How my 2008 fared

We saw a new year drive into our lives, hang on there, and would drive on into history, leaving another year in place after 365 days. Today is the 24th of December, christmas eve. In 6 days time, this year shall make way for the other.
I look back at the occurences that stood out
The localhost and open source content management system
It's been said best things in life are free. Studying some forums and other web resources I "discovered" Xampp, Joomla and Moodle. The last time I was so excited was during compilation of my first FORTRAN codes.
Awardspace
This hosting service is without doubt the greatest whereby even with a free hosting account, the user is given lots of goodies. Frankly Awardspace drove me to acquire debit card account for making online payment where I got even better goodies.
Debit Card account
Some really good stuff is available for little payment on the Web, but is inaccessible if you don't own a means of online payment. Having acquired the powerful plastic card, I am now head and shoulder above an average crowd, and I like it. I'm able to enjoy a domain name like danielmakundi.com...
Windhoek
I attended an international conference organized by Information Society Technology for Africa, an EU-FP7 project. Held in Windhoek, Namibia for three days, I met many people, built new network of professional colleagues, and, yes, had a peek of South Africa from Joburg Airport during one day wait during transit there on way to Dar-es-Salaam.
Obama
The incredible happened. America said Yes to Barak Obama. I have an earlier post taking my hat off for Michelle Obama, and am repeating here that with the two in the White house, things can only go right, and may Gof bless them!
Albino deaths: The most deplorable
Here in Tanzania we have abject poverty mixing with ignorance and plain stupidity creating automatons of unbelievable actions. Armed with deception that organs from albinos (unfortunate brothers and sisters whose skins are without pigment that's resistant to sunshine, making them vulnerable to sunburn and skin cancers) could make them rich. Many albinos have been killed, others maimed. Thanks to public reaction, some arrests have been made by now.
Obituary
Hassan Shamsi, a workmate and one of the finest electrical artisans I've ever known.
Isaac Hayes, a voice like a rumble of thunder, a phenomenon in Shaft etc

Mabadiliko ya Makatibu wakuu

Saturday, 29 November 2008

KIKWETE AFANYA MABADILIKO (MAKATIBU WAKUU)

Rais Jakaya Kikwete amefanya uteuzi wa makatibu wakuu wapya, kuhamisha wengine na kuteua manaibu katibu wakuu wapya. Kwa sasa, Mgonja ambaye yuko katika likizo ya kustaafu, amestaafu sambamba na makatibu wakuu wengine watatu na Naibu Katibu Mkuu mmoja kati ya Agosti na Novemba mwaka huu. Katibu Mkuu Kiongozi Philemon Luhanjo katika taarifa yake Dar es Salaam jana, aliwataja wastaafu wengine ni Katibu Mkuu, Ofisi ya Waziri Mkuu Vincent Mrisho, Katibu Mkuu Wizara ya Ulinzi na Jeshi la Kujenga Taifa, Abel Mwaisumo, Katibu Mkuu Wizara ya Ushirikiano wa Afrika Mashariki, Bakari Mahiza na Naibu Katibu Mkuu Wizara ya Mambo ya Nje na Ushirikiano wa Kimataifa, Balozi Charles Sanga. Luhanjo alisema kutokana na kustaafu kwa makatibu wakuu na Naibu Katibu Mkuu huyo, Rais Kikwete amefanya uteuzi na uhamisho wa makatibu wakuu na baadhi ya manaibu makatibu wakuu. Aliwataja makatibu wakuu wapya ambao wote walikuwa ni manaibu katibu mkuu ni Ramadhani Khijjah anayemrithi Mgonja, awali akiwa Naibu Katibu Mkuu Hazina. Wengine ni Dk. Florens Turuka anayekuwa Katibu Mkuu wa Wizara ya Habari, Utamaduni na Michezo, akitokea Wizara ya Viwanda, Biashara na Masoko; Joyce Mapunjo anayekwenda Wizara ya Viwanda, Biashara na Masoko, akitokea Maendeleo ya Miundombinu na Andrew Nyumayo kusimamia Wizara ya Ulinzi na Jeshi la Kujenga Taifa, akitokea Ofisi ya Waziri Mkuu. Aliwataja Manaibu Katibu Wakuu wapya kuwa ni Dk. Phillip Mpango (Wizara ya Fedha na Uchumi) ambaye awali alikuwa Msaidizi wa Rais (Uchumi)-Ikulu, Selestine Gesimba (Wizara ya Elimu na Mafunzo ya Ufundi), akitokea Mkurugenzi wa Sera na Mipango ya Wizara ya Mawasiliano, Sayansi na Teknolojia. Mwingine ni Seti Kamuhanda anayekwenda Wizara ya Mambo ya Nje na Ushirikiano wa Kimataifa. Awali alikuwa Msaidizi wa Rais (Hotuba) Ikulu; na kabla ya hapo, alikuwa Mhariri Mtendaji wa Kampuni ya Magazeti ya Serikali (TSN), inayochapisha Daily News, Sunday News, HabariLeo na HabariLeo Jumapili. Katika uhamisho huo, Luhanjo aliwataja waliohamishwa na sehemu wanazotoka na wizara walizopangiwa katika mabano kuwa Peniel Lyimo (Ofisi ya Waziri Mkuu kutoka Kilimo, Chakula na Ushirika); Dk. Ladislaus Komba (Maliasili na Utalii kutoka Kazi, Ajira na Maendeleo ya Vijana) na Kijazi Mtengwa (Wizara ya Kazi, Ajira na Maendeleo ya Vijana kutoka Habari, Utamaduni na Michezo. Wengine ni Mohammed Muya (Kilimo, Chakula na Ushirika kutoka Mambo ya Ndani; Patrick Rutabanzibwa (Mambo ya Ndani kutoka Maji na Umwagiliaji); Dk. Stergomena Tax (Ushirikiano wa Afrika Mashariki kutoka Viwanda, Biashara na Masoko); Wilson Mukama (Maji na Umwagiliaji kutoka Afya na Ustawi wa Jamii); na Blandina Nyoni (Afya na Ustawi wa Jamii kutoka Maliasili na Utalii). Aidha, Luhanjo alisema rais amemhamisha Naibu Katibu Mkuu Fanuel Mbonde kutoka Ofisi ya Waziri Mkuu (Tamisemi) kwenda Ofisi ya Waziri Mkuu. Katibu Mkuu Kiongozi alisema uteuzi wa makatibu wakuu na manaibu katibu wakuu hao unaanza mara moja.
(Source - Colleague's blog)

Mramba-It didn't have to come to this

Yesterday, a bombshell of political news shook the country: Basil Mramba, an iconic respected MP and former minister of various portfolios appeared in court (along with another former minister called Yona) charged with several counts of abusing office.
Now, Mramba earned much respect as a leader who delivered. Perhaps his most outstanding performance was that of being the first executive of the Small Industries Development Organization, an institution that grew and achieved a lot.

