Friday, July 28, 2023
Struggling state firms to know their fate in August
Business journalist
Summary
·
The
government is concluding an of the corporations' performances, as directed by
President Samia Suluhu Hassan a few months ago
Dar es Salaam. The government will next month publicise underperforming corporations that need to
DP World Deal: An unforced error by President Samia's government
Summary
·
What Dar
needs is political will. We should not push the nation into a needless crisis
because the government is unwilling to govern.
As President Samia Suluhu Hassan marked two years in office, I penned an article concluding that she is a “decent person”.
Tanzania government to pay new salaries from August
Mwananchi Communications Lmited
Summary
· President Samia Suluhu Hassan had announced the salary increase during the celebration of International Workers’ Day (May Day) at the national event held in Morogoro Region in May 2023.
Tanzania tenth on Africa list of dollar millionaires
Summary
· In eastern Africa, Tanzania trails Kenya and Ethiopia , which have 7,700 and 2,700 high-net-worth individuals, respectively, according to a new report.
Tanesco makes record Sh110 billion profit
Tanzania Electric Supply Company Limited (Tanesco) mnaging director Maharage Chande adresses a working session involving the Treasury registrar, the firm's management in Dar es Salaam on July 27, 2023. PHOTO | SUNDAY GEORGE
Summary
·
The
company’s huge debt burden was also a major concern, with energy stakeholders
asking the government to step in and clear the debts.
· But now there is a change of narrative at Tanesco, a company with a balance sheet of Sh19 trillion.
Zimbabwe gets presidential chopper gift from Putin
Zimbabwe's Emmerson Mnangagwa and Russian President Vladimir Putin in a past meeting. PHOTO|COURTESY
Summary
· Putin listed Zimbabwe among six poor African countries that will receive free grain from Russia, after the Kremlin withdrew from a deal allowing for Ukrainian grain exports to reach global markets through the Black Sea.
Samia’s vision on developing human capital across Africa
Business journalist
Summary
·
African
leaders and experts say investing in human capital development is not an option
if the world’s second largest is to liberate itself economically.
Dar es Salaam. African leaders and experts said yesterday that
investing in human capital development is not an option if the world’s
second-largest continent is to liberate itself economically.
They were speaking during the Africa
Human Capital Heads of State Summit that brought together over 1,000
participants from 44 governments, who participated physically, with 1,300
others taking part virtually.
President Samia Suluhu Hassan said
African nations need to ensure that the education they offer enables youth to
increase productivity and eventually have an impact on the countries’
economies.
For this to happen, she added, there
is a need to increase investment in other areas that would promote efficiency
in the education and health sectors.
The areas that will have a positive
impact on education and health if they get adequate investment include
transport and transportation, energy, clean water and sanitation.
“Let’s determine to use our human
capital to enhance the reaping demographic dividend,” said President Hassan
during the summit hosted by the government of Tanzania in partnership with the
World Bank.
“Let’s take advantage of the large
size of the youth population to make an economic revolution.”
According to the United Nations (UN)
Africa has the youngest population in the world, with 70 percent of sub-Saharan
Africa under the age of 30.
And going by the World Economic
Forum, over 60 percent of people in Africa are the youth aged below 25.
President Hassan said such a high
number of young people could be both a blessing and curse depending on how they
would be treated.
She said it is an opportunity
for the continent’s growth – but only if these new generations are fully
empowered to realise their best potential.
“It (high population) can be good
news if and only if we invest in human capital by ensuring the quality health
and education that are key in producing the productive workforce as it is in
the Asian continent,” said President Hassan.
She went on to add: “If we
empower youth, they will get a better life in Africa and stop leaving for
Europe in search of green pastures.”
She said for the African countries
to unleash the human capital potential, governments need to join forces with
the private sector and civil societies in investing and creating an enabling
environment for investment in human capital.
And for the investment to be
meaningful, it should start since a child is born by ensuring good nutrition
and right vaccination.
This will help to avoid stunting
that lowers the understanding and learning capability of children.
Noting that investment in human
capital development in Africa was inevitable, she expressed the need to have
keen strategies that will pave a way for the development of Africa and its
people.
“We need to build a better future
for our youth by ensuring that their dreams come true,” she stressed.
However, said President Hassan, if
African nations do not invest in human capital, the large youth population will
be a curse.
According to the International
Growth Centre, given that there is a fixed quantity of land, population growth
will eventually reduce the amount of resources that each individual can
consume, ultimately resulting in disease, starvation, and war
To add insult to injury, President
Hassan said lack of investment in human capital will cause an increase in a
number of youth with no skills and thus unemployable.
On those grounds she suggested for
African countries to have curricula that meet the labour market demand.
The fourth industrial revolution has
brought huge positive changes in health, education, trade, technology,
transport and transportation as well as social interaction.
“It is our responsibility to ensure
that we (Africa) don’t lag behind. We need to make sure we optimally use these
opportunities,” said President Hassan.
Quoting the founding father of South
Africa, the late Nelson Mandela, she said: “education is the most powerful
weapon you can use to change the world.”
Sierra Leonean President Julius
Maada Wonie Bio said if African countries are to succeed in this 21st century,
it is a must to invest in human capital.
“It is not a matter of whether we
are ready or not to invest in human capital, we need to act now, if we are to
move from being at the receiving end of the fourth industrial revolution,” said
Mr Bio.
