• Embed Doc
  • Copy Link
  • Readcast
  • Collections
  • CommentGo Back
Download
 
SERENGETI ADVISERS ECONOMIC & PUBLIC POLICY JUILY, 2009
CORPORATE FINANCEECONOMIC & PUBLIC POLICY MEDIA
 
MEDIA REPORT, JULY 2009
government clears a backlog of corruption allegations by failing to
nd evidence of malfeasance anywhere. In a new section, the reportlooks at what the Sunday columnists have gotten up to over thecourse of the month while the Yellow Couch puts The East African weekly newspaper under its magnifying lens.
Headlines News Analysis:
For the rst time since the beginning of the year the headlines havedemonstrated considerable variation: the top three stories togethermade up less than15% of the headlines for the month of July. The‘Other Stories’ of the month (those that did not make it into the topten) make up over 70% of the headline shares. The Attention SpanIndex shows that even the inammatory Kadhi Court story didn’t getmore that two weeks of deliberation from the press. This may partly be due to the post-budget speech slump when the diversity of issuesbeing raised from parliament compete for column inches amongstthemselves, as well as with other non-political developments.
 Top Ten Ranking Stories
Politics/Religion: No Kadhi Courts 
In spite of having made a commitment as part of its 2005 campaignmanifesto, the CCM government has decided not to introduce aKadhi court system, and this July put an end to the debare. The fullsummary can be read in the Main Story.
Politics/Religion: The Catholic Lobby 
 The Catholic Church in Tanzania, through the Tanzania EpiscopalConference (TEC) has apparently been issuing circulars to itsfaithful that touch upon politics since 1995. This year’s manifestotouched on issues pertaining to governance, with an emphasison anti-corruption: ‘CCM: No stand made on church document’( 
The Citizen,
20
th
July), ‘Rais TEC awajia juu wanaoupinga’ [TECpresident responds to opposition] ( 
 Mwananchi,
22
nd
July). They areusually timed to precede upcoming general elections, and whilethe Church has yet to be caught ofcially endorsing candidates itdoes not hide the political inuence that it wields from the pulpit,considering its estimated following of 10 million: ‘Kilaini: No going back’ ( 
The Citizen,
17
th
June). This year’s round of documents hasreceived somewhat more attention than usual: ‘Kingunge aliangukiaKanisa Katoliki’ [Kingunge comes down hard on Catholic Church]( 
Habari Leo,
16
th
July). CCM politicians were not the only ones toraise concerns about the documents’ violation of the separationbetween religion and politics, as various political party leaders andpundits engaged in a newspaper-led debate about the repercussionsof the Catholic Church’s actions: ‘CUF does not approve Church’sdoc- Seif’ ( 
The African,
24
th
July), ‘Lipumba: Waraka Katoliki sa](Lipumba: Catholic document ne] ( 
 Mwananchi,
22
nd
 July), ‘Msekwaautetea waraka Katoliki’ [Msekwa defends Catholic circular]( 
 Mwananchi,
26
th
July).
Politics: Biharamulo By-election 
 Three political parties put up candidates to contest the Biharamulo West parliamentary seat left vacant when Tanzania LabourParty MP Phares Kabuye died in a bus accident early in April.Chadema took on CCM quite credibly in a peaceful election,but lost the seat to the ruling party candidate Oscar RwegasiraMukasa by roughly one thousand votes, with the TLP coming a very distant third ‘Chadema: We accept defeat in Biharamulo West by-election’ ( 
Daily News,
8
th
 July). The number of reportedelection ‘irregularities’ and incidents was notably low considering the tradition of aggressive competition between Chadema andCCM in contesting parliamentary elections. ‘Biharamulo Westpoll peaceful’ ( 
The Guardian,
6
th
July).
Corruption: Richmond Clearances 
Former Prime Minister Mr. Edward Lowassa, Attorney General Mr. Johnson Mwanyika, and Prevention and Combatting of CorruptionBureau Director Mr. Edward Hosea have all been cleared by thegovernment from any wrong-doing in the Richmond LLC scandal‘Richmond report clears Lowassa’ ( 
The Sunday Citizen,
26
th
July).Deputy Minister for Energy and Minerals Mr. Adam Malima saidthat the government would not be taking any legal action againstgovernment ofcials implicated in the scandal. Mr. Lowassa wasforced to resign in February 2008 over the Richmond issue afterdedicated pressure from the opposition coupled with informationleaks from government sources resulted in the formation of aparliamentary investigative committee headed by Hon. HarrisonMwakyembe (CCM- Kyela). The government’s decision to clearofcials implicated in the Mwakyembe report raised some debateamongst legislators, and with the Executive: ‘MPs up in arms overRichmond ‘cleansing’ ( 
The Citizen,
30
th
July), ‘House ‘statement’ onRichmond tomorrow’ ( 
The Guardian,
30
th
July).
 JUILY 2009
Introduction:
 The issue of separating religion and state has reared its head in July: while adherents of the Muslim faith fought for their legal-religiousrights to be accommodated, the Catholic Church is weathering the aftermath of a politically-sensitive circular to its faithful inpreparation for the 2010 elections. Meanwhile, former presidents,prime ministers and ministers can rest easy in their retirement as the
 