How did it happen? How would a man of Mramba's moral standing be caught in such a quangmire, have his systematically built reputation undone?

The likely explanation is, there seemed such confidence of untouchables who were much aware that they were not doing the right, moral thing - we all do have conscience, don't we? Here, then, we had my hero, Mramba, loyally supporting the boss man, Mkapa, who was termed, albeit wrongly by Father of Nation "Mr Clean". And getting reassured that nothing would go wrong.
It didn't have to come to the scenes above, that Kisutu court scenario, the big man himself sitting on a hard bench, not very different from the ones they sit willingly once per week every Sunday morning), and the cheering masses ("rubbering crowd" as O Henry would put it).

Did Mramba benefit financially from this abuse of office activities he is being charged with? Maybe, maybe not, but definitely he knew he was abusing power. What he was (wrongly) sure of was, he might be prosecuted for his actions.

The Alex Stewart Assayers scenario that was central to the accusations against Mramba as Financial Minister during Mkapa (at-CHOOOO!) era was largely unknown to the public. But the cheering crowds in the picture above most likely are those who remember Mramba reacting to protestations about Tz, a poor country, spending lots of foreign exchange to procure a totally unnecessary new presidential jet, publicly announcing a new jet for President would be bought no-matter what, even if it would lead to people eating grass. The jet deal, it would be found out later, was badly weighted, likely corrupt--that one and air traffic control radar.

Mramba-It didn't have to come to this.

This is what Africa needs

Why donors fear Kagame's war on graft


The Botswana Gazette

13.04.2005

http://www.gazette.bw/tbg_buhead2.htm

by Andrew M. Mwenda

  

Last week I was in Kigali, this time at the heels of a cabinet decision to impound all luxurious four wheel drive vehicles bought at government expense and driven by ministers, security and military chiefs, foreign experts and their local handlers. In a morning crackdown, all the big men and women of this republic woke up to find that police constables along the main roads were stopping and taking away their vehicles and leaving them to walk to office.

The international donor community, known all over Africa for its corrupt and profligate life styles which they indulge in the name of fighting poverty, was this time caught with their pants down. They claim to fight poverty while riding in luxurious four-wheel drive vehicles, sitting in opulently furnished offices, earning obscene salaries and living in executive mansions. In a bold act of defiance, Rwanda impounded even those vehicles belonging to donor projects. After cleaning his own government of corruption, he has now taken on the profligacy of the international aid industry and its experts are now scared.

In a discussion with President Paul Kagame, he told me that he had looked at some of the "poverty reduction" projects and they smelt bad. "There are projects here worth only $5m and when I looked at their expenses, I found that $1m was going into buying these cars, each one of them at $70,000.

Another $1m goes to buy office furniture, more $1m for meetings and entertainment, and yet another $1m as salaries for technical experts, leaving only $1m for the actual expenditure on a poverty reducing activity. Is this the way to fight poverty?" he asked as I shifted with glee in my chair.

Already, the government is auctioning these vehicles and so far has gotten over $3m from the sales. Mr Kagame has now issued a new directive, saying government should not purchase cars for its officials with more than 2,500 cc. But there is more: the government has placed a ceiling on mobile telephone expenses for all its ministers, military and security chiefs to 50,000 Rwanda Francs (Shs150, 000), and also ordered MTN Rwanda to cut off their international roaming access.

The directive also stops the holding of workshops, seminars and conferences on poverty reduction in posh hotels like the Intercontinental, Mille Collins etc, insisting they should be in government owned buildings at no cost. The order also requires all government ministries; departments and agencies to move from privately owned buildings where they pay high rents to government owned buildings.

I told Kagame that whereas some of the most highly skilled Africans are going to Europe and North=2 0America to clean streets and toilets, our development partners send us Œtechnical experts on these projects at individual monthly salaries of between $10,000 and $20,000, a salary that could pay 12 Africans of better training and experience and save this continent from severe brain drain. In fact, most of these so-called experts are a miserable, career-stranded lot in their own countries, but are dumped in Africa and other poor countries through foreign aid protocols.

Donors never shy from lecturing our governments on fiscal frugality, yet their aid driven projects are the most profligate. Of total project aid to Uganda's ministry of Health, 93 percent of it goes into technical assistance (i.e. salaries and allowances for the experts) and overheads (i.e. four wheel drive vehicles, opulent office furniture, computers, stationary, tea and cakes).

Only a miserable 7 percent of this aid goes into purchase of drugs. Now you understand why, in spite of a huge health budget, our people cannot find drugs in hospitals. We in the media have been shouting ourselves hoarse against government corruption. It is time to expose the worse forms of profligacy, which forces our governments to pile up huge sums in debt.

In fact, of the total money from the Uganda government budget to the ministry of Health, 98 percent reaches its intended beneficiaries, clearly showing that in spite of its corrupt ways, the government of Uganda is a better evi l than donors. Of total project aid to Uganda, 68 percent goes into overheads and technical assistance. Only 32 percent to its intended beneficiaries.

A few weeks ago I presented the above facts to President Yoweri Museveni and asked him to act. My heart bleeds to say he is so deeply discredited by his inability to tackle corruption in his government, and his own profligate public administration expenditure that he lacks moral authority to take on donors.

The other reason is that his regime lives off this coalition of mutual deceit with donors that both are fighting to eradicate poverty in Uganda. Kagame, however, is able to act boldly because he occupies a moral high ground in fighting corruption, has ensured fiscal frugality and also because his government pursues strategies of survival - not necessarily dependant on donor approval.

In Rwanda, ministers and other high ranking public officials resign and or are fired by the week because of allegations of corruption. From the lowest clerk in a government office to the most powerful minister or military or security chief, no one is immune to jail when they steal; none close to the president, none distant from him. You steal, you get jailed.

If there is some prima facie case that you stole, but there isn't not enough evidence to convict you in a court of law, then you are asked to resign or get fired. What a tough guy this Kagame man is!!

Tanzania Higher Education Students Loans

The system of issuing loans for students to pursue higher education--who would pay back later when employed or running businesses--is nothing new, being applied in many countries.

To Tanzania it was an introduction of change that was very much unwanted: the new loanees would ask, "why us?, Why did our parents etc receive free education but not us?" The question has a convincing answer, so the loan thing came to be accepted as a way of life, an expense like foodstuff and fuel.

