Rights forum against death penalty planned for Monday

The Foundation for Human Rights Initiative (FHRI) in collaboration with the Penal Reform International (PRI) will on Monday conduct a training forum to build and strengthen civil society organizations’ knowledge and awareness of advocacy methods to fight against the death penalty.

The two-day session, which will draw participants from within and outside the country, is meant to create awareness on alternative sanctions that respect international human rights standards.

Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC) acting Executive Director Harold Sungusia said in Dar es Salaam yesterday that the session will draw attention on the importance of using the media to solicit public opinion and how the strategy works to boost the campaign.

He said the LHRC will host the meeting under the sponsorship of the European Union.

LHRC has since its inception taken a proactive role to campaign against capital punishment in the country.

 On October 10, 2008, the centre in collaboration with the SAHRINGON Tanzania Chapter and the Tanganyika Law Society filed a petition to the High Court demanding government to scrap the death penalty.

They suggested that people convicted of murder should be sentenced to life imprisonment to enable them to reform.

 Activists also call for abolishment of the death penalty on account that no justice system is safe from judicial error and innocent people are likely to be sentenced to death.

They also argue that the capital punishment is irreversible as there is no way one can return one’s life should they realise that the later was innocent.

Amnesty International (AI) on the other hand maintains that more often prisoners with influential families or other connections are more likely to escape execution, unlike those who are poor and come from marginalised communities.

 “In short, the death penalty is not only applied unfairly and in a secretive manner, but rather it is also discriminatory and is used against those who are least able to access their rights. It is little more than a macabre lottery whose consequences, for many, are lethal,” AI says.

Tanzania still retains the capital punishment and the last time someone was hanged was in 1994.

 The 2011 report by the World Congress Against the Death Penalty indicates that 141 countries were abolitionist in law or in practice;  97 countries had abolished the death penalty for all crimes, 36 countries had abolished it in practice while as 8 countries had abolished the death penalty for ordinary crimes respectively.

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN

3m professionals required to oversee cyber security

A least three million certified professionals will be needed by the Ministry of Communication, Science and Technology in the next three years after establishment of a commission to oversee cyber security in the country.

A consulting engineer and director of ICT in the ministry Dr Zaipuna Yohan said the requirement is based the national information, communication and technology human resources development programme under the ministry.

“In order to have an informed society, it is important to have knowledgeable workers who would provide and support the delivery of quality services,” he said.

He said certification will be even more critical once the cyber laws are enacted and become enforceable in Tanzania.

He said the commission’s tasks would include attracting investments in the ICT sector through Public-Private Partnership and to incubate the certification and create more jobs.

“I believe that the ICT fraternity is now the largest in the country although it is not b recognised fully,” he said.

On Wednesday, government revealed plans to set up a board that will be charged with overseeing cyber security professionals in a move to monitor and regulate cyber activities.

The board will work closely with the Ministry of Communication, Science and Technology in seeing that cyber businesses are conducted by qualified people.

Addressing participants and IT experts from various countries at the East Africa Banking and IT security summit, Dr Yohan said the aim is to stop illegal cyber users.

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN

Govt busts fake permits syndicate

 Three arrested

Immigration Department spokesperson Mbaraka Batenga displays � at a press briefing in Dar es Salaam yesterday � forged residence permits and receipts (Photo: Devota Mwachang�a)

The Immigration Department has apprehended three persons claimed to belong to a syndicate engaged in the manufacture of various government and private firm documents including stamps and residence permits worth millions of money.

The Department’s spokesperson, Mbaraka Batenga said that when the suspects were arrested they were found in possession of 14 Class “B” residence permits worth USD28, 700 with a street value of 46m/-.

Batenga released the names of the suspects as Benetty Mtatiro Itang’are, Benedicto Rweikiza alias ‘Mr Masuti’ and January Mutembei who were arrested nearby their office at Mkwepu and Simu Streets in Dar es Salaam.

“We paid an unofficial visit to their office and found them in possession of the residence permits, more than 100 receipts and 56 forged rubber stamps of various government and private institutions.

The forged rubber stamps, he said, were of government municipalities, banks, the government emblem, Immigration Department, Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA), CRDB Bank and the Traffic Police Department among others.

The suspects were also found with birth and death certificates, plain and unnumbered ERVs. National Insurance stickers and Comesa yellow cards.
Others documents they were found in possession of include church, mosque and hospital stamps.

