Pirates are responsible for your slow internet connection

From The East African:

East Africa will have to wait a little longer to be connected to the global broadband network due to pirate attacks off the Horn of Africa and Somalia that have delayed the laying of the undersea cable there.

The connection to the global broadband network was supposed to have taken place by the end of this month but on Wednesday the managers of Seacom, a $600 million project owned by private investors, said that its cable would not come into service until July 23 – nearly a month later than planned – due to piracy off the coast of Somalia that had delayed the work of its cable-laying contractor.

Tyco Telecommunications, the contractor, was at one point forced to suspend its cable-laying around the Horn of Africa so it could revise its security arrangements following the latest surge in piracy, the Financial Times reported.

Piracy from Somalia has been on the rise since last August, but last week’s announcement from Seacom marked the first time the pirates have disrupted efforts to end the region’s dependence on satellite Internet links, which are slow, unreliable and often prohibitively expensive.

What's happening in North Mara?

According to environmental activists, the mine is a source of deadly pollution:

Tanzanian human rights activists have called on the government to close down North Mara Gold Mine to aid a probe into allegations of pollution of Tigithe river which passes through the mine property. 

Locals say that since the start of June, up to 18 people and 270 head of cattle have died after drinking contaminated water from the Tigithe river. The river is a source of domestic water for thousands of locals in northwestern Tanzania.

Barrick Gold, who own the mine, through their spokesman, deny that North Mara is a source of the contamination. Meanwhile, the PM, Mizengo Pinda, has ordered an investigation into the allegations. 

Mining companies have struggled to endear themselves to local communities and this will do nothing but further people's negative suspicions about them. However, let's wait and see what the investigation reveals before passing judgement. 

UPDATE: Apparently, The National Environment Management Council (NEMC) has concluded that the mine is responsible for the contamination of the Tigithe river. In a report submitted to parliament they have recommended that either the government close down North Mara gold mine or re-settle the local residents. From The Guardian:

The recommendation is contained in a report compiled by NEMC and handed over by its director-general, Bonaventura Baya, to parliamentary committees on Land, Environment and Natural Resources, and Minerals and Energy which were following up the matter.

He said the government made a wrong decision to allow the gold mine to be established in residential areas.

Baya advised the government to either evacuate residents from the area or  close down the mine because it is located in residential areas.

“The government has to decide on whether people should continue residing in the area or it should close down the mine because the situation is very pathetic,” said Baya.

Making History

                                                  Photo by Fred Beckham/AP

Hasheem Thabeet becomes the first Tanzanian to make it into the National Basketball Association (NBA) as he is picked 2nd by the Memphis Grizzlies in the draft held in New York last night.

We wish him the best of luck.

The way we live now

Every year, half a million women die over preventable pregnancy complications. Denise Grady, over at The New York Times has a piece about how small communities in Tanzania are dealing with this tragic reality. In her second of three article on the subject, she looks at how a small orphanage in Berega, a village in Tanzania's midwest, is dealing with children whose mothers died giving birth: 

The orphanage here, started in 1965 by United German Mission Aid, an evangelical Christian mission, began recruiting relatives to move in about five years ago. Ute Klatt, a German missionary and nurse who has been director of the orphanage for 10 years, said she learned about the practice from another orphanage in Tanzania. Now many of the children at the orphanage are cared for by a teenage girl from the extended family — a binti, in Swahili — often a sister, cousin or aunt, who lives with them and learns how to take care of them.

You can read the rest of the article here

"It's like these guys are proud of being ignorant"

And the winner of this award goes to.....Kanye West. Here is what he said while promoting his new book, Thank You and You're Welcome:

Sometimes people write novels and they just be so wordy and so self-absorbed. I am not a fan of books. I would never want a book's autograph. I am a proud non-reader of books. I like to get information from doing stuff like actually talking to people and living real life.

Are you still wondering why Hip Hop is dying?