The problems of implementation began. After the first faltering steps, it was apparent that the numbers going for loans was overwhelming. Off the list went those pursuing postgraduate studies. Yet the applicants were more than budgeted funds. The Board morphed its criteria by limiting beneficiaries to only those who got Division One. This was not the minimum qualifications set out by the universities, by the way. It proved disastrous--aspirants of tough UG courses such as Meidicine and Engineering figured the chances of scoring Div I with good grades in those subjects, and opted to study for easier humanities subjects. Long-term effect? A nation with short supply of professionals but full of "artists"--lawyers, linguists, historians, librarians etc etc. As employment chances are dwindling compared to number of graduates, one of the alternatives to employment would be enterpreneurship, and who would be in a better position to start an enterprise than a professional?

Then came the concept that the Board would be in a position to help more students if those with well-to-do families could receive less loans (60 - 80 percent of total financial requirement for tuition, subsistence etc). Based on a set of questions on the application forms, the Board would decide who would receive 100, 80 or 60 percent. The system seems flawed, likely from the massive paperwork resulting from the applications, and actual loans are not reflecting on true student social status. Study they must, so some students have been known to pay for the tuition using their subsistence allowances and going around campuses like beggers or surviving on unrealistic rations.

The Board had also figured a trick of making money on the side off the prospective students. They would charge TZS 10,000 (a bit less than USD 10) as a processing fee for every application form submitted. The trick lies here: the applications are required to be submitted well before the high school results are out, with candidates not even sure whether they'll meet minimum qualifications to enroll. This money is not refunded. It is a cruel little scheme, because all parents think their child is a genius if there was any genius in the world, and would gladly pay for the fee. If some study were to be done, it would reveal the Board has been making a bundle this way.

Another problem that featured around blogs/forums awhile back was that of one student being listed for lone in as many as 4 different institutions. So manual is the processing system of applications that they allow such error arising from multiple applications.

It therefore came as no surprise when students from a number of universities and colleges rose as one protesting against partial loan that has lead to much anxiety, insecurity, and more. A little girl who left her upcountry home to come pursuing a degree courses might find herself unwillingly drawn into love affair and possible dire consequences included STIs and single motherhood.

The state organs rolled anti-riot gear to campuses, donned face masks and fired tear gas at the kids. Even as this was happening in one campus, the other were coming onboard. One by one the institutions closed and students sent home. This was after the Minister in the troubled Ministry of Education had issued an announcement on media, "All students should be in their classrooms tomorrow at 7 a.m." I reflected during my entire higher education stint of several years if there had ever been a timetable where one should be in class at 7 a.m., I drew a blank. And this gentleman is a professor, no less!

I am throwing my lot with the protesting students:

• the 7 a.m. ridicule stated above is part of it.
• the other reasons is the apparent unwillingness to refuse acting by logic, through negotiations between students government and the responsible ministry.
• I also am pretty convinced that the responsible ministry has not sought funds realistically to cater for bigger enrolment and hence more loans. We know how co-operating taxpayers can be towards a good cause. Road toll levy on fuel pump sales helped building kilometers of roads. similar levying could be aimed at boosting the loans pouch--several people would like to do their postgrads if loans were availed to them, and most students who met minimum qualifications to enrol would like to do just that.
• Tanzania is the last in East Africa region in tertiary institutions enrolment figures. What did other country do to achieve that, while they all have less populations compared to that of our country?

Obama US President-elect: Long way coming...

Racism is an old-fashioned fad. The few who still clutch it could be regarded as peculiar. Possibly, looking at history of such persons it might be proved that their minds were warped by teachings of older generations (parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, their "role models"-ugh!). This sad chunk of humanity isn't much different from children who are afraid of spiders.

Black persons have been prominent world over for a long time. Those in sports has a following of a multitude of fans. Jesse Owens, Mohamed Ali, Arthur Ashe, down to today's Brian Lara and Tiger Wood. Entertainment world has Michael Jackson, Eddie Murphy and a million more.

When a black person does a good turn, reporting of such story carefully shrouds anything about his origins, his colour. A Tanzanian colleague working in Silicon Valley some three years ago was awarded an information technology patent, something about routers, IP and DNS (computer jargon). We only got to know about it because of email forum with a large following of Tanzanians in diaspora. When a black person makes a hiccup, the world will hear about it. At about the time of patent I just described, another Tanzanian had slaughtered a couple of goats in his apartment in the US, some neighbour rang the cops from the noises the goats made, and prompt arrests were made. The story hit the wires and was all over the place about an African from Tanzania who murdered goats in cold blood showing high degree of cruelty to animals. Some goats that had not yet been slaughtered were "rescued".

Now, by Americans deciding solidly to elect Mr Obama, I can only say, yes, the playing field is getting level. And it is not merely campaigning for one year by Camp Obama. The trail leading to thawing of sinful souls from the days of slavery was long, hard, disherartening. With occasional spikes like Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, time moved steadily on towards Obama 2009.

The tiles on that road include Oprah Winfrey, Bill Cosby, Richard Roundtree, Diana Ross, Andrew Young, Jesse Jackson, Jimi Hendrix, Isaac Hayes, LeVar Burton, all. Any person of colour that threw in their lot to receive recognition of the World. Not limited to America too. We have had Julius Nyerere, Nelson Mandela, Kofi Annan, Asha-Rose Migiro, Olushegun Obasanjo, Miriam Makeba (recently deceased, RIP). African soccer stars world over has done a black man proud over years.

I'm feeling good. Things will never be the same again. The Change We Need Is Here!

Recent history: The Great Sarcoz-Palin Phone Conversation

Mech Eng University of Dar-es-Salaam class of 86

Came across this precious print I'd scanned sometime back and all but forgotten about it. I am sharing it with the World. At that time I was six and twenty years of age, and no-one would have told me there would be time when I'd shave off my Afro, liked it so.

This picture was taken at the Silversands Hotel where the class had gone to hold a party just after finishing the final university exams. Every person on this day had something on his mind, because the results were not out yet, but they would be in the course of a day or two.

Anyways there was a happy ending, we all passed, no-one repeated a year, no-one was discontinued. As was almost habitual in those days, Mechanical class was all men, although no law barred women from choosing Mech Eng.

I guess what threw a scare to most of them was the story of grinding hard work of design class where sometimes we would spend the whole night standing on drawing boards working frantically for design visa. Visa? Yeah. Visa.

Maybe these days of SolidWorks and AutoCAD the toil has lessened. I'd like some latter-day Mech Eng Udsm graduate to comment on this...

Determination is it! Kudos Freddy Makundi

Let the world hear it, man!

My cousin, Frederick is in real estate by profession, holding a responsible position in a company that has branches in all regions of Tanzania.