The fraudulent conduct, Batenga said, has been costing the government a big loss in terms of revenue.
He called upon Tanzanians to avoid using shortcuts to access legal documents through unscrupulous middlemen and instead follow the required channels and procedures.

He also warned employers who employ foreigners to also observe the law by following legal procedures in acquiring relevant and legal work or residence permits for their workers instead of embarking on fraudulent middlemen.

Batenga further urged persons who have acquired residence permits from such people either knowingly or unknowingly to surrender them to the Immigration Department for verification.

He asserted that if the documents will be proven illegitimate they would be required to apply for new ones.

Nevertheless, he said, the Immigration Department is looking for a possibility of installing an online system which will enable persons with residence permit to personally verify their documents without having to visit the department.

Last year the Immigration Department modified residence permits by adding security features so that they would not be easily forged, a move that has helped to minimise the number of illegal documents, he said.

“We believe that the network dealing with the issuing of illegal permits and the like is wide thus the investigation is still in progress, meanwhile those who have been arrested will be brought before the court today,” he said.

Last year the Immigration Department ordered all foreign nationals holding Class A, B and C residence permits to submit them to regional or district immigration offices for replacement.

It did not specify the reasons for the mandatory replacement, although the purpose might have been to identify fraudulently issued residence permits. 

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN

Leaders cautioned: Say NO to religious hatred

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Former President Ali Hassan Mwinyi

Former  President Ali Hassan Mwinyi has cautioned religious leaders to refrain from engaging in acts or exchanges which may instigate chaos in the country.

“Our country faces a critical test, as some issues which can be solved peacefully are being turned into top agenda to foment chaos,” said Mwinyi.

The former leader was speaking yesterday in Dar es Salaam in a tribute to Prophet Mohammed’s birth.

According to Mwinyi, religious chaos threatens peace and tranquility that the country has historically enjoyed. He called on religious leaders to join in the effort to find solutions to religious differences.

Mwinyi urged religious leaders to preach peace to their followers and emphasise respect for other people’s faiths, adding that it is unacceptable for any religious leader to put pressure on followers engage in chaos.

Mwinyi described ‘patience as virtue’ calling on people to find better ways of solving problems among them.

Meanwhile Freeman Mbowe, the national Chadema chairman yesterday warned party members and leaders to avoid making statements which promoted religious hatred, saying anyone doing so will be expelled from the party.

Mbowe made the statement in Arusha when opening a meeting of party leaders from 33 provinces in the northern zone regions of Manyara, Arusha, Kilimanjaro and Tanga.

He urged Chadema members to respect other people’s religions; “Don’t dare to hate somebody because of his/her religion,” Mbowe counseled them, condemning killings of religious leaders in the country.

“We want the government to act to track the source and killers…we are depressed with what is happening in the country right now, this is not the Tanzania we want,” he said, accusing the incumbent party — CCM for condoning religious hatred in the country.

He said Tanzania is a secular state, so there is no right for a Christian to accuse a Muslim and a Muslim has no right to accuse a Christian.

“As Chadema, we have decided that we will take serious action against members or leaders propagating seeds of religious hatred. We are very serious on this…” Mbowe told the party leaders.

He however pointed fingers at CCM who he accused of using religion as a tool to remain in power.

“But the way things are, our peace and unity is threatened. It is high time CCM and its government took responsibility,” he said.

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN

New CC: Since `boys will be boys,` the spirit of aggression will still prevail in 2015

 A certain amount of forcing could be noticed in some leading newspapers presenting the new CCM central committee line up, saying party chairnan and Union president Jakaya Kikwete says this is a 'winning line up.' Winning in that context would imply preparations for 2015, whereas this is the one thing that the president energetically steered clear from embodying in his nominations for the central committee. It is also evident that the voting in NEC would not be blind, as there is plenty of canvassing that goes on in a structured manner, to assist his work.

Introducing his list and somewhat providing a blanket explanation for the specific nominations, the president pointed at their "undisputed professionalism and experience," which is slightly odd for the central committee.

It made the issue take an air of someone selecting the cabinet of ministers, where there is scarcely any doubt that "undisputed professionalism and experience" are vital qualifications for anyone to feature in the list. When it comes to the central committee there are vastly different considerations as the work to be done is entirely different, in effect.