(HT: The Millions)

IN THE NEWS: BOTCHED ABORTIONS, TAIFA STARS WIN

• The New York Times is reporting that anti-abortion laws in Tanzania are forcing women to turn to untrained amateurs who tend to bungle the procedures leading to complications that can be fatal.

• East African countries are urged to do more to combat the horrific trend of albino killings.

• Mwinyi Kazimoto's strike in the dying seconds secured a thrilling 2-1 victory for Taifa Stars in a friendly against New Zealand played at Dar es Salaam's National Stadium.

• Africa's longest serving leader, President Omar Bongo of Gabon, died at a clinic in Spain. He was 73.

• 24-year old Josephine Achieng Owino becomes the first Kenyan woman to be drafted in to the NBA's women's counterpart, the WNBA.

Tax hikes?

You better believe it. In his budget preview in today's The Citizen, Karl Lyimo makes the case that with the government struggling to raise revenue, increasing taxes would seem to be one way to put some cash in the treasury's coffers. To wit:

To cut a long story short, it should not come as a surprise if June 11 sees Finance Minister Mkullo once again hitting the traditional victims petroleum, beverages, tobacco and textiles with a hike in tax rates! If he curtails discretionary tax exemptions, and starts to tax leaders (the President, MPs, etc) and others who still bask in the tax-exemption sunshine, then that would be an added bonus for already heavily-taxed Tanzanians and peasant farmers.

This sentiment seems to be shared by the Finance Minister, Mr. Mkulo, who according to this news piece, has sent a letter to the IMF detailing the government's plan to review the tax code for a whole host of sectors:

Among the expected announcements are changes in the mining sector's tax regime and review of the huge tax exemptions. The Government wants revenue accruing from mining to play a bigger role in national development. 

Tax exemptions to government agencies, non-governmental and religious organisations will also be targeted for review.

Hail To The Chief

This week's African Voices on CNN features this intriguing little interview with President Kikwete.

 

From the Deep South

A friend of mine, who is a Peace Corps volunteer in Madaba, Ruvuma, sent me this email about an ugly incident that took place at his school. I feel it is worth sharing. Here it is in full:

I think it was May 9 that the riot took place.  I was in the laboratory preparing a practical for the following day.  A student knocked on the door - the laboratory is in a building that is almost in the center of the campus - and asked for the teacher on duty (TOD). I told him he had gone home and didn't think much of it until around 9:30PM - about twenty minutes later - when the TOD came into the lab with a different student. His face was swollen and his nose bleeding. The TOD said that he had been hit by another student with a club. The student himself then recounted his story - the first of three times that I would hear his story that night. 

The student who had been hit, Oscar Kiyao, lives with the TOD in one of the school's teacher's residences.  He was at home in his room with the lights on - we run a generator for three hours in the evenings each day - when he heard a noise in the sitting room.  He got up and investigates.  He saw that another student, Jackson Mponda, had entered the home and was in the process of stealing something off of a table in the sitting room. Jackson was startled and ran out of the house, Oscar pursued him across campus, through the boys' dormitories, into the forest and down to the river. Oscar caught Jackson near a river in a valley adjacent to the school, at which point Jackson hit him with a club he was carrying or a branch he had picked up.  He then threatened Oscar that if he followed Jackson any more, Jackson would stab him with a knife. 

After I had heard the story we went to see the acting head of school, PHD Mgaya. Oscar recounted his story again and PHD said that the I, the TOD, Oscar and some of the students' leaders should go to Jackson's home.  In hindsight it appears that this decision helped to escalate tension and it helped spread the word that a teacher had been robbed and who the culprit was.  So we went to his house - he lives only a ten minute walk from the capmus - and found his mother there, asleep.  We had someone wake her and told her what had happened. At this point I suggested we wait until the next day to deal with the situation.  Jackson's mother is quite old and I didn't see any reason to wake her and tell her that her son was a thief.  The TOD disagreed and we woke her.  Again, Oscar recounted his story.  The mother threw her hands up and began weeping. Nothing came of the visit except that Jackon's mother was alarmed.  We then all returned to school. 

