TOBACCO A ROBUST BUSINESS NOW STANDS AT 10 B$

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By The Citizen Reporter & Agencies Johannesburg. A new study conducted by award-winning NKC Independent Economists and commissioned by the Tobacco Institute of Southern Africa (Tisa), reveals the significance of tobacco within 15 regional economies and the impact it has on the livelihoods of over 24 million Africans. The study found that the tobacco value chain in these countries to be worth in excess of $10 billion. According to a statement released by Tisa chairman and CEO Francois van der Merwe in Johannesburg yesterday, “For the very first time, this study quantifies the importance of the tobacco value chain. “In Malawi, tobacco represents 15 per cent of GDP, in Zambia it supports some 20 per cent of the population, and in Zimbabwe it employs over 1.3 million people. These are not insignificant numbers.” The study covers Tanzania, Botswana, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. These represent major countries in Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa), Southern African Development Community (Sadc), and Southern African Customs Union (Sacu). Van der Merwe said the study was done partly in response to the injudicious effort by the working group bureaucrats within the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) who are pushing for the adoption of Article 17 at the fifth FCTC Conference of the Parties (COP5) in Seoul, Korea, in November. Tisa supports the original intent of the FCTC’s article 17 treaty, namely to provide “technical and financial assistance to aid the economic transition of tobacco growers and workers” to viable alternative crops. The proposals under consideration, however, represent a departure from this original goal as they seek to artificially reduce the supply of tobacco without providing growers any viable alternatives to support their families. The measures will have a negative impact on the 27 economies that comprise Comesa, Sadc and Sacu. In the Comesa states, more than 18.5 million people are reliant on the tobacco sector for employment or household income. Tax revenues generated by the tobacco value chain were valued at $3.7-billion during 2011. Exports of tobacco and related products totalled $1.4-billion in 2011 compared to imports of only $622-million. In the Sadc countries, 451,627ha (1.1-million acres) are under tobacco and the sector employs 3.66-million people with 17-million dependants. Formal and informal retailing employs more than 326,000 people with more than one million dependants. Export revenues in 2011 generated by the tobacco value chain totalled $2.3-billion.