That didn't deter him from pursuing what he had a craving for: go for a Laws degree.

The travail of squeezing study time in a tight workday and burning midnight oil paid dividends, and on Saturday 25 October 2008 he climbed up the podium to receive his LLB, an award from 4 years of hard work.

A reporter at the Biafra, Kinondoni grounds of the Open University of Tanzania caught this emotional scene of Freddy's daughter about to decorate his dad. This photo appeared on The Sunday Citizen of 26 October.

After graduation, in the evening when we gathered to toast Fred the winner, a few speeches were given, all aimed at encouraging all in the family and beyond to value education and pursue it in earnest, because in today's world education is everything, acquiring training in one's area of competence is necessary, must.

Michelle Obama, you done me proud, Ma'am

I did not watch the Larry King Live interview myself. I wish, though that I had. I read about it on the NY Times.

Now talk about a lady, here is one. Despite all the slime the Republicans had been throwing in against Barack Obama, you'd expect this lady to bristle and rattle. But to the contrary! I particularly liked the sense in her saying, “You can’t tear up the game so much so that, you know, you don’t leave people something to come back to,” she said. “You know, we’re going to need John McCain, we’re going to need Cindy McCain, we’re going to need independents and Republicans working hard to fix this crisis.”

I salute you, Ms Obama, You are going to be one great First Lady.

Tabora fatal recklesness

October 1 marked Idd el Fitr, a Moslem celebration of ending the month of Ramadhani where the faithful do fast for 28 moons. In Tanzania that day and following one are public holidays. These days are marked with overdressing, overeating and overdrinking in many communities. Dance hall reap, confectionery retailers alike. Fights and road accidents in the two days are commonplace.

What happened in Tabora is out of proportions, though. A dance hall was crammed with kids for afternoon boogie. It is said the capacity of that hall is 150, but on that eventful day, October 1st, it is said to have been packed with more than 1000!

Then something must have gone very wrong, but at the end of the day 19 kids were declared dead from suffocation. It would seem someone locked the dancehall entrance and drifted away for fun elsewhere when kids were having good time, then when air supply couldn't cope with close-packed kids, there may have been screams that were interpreted as fun itself. It seems after a while the place went eerily quiet--the younger ones (7 year olds were the youngest of victims, oldest were 14) slipped into unconsciousness. This may have been interpreted by their siblings as slumber before things grew worse. Meanwhile all were apparent prisoners here, the gatekeepers commonly referred as "bouncers" nowhere nearby.

I have heard how a person rescued from near-death caused by air foulness explains afterwards of having dreamed of happily floating around before being resusciated. Same stories were on papers, given by survivors who were interviewed. Three of the kids who perished were from one family, survived by recently-widowed father. I expect the bouncers who caused this have an explanation to give to Tanzanians.

It was a week. Palin blah-blahhed her way out of the VP debate (that I had hoped would see the end of her), Fosset crash site was discovererd, Tabora families grieved.

Palin on GOP Ticket and Murphy's Law

I'm an African living in Africa. However I'm following the buildup to US election with keen interest because the US is not just any nation: whatever is happening in the world's most powerful nation is the concern of everybody, especially us, friends of the US.

Sarah Palin materialized into the campaign on GOP ticket. Her high points include being a hockey mom, barracuda basketballer, moose hunter who can dress a carcass singlehanded (Tarzan Girl, huh), a mother of five. She was mesmerizing during her (it now is apparent, well-rehearsed) acceptance speech.

Since then, the true colours started emerging. And what would you expect from the above wilderness résumé? She's what I'd rank as below average in academics, like the Wiki Answers graphic bares to the world...

With Palin on the ticket, McCain is likely to lose the elections more than any other thing that may influence the outcome of elections. However, tables may turn any day and drown Dems ticket, or place the GOP in a comfortable perch.

Then Murphy's Law says pushy Sarah, skinner of mooses, fisher of salmons, may just as easily step into the Oval Office and rule America. That is, should anything go wrong with McCain (not that I'm praying for that but a hundred things can go wrong, natural causes that shall incapacitate him) the US constitution then take its course, setting Palin smack into the White House.

This moment of uncertainty couldn't have picked a wronger time-housing credit crunch, stock markets poised to come down crashing, Taliban building strength like a cyclones, and cyclones wreaking havoc all over the place. And America fighting wars in far away land.

The October 2 debate of VP hopefuls is likely to finish business for Palin, but if she stays on the ticket, there's a worrying time ahead with her trigger finger on the nuclear bomb switch.

Technology Crescendo

The past few days have seen what looks like a major change of affairs in the technology arena.

• Sandisk, holders of IP for nand flash drives, were doing the only too logical thing-placing media on micro-sd card with a USB sleeve to plug it into players. Now, micro-SD is a tiny weeny thingy no bigger than a SIM-card, but sizes as big as two gigabyte are in existence. Many phones have microSD slots, so it is nothing new, only placing of media such as music and videos in place of (ungainly) CDs and DVDs--all of five and a quarter inches diameter whose surface you can place a hundred micro-SDs which are even slimmer.
• Google teamed up with T-mobile to announce the coming of G1, a Google cellphone widely seen as a rival to much successful Apple's I-phone. Its build is no run-of-mill imitation of existing cellphone-it's got retractable querty keypad and a trackball. Some tech enthusiast has placed the two rivals side-by-side and compared them here. (if this link ever goes stale, ping me, I have saved the text somewhere.
• Like a powerful but aging elephant whose molars can no longer chew enough twigs to drive its huge body, therefore slowly starting to waste away, Microsoft have lately been trying to run catch-on (gaming, search) and not so successful upgrade (vista). Plus, the man whose name is synonymous with Microsoft, Bill Gates, recently retired early. If it weren't for shareholder, Microsoft trustees could have just convened and retired the titan of technology successes whose time has come, like a general who won many wars but has at last shown all the signs of aging.
• One of my recent posts was my concern about the European scientific project dubbed LHC. Something went wrong and they had to halt their experiment: about a ton of liquefied helium liberated itself back into atmosphere where it had been abducted from, rendering the superconducting magnets not so super--Talk of biblical Babel tower.

BBC's perspective of Zimbabwe power-sharing agreement. LOL!

.

Another brick off the wall: RIP Wright of Pink Floyd

If people in the Afterworld do access Internet, Dear Claus Flieger (RIP), here comes your friend and mentor. I do remember how we had been bound by our mutual liking of Pink Floyd music.

It's strange that today I felt moody since morning, playing Crazy Diamonds over and over again, remembering Syd Barrett (whom, hopefully, Claus, you met out there when you joined your ancestors some five years ago). Must have been telepathy or some other superpower communicating with me... maybe you, Claus. Everything became clear upon reading the news story below.

