31 May 2009
30 May 2009

Ally Sonda na Rehema Matowo, Mwanga
MBUNGE wa Jimbo la Vunjo, Aloyce Kimaro amenusurika kufa baada ya gari lake alilokuwa akisafiria kuparamia mawe yaliyopangwa barabarani na kupata ajali usiku wa kuamkia jana. Habari zilizolifikia gazeti hili jana na kuthibitishwa na Kimaro na polisi zinasema kuwa, ajali hiyo ilitokea katika kijiji cha Mikongeni kata ya Lembeni wilayani Mwanga, Kilimanjaro kwenye barabara kuu ya Moshi-Tanga, akiwa safarini kutoka Dar es Salaam kwenda jimboni kwake.
Kwa mujibu wa habari hizo, wakati ajali hiyo inatokea, Kimaro alikuwa na rafiki yake Joseph Temu ambaye ndiye aliyekuwa anaendesha gari hilo aina ya Mercedes Benz akiwa na mkewe na watoto wake watatu. Katika ajali hiyo hakuna aliyejeruhiwa.
Kimaro alisema baada ya ajali hiyo mfanyabiashara wa Mwanga, Shafii Hasanal alitoa msaada wa kulivuta gari hilo hadi kwenye kituo cha mafuta Kisangara.
Kamanda wa Polisi mkoani Kilimanjaro, Lucas Ng’hoboko alisema kuwa ajali hiyo ilitokea saa 2:30 usiku, chanzo kikiwa ni mawe makubwa na matofali yaliyokuwa yamepangwa barabarani katika eneo lenye kona na mlima.
Kamanda Ng’hoboko alisema kuwa watu wanaosadikiwa kuwa ni wezi, walipanga mawe hayo barabarani kwa lengo la kusababisha ajali ili kuwaibia abiria.
“Gari ya mbunge huyo ilipofika katika eneo hilo likiwa katika mwendo wa kawaida na mbele yao kukiwa na lori ambalo liliweza kuyapita mawe hayo bila tatizo, wao walipojaribu kuyapita tairi la mbele upande wa kulia na ‘sampo’ ya gari hilo vilipasuka wakashindwa kuendelea na safari,” alisema Ng’hoboko.
Kamanda huyo alisema kuwa miaka ya nyuma eneo hilo lilikuwa na matukio mengi ya aina hiyo ambayo yameanza kujitokeza upya, kwa kuwa awali wananchi wa eneo hilo kwa kushirikiana na polisi walikuwa wameyamaliza. Alibainisha kuwa polisi wanafanya operesheni ili kuwadhibiti wezi hao na kuwasaka waliohusika na tukio hilo ili wafikishwe mbele ya sheria.Kimaro ni miongoni mwa wabunge waliojitokeza hadharani kupambana na vitendo vya ufisadi. Mwaka jana aliibua hoja bungeni kutaka, Rais Mstaafu, Benjamin Mkapa ashitakiwe kwa kutumia madaraka vibaya ya kufanya biashara akiwa ikulu.
Hii ni ajali ya pili inayohusisha wabunge kutokea ndani ya wiki mbili baada ya ajali iliyomhusisha mbunge wa Kyela, Dk Harrison Mwakyembe iliyotokea eneo la Ihemi, Ifunda mkoani Iringa. Dk Mwakyembe, alinusurika kifo baada ya gari alilokuwa akisafiria kutoka Kyela kwenda Dar es Salaam kuacha njia na kupinduka.
Ripoti ya polisi iliyotolewa wiki hii ilieleza kwamba ajali hiyo ilitokana na uzembe wa dereva, lakini mbunge huyo ameiponda na kuifananisha na ripoti ya mpiga ramli kwa vile haikuzingatia vigezo na utaalamu katika uchunguzi.CHANZO: Mwananchi
29 May 2009
29.5.09
Evarist Chahali
4 comments
KWA NIABA YA FAMILIA YA MZEE PHILEMON CHAHALI,NACHUKUA FURSA HII KUTOA SHUKRANI ZA DHATI KWA WOTE WALIOSHIRIKIANA NASI KWA NAMNA MOJA AU NYINGINE KATIKA SALA/DUA WAKATI TUNAMUUGUZA MAREHEMU ADELINA,NA SAPOTI MLIYOTUPATIA KUTUFARIJI BAADA YA MSIBA.BWANA AWABARIKI SANA.
BWANA ALITOA,BWANA ALITWAA.JINA LAKE LIHIMIDIWE MILELE,AMEN.
PUMZIKO LA MILELE UMPE EE BWANA,NA MWANGA WA MILELE UMWANGAZIE.APUMZIKE KWA AMANI.AMEEN
27 May 2009
24 May 2009
23 May 2009
22 May 2009
22.5.09
Evarist Chahali
JAILBREAK, MEXICO
No comments