SEX WORKERS CONTROVERSIES

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Monday, 07 May 2012 14:17

A group of commercial sex workers at work at a hotel entrance. PHOTO | AGENCIES By Fredy Azzah, The Citizen Reporter Dar es Salaam. Many sex workers and their customers are still ignoring the use of condoms despite the increased HIV/Aids awareness campaigns It sounds amazing, but it is the fact, as the recent findings reveal. Perhaps this could be one of the reasons for the persistent high infection rate of the pandemic disease.According to the National Statistics of 2007/2008, the new infection rate was at 6.5 per cent.The countrywide figures show that urban areas lead in new infections with 8.7 per cent, with Dar es Salaam Region ranked high at 10 per cent followed by Iringa Region. For sex workers and their customers, the new infection rate was at 7 per cent, according to the USAID report of the year 2009. But, Voluntary Centres (VCT) show that the infection rate for the group is 9.74 per cent for Dar es Salaam. The survey conducted by the  WHO/UNAIDS in the year 2002 indicates that infections to sex customers in Dar es Salaam increased from 29 per cent in 1983 to 50 per cent in 1993. Despite such situation, a report by the Tanzania Commission for Aids (TACAIDS), shows that it is only 40 per cent of sex workers who use condoms. The situation pushed the reporter to look for sex workers around the city in seeking their response over the use of protection in their business. Winfrida Rafael, 49, says many of their customers do not like using condoms and in some cases they force or motivate them to ignore using condoms. Ms Rafael says apart from those who communicate their wish not to use a condom, there are those who use tricks in taking the condom off at the time of having sex. “If a sex worker is drunk, she would only come to know later that she had sex without a condom,” she says. Ms Rafael says though that currently she continues with sex business, although she has been living with HIV since the year 2000, the time when she came to know her status as HIV positive. “But, I still don’t know whether acquired this disease from men or from my affected relatives whom i had been nursing because I nursed many relatives and in those days there were no awareness campaigns over the disease, therefore, it was difficult to protect yourself,” she adds. Apart from being HIV positive, on one of her legs, she also has cancer which she acquired when she got a car accident seven years ago-the two make her struggle with severe pains. However, she reveals that life hardships has forced her to continue doing sex business because it is her only means to get money for food. “There are men who see how I am and I tell them the truth over my health status, but they say I lie to them and they force me to have sex without a condom,” she says. However, she adds  since she is being weak due to the disease and oldage, many times her customers pay her as little as Sh2,000 or Sh5,000. “Sometimes a man may have sex with me then pushes me down and leaves without paying a single coin, and I don’t have muscles  to face him,” she complains.   She admits that due to life hardships, sometimes she  is forced to sex without protection if he pays good money. It is difficult to resist when one is in this kind of situation. Following that, her health has been deteriorating and her CD4 has fallen to around 200 and 300 instead of the preferred level of 600 to 1,000. “I attend my clinic at Mnazi Mmoja hospital, I have been put under the group for special care, they have changed the dose for me but the situation has not improved,” she adds. “I know that my health has been worsening because I continue doing sex business and I don’t have the recommended nutrition, but I have no other option to make me meet my needs.”Diomente Mandanda ,29, a resident of Keko, says many men like to have sex with her without protection. Ms Mandanda concurs with her colleague that sometimes customers are  ready to pay any cost in order to have sex without a condom. “For me it is bitter to lose the money than doing it without a condom, but where I reside it is normal to see men who use it, and sometimes one doesn’t care even if she knows that her or his sex partner is affected,” she says. Ms Mandanda had to do sex business in order to get food for her child. “I got a child with an Italian man, but he abandoned me. I tried to go to the country’s embassy but they failed to help me find him,” she says. Ms Nelis Kamhambwa ,25, also a sex worker, notes that although she carries many condoms in her handbag, many of her customers have been reluctant to use the protection. According to her, she has to carry a special lubricant to avoid friction when in the act.Another female sex worker, who preferred anonymity because her husband and her family don’t know that she is involved in sex business, says when customer wants to pay any cost she wants in order to have sex without a condom she never refuses. The lady, living in Temeke but conducts the business in Kigamboni, at a  place known as Wahaya, says that her husband only knows that she is a bar maid. She normally earns about Sh12,000 a day since she gets about six customers who pays Sh2,000 each.“When I get that money I deduct Sh5,000 to pay for a room, Sh1,000 as a fare for going back home and the next morning I give my two children Sh2,000 as  pocket money,” she explains. “On this situation when you get one customer who wants to pay you Sh20,000 to have sex without condom you can’t refuse,” she says. Secretary General of the Non-governmental organisation called Dhahabu Arts, Mr Hussein Wamaywa, says his organisation has realized the problem and it has been working on it. Mr Wamaywa notes that in order to reduce high infection rates to sex workers, they resorted to giving them education on how to protect themselves from the disease and providing them means to stop such business. He says that initiative was implemented in collaboration with Rapid Fund Envelop (RFE), which it offered funds for the seminars and loans for them to start decent business.He says the programme would reach about 3,600 people from 90 wards within Dar es Salaam, 30 wards from each district of the region. On the part of training, the organization has already conducted seminars to sex workers in all three districts of the city.“What remained was for them to be in groups for creating projects for us to finance,” he says.

OBAMA`S CELEBRATIONS COMMENCE

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Wednesday, 07 November 2012 22:04