BBC story...

Floyd founder Wright dies at 65

Wright (right) wrote songs on albums including Dark Side Of The Moon

Pink Floyd keyboard player and founder member Richard Wright has died aged 65 from cancer.

Wright appeared on the group's first album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, in 1967 alongside lead guitarist Syd Barrett, Roger Waters and Nick Mason.

Dave Gilmour joined the band at the start of 1968 while Barrett left the group shortly afterwards.

Wright penned songs on classic albums including The Dark Side Of The Moon and Wish You Were Here.

His spokesman said: "The family of Richard Wright, founder member of Pink Floyd, announce with great sadness that Richard died today after a short struggle with cancer.

"The family have asked that their privacy is respected at this difficult time."

He did not say what form of cancer the self-taught keyboard player and pianist had.

Live 8

Wright, a founder member of The Pink Floyd Sound - and other previous incarnations including Sigma 6 - met Waters and Mason at architecture school.

Wright rejoined Pink Floyd for the London Live 8 concert in 2005

Pink Floyd achieved legendary status with albums including 1973's The Dark Side Of The Moon, which stayed in the US album chart for more than a decade.

Wright, known as Rick earlier in his career, wrote The Great Gig In The Sky and Us And Them from the album.

Waters left the band in 1981, performing his last concert at London's Earls Court.

Wright, together with Gilmour and Mason, continued to record and tour as Pink Floyd during the remainder of the 1980s and into the 1990s, releasing their last studio album - The Division Bell - in 1994.

In 2005, the full band reunited - for the first time in 24 years - for the Live 8 concert in London's Hyde Park.

Large Hardon Collider: what if??

GOOGLE MARKING THE EXPERIMENT STYLISTICALLY ON THEIR SEARCHPAGE ON 10 SEPT 2008.------>

CERN, European Research Institution is today undertaking an experiment meant to discover what might have not be discovered in nuclear physics as at now. What'll you get when you break a proton by smashing protons into each other while moving at the speed of light?

For that research they have been building a huge hoop of 23 kilometre circumferences where protons race by being propelled by strong magnetic fields supplied by superconducting magnets chilled by liquid helium.

Here's what in the past has been described as Deathwish, or Curiosity of Cat; or Pandora's Box: a consortium of the best of brains from several countries in the world are doing something whose outcome is unknown. Proton is a positively-charged smallest particulate matter that, we have been all along considering as indivisible. When two protons smash upon each other at ~2c speed (that is, two particles each moving at almost the speed of light) one of the expected outcome is breakage of unbreakable, forming another hitherto unknown particle (call it makundon or demiroton so). The other outcome may be fusion of two protons into a particle twice the mass of proton (call it biproton or so). Now, here's trouble. This particle of twice the mass of proton may exert such a strong attractive force that will result into other protons being attracted and fusing onto the "biproton" forming an even bigger particle as each piece of mass joins the orgy. The result may be a black hole whereby our earth shall collapse with the instance of a punched baloon, with moon, solar system, galaxy etc to follow.

When that happens it will be so quick and painless, so earthlings needn't worry about it. Plus, there won't be anywhere to go. Since universe came out of big bang, it will all come in together in a big whoosh, and there shall be peace and quiet commonplace when you have absolute zero temperature and a particle of negligible dimensions but weighing one Universe: until such time that there shall be anoter big bang (zillions of centuries from today) followed by evolution etc. If life was an accident, this week shall be the end of life and no one to tell the story.


Bye, fellow earthlings, should the experiment go WHOOOOSH!

Chrome - yet another browser, but from Google, no less...

I've come to be so accustomed to Mozilla's Firefox browser to the point I'd thought, hey, this is an ultimate browser. I've gone around preaching it to colleagues and cybercafe owners, carried installation file in my thumb drive for anyone to make use of.
It was therefore with surprise when I heard that google were rolling out their own browser. Now Google have rolled out many products, they are all outstanding--from SketchUp to Picasa to Gmail etc. With a browser to keep up with their record of producing winners, I started feeling sad that I'd have to move on and leave the browser I'd grown to like.
I downloaded and installed Chrome beta for feel. Immediately I knew I'll keep on with Firefox, at least for the time being--here are my reasons:

1. Chrome could not be installed on Windows 2000 and earlier versions. Now, my favourite OS is Win2K. Firefox could install even on Win98, tab browsing and all. In a typical Third World locale like Tanzania, we still have loads of PIIs and PIIIs running Win98SE and Win2K, therefore it is a serious observation.
   
2. My PC has this necklace of RSS feeds bookmarks that I regularly scour during my typical of workday (Google News, BBC News, Channel Register, My blog etc). I didn't see an obvious way of placing live bookmarks on Chrome.
   
3. Mozilla has sooo many supporters, these over time have developed ingenious addons and extensions making life quite easy. With Chrome it is going to take a while coming to that.

Recently on this blog I was critical of Cuil search engine that was out to challenge Google. I hope to find more reasons to prefer chrome, but maybe that's the way life goes, some things have to be dropped over time. Like when I had to scrap my tiny notebook, Compaq Contura Aero 486 on the day I installed Chrome 9/4, 2008: that will be the subject of another post.

Some people are blindly opportunistic

Some people are blindly opportunistic--that's my conclusion when McCain picked former pageant, first-season Governor of Alaska (shiver!-what a far reach...). And a mother of five too.

At her forties, she nicely dilutes the rather heavy age of McCain of 73, yeah. Gender has been thrown in to pick what they can of the Clinton die-hards.

Soon the press got to work. We started hearing about earmark funds and the infant politician mixing herself up. A bridge she had sought earmark funds to construct sometime earlier was later named by her as a bridge to nowhere ("nowhere") happens to be an island in her jurisdiction as Governoress.

B4 dust settled, there was this teen pregnancy fiasco: her 17-year-old was carrying a love-child, four months to come). Mama explained, proudly, the child's father was going to marry her daughter. The world press needed exactly that. Media from AAustralia to ZZimbabwe carried the story. GOP felt short-changed: didn't McCain Campaign not do any vetting of potential running mates?

Whatever haste to pick a woman to make use of Clinton vacuum, I just can't picture the imagination of how a mother of five is going to cope with the demanding duties of VP. Sure some are quite grown-up, but the very task of bringing those up was a heavy-duty assignment in itself. I think the voters who have to make a decision of who the commander-in-chief shall be should something happen to the old man McCain might be a bit heavy-handed. Which works well with me, because I am all for Dems to take the White House. I can see the team of Obama and Biden bringing America to new height, winding up the affairs in Iraq amicably and not poking another arms-sale gambit in Iran.