SERENGETI ADVISERS ECONOMIC & PUBLIC POLICY JUILY, 2009
Infrastructure: The TICTS and TRL Contracts 
 Tanzania Railways Limited (TRL) and Tanzania InternationalContainer Terminal Services (TICTS) have been getting a lot of mediaattention, sometimes as examples of unsuccessful privatization.Both companies came under scrutiny again when the Ministry forInfrastructure Development presented its budget estimates, andreported on its progress in assessing its contracts with RITES of India which is managing TRL, and TICTS which is a member of Hutchison Port Holdings, a subsidiary company of the Hutchison Whampoa Limited conglomerate. ‘Govt railed over TICTS deal’( 
Daily News,
3
rd
July), ‘Impasse over TICTS, TRL not yet resolved’( 
The Guardian,
3
rd
July). The main concerns are the efciency of these companies, with both requiring injections from governmentcoffers, TRL failing to provide services as promised and TICTSbeing grilled over the capacity and efciency of Dar es Salaam port:‘Shs 18.2bn/- TICTS amnesty as Bunge action looms’ ( 
The Citizen,
2
nd
July) ‘Investors suspected of outright sabotage’ ( 
This Day,
4
th
 July). A major point of contention in the TICTS contract is theexclusivity clause which leaves out other potential investors, while the government is interested in reviewing and possibly renegotiating its contract with RITES ‘Kawambwa says govt willing to review TRL contract’ ( 
The Guardian,
8
th
July), ‘TICTS
exclusivity dispute goes on’ ( 
Daily News,
14
th
July), ‘Axe falls on TICTS monopoly’ ( 
Daily News,
15
th
July). During the reporting period, TRL was involved in a dispute with workers over salary deductions: ‘TRL workers stage a go-slow’ ( 
The Guardian,
2
nd
 