There was blanket attention and making of hay out of each step that is being heard in higher political echelons, first in reconstituting parliamentary committees and now in the more serious business of drawing up the party central committee.

The point being doggedly pursued is who gains or loses in the run to 2015 on the basis of extending of influence or losing it in the wake of various initiatives, including results of NEC polls last year, and the more recent steps. This focus knows little of the specific complexitty and 'modus operandi' of how the state and CCM operate.

One thing that the president pointed out in unveiling the new central committee helps to grasp some of the problems involved in figuring out strategies of whom to select into the central committee, though rather distantly.

He said that nomination to the central committee wasn't about "enriching your CVs but making sure that the party remains strong," which evidently begs questions. In what manner is the idea that one enriches the CV by membership of the central committee at odds with helping the party to remain strong? If not, what distinction could thus exist?

To illustrate the problem, enriching one's CV can be said to constitute a situation of "business as usual," that what one is doing as part of some particular political body, for instance Parliament, is consonant with being CC member. As a matter of fact that it true for the National Executive Committee (NEC) which is often an alter ego of parliamentary work, the party parliament as it were. There is less of a distinctively different ethic when one becomes NEC member as different from his or her sitting in Parliament; this failure to distinguishing the two led to problems.

Hence the proper background to nominating the current central committee and to an extent the secretariat that emerged after the NEC elections is the sort of issues that were being considered by the central committee up to that point. A major item now rather forgotten was a suggestion, perhaps a firm decision to that effect, that MPs should no longer be members of NEC.

The proposed change seemed to have arisen from regional party chairmen and secretaries, along with the secretariat, but leaving out in the cold leagues of MPs seeking to 'enrich their CVs' by NEC polls. One reason why this step was deemed necessary was 'the fight against corruption' during the parliamentary stewardship of senior minister Samuel Sitta, who has a few key allies in the secretariat like Nape Nnauye.

At some points NEC meetings started looking like parliamentary debates without the usual decorum or specific motion at hand, giving the president a distinctively uncomfortable environment. The question is that Parliament has firmer rules of procedure as it is based on an ethic of confrontation and voting, while NEC needs moral solidarity, togetherness.

Removing MPs from the NEC would thus ensure that the party sentiment that is cultivated in the grassroots and which is visible in all levels of the secretariat is maintained in NEC, instead of being misused by MPs.

They seek membership in NEC to 'enrich their CVs' in order to make them even stronger in seeking a new mandate in the next general elections, and often at the expense of cohesion and a sense of purpose in the party. When the leagues of anti-corruption fighters descend on the government, is that not a sure way of shoving voters to opposition parties?

On account of the general lethargy in the anti-graft campaign following the shame about Richmond/Dowans, refusing to buy the system and seeing it purchased by some clever Americans, the heat in NEC diminished. This facilitated a peaceful environment and a rescinding of the axe on MPs sitting in NEC, now that it was clear they would 'behave.' Meetings are no longer as disruptive as they were earlier.

SOURCE: GUARDIAN ON SUNDAY

3 held over Roman Catholic priest killing

  IGP Mwema forms 3-strong team to probe death, attacks
  President Kikwete: Use international experts to track killers

Mourners gathered at Zanzibar�s Mnazi Mmoja Hospital yesterday, where the body of Roman Catholic Church priest Evarist Mushi was taken following the fatal shooting by assailants who are yet to be identified. (Photo: Correspondent Martin Kabemba)

Roman Catholic priest Father Evaristi Mushi was shot dead in Zanzibar yesterday morning by people who are yet to be identified.

A press statement issued by the Minister of State in the Vice President’s Office, Mohamed Abood said reverend Mushi of St Joseph Parish in Shangani, Unguja was killed at Beit-eL-Ras area close to the Catholic Church at Mtoni area in Zanzibar Urban West.

Following the incident, the minister said the government has directed police to conduct thorough investigation, hunt and arrest the killers, calling on the people to be patient as the probe is carried out.

The government has sent condolences to the family of the deceased and Roman Catholic followers, asking them to be tolerant during this difficult moment, he said.

Meanwhile, police in Zanzibar are reported to be holding three people in connection with the killing of the priest Inspector General of Police Said Mwema said yesterday.

He said the suspects were arrested immediately after the police were informed about the killing of the priest.