I went back to the lab to close up and then left to go home.  It was about 10:20 at this point.  On the walk home I heard commotion at the boys' dorms so I went to check it our.  Many boys were out, half clothed, running and shouting in all directions.  I proceeded back to the staff room, in the middle of campus, and saw that Jackson had returned and was standing outside with the acting head of school and TOD.  At this point the boys had organized themselves and were approaching the staff room from their dormitory. Then I started hearing rocks and brick fragments landing on the metal roofs of the classrooms.  The boys were throwing bricks.  They were also chanting "mwizi apigwe!"  We sent a student leader to talk to them, he was repulsed with flying bricks.  We entered the office with Jackson and decided it would be best if we escorted him off campus.

We went opposite the boys' dorms, past the girls dormitories towards the field, and a back way out of school which leads to his home.  As we passed the girls' dormitories they were singing and jeering Jackson. As we left Jackson at the border between the school and our soccer field, near the path the leads in a roundabout way to his house, the acting head of school told him to go straight home and that if the students got their hands on him, they would kill him.

We turned to go and saw that the boys - now a mob, really - had been following us and continued to encroach.  The acting head of school suggested we go through the girls' dormitory to avoid them, and then back to school.  I refused, preferring instead to confront the boys. I stood my ground after the TOD and PHD had left.  The boys approached, stopped, continued chanting and rattling their clubs. Then I saw and heard bricks falling near me.  I had to duck and dodge a couple that were heading for my face.  At that point I realized these people would not be reasoned with.

I don't know if you've ever looked into the face of an angry mob but it was jarring for me.  I couldn't see faces because it was dark but felt as though the people I was looking at were not human beings because they had lost their faculties of reason.  Culpability for whatever they were prepared to do was going to be shared amongst them and spread so thin that feelings of conscience and guilt were nonexistent. These people were mindless, living in a consequence-free space and, perhaps, believing that whatever punishment they were prepared to mete was justified.

The TOD rang the bell and called a meeting near the staff room, in the center of the campus.  A group of, about 50 students, assembled in front of us in various states of undress. PHD started to address them and there was lots of back-talk so I went to stand among them in the back.  I identified a few and tried to confiscate their clubs. I grabbed one kid's shirt and he hid his face and started pulling away. I didn't let go and asked him "utanipiga?"  He eventually relented and put down in club.  At this point I realized that we, the teachers, had completely lost control of the school and that if the students were prepared to beat someone to death we would be powerless to stop them.

We decided it would be best if I went home, which I obligingly did. The TOD escorted the boys back to their dorms and noticed that others had stayed behind, collecting kerosene - normally used for lamps and studying after-hours - and making preparations for a raid on Jackson's house.  The TOD was able to talk them down but, he said, only after some heated exchanges.  The students had been, apparently, prepared to go to Jackson's house, pull him out, douse him with kerosene, and immolate him.  This realization still disturbs me today. In the following days I talked with some teachers and villagers about it.  All the conversations I had were horrifying and deeply disturbing.  No one seemed to think that what had happened warranted a special meeting or punishments for the ring-leaders.  One teacher said that the students were merely protecting law and order.  A villager said that thieves should be killed. The TOD told me that when he was in secondary school, some of his classmates had beaten a student to death because he had been suspected to be a thief. They beat him and killed him - or left him to die - on the school track.  The police didn't come to take the body - dead? rotting? - away for two days.  In short, no one was shocked by the riot, no one was upset by it or felt it required special attention.

Thinking back, I am still as shocked and disgusted now as I was then. In the days following I seriously considered leaving the country. Some of the student ring-leaders are students of mine.  One student, Jejison Ngomano, stood up in front of the teachers and students present that night, after the TOD had rung the bell and called the meeting, and said that that very day he had had two t-shirts stolen and that someone had to pay with his life. And I'm supposed to just let this kid into my class, teach him like nothing happened? Exams have started so I have no pressing school work to do until July. I'm so glad that we have this time off.