 July), and lost 10bn/- : ‘Massive theft at TRL’ ( 
The Citizen,
3
rd
 July), while TICTS also faced union action: ‘TICTS workers ongo-slow’ ( 
Sunday News,
12
th
July), ‘TICTS workers strike, wanttwo senior ofcials sacked’ ( 
The African,
28
th
July).
Politics/Mineral Resources: Oil, Gas and the Union 
 The sharing of revenue from potential oil and gas resources is abone of contention between Zanzibar and the mainland, in spiteof being one of the issues discussed under Mwafaka: ‘Isles: Oil,natural gas issue yet to be resolved at Union level’ ( 
The Guardian,
1
st
July). In the event, the government of Zanzibar announced itsintention to remove oil and gas exploration from the Union in orderto protect the interests of its citizens, claiming that Zanzibar wasnot benetting from the exploration that has taken place so far:‘Zanzibar: oil and gas out of Union’ ( 
The Guardian,
9
th
July). Thisapparently unilateral move was not well received by mainland MPs, which raised the ghosts of the Union debate: ‘Z’bar wrong on oiland gas- Speaker’ ( 
The Guardian,
10
th
July), ‘Oil, gas issues dominatebudget debate’ (Daily News, 10th July), ‘Z’bar digs in on oil revenuesharing’ ( 
The Citizen,
11
th
July), ‘Analysts see oil debate as the tip of an iceberg’ ( 
The Citizen,
19
th
July).
Politics/Mineral Resources: Kiwira Coal Mine 
During a Bunge Q&A session, Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda letit be known that the government was planning to buy back KiwiraCoal Mine from its majority shareholder the Kiwira Coal and PowerCompany. This was not well-received by opposition MPs who wereconcerned about former president Benjamin Mkapa’s role in thepossibly illegal privatization and appropriation of the coal mine in2005 through Tanpower Resources Ltd- a company owned by Mkapa,former Finance Minister Daniel Yona and several of their relatives. This led to a debate about Mr. Mkapa’s immunity from prosecutionas a former head of state: ‘Ex-presidents can face criminal charges-MP’ ( 
This Day,
1
st
July). Minister for Energy and Minerals WilliamNgeleja conrmed at the end of the month that the government was indeed planning to reimburse the current owners of the mine“all costs they incurred after taking over the mine.” Some gray areas that the media was unable to clarify include the real ownershipof Kiwira coal mine, and whether Mssrs. Mkapa and Yona can becharged with corruption for the way in which they procured the coalmine while they were in ofce ‘Mkapa, Yona in line for yet anotherbig payday,’ ( 
This Day,
24
th
July), ‘Kiwira: Minister clears Mkapa’ ( 
The Citizen,
24
th
July).
 Mining: North Mara Water Pollution 
 The North Mara Gold Mine has come under pressure to closeafter reports of human and cattle deaths from drinking polluted water exploded in the media in June. It appears that toxic wastefrom mining activities has been spilling into the Tigithe river, which then empties into lake Victoria. Lobbying by environmentaland human rights groups succeeded in getting the issue into thepublic domain: ‘45 wadaiwa kufa sumu mgodi wa Barrick Mara’[45 claimed to have died of poisoning in Barrick’s North Maragold mine] ( 
 Nipashe,
7
th
July), ‘Govt Must act on North Mara GoldMine now’ ( 
The African,
1
st
July), ‘Call for Bunge to probe NorthMara gold mine deaths timely’ ( 
This Day,
1
st
July), ‘Government
under pressure to close down Barrick mine.’ ( 
This Day,
9
th
July).National Environmental Management Council (NEMC) andresearchers from the Universtiy of Dar es Salaam recommendationssuggest that there may indeed be some cause for concern: ‘NEMC:close or relocate North Mara Gold Mine’ ( 
The Guardian,
9
th
July),
‘Independent reserachers detect high levels of pollution aroundNorth Mara gold mine’ ( 
This Day,
10
th
July), ‘MP: close down NorthMara mine’ ( 
Daily News,
28
th
July).
Budget 2009/2010: Ministry of Infrastructure Budget hiccup.
 Anthony Diallo (CCM- Ilemela) and three other CCM Membersof Parliament held up the Ministry of Insfrastructure budget vote. Their main concern was that the government had dropped somelong-term road construction plans in favor of newer projects:‘MP blocks endorsement of Infrastructure budget’ ( 
The Guardian,
 3
rd
 July),
‘Diallo akwamisha bajeti ya barabara’ 
[Diallo impedes roadbudget] ( 
 Mwananchi,
3
rd
July). After a couple days of negotiationthe government succeeded in bringing its MPs back in line andpassed the Ministry’s budget without changes, although there was acommitment made to source funds to invest in at least one project:‘Roads budget gets the nod’ ( 
The Guardian on Sunday,
5
th
July).
Infrastructure: Tanesco housing scandal 
Members of Parliament challenged the national power company to improve its service and speed up electrication after hearing apresentation on the country’s Power System Master Plan in Dodoma.One major complaint was that the Masterplan only promised 75%electication in 2033- a timeframe that underwhelmed legislators:‘Wabunge waikatalia Tanesco’ [Parliamentarians say no to Tanesco]( 
 Nipashe,
13
th
July), ‘Tanesco to seek further power tariff hikes’( 
This Day,
21
st
July). Yet the nancially beleaguered utility company  was caught with its hand in the till when it emerged that 1.4 bn/-had been spent renovating seven houses for company executives:‘Tanesco in spotlight over houses scandal’ ( 
The Citizen,
28
th
July),
‘Ndassa alipua Tanesco’ [Ndassa takes on Tanesco] ( 
 Mtanzania,
28
th
 
 July), ‘State forms team to probe Tanesco’ ( 
The Citizen,
29
th
July).
2
 
SERENGETI ADVISERS ECONOMIC & PUBLIC POLICY JUILY, 2009
by 165% and its Loans and advances by 130%. Bank M creditsthis performance largely to its customer service initiatives: by offering 8am- 8pm banking seven days a week as well as fastdomestic electronic money transfers, the Bank has made itself attractive to small business customers. (28
th
July).
 The Citizen:
Afrmative Finance- 
The Tanzania Women’s Bank (TWB) opened in a soft launch at the end of the month. Starting  with capital to the tune of 2.9 billion TShs- 2.1 billion of whichcame from government coffers- the bank aims at providing  women with services in a sector in which they have been under-represented due to access constraints amongst other issues. Othermarginal groups will also be targeted by the Tanzania Women’sBank. (29
th
July)
 The Guardian:
 
