Kate McAlpine, director of the Arusha-based Community for Children Rights, told the BBC she was “horrified but unsurprised”.

John Magufuli made the pardon in his independence day speech on Saturday.

Singer Nguza Viking, known as Babu Seya, and his son Johnson Nguza, known as Papii Kocha, were pardoned for raping 10 primary schoolgirls.

The president selected a group of prisoners to be released, who he said had corrected their behaviour.

Ms McAlpine said the pardon illustrated Mr Magufuli showed a “lack of understanding about violence against children”.

She linked this latest speech to his June announcement where he banned pregnant schoolgirls from returning to school.

“He has a blind spot when it comes to recognising children as victims. Pregnant schoolgirls are pregnant because they are victims of violence.”

Child rape cases in Tanzania tend to be dealt with between families, or rapists have been known to pay off police and court staff, Ms McAlpine said.

“It’s extremely rare for child rape cases to get to court in Tanzania,” she said, and even rarer for the culprits to get life sentences.

Despite this, Viking and Nguza were sentenced to life in prison for raping 10 girls in 2003 aged between six and eight years who were pupils at a primary school in the Tanzanian city Dar es Salaam.

They had served 13 years of their sentence when they were released on Saturday.

Local media say the singers were met by cheering crowds when they emerged from jail.

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Source: BBC

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The visit enabled Prof. Hinson to interact with Akofa Ata, Managing Director, Unilever Tanzania; Dr. Sarah Phoya, Coordinator of Links and International Affairs, Ardhi University; Dr. Ulingeta Mbamba, Dean, University of Dar es Salaam Business School, and some alumni of the University of Ghana Business School.

Interacting with the Managing Director of Unilever Tanzania and UGBS Alumni, Professor Hinson expressed the desire of the UGBS to engage practitioners in the delivery of programmes through special talks and other innovative interventions.

He also enquired if Unilever Tanzania would be willing to host students who enroll on the MSc. International Business Degree Programme when it is introduced, since an option of the programme requires students to undertake a study tour.

On his part, Akofa Ata expressed his willingness to host students who would choose Tanzania as one of the countries in East Africa for their study tour.

Prof. Hinson presented a book to the Unilever MD. He also interacted and shared the vision of the MSc. International Business Degree programme with some alumni of the University of Ghana Business School, encouraging them to spread the word in East Africa to shore up the international enrollment for the programme.

At the Ardhi University

Ardhi University, which is located in the Capital city Dar-es-Salaam, is one of the few Universities in Africa that offers integrated training in the entire spectrum of land based disciplines, but combines this with the teaching of Accounting, Finance and other business based courses.

In a meeting with Dr. Sarah Phoya, Coordinator of Links and International Affairs, Ardhi University, Prof. Hinson discussed the possibility of both universities collaborating on International Business issues and other issues of common interest.

Prof. Hinson presented a copy of a University of Ghana MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) and some gifts from the UGBS International Business Degree Programme Office to Dr. Sarah Phoya.

At the University of Dar-es-Salaam Business School

The University of Dar-es-Salaam Business School is the oldest and biggest public university in Tanzania.

It offers several Undergraduate, Masters and PhD programmes, and it has an existing Master of International Business Programme (MIB).

The University of Dar-es-Salaam Business School Master of International Business (MIB) programme is designed to provide students with the knowledge and analytical capability that will enable them to take up leadership roles in International businesses.

Apart from trading ideas on the respective IB Programmes in the two Business Schools (the existing one at the Dar-es-Salaam Business School and the upcoming one at the UGBS), possible areas of collaboration were discussed between Prof. Hinson and the Dean of the University of Dar-es-salaam Business School, Dr. Mbamba.

Prof. Hinson also presented a University of Ghana MOU to the Dean of the University of Dar-es-Salaam Business School as a basis of mutual collaboration in the future.

He also presented some gifts from the UGBS International Business Degree Programme Office to the Dean of the University of Dar-es-Salaam Business School.

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By: citifmonline.com/Ghana

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Reports say the pupils were playing with an object which blew up.

