The New York Times is reporting that the US Justice Department will not be seeking the death penalty in their prosecution of Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, the Tanzanian man accused of conspiring in the 1998 bombing of US Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
Tanzania ranks 151st in the 'desirable places to live' list of countries. Norway was voted the 'most desirable' with Niger the 'least desirable.'
On the tenth anniversary of the late former President Julius Nyerere's death, The Centre of African Studies at the University of Edinburgh, his alma mater, will hold a two-hour seminar on the 11th of November to discuss his life and influence in contemporary Tanzania.
Meanwhile, in his Art Column in The East African this week, Frank Whalley writes eloquently about the popular Tanzanian art movement known to its practitioners as 'Tingatinga' and its influence on Tanzanian artists in general.
A few weeks ago, an interesting development took place in the world of media in this country. Apparently, Sakina Datoo, has resigned from her role as the Editorial Director of The Guardian Newspapers Ltd, the print media arm of Reginald Mengi's IPP Media empire. What's strange, however, is the way in which this story has gone largely unreported by almost all of the local press. It is certainly curious why newspapers have chosen to ignore what is clearly one of the biggest media stories of the year. I managed to get a hold of Ms. Datoo's letter of resignation. You can read it for yourself below.
As you can see, at the very least, the letter offers a fascinating insight into the inner workings of a major media house in Tanzania and the management style of it's Executive Chairman, Mr. Reginald Mengi. For a more contextual look at this story take a look at this piece in Expression Today, the Nairobi based media magazine, one of the few publications in the region that published the story. It still makes you wonder, though, why the Tanzanian media have greeted this news with such extraordinary silence, especially since they tend to treat any whiff of scandal with the crusading fervour worthy of a religious fanatic. Yet, here is a piece of news involving two powerful and influential figures in the industry, with possibly a juicy backstory, and they decide to go mum. I wonder why?
from Dar-es Salaam via England through Scotland and back again to Bongoland. I come at things with an Anglo-Afro-Arabian sensibility sprinkled with a little American flava.