 Make a call, grow the economy- 
According to aninterview with Vodacom CEO Mr. Pieter Uys, studies haveindicated that there is a direct correlation between mobile phonepenetration and Gross Domestic Product growth. Apparently,for every 10% additional penetration of mobile telephony thereis a corresponding 0.8-1.8% increase in the GDP. (31
st
July) 
Inbox:
 
Dear Serengeti Team,
I must say, there is no other publication out in Tanzania thatmanages to walk the ne line between rigorous analysis and anentertaining read such as yours! I am, and am sure, will continueto be impressed! Thank you. Adam-Maliq Walter Muro
St. Paul, Minnesota 
On Air:
 
(Saturday, East Africa TV do the Bongo
 Movies show!)
Bongo Movies
Like any late-comer into the game, Tanzania’s edgeling movieindustry is at liberty to take its inuences from a variety of ‘Woods.’Many lms are a combination of kitchen sink drama, Nollywoodand Hollywood aspiration, but thankfully no Bollywoodesquesong-and-dance routines..yet. Bongo Movies, hosted by JoyceKeria Nkongo, is a program for Tanzanian lm enthusiasts. Itcovers in some depth an industry which is becoming as vigorousand prolic as the Bongo Flava wave. The quality of local lms,their marketability outside of the country, and the paucity of trained industry workers and professional actors are some of therecent topics covered in this program, which combines a tangiblelove for Tanzania’s movie makers with candid examinations of their limitations.
Highlights: 
smart and entertaining industry news, fresh editing,great interviews
 Lowlights:
Half-hourformat
Channel:
EATVChannel5
Day: 
Wednesday 21:30-22:00, Sunday 18:00-18:30 (rpt)
From
The Citizen “The public mistrust has greatly impaired the performance of the mine”-  Minister for Energy and Minerals, Mr. William Ngeleja, reading a 
statement on the Government’s decision to take over and run Kiwira Coal 
and Power Limited, the company formerly known as Kiwira Coal Mine Ltd., to which former president Mr. Benjamin Mkapa and former Minister 
of Finance Mr. Daniel Yona were linked. ‘Kiwira: Minister clears Mkapa’ 
(24
th 
July)
“It is a parliamentary affair. I can’t say anything. It is for the Energy  Minister to comment” – Dr Idris Rashid, Tanesco MD, when asked about 
the alleged misuse of funds to renovate Tanesco executives’ houses. ‘Tanescoin spotlight over houses scandal’ (28 
th 
July).“There is no evidence which demonstrates that the ofcials failed to use their expertise to duly advise the Government in the entire process pertaining to
the power generating contract” – The Implementation of the Parliamentary 
Directives Report read by Dep. Minister for Energy and Minerals, Mr.
 Adam Malima, clearing Attorney General Mr. Johnson Mwanyika, PCCBDirector General Mr. Edward Hosea and former Prime Minister Mr.Edward Lowassa of any wrongdoing in the Richmond affair. ‘Richmond report clears Lowassa’ (26 
th 
July)
Business Notes
 The Citizen:
 
Tackling unemployment- 
The Government announcedthat it has created 1,271,923 jobs since the present administrationcame into power in 2005, which is far in excess of the millionjobs that it promised to deliver by 2010. Of those jobs, 93%came from the private sector. Youth employed in the agriculturalsector were not counted. Nevertheless, youth employment is aproblem that has hardly been tackled by this effort. According to the Shadow Minister for Labour, Employment and YouthDevelopment, 800,000 young Tanzanians join the labour markedevery year. High unemployment rates are creating friction with visible immigrant populations as Tanzanians seek to protect jobs.(7
th
July).
Daily News:
 
The High Cost of Cheap Fakes- 
East Africa may be losing 
USD 500 million per year in tex revenues thanks to counterfeitproducts, according to a report released by the Organization forEconomic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Speaking at an intellectual property rights workshop in Dar es Salaam,EAC consultant Mr. William Maema pointed out that Tanzaniais the only EAC country that has an anti-counterfeiting law inplace. However, corruption gets in the way of implementing the legislation. As the Community moves towards the fullimplementation of the Customs Union in January of 2010, theEAC Secretariat is putting together Intellectual Property Rightspolicies that will have to contend with a globalized world that ishostile to import restrictions. (22
nd
July)
 The African:
 
Bank M swells to more than twice its previous size- 
Bank 
M Limited has recorded growth in its balance sheet of 140%at the end of the 2008/2009 scal year. It closed 2008 with abalance sheet of 42.3 bn/- shillings last year and this year thegure is at 100 bn/-. Similarly, Bank M has grown its deposits
3
 Watch Word: On power...
of 00

Leave a Comment

You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...
You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...