Astonishing video footage was released today showing prison guards allowing dangerous drug traffickers to stroll out of a Mexican jail without a word of protest.
Now the prison’s entire 51-member staff – including the warden – are themselves behind bars facing a major corruption probe into whether kickbacks were paid to the poorly-paid guards in return for them turning a blind eye to the escape.
A total of 53 inmates walked past guards and were ferried to freedom in a convoy of fake police cars in the most brazen example yet of the sway held by Mexico’ s powerful drug cartels.
At least a dozen of the escapees were drug suspects and others carried out crimes like kidnapping and extortion that are linked to trafficking. It was only after the inmates had fled that the guards leaped into action ‘Jim Carrey-style' to act like they were trying to prevent the break-out.
The action – of lack of it – was all caught on security cameras at the prison in Cieneguillas in Mexico’s northern state of Zacatecas. Interpol described the worst of the criminals, who escaped without firing a shot, as ‘a risk to the safety and security of citizens around the world.’
The inmates stole 23 guns from a prison storage room before walking out through the front gates.
A prison spokesman said the police uniforms worn by the getaway drivers and the fleet of police cars that pulled up outside the prison with flashing lights to ferry away the escapees were all fakes.
But investigators refused to rule out the possibility of police involvement.
Last night’s outcry over the film footage was another major blow to the Mexican government mired in a bloody war with drug cartels that, along with the swine flu outbreak, has devastated tourism. The video was released by the Attorney General’s office after it was leaked to the Reforma newspaper. It shows bored looking guards watching television and stepping aside as a group of prisoners burst in.
A second camera catches two guards opening the front gate to allow in the getaway convoy. Eight gunmen wearing police jackets then escort the inmates to the cars waiting in the car park. When the prisoners have fled, the guards can be seen suddenly coming to life, some running towards the gate and others crouching with their guns drawn.
Mexico’s Reforma newspaper said the guards appear to be over-acting for the cameras, looking like extras in a film by comedian Jim Carrey. All the guards on duty at the time of the escape, along with the prison director and senior officials are being held for 30 days pending an investigation into their possible involvement.
Two of the men who escaped were arrested in January by soldiers who discovered 11.4 tons of marijuana at a house belonging to a local state senator. Mexico has long struggled to reduce corruption and ineptitude in its justice system. President Felipe Calderon has acknowledged that jailed drug traffickers often operate from behind bars, and has extradited a record number of drug dealers to serve time in more secure US prisons.
Two prison guards are serving up to 19 years for aiding the escape of Mexico's most-wanted drug lord, Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman. He rode out of prison in Jalisco state in a laundry cart after bribing guards in 2001. And Otto Garcia, who helped turn Guatemala into a corridor for US-bound cocaine, escaped in May 2005 from a jail in southern Mexico City.
That jail's warden, his deputy and 10 others were arrested for allegedly accepting bribes to facilitate his freedom.
SOURCE: The Daily Mail
21 May 2009
20 May 2009

Government axe to fall on luxury spending
*Budget procuring of government vehicles to be strictly prohibited, Cut down of maintenance and running cost of vehicles .
*Funds to be saved in the process will be channelled to financing core activities
By Ray Naluyaga
The Government plans to curb luxury spending in the next Budget, as part of its comprehensive measures to cut costs, the Treasury says.
The implementation of the proposals will see a 10 per cent expenditure ceiling on the administrative costs of funds allocated for development projects.
The measures, according to the ministry of Finance, also reflect the Government's intention to ensure effective use of available resources.
Also targeted in the expenditure control and cost reduction is the tendency in the Government to buy luxury vehicles for use by civil servants, the proliferation of seminars and workshops, allowances, trips by public officials and spending on government hospitality.