Isaac Hayes tribute

I received the news of death of Isaac Hayes with much sadness. I have been an ardent fan of his music for as long as I can remember.

His baritone voice while singing made the message in the song even more significant. I Stand Accused, One Woman, By the Time I Get to Phoenix and others are some of his evergreen songs.

He also featured in soundtracks of the Shaft movies, my younger-days craze. I own a couple of vinyl LPs, now I have even a bigger reason to preserve them as treasures to remember the great man by.

Bye bye Black Moses, you're gone but your song shall remain with us always.

Cuil search engine

I'm a news-hungry person, particularly IT developments. So when a juicy piece of news such as a new search engine out to challenge Google for top slot hit the wires, I wanted to be one of the firsts to get to know what's all about--some april fool thingy in july?

On scanning one of my several newsfeeds I read and probed deeper if there was any story in this. There was none. Not that it is a hoax, but more like a little kid of 4 telling his dad, "I'll whip you". My hands-on test of Cuil was, of course, my name. Pooof--it turned up several Kiswahili language news items containing the word "makundi" (meaning, groups). Way down there was only one site related to the search I had submitted. There were 4 tabs. Going to second ("Next") tab, more of the irrelevant fetches, plus (Ouch! How?) the same site listed on the first tab. When I enclosed the phrase "Daniel Makundi" in inverted commas, Cuil fetched only one result. I yawned. And for change tried Google for the phrase: The entire first tab had relevant results all the way, and it took much less time compared to the younger challenger.

I'm told the effort is being funded by a consortium that have put up tens of millions of dollars. Tough luck. I don't see much future of the Cuil, apart from gratification of google-haters: and there must be mighty few of those, 'cos Google isn't just a search engine, it is a pack of handy freebies (Desktop, Picasa, Earth, Sketchup, Docs etc etc.), it's so many other things.

I don't see much improvement in the next few days, and I can see plenty of unhelpful reviews on the blogospheres and news.

Zimbabwean dollar...

I'm told with this 50,000,000 dollar bill you can get a decent meal for two.
Wallets have gone out of fashion in Zimbabwe, instead they carry briefcases.

Morogoro visit

Earlier this month I attended some training in Morogoro.

The one-week event would begin on some Monday, so travelling from Dar wasn't a big deal. There are lots of buses, big and small. Particularly there are two companies which are fierce competitors--Aboud and Hood. Others include Islam and Saddiq, as well as numerous 26-seater minibuses.

I took Aboud for reason I always take Dar Express when I'm travelling northwards: If there is a breakdown, the company buses plying same route are sure to bring in support or even pick passengers that are in a hurry. The trip was uneventful.

Training would take place at Amabilis Conference Centre. This is a squeaky-clean new facility along Kilakala road that is also a Roman Catholic convent. It was so soothing staying at the facility with its nicely trimmed hedges, well attended lawns and hush-hush environment that makes one feel closer to heavens.

The little I could see of Moro town during late evenings, it's a lively little place. As in other towns, there were lots of pubs. Someone confided to me that most of those pubs belong to SUA lecturers. Internet cafes and stationery shops too. No comment there, no law broken, creating labour.

East Africa 2008/09 Budget Speeches

Tanzanian Minister for Finance and Economy, Hon Mkullo, on Thursday 12Jun08 at 4 pm matched into the parliament hall with the familiar black attache that contained the budget for the coming FY. Presently it was read out. Predictable, I'd say. With fuel prices having almost doubled since the last budget speech, there was no question of squeezing more tax out of petrol without causing major uproar, so it was let to stay.

Road licences too were reviewed downward, the former lady minister banished an average-income person from owning even a motorbike by the high annual fees.

I would have liked to hear a word from him about the amount of money expected to be recovered from multi-million dollar string of fraudish deals now under investigation, but nothing of sorts.

Web 2.0 casualty

Ringo sent somber announcement to its subscribers that it was closing shop. They even offered to pack one's photos for download if need be, as they would be gone when they discontinue their services at the end of june 08.

Ringo was a networks whereby membership grew through invitation, therefore large chunks of individuals who knew each other-friends, relatives and friends of friends.

While such well-meant endeavour ought to have grown from strength to strength, it is unfortunate it has come to this, and one of the best networks too. It was my top birthdays reminder and my connection to remote relatives whereby we kept in touch at least twice a day--during our individual birthdays. Anyways, it's been said good 'uns don't last (Anon).

Good people of Ringo, anytime you should consider resuming with the good job, you have an adoring supporter here!

Power corrupts: Tanzania

And all this in a country where an average person lives on a dollar a day, half the population have never set foot onto a motor vehicle...
During Sullivan Summit opening on 2 June 2008 in Arusha, Nigerian ex-president Obasanjo addressed this issue, encouraging governments to bring to law all leaders who have been involved in corrupt deals where evidence is.
Like a poorly organized play scene, the spokesperson of Kiwira Coal Mine--the center of the Mkapa bad record--recently issued a statement that ANBEN had withdrawn from TanPower partnership. This statement comes several weeks after the dung caught the fan that ANBEN, a business owned by Mkapa and wife registered while Mkapa was a sitting president.
Getting all this retirement package, yet trying to lump more weight on the backs of taxpayers through power purchase agreement (yet another of several in force today) amounts to cruelty.
Here it goes:

A retirement benefits package to dream of: Why Mkapa didn’t have to do business at Ikulu:

THISDAY REPORTER
Dar es Salaam
Friday, May 30 2008

FORMER President Benjamin Mkapa is already guaranteed a comfortable life after retirement, courtesy of taxpayers’ money, according to legislation that he himself assented to while at State House.

The current Political Service Retirement Benefits Act, passed by the National Assembly in 2000, spells out a generous package of retirement perks for the former president, including an annual pension granted monthly of a sum equal to 80 per cent of the salary of incumbent President Jakaya Kikwete.

On top of that, Mkapa also now gets a monthly maintenance allowance also equal to 80 per cent of Kikwete’s current salary.

Furthermore, after leaving public office, he was entitled to receive a gratuity of a sum equal to 50 per cent of the total sum received by himself as salaries during his entire ten-year tenure as head of state from 1995.

Mkapa also received a winding-up allowance of a sum equal to the amount that would be received as salary in 24 months by incumbent President Kikwete.

Apart from this financial windfall, the legislation also allows the ex-president to continue using diplomatic passports for himself and his wife, plus the use of the VIP lounge at all airports.

He was also given a health insurance policy that covers medical treatment within Tanzania, plus the services of two motor vehicles to be provided by the government, and two drivers.