Three were pronounced dead at the time they arrived at hospital. The others succumbed to their wounds, Rulenge hospital’s doctor in charge, Sister Maria Goreth Fredricks, told the BBC.

The school is in Kagera region near the border with Burundi.

Kagera regional police chief Augustine Orome said a security team had been dispatched to the school in Kihinga village.

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Source: BBC

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He had asked the two municipal directors what their budget was for road construction in their districts.

Neither could recall on the spot, and a few hours later both officials were sacked. No reason was given.

President Magufuli’s critics say he is becoming increasingly authoritarian. But many have praised the president for his no-nonsense style.

His nickname is “the Bulldozer”.

The president was attending a ceremony in the northern town of Bukoba when the incident happened on Monday.

A 30-second clip of the exchange – all in Swahili – shows him asking Mwantum Kitwana Dau to state how much money had been set aside for a road fund.

When she couldn’t remember, the president scolded her. According to one account, Ms Dau said that she oversees many departments and could not immediately recall the exact budget allocated for road projects.

Mr Magufuli replied: “You can’t talk to me like that.”

Stamping out corruption

The president is known to make spot visits at government offices and berating officials who he believes are not doing their work.

When he came to office two years ago, he promised to stamp out corruption.

In April Mr Magufuli sacked around 10,000 civil servants for having fake education certificates. And since he has been in power Tanzania has removed thousands of so-called ghost workers from its public sector payroll.

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Source: BBC

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They were among 13 people arrested on 17 October for taking part in a meeting to discuss challenging a law stopping private health clinics from providing HIV and Aids services.

However, Sibongile Ndashe says they had no right to do so, and has accused authorities in Dar es Salaam of holding her and her colleagues “hostage”.

Homosexuality is a crime in Tanzania.

Lazaro Mambosasa, chief of Dar es Salaam police, told reporters after the lawyers initial arrests that “they were promoting homosexuality”.

The arrests followed a September speech by Deputy Health Minister Hamisi Kingwangalla, who vowed in front of parliament to “fight with all our strength against groups supporting homosexuality in our country,” AFP news agency reports.

But Ms Ndashe, who was deported along with two colleagues from South Africa’s Initiative for Strategic Litigation in Africa (ISLA) on Friday, told a press conference there was no crime they could be charged with, as the meeting was not about homosexuality.

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Source: BBC

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In an interview, the billionaire said aid was now being spent “in a smarter way” in some parts of the world.

“Some countries have made good progress in the reduction of childhood deaths and reduction in poverty, with Tanzania being a good example,” said Gates, during a visit to the east African country.

“I see a chance for the eradication of malaria and HIV/AIDS, but that’s gonna take a lot of science and a lot of investment.”

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has spent billions of dollars on aid projects worldwide in recent years, much of it in Africa.

Gates said he was hopeful that the U.S. Congress would continue to resist President Donald Trump’s plans to make deep cuts to development aid.

A Republican-led Senate panel last month rejected proposed reductions.

“Trump did propose a big aid cut, but Congress … pushed back on those proposals. It’s clear they may not cut that much aid,” he said.

The U.S. government pledged in May to give Tanzania a $526m aid package this year through the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief program.

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Source: Reuters

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He was detained along with the TFF’s secretary general Selestine Mwesigwa.

The duo were held overnight and face a second round of questioning on Thursday.

Bureau spokesperson Musa Misalaba added the pair will stay in custody until further notice as they are questioned.

The detention comes after a lengthy investigation by the bureau. Details of the specific allegations are yet to be made public.

Misalaba said the bureau is continuing to investigate other federation officials over similar allegations.
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By: BBC

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An online petition has been set up and a pan-African women’s organisation is mobilising to get the president to apologise and reverse his comments.

Mr Magufuli warned schoolgirls at a rally on Monday that: “After getting pregnant, you are done.”

A law passed in 2002 allows for the expulsion of pregnant schoolgirls.

The law says the girls can be expelled and excluded from school for “offences against morality” and “wedlock”.

Women’s rights groups have recently been urging the government to change the law.