US President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden (second right, front) wave to the crowd at election night rally in Chicago yesterday. PHOTOS | AFP Washington. Barack Obama brought his sophisticated social media campaign to an emotional climax, proclaiming his victory on Twitter and Facebook just as TV networks were breaking the news. Obama overcame the burden of a slow economic recovery and high unemployment to beat Republican foe Mitt Romney after a relentless get-out-the-vote push on Twitter, Facebook, Reddit and other platforms. “This happened because of you. Thank you,” he tweeted to his 22 million followers just minutes after the first US network called his victory, in an indication of the importance he attached to social networks in his campaign. “Four more years,” he said straight afterwards, posting a photo of himself hugging First Lady Michelle Obama as other TV networks followed suit and, one-by-one, announced his re-election as 44th President of the United States. The post was his most re-tweeted - 472,000 shares in three hours - according to Twitter’s politics account @gov. It was also the most popular ever, topping a message from singer Justin Bieber, website BuzzFeed said. The same picture of a happy, serene-looking Obama hugging his wife appeared on the president’s Facebook account -- and was shared tens of thousands of times by some of his 32 million fans. Netizens flocked to social networks to congratulate the re-elected President as did British Prime Minister David Cameron. “We did it, we voted for you, now please dear president Obama do what you said you will do, make us proud: Education, Health Care, Green Energy for USA!,” Ms Angela De Jesus said under the photo, one of 80,700 comments. “Warm congratulations to my friend @BarackObama. Look forward to continuing to work together,” Mr Cameron tweeted during a visit to the Middle East. Social networks have emerged as key tools in the months-long US presidential campaign, with both Obama and Romney staging major pushes on these popular platforms to draw in supporters and get them to go out and vote.(AFP) Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites

AFRICA EMBRACES ITS WOMEN

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Saturday, 03 November 2012 12:40

By Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Monrovia. Of the world’s 1.3 billion poor people, nearly 70 per cent are women.  According to reports by UN Women, women perform 66 per cent of the world’s work and produce 50 per cent of the world’s food, yet earn only 10 per cent of the world’s income and own only one per cent of land. The majority of women earn an average of three-fourths of the pay of males for the same work, outside of the agriculture sector, in both developing and developed countries. Women also work approximately twice the unpaid time that men do. Worldwide estimates suggest that the value of women’s unpaid housework and community work is between 10-35 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), a contribution not captured in national accounts.   A series of UN-sponsored international conferences have highlighted the need to promote more equity and equality for the world’s women. There is also the UN resolution requiring a 30 per cent women’s participation in all societies’ endeavours as a means of compensating for women’s historical and social disadvantages. As a result of these concerted efforts, changes are taking place – in constitutions, statutes and policies at national, regional and international levels – aimed at altering the status quo to ensure that women are equivalent to men in terms of rights, responsibilities and opportunities.   As the barriers fall, the number of women in the public sector continues to increase, as is the case for elected office. Women in politics and women in business executive positions continue to rank high as the world’s most powerful and influential. Women now hold 20 per cent of the seats in the world’s parliaments. Rwanda, at 56 per cent, has the highest representation worldwide. There are currently 20 female Heads of State, the highest in history. Although disappointingly low, seven per cent of cabinet members are women. Fortune Magazine’s latest ranking of America’s 500 largest corporations includes more women CEOs than ever before. Women lead 18 of those 500 companies including, within the last year, Hewlett-Packard and IBM. There are an additional 21 female CEOs in the Fortune 501-1000, some of them managing steel, oil and energy companies. The data from emerging economies have shown that social and economic empowerment of women can yield huge development results. Thus, recent efforts worldwide have focused on the need to empower more women to participate fully in economic life across all sectors and throughout all levels of economic activity. This has led to programs and interventions aimed at promoting more women in the private sector and in ownership of business entities. From June 2009 to March 2011, Women, Business and the Law recorded 461 legal and regulatory changes occurring in 39 economies that affected the indicators of women. Forty-one of these changes were aimed at achieving greater gender parity and reducing legal differentiation between men and women. Results are beginning to show in many developing countries. Almost 40 per cent of entrepreneurs running small or medium-sized businesses are women; and in key sectors, such as textiles and agricultural commodities, the female share of employment could be as high as 80 per cent. Despite the progress, challenges do remain. In many places, women are prevented from achieving their full potential simply because they are women. It is more difficult for women to gain access to finance for their businesses. On average, only 5-10 per cent of women-owned entities have access to commercial bank loans and only three per cent of venture capital investments globally. Lack of access to land and inheritance rights limits women’s access to credit. Moreover, in many developing countries, the lack of data generally, and disaggregated data in particular, constrains efforts to formulate policies and design appropriate interventions to expand the level of women in business. Recognizing that improved economic opportunities for women lead to better outcomes for families, societies and countries, UN Women established a partnership with the UN Global Compact – the world’s largest corporate citizenship initiative with more than 8,000 business participants and other stakeholders in more than 135 countries – to formulate the women empowerment principles. Under the theme Equality Means Business, seven indices were established to help the private sector focus on key elements integral to promoting gender equality in the workplace, marketplace and community. According to UN data, in Africa women account for 70 per cent of the agriculture work force, producing the same percentage of the continent’s food. They are responsible for 70-90 per cent of its marketing. In cross-border trading that expands the supply chain, these women travel, at great risks, across the continent to buy consumer goods for sale at home. They are the driving force that represents growth in small and medium-scale enterprises. The mobile money banking system in Kenya, where women are the major users, is revolutionizing the way business is done in trading commodities across that country. Although there are countless women in women-run firms throughout sub-Saharan Africa, they are more likely to be informal, smaller and operate in lower value-added sectors than companies run by men.  Several interventions have opened opportunities for women in business in Liberia. In 2008, Liberia became the first pilot project of the World Bank’s Global Adolescent Girls Initiative. The Economic Empowerment of Adolescent Girls and Young Women (EPAG) Project, which provides training in business development, has enabled 2,491 young women to keep their businesses open and their projects growing. The Goldman Sachs Foundation’s 10,000 Women Global Initiative has trained over 250 more entrepreneurs in business management and leadership skills. The Central Bank of Liberia’s Credit Stimuli has provided loans to 24 women-owned businesses which, in turn, provided jobs to 2,917 persons. A facility extended to microfinance institutions, credit unions and village savings and loan associations has benefitted 34,759 women. We need to continue to find means to make it easier for women entrepreneurs to grow their businesses by finding innovative ways for them to access credit. The key is to identify what policies really work to increase women’s economic opportunities, and concentrate on them, as was done in Liberia and in Kenya.   We must encourage development, not through philanthropy, but through a concerted effort to provide a better education for girls and women – vocational education and skills training that will allow those who can not go to college to enter a vocation that allows for entrepreneurial and job opportunities. We must also create equal opportunities for jobs, particularly access to the formal economy through banking and other financial services and we need to develop integrated frameworks in the private sector that will enhance and support opportunities for women. Additionally governments must adopt strategic frameworks and where appropriate, quotas which provide preferences for women businesses and women enterprises. The promotion of women’s entrepreneurship to strengthen the private sector, create jobs and advance women’s economic rights is enhanced through positive mentorship, education and partnering. The author is President of Liberia.