He went further to say: “We must
make sure that we invest adequately and consistently in human capital.”
President Bio concluded by
cautioning African countries that they would be wasting time to do any other
things in this 21st century, if they were not positioning themselves ahead of
the curve.
President of Malawi Lazarus Chakwera
said there is a demographic window for economic growth opportunity if the youthful
population will be moved into the labour force.
Nevertheless, he said, there are
challenges that are impeding youth productivity and they include low access to
quality education and skills development, higher adolescent fertility, drug
abuse and child marriages
“We need to make sure that education
and skills development, science and technology, innovation as well as health
and nutrition are central areas to focus on,” recommended Mr Chakwera.
Adding: “We need employable skills.
We need to address the problem of skills mismatch.”
Prime Minister of Eswatini Cleopas
Dlamini said there was no option for investing in human capital, if African
countries wanted to mould their economies.
“If you look at the proportion of
youth relative to the entire population, you can say that if you did anything
other than investing in education, you would be playing with fire,” said Mr
Dlamini.
Somalia Prime minister Hamza Abdi
Barre seemed to have been reading from the same script.
“We have no choice, but to be ready
to invest in education to spur human capital development. We need to ensure we
have in place education for all,” he underscored.
Deputy Prime Minister of Ethiopia
Demeke Mekonnen said human capital development is the entry point to sustain
development and to address inclusive agenda as a whole.
“As a rising continent, it is high
time to invest in people. We need to focus on and we have to invest in human
development areas,” said Mr Mekonnen.
The World Bank Regional Vice
President for Eastern and Southern Africa, Dr Victoria Kwakwa, said Africa is
facing a serious human capital crisis.
Even before the pandemic, she
said, a child born in Sub-Saharan Africa could expect to be only 40 percent as
productive as she would be with full education and full health.
“Without navigating this human
capital crisis successfully, African societies and economies risk being trapped
in a detrimental cycle of stagnant growth, soaring poverty rates, and
increasing inequality,” warned Dr Kwakwa.
This situation, he cautioned, could
potentially escalate the drivers of fragility and conflict as uneducated and
low-skilled youth grow increasingly disillusioned.
In Sub-Saharan Africa, about 89
percent of children are learning poor.
“To make progress, we must break the
silos and foster collaboration among all stakeholders,” said Dr Kwakwa.
“We need to develop a platform for
action that transcends sectoral boundaries and unites government agencies,
domestic partners and external allies, including the pivotal private sector.”
Minister of Foreign Affairs and East
African Cooperation Stergomena Tax said the summit comes at a time when the
continent continues to implement agenda 2063 aiming at transforming Africa into
a global power house.
To achieve this aspiration, Dr Tax
explained, human capital is a critical component requiring massive and
coordinated efforts by African countries and other partners.
African leaders used yesterday’s
summit as a platform for sharing knowledge, experiences and coming up with
innovative strategies to unleash the power of human capital and concrete
commitment.
The overall theme of the summit is
linking investments in human capital to economic growth and harnessing the
demographic dividend, by addressing learning poverty and the skills gap for
youth and women.
Thursday, July 27, 2023
Kenya to grant visas on arrival after online system hacked
Summary
·
The e-visa
application often accepts applications, but which must be submitted with
relevant documentations to validate admittance.
· Visas on arrival for everyone could now mean congestion at border clearance desks at the airport as each applicant will now be assessed at the same time.
British developer sues Tanzania at the ICSID over Zanzibar investment
Dar es Salaam. British real estate company Pennyroyal Ltd, the developers of Blue Amber Resort has filed a claim against Tanzania for alleged breaches of bilateral investment treaties that Tanzania entered into with both the United Kingdom and Mauritius, The Citizen has learnt.
Citizens economic empowerment on right course
EFFORTS to empower citizens economically was on top gear as the National Economic Empowerment Council (NEEC) said loans amounting to 5.6tri/- were issued during the last year.
Health facilities reap dividends from improved CHF
THE improved Community Health Fund (CHF) has paid back 75 per cent of its revenue to health facilities that provided treatment to members.
Social security schemes inject 14tri/- in projects
THE social security fund schemes in Tanzania have jointly injected a total of 14.04tri/- into various development projects, Members of Parliaments told in Dodoma on Tuesday morning.
CRDB dividend to govt rises by 30pc to 45.8bn/-
THE government has all reasons to smile broadly after CRDB Bank’s dividend increased by almost
THE government has all reasons to smile broadly after CRDB Bank’s dividend increased by almost 30 per cent to 45.8bn/-, thanks to last year’s stellar performance.
NSSF invests 25.7bn/-in TDB group
With an investment of over USD 11 million in Class B shares (about 25.7bn/-)
the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) has joined the Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank Group (TDB Group) as its 20th institutional shareholder.
NSSF value up to 6.87tri/-
Mr Kadege released the statistics on Wednesday, while addressing journalists at the...
UN climate think tank, IPCC elects UK's Jim Skea as the new chair
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) newly-appointed chairperson, Jim Skea (2nd left) at a past IPCC press conference. FILE PHOTO | FABRICE COFFRINI | AFP
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) delegates meeting in Nairobi have picked Jim Skea of the United Kingdom as the UN body's new chairperson.