Mr Magufuli, who was speaking at a public rally in Chalinze town, about 100km west of the main city Dar es Salaam, said that young mothers would be distracted if they were allowed back in school:

“After calculating some few mathematics, she’d be asking the teacher in the classroom: ‘Let me go out and breastfeed my crying baby.'”

He said that men who impregnate the schoolgirls should be imprisoned for 30 years and “put the energy they used to impregnate the girl into farming while in jail”.

‘I was a teenage mother’: Jackie Leonard Lomboma, who runs a centre for teenage mothers in Morogoro

I had just finished my primary education; I was supposed to go to secondary education but could not afford the fees.

I met this smart boy, who promised that he would ask his parents to help me go to secondary school if I agreed to be with him.

I didn’t date him, like girlfriend and boyfriend.

The first time I met him was the first time I got pregnant and that was the last time I saw him.

Because I was kicked out of school, my grandfather chased me out of home.

I eventually found work as a maid. When the family left, they asked me what I would like as a goodbye gift.

I said I wanted to go to school. It was a shock but they eventually agreed.

It is a big disappointment to hear such a statement from our president. It is only education which can help any country in this world overcome poverty.

President Magufuli also criticised rights organisations who have been pushing the government to reverse the law:

“These NGOs should go out and open schools for parents. But they should not force the government [to take back the pupils].

“I’m giving out free education for students who have really decided to go and study, and now you want me to educate the parents?”

The BBC’s Sammy Awami in Tanzania reports that the crowd at the rally applauded the president’s comments.

At least 8,000 Tanzanian girls drop out of school every year due to pregnancy, according to a Human Rights Watch report.

‘Betrayal’

The online petition says that the president’s support for the expulsion law would end the education of many girls and “propagate more discrimination”.

It instead calls for the girls to be protected from early pregnancies while in school.

The African Women’s Development and Communication Network, Femnet has also expressed its outrage.

“With all the work we have done to emancipate Africa’s girl-child from the shackles of discrimination and violation, a sitting president turns around to “re-victimze” and treat their situation like a terrible infectious disease which other girls must be protected from,” said its head Dinah Musindarwezo.

Lawyer Kavinya Makau called Mr Magafuli’s sentiments a” betrayal of the highest order.”

Two weeks ago, Tanzania’s Vice-President Samia Suluhu called for young mothers to be readmitted to school, saying they should not be denied a right to education.

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Source: BBC

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Tanzania President John Magufuli has said girls will not be allowed back to school after giving birth during his administration.

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He was responding to the release of a government report into fraudulent qualifications in the public sector.

The education minister said that some had been using their relatives’ school certificates, while others did not appear on official records at all.

President Magufuli has given those on the list until 15 May to resign or face legal action.

“These people occupied government positions but had no qualifications… they robbed us just like other common criminals,” Mr Magufuli said, urging officials to “name and shame” offenders.

“We have been working hard to create new jobs while there are people in government who hold fake degrees,” he added.

He has also asked newspapers to publish the names of everyone on the list.

Piles of templates: Sammy Awami, BBC News, Dar es Salaam

There isn’t a particular place which is well known for making fake certificates here, but it’s easy enough to get hold of one on the black market.

It is very common for people to use fake certificates in Tanzania.

Police raided a house in Dar es Salaam last year and found two individuals with machines, stamps and piles of templates for fake secondary school, birth and even business licence certificates stacked up in a room.

It is also very common for people to use their friends’ or family members’ certificates.

In this case, when someone gets a job or goes on to higher education, they will actually change their name to match the one on their certificate.

The 9,932 people named in the report account for more than 2% of the country’s estimated 450,000 civil servants.

Officials convicted of fraud could face up to seven years in jail.

Last year, Tanzania removed more than 10,000 so-called ghost workers from its public sector payroll in a crackdown on corruption.

Payments to the non-existent employees had been costing the government more than $2m (£1.4m) a month, it said.

When President Magufuli came to power two years ago, the government temporarily suspended recruitment in some government sectors while they checked up on existing employees’ qualifications.

The report focused exclusively on secondary school qualification and did not examine university degree certificates.

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Source: BBC

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