SWISS BILLIONS SCANDAL

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Friday, 09 November 2012 08:23

The Citizen Reporters Dodoma/Dar.  Kigoma North MP Zitto Kabwe yesterday provoked a heated debate when he proposed that the House forms a select committee to probe public officials who have hidden dirty money in Swiss banks. According to reports, $196 million has been deposited by Tanzanians abroad. At least 200 UBS bank officers are working closely on the Tanzanians depositors in Switzerland. Each officer deals with one customer who has not less than $10 million in his/her account. Tabling a private motion, Mr Kabwe said the committee should be formed to investigate the process used to deposit money abroad, differentiate between ill-gotten and legal cash and the process used to allocate fuel and gas survey plots from 2004 to 2008. The committee should also probe the process used to export cash from the BoT through Meremeta Company and Triannesx of South Africa and Deep Green Finance Ltd.   But Attorney General Frederick Werema commented that his office made follow-up on the scandal by requesting the Swiss government for details of Tanzanians who have deposited money there. But, according to Swiss laws, Tanzania should first provide names and links of banks in which suspects have accounts as well as addresses for it to provide details. So he asked Mr Zitto to provide the names. The motion was passed by MPs who urged the government to agree to Mr Zitto’s request for the formation of the select committee to probe the suspected officials. Mr Ally Keissy (Nkasi North-CCM) urged the government to seek UN intervention because it is easier for it to track suspects. Mr Christopher ole Sendeka wondered why the government failed to track the crooked officials when the State had capable security  agencies.