There will also be regular inspections of public sector payrolls to, among other things, ascertain their authenticity. This will also ensure that employees removed from the payroll for any reason,death, retirement or dismissal stay off it.
Two experts interviewed yesterday commended the Government move. An activist for good governance, Mr Moses Kulaba, said recurrent expenditure items constituted up to 70 per cent of the total development project budgets.
Deloitte senior tax manager Edward Mwachinga said the expenditure on "managerial issues has been a double tragedy for the national Budget, with seminars and workshops wasting a lot of time and resources.
Those activities, he added, took people away from their workstations with no value being added to their productivity in the end. As result, he said, they were, in fact, inhibiting productivity.
>

"While recurrent expenditure items can't be completely avoided in development projects, to cater for administrative costs, accounting officers are required to ensure that such costs do not constitute more than 10 per cent of total project cost," the Treasury notes in its Budget preparation document.
The Medium Term Plan and Budget Guidelines for 2009/10 -2011/12 says that many development projects constitute more recurrent items than the development ones. That, the document explains, has greatly contributed to failure to implement or complete some projects.
"In ensuring accountability in using public resources, accounting officers are required to adhere to the approved budgets," the Treasury says.
"Ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs), regions and local government authorities (LGAs) will have to exercise a high degree of financial discipline."
According to the document, the procuring of government vehicles "is strictly prohibited". Until further notice, it adds, no funds should be allocated for buying vehicles in the next financial year. Another measure to cut cost is the reduction of maintenance and running expenses of vehicles.
Seminars and workshops have been singled out as one of the items costing the Government dearly, thus contributing to increased expenditure. The Government has conceded that many of these are �unnecessarily conducted in expensive hotels".

Those that will be held after getting approval from the Prime Minister's Office will now be hosted in public institutions, according to the new directives.
"Starting from this financial year, accounting officers are required to seek approval to conduct seminars and workshops from the Prime Minister's Office," the Treasury says.
On per diem and travel allowances, the Government says, accounting officers must ensure that every expenditure incurred has value for money. The only foreign trips that will be authorised will be those of national interest, and which reflect the expected returns.
Furniture bought should be of high quality. The Treasury advises against the tendency to procuring expensive imported furniture that is less durable than locally made items. The Government also expects to curb costs in the public procurement and management.
"A big portion of public expenditure is on procurement of works, goods and services. Accounting officers and public procurement units should take measures to improve supervision and monitoring of purchases."
Deloitte tax manager Mwachinga said that under the current circumstances, the Government had had no choice but to initiate cost cutting measures.
"Taxpayers' money has for many years been used to pay public officials' fat allowances to attend seminars and workshops in expensive luxury hotels where what they do is have a good time," he said.

Mr Kulaba warning the Government against failure to implement the cost-cutting measures, as had been the practice in the past. However, he welcomed the zeal with which Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda has been dealing with the matter to curb wastefulness in the Government.
SOURCE: The Citizen.Cartoons courtersy of Kipanya
HOW OFTEN HAVE WE HEARD THAT?DIFFERENT BEATS BUT SAME LYRICS.ONLY EXCUSE NOW,THE CURRENT GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISIS.THAT'S SIMPLY ALL TALK,BUT DON'T EXPECT ANY SIGNIFICANT ACTIONS.
COST-CUSTING MEASURES SHOULD HAVE BEEN GOOD NEWS TO EVERY MWANANCHI,BUT WE HAVE BEEN THERE BEFORE.REMEMBER WHAT WE WERE TOLD AFTER THE 1978-79 TZ-UGANDA WAR?"TUFUNGE MIKANDA" (WE SHOULD TIGHTEN OUR BELTS).IRONICALLY,MOST OF OUR LEADERS COULDN'T DO SO NOT BECAUSE MADUKA YA KAYA HAD RUN OUT OF STOCK OF BELTS,BUT RATHER THEIR WAISTS WERE TOO LARGE TO BE TIGHTENED!HOWEVER,IN THE SPIRIT OF AMANI NA UTULIVU AND UMOJA NA MSHIKAMANO THE MAJORITY OF US (WALALAHOI) HAD TO DO IT FOR THE PRIVILEGED FEW (VINGUNGE).