Also included in Mkapa’s handsome retirement benefits package is a fully-furnished house of not less than four bedrooms, two of which shall be self-contained, with a furnished office and servants’ quarters.

The specific legislation also guarantees ’’all necessary security and other protection services to himself and his immediate family.’’

Courtesy of taxpayers’ money, the former president also gets one of each of the following: Personal assistant, personal secretary, office attendant, personal cook, laundry man, domestic servant, and gardener.

And if he is requested to travel outside Tanzania on official (Kikwete) government business, only first class travel is appropriate for Mkapa, with the state also obliged to foot travel expenses for his spouse and two assistants.

Overall, the perks listed in the legislation in question basically ensured that the ex-president would be well taken care of by the state for the rest of his life, after retirement in 2005.

But still, Mkapa stands accused of aggressively seeking to acquire even more personal wealth during his tenure as president, regardless of the huge pension cheque he knew he would receive after leaving public office.

Records show that the legislation in question was assented hardly a year after Mkapa and former first lady Anna Mkapa started their own private business company, ANBEM Limited, and operated it from within the Ikulu premises.

ANBEM Ltd dealings included obtaining loans totalling 750m/- from the National Bank of Commerce (NBC) and CRDB Bank, some of this money reportedly being used to buy a two-storey building in Dar es Salaam’s upmarket Sea View area, which has now been rented to Bank (M) Tanzania Limited.

It has also been established that Mkapa, while still president, joined forces in 2004 with his then energy and minerals minister, Daniel Yona, to form another private company, Tanpower Resources Limited, with various members of their immediate families.

Both Mkapa and Yona were then heavily involved in the privatization of the formerly state-owned Kiwira coal mine in Mbeya Region, ensuring that this lucrative national asset was cheaply sold to the Tanpower Resources company in 2005.

Meanwhile, the Chairman of the opposition Civic United Front (CUF) Party, Prof. Ibrahim Lipumba, has joined the chorus of strong public criticism against Mkapa.

Speaking at a meeting of the Editors’ Forum in Dar es Salaam yesterday, Lipumba described Mkapa as a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

He charged that Mkapa who retired in 2005 was not the same man as the ’Mr Clean’ who entered State House for the first time in 1995.

The CUF leader said it was somewhat surprising to see Mkapa apparently grieving deeply the death of the Father of the Nation, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, in 1999 - the same year that he started his own private company at State House.

’’It would seem that immediately after Mwalimu’s death, Mkapa began abusing public office by conducting his private business affairs at State House,’’ said Lipumba.

He cited apparently corruption-tainted deals under the Mkapa administration as including the 70bn/- military radar transaction, and equally dubious purchases of military vehicles, helicopters and the presidential jet - all done through controversial middleman Shailesh Vithlani.

Various political commentators have roundly dismissed Mkapa’s weekend attempt to respond for the first time to the widespread allegations of corruption and abuse of office that have hounded him for a full year now, with the general consensus being that he failed completely to address the real issues at hand.

When South Africa became hell

On 10 May 2008, I spent better part of the day and all night at the O R Tambo International Airport, Johannesburg, as a transit passenger while traveling from Windhoek headed for home, Dar-es-Salaam. Despite 20-plus hours of waiting many of us chose to stay inside the airport building, because getting out would require a visa which would cost USD 50. Besides one would need to take taxi and a hotel room, which shall all cost quite a bit. So the night passed and soon we woke up in a new day, a bit crampy after stretching out on thinly-padded airport seats.

Our plane, SAA 737-800 jet, was called and by 11 a.m. we were on our way. It's only when I watched the news that evening and subsequent days that I knew we'd been right there in the danger zone when black South Africans rose up in arms against their brothers who had come for jobs in what to them were greener pastures. The picture below seems to say it all.

Such ingratitude after what the rest of Africa did for freedom fighters until they attained their independence, logic lacks.

God bless us all.


Sunday, Bloody Sunday

Why Clinton can't be--shouldn't be--on Obama ticket

My back-to-back sequel post on US Elections Dems Campaigns. Odds are very much out of favour for Mama Clinton who trudges on, more to cause damage to her competitor than any hope of securing nomination.

But lust for White House she has. She lied her way down the campaign path, and last week she accidentally showed her hand (praise the Lord!) In there is hope against hope that something might happen to Barack Obama. Not merely a scandal but even a bolt of lightning. Otherwise what kind of slip of tongue referring to Robert Kennedy Assassination during democratic campaigning back in 1968?

What beats me is: for all prevailing logic, White House is the last place Mama Clinton would look forward to spending more years in. Is it happy memories? What!

I'd understand if it was Obama cliffhanging, whereby we'd dismiss it by the African blood in him, we see it with African leaders, don't we.

She is a respectable senator, and has a glittering past, but now she stands to tarnish the good track record she ever wrote with her deeds both as a practising lawyer, a First Lady and a high-profile Senator.

If Dems were to even persuade Obama to pick her as a running mate, the image of the beaten would hang around her all along--akin to going to bed with conqueror.

White House '09: Democrats struggle for nomination

Just like the rest of the world, and with media shrieking about it all over the place, I just can't help taking note and making my own, personal observations.

Firstly, I, being an African born and living in East Africa, cannot hide my joy--my heart is singing with joy that Barak Obama, our very own, is commanding such respect in America. And not fluking, too. It is not racism, but admiration and fratenity.

Secondly; I can't quite place this lady who has been campaigning for Dems nomination. Yeah, she did have some chance in the beginning, but by now (May 14 2008), she seems to just hang on with her teeth in a situation she hopes something will happen to Obama (such as a scandal or even a bolt of lightning--too bad, I don't see any of that happening). So determined she is even "lending her money into campaign"--how is the campaign going to pay her back? For the lady who claims ducking live bullets in Cossovo until caught in a lie with press video.

Thirdly, again Mrs Clinton beats me: She'd been in the White House for eight years. What experience she got there wasn't all that pleasant; what with her husband being impeached for an embarrasing reason! What now, if she were to get into the WH, with a retired hubby? Abolish interns altogether in the WH?

America needs Obama, Africa needs Obama, God bless Obamas and Clintons.

It's baad when a big man helps himself to national cake unlawfully in full view of subordinates

Sometime, say 3 years ago, my cousin's wife (a young lady with respectable job, private car, a couple of kids) came to me breathlessly telling me how I could get rich by enrolling in a certain scheme: you get a form, register and submit with money order of a certain amount, that is distributed to your predecessors up the chain.

"Lady," I said, "Don't you know that this is a pyramid scheme which is just another fraud?" I was remembering my days in Nigeria where I had swallowed line hook and sinker in that fatherland of scams.