CONCENTRATE ON DEVELOPMENT

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Wednesday, 31 October 2012 23:29

MR PAUL KAGAME, PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF RWANDA. By Veneranda Sumila The Citizen Reporter Kigali. With an annual turnover of about $0.5 trillion from its natural resources, Africa needs to invest just five per cent of the bulk on key development sectors for the continent to kiss goodbye foreign aid dependence, it has been said.African Development Bank (AfDB) president Dr Donald Kaberuka said on Tuesday – during the ongoing Africa Economic Conference here -- that investing five per cent of Africa’s natural resource returns in sectors like agriculture and infrastructure will hasten the pace of the continent’s economic development. “It is a shame for African countries to beg for assistance from countries whoes natural resources cannot not match with those of Africa,” Dr Kaberuka said in his opening remarks at the Economic Conference here. He urged African countries to cooperate and stop working individually. “Among the reasons why we don’t achieve economic growth is because countries concentrate on solving their individual problems and they forget to focus on continental ones, which if they were to jointly solved them, they would do so with a bigger impact in the continent’s economic development,” argued Dr Kaberuka. He urged Africans to own their continent’s decision-making mechanism, saying the solution to African problems rests in mobilisation of internal resources. He said governments must invest in sectors that employ the majority of the population. Earlier, officiating the conference, Rwandan President Paul Kagame called upon Africans to learn a thing or two from their failed past economic development initiatives, urging countries to build confidence over home-grown economists and other experts. “If countries were to work on advice given by their own economists, the continent would reach far. Let Africans talk and find solutions to their problems because they know their continent a lot better than anyone else,” said Mr Kagame. For her part, Ms Helen Clark, an administrator with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) said leadership transformation is key to attaining economic development in the continent. “Despite the challenges we face in the economic growth, Africa also needs to work on the challenge of leadership transformation. Countries must also invest adequately in the education of the young,” she said.

TANZANIA SHINES IN TOURISM GLOBALLY

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Monday, 05 November 2012 22:20

Breath taking view from the poolside at luxury tented Serena Kirawira Camp in Western Serengeti. photo | COURTESY OF KIRAWIRA SERENA CAMP By Adams Ihucha The Citizen Correspondent Arusha. Condé Nast Traveller Magazine has recognised Kirawira Serena Camp in Serengeti as one of the top 100 hotels and resorts in the world, lifting Tanzania’s tourism to international limelight. Kirawira luxury tented Serena camp came ahead in the chain of Serena hotels, which all received global recognition for excellent service and accommodation at the 2012 Condé Nast Traveller Readers’ Choice Awards. The camp earned three slots in the Top 100 hotels and resorts of the world and the Platinum Circle, which was launched to celebrate 25 years of Condé Nast Traveller late in October. This circle recognises the superstars of the Gold List and consists of hotels, resorts, and cruise lines that have made the list every year for the past five years running. Kirawira stood out alongside other Serena properties in the Top 25 resorts & safari camps in Africa, which rates the top resorts and safari camps in South Africa, Botswana, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Kenya, and Zambia. Top 25 Resorts and Safari Camps in Africa included Kirawira Serena Camp in eight position, Amboseli Serena Safari Lodge (13th), Serengeti Serena Safari Lodge (15th), Mara Serena Safari Lodge (17th) and Ngorongoro Serena Safari Lodge (25th). Top 15 hotels in Africa saw Zanzibar Serena Inn (10th) and Serena Mountain Village of Arusha (15th) being featured. Top 100 hotels in Africa category saw Serengeti Serena Safari Lodge hold 17th position, Ngorongoro Serena Safari Lodge (24th) and Serena Hotels (84th). The Condé Nast Traveller Readers’ Choice Awards has become a platform to celebrate excellence and best practices in travel and accommodation, and recognises organisations that have driven tourism by rapidly transforming the sector and the economy at large. Mr David Sem, Serena Hotels Country Sales manager said on this front clients of Serena hotels have recognised their outstanding contribution to the development of the continent, the economic aspirations of its citizens and the transformation of Africa’s image in international markets. Serena Hotels was awarded for branding the six destinations that it has presence in as attractive tourism destinations and for providing the highest standard of service and product whilst operating in a sensitive manner towards monitoring interests of the local population including traditions, culture and future development.