19 May 2009

By Costantine Sebastian
Poor revenue collections, the unpredictability of donor funds and an economy reeling from the biting global recession -- the challenges for the 2009/10 national budget seem just too much to bear.
After months of wallowing in the global economic crisis, the Government should now be talking about finding a way to fund the next budget and get the economy going.
Early this month, President Jakaya Kikwete hinted at the uncertainty of funds for the budget when he revealed that domestic revenues are expected to continue on the downward path since the global crisis was persisting.
While source of funds for the current budget were considered evasive at a time the crunch had not hit this part of the world hard enough, economists predict the worst is yet to come.
Economists say there would be major problems implementing the Government's financial plan for the 2009/10 year.
This is largely due to the falling revenue collections and the unpredictability of donor support caused by the recession that has adversely affected Western donor countries, they say.
For instance, the depletion of tax revenue this year will see the outturn of the current budget falling to Sh6.98 trillion instead of the planned Sh7.22 trillion.
And budget preparation documents confirm the Government's awkward fiscal position. Some economists have raised concerns that the desire to fulfill political promises would make the situation even more desperate.
Decreasing revenues
In the medium term, the Treasury puts domestic revenue at 17 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the forthcoming fiscal year from 17.7 per cent in 2008/09 while aid will fall to 8.9 per cent from 9.1 per cent during the same period.
The Treasury asserts that the overall resource envelope in 2009/10 will decrease to 25.9 per cent of the GDP, which is a 0.2 per cent decline compared to the current fiscal year.
"This trend will persist and reach 22.8 per cent in 2011/12, primarily on account of the projected decline in foreign assistance," the document on resource envelope and expenditure reads in part.
It also notes that foreign aid will further plummet in the medium term to 5.3 per cent of the GDP.
2010 Elections
And the 2010 elections will not take the Government out of its tight corners. Instead, they are widely expected to make the financing and management of the forthcoming budget even more difficult.
"Although the elections will come in the second half of 2010, and therefore a subject matter of the 2010/11 budget, they are expected to impact the 2009/10 budget substantially," Mr Honest Ngowi, an economist and lecturer at Mzumbe University, said.
He added: "The Government will naturally want to be voted back into office. As such, among other things, it will have to deliver on its previous election manifesto."
Mr Ngowi says the "unfulfilled promises" are major poverty reduction projects that would require financing from State coffers.
He based his predictions on the economic theory of government opportunism, which states that sitting governments would to do everything in their power to win support before a competitive election.
In the case of Tanzania, he said, the Government would attempt to implement a number of infrastructure, health, education, water and other social service projects in order to win votes, come 2010.
World Bank economist for the East Africa Poverty Reduction & Economic Management unit, Mr Paolo Zacchia, said Tanzania faces huge budgetary challenges under the prevailing circumstances.
He said the dire situation was evidenced by the failure to meet revenue targets during the current financial year and poor performance of key sectors such as mining and tourism.
Rescue packages?
Yet while Tanzania's budget is heavily dependent on donor funding, last year, donor funds for the 2008/09 budget did not come on a silver plate.
Donors clearly spelt out their conditions: governance issues needed to be sorted out first before any funding pledge could be fulfilled.
The donors, probably irked by corruption among senior government officials, were apparently reluctant to release the general support funds.
Most of them had, however, honoured their commitments by February this year.
And once more the Government is expected to get a kick out of rescue packages pledged by the Bretton Woods institutions and other bilateral donors like the US.
Tanzania recently received a $340 million (Sh452.2 billion) fiscal stimulus from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The World Bank has also promised another bailout package of about $200 million (Sh266 billion).
The major challenge though is how far that crumb of comfort would go to salvage the Government from the 2009/10 budget ordeal.
According to the World Bank economist, the main difficulty faced in financing the current budget was offset by domestic borrowing, which is expected to persist during this coming year.
Excessive domestic borrowing is often said to affect credit lines for the private sector and cause interest rates to skyrocket.
"But borrowing domestically is inevitable, yet it has to be done carefully to avoid a negative impact on interest rates," Mr Zacchia cautioned.
The Government is obviously walking on eggshells before it comes up with a realistic and workable budget amid the global crisis that has started to take its toll on the people.
Key economic sectors stunned by the crunch need to be rescued, otherwise revenue sources will continue to take a nosedive and thousands of people will lose their jobs.
By March, the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) had managed to collect only about 70 per cent of the budgeted Sh4,485 billion tax collections, missing the target for the three quarters by about Sh279.2 billion.
Tax revenue constitutes nearly 95 per cent of the domestic resources that were required to finance government expenditure in the current financial year and about 62.2 per cent of the total budget.
The Bank of Tanzania (BoT) said in a March report the cumulative budget deficit of Sh750.7 billion by February was one per cent above the expected level.
"The (July 2008-February 2009) deficit was financed through foreign borrowing to the tune of Sh674.4 billion, and the balance through domestic borrowing," the central bank noted in the March monthly economic review (MER).

Israel's internal intelligence service urged the public today to exercise caution when using Facebook, saying Arabs are trying to recruit spies on the popular social networking site.


19.5.09
Evarist Chahali
WACKY RESEARCH
No comments

18 May 2009