IGP was briefing journalists on the formation of a team of top police officers to probe the killing.

He said he has dispatched the team to Zanzibar to work together with regional police officers to, among other things, investigate recurring incidents of attacks on religious leaders in the Isles.

IGP Mwema said the team comprises experts in the fields of investigation and operations and he believe the culprits will be brought to book as soon as possible.

The probe team includes the Deputy Commissioners of Police Samson Kasara (who is leading the team), Peter Kivuyo (investigation team Head of Intelligence) and Senior Commissioner of Police Simon Siro, who will head the operations.

On the special team he has formed, the IGP said it was the outcome of the just ended general meeting of regional police commanders in Dodoma which among other things agreed to form a special team to probe allegations and crimes.

He said the move aims at sustaining peace and harmony in the country.

The IGP said the police force has strengthened patrols in most areas in the Isles and called upon the members of the public to cooperate with it in arresting the culprits.

Meanwhile speaking to journalists, the Zanzibar Police Commissioner   Mussa Ali Mussa said that reverend Mushi was shot dead on Sunday morning at 7.30 in the morning while coming from his residence at Minara Miwili Church in Shangani Street heading to St. Teresia Church in Kibweni to lead the Sunday prayers.

Mussa said Mushi who was in a Toyota Hilux Surf with registration number Z162 AT was shot three times in the head, the bullets coming through the window of the left door of his vehicle.

He said the killers were hiding few metres from the church and as he negotiated a corner near the church they attacked him and escaped on a motorbike.

Dr Msafiri Marijani of Mnazi Mmmoja Referral Hospital said a  postmortem on the deceased revealed three wounds on his head.

He said they were forced to go to the scene to collect important information for completing the medical investigation.

Home Affairs Minister Dr Emmanuel Nchimbi said President Jakaya Kikwete has issued permission for international investigators to assist in hunting for the people involved in sabotage against religious leaders in Zanzibar.

Nchimbi told journalists that people committing such offense were terrorists and that the government has decided to hunt them at any cost.

“President Kikwete had already issued a permit to collaborate with other countries to investigate and hunt for the people involved in the incident, Minister Nchimbi said.

On Christmas Day last year, a priest with Mpendae Roman Catholic Church in Zanzibar, reverend Ambrose Mkenda was shot by unidentified people, at his Tomondo residence, as he entered his residence. He survived.

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN

TPSF urges govt to set up special court to handle corruption cases

Tanzania Private Sector Foundation (TPSF) has recommended the government to establish a special court that will be dealing with corruption cases to improve functioning of the private sector in Tanzania.

The proposal is one among recommendations made during a meeting that involved senior members of business associations in the country that took place in Dar es Salaam over the weekend.

The associations met under their umbrella organisation, TPSF to discuss and recommend to the government with a view of improving their services and businesses.

The TPSF Executive Director, Godfrey Simbeye said that dealing with corruption cases under the current system causes delays hence seriously affecting businesses.

He said that the government should think of the proposal and take a leaf from Kenya and Uganda who have such courts while Nigeria is in the process to do so.

Over ten business associations including VIBINDO, Agricultural Council of Tanzania (ACT), Association of Private Health Facilities in Tanzania (APHFT) and Tanzania Association of Oil Marketing Companies took part in the one day meeting.

“Recommendations made by leaders of these associations will be forwarded to the government for further actions,” Simbeye said.

He said that other recommendations include deducting and scrapping off some taxes so that they conform to the level and type of businesses they do as well as reviewing policies and laws that hinder development of businesses for the benefit of the country’s economy and increase employment.

According to Simbeye, the meeting also recommended reintroduction of mandatory National Service run by JKT for youth following the dwindling of good ethical conducts something that causes loses to companies that employ youth.

He said that TPSF believes that if youth pass through National Service, it will help improve good conducts adding that the private sector is ready to contribute in running it should there be the best system and a curricular that will involve all youths.

For his part, a Senior APHFT Finance Officer, Maro Kohi said the recommendations made during the meeting should be taken seriously for the development of the country.

“APHFT members request the government to reduce skills development levy which is currently at six per cent, secondary levy at 30 per cent and corporate tax at 30 per cent so that we can improve our services,” he said.

The recent years have seen private sector significantly play a crucial role in the development of the country.

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN