forces of Idi Amin of Uganda in October 1978 after a invasion of Kagera region destabilized Tanzania's economy. The country sank into heavy external debt. International donors demanded reform in return for help, but Mwalimu Nyerere was unwilling to change his policies. So in 1985 he resigned handing over power to Ali Hassan Mwinyi who spent the next 10 years dismantling the Ujamaa policy.
Mwinyi privatized state-owned enterprises to cut the mounting subsidy burden, and encouraged foreign investments. It has since steadily attracted many investors in the tourism sector, mining especially for gold, and road transport, among others In 1995, Mkapa succeeded President Ali Hassan Mwinyi (1985-1995) - a Zanzibari who served two terms.
In 2005 Jakaya Kikwete was elected president.

Last Updated ( Sunday, 04 December 2011 14:27 )