"No, shem! This is different, The names of top shots like Mama X and Mama Y were some of the pioneers in this project" . She was calling it a project, Mama X and Mama Y were powerful persons in politics, and of high standing in society. Nevertheless, I just shook my head sadly telling her I can't see the future in the game, or logic of why I should get so much money without hard work.

Needless to say, the scheme did not run more than a week before it exploded into a lawsuit and the rich who had wanted to get richer quickly refunded those they had scammed so as to keep their names out, but some fingers were burnt alright.

There are two things here
1. Many persons look for any means of getting money for nothing - that explains several stories of bribe, pyramid games, going to witchdoctors, mushrooming churches that promise wealth to their followers (in the process licking their nickels) and the like.
2. Ordinary person feels it a justification if a leader--political, religious, doesn't matter--is in a thieving racket.

Which brings the point of corruption in high places. The latest news in Tanzania politics is that of one minister resigning after media revealed he was under investigation for corruption. He makes 4 the number of ministers who have bowed out in the space of 2 months. People are wondering aloud why the ministers who resigned in shame should continue being representatives of their constituencies, why they should continue holding positions in the ruling party and so forth.

(Footnote: The resignation took place on Sunday 20 April, the day when a politician-turned-gunman died peacefully pending verdict of his manslaughter case. )

Not long ago, there was Central Bank scam where millions of dollars were siphoned out of government coffers by bank officials colluding with outsiders who had set up fraudulent companies. Governor was fired.

Again, thanks to Internet, all frauds shall be exposed, so I can only see the ghost of Mwalimu Nyerere being functional, so much did the old man hate thieving politicians. Tanzanian Umma are very much behind the standings of Mwalimu, and it is Umma that shall cleanse the country of hypocrites who had thought themselves untouchable all along.
(WITCHCRAFT, NYERERE, FRAUD INVESTIGATION INTERNET have been subjects of my past posts)

Changing times, huh?

In today's Reuters news, there is an article that Vatican has released a list of further things considered sins. The list includes pollution!...

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/world/5608726.html

VATICAN CITY — In olden days, the deadly sins included lust, gluttony and greed. Now, the Catholic Church says pollution, mind-damaging drugs and genetic experiments are on its updated thou-shalt-not list. Also receiving fresh attention by the Vatican was social injustice, along the lines of the age-old maxim: "The rich get richer while the poor get poorer."

Bliss: Marc Anthony and Jen Lopez have twins!

Do you know? What a blessing! I'm sooo happy for the couple who have done so much for the World with their hits.


Jennifer Lopez gave birth to twins -- a boy and a girl -- early on Friday in a New York hospital, her manager said.

The 38-year-old, who is married to singer Marc Anthony, delivered her first children just after midnight in a Long Island hospital, manager Simon Fields told Reuters.

"They are healthy, happy and thrilled," Fields said of the new family.

The couple's 5.7 pound daughter was born first, followed by a 6.0 pound son. Both have yet to be named.

Lopez's efforts to have a child have filled tabloid pages in the past few years. Anthony, a 39-year-old salsa singer, has a daughter and two sons from two previous relationships.

Celebrity magazine People is reportedly offering upward of $6 million for the exclusive U.S. rights for the first photos of the babies, topping a reported $4 million the magazine paid for North American rights to pictures of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt's baby daughter Shiloh.

New York-born Lopez, who has sold 17 million records worldwide and released six albums, married Anthony, who has sold more than 10 million records, in 2004. It is her third marriage.

The couple starred together last year in "El Cantante," a film about salsa legend Hector Lavoe.

Wao! I'll be damned! Fraud dividends pay off!

I glimpsed the last portion of the presentation of the "Richmond" Probe Committee by Dr Harrison Mwakyembe on National TV. Hair at the back of my neck kind of ruffled out of excitement. Was I dreaming? Naah. It was real.

The following day, Thursday 7th, I totted my little transistor radio so as to catch a word when the parliament would open next day. When I turned it a few minutes after nine, there was PM's voice alright. He spoke long and hard about all politicians being media fodder, only this time they decided to go for PM head, "a wish I'll grant", he said. Then rang out what people had wanted to hear--"I've given the President the letter to request my resignation". The parliament hall went wild with applaud. That may have been the loneliest hour for the whitehead tycoon who had a degree in theatre arts--something I got to discover a few hours after that short speech: I googled 'Edward Lowassa' on my cellphone, the first page was Wikipedia entry. Lo and behold, just some four hours after the heavy statement, some bonafide Tanzanian had already updated the Wiki entry appropriately about rise and fall of EL as Tz PM.

The parliament was then adjourned until 5 pm because of the gravity of what had just taken place. Two other ministers--Karamagi and Msabaha--would also announce their intentions to resign that evening.

Thursday 7th Feb 08 night a milestone was entered in the Tanzania history when President Jakaya Kikwete accepted the resignation letter submitted by Edward Lowassa and, as per Tanzanian Constitution, dissolved the Cabinet.

On Friday 8th during the 5 pm parliament session, a new name proposed to parliament for PM was announced--Mizengo Pinda. He had been a deputy Minister responsible for Local Government but also a seasoned civil servant having served under Father of Nation J.K. Nyerere and all other presidents that followed. According to him, he left civil service only when the constituents at his home district requested him to run for parliament, which he did and won, and was now in second term as MP.

As I'm writing this post we are without Cabinet (until tomorrow Monday 11 Feb anyways, but many a Tanzanian are welcoming the trend of things lately in the Phase Four government of Jakaya Kikwete. Pray, we, Tanzania, are the only country in the neighbourhood left with peace and tranquility--Kenya having discarded that status in the botched presidential elections at the end of last year.

Bye 2007 walcum 2008

At the time the year was coming ot a close, Tanzanians were keenly following the general elections in the neighbouring kenya, held on 29th. Things had started well enough, stations opening early on, some people queuing dutifully one hour before opening times. Voting took place during the day more or less without any alarming event. Stuff counted, returning officer filing in reports and all.

Early on the pattern started emerging with increasing clarity--the opposition were poised to win by landslide. So many famous politicians had lost their constituencies to the opposition.

Second day passed before the electoral commission made any announcement. And third. The delay started causing anxiety and suspicion: what is the eck up to? The world was soon to know, because the commission on sunday 31 dec 07 made an announcement that the incumbent has retained presidency.

The country then went bloody, houses torched, necks cut, tribal animosity always thinly veiled burst forth into a frenzy of crazed fighting. By the time things quietened down a bit after three days, more than 300 people were reported dead by news networks. As of now, there is a tense quiet as the opposing sides are holding on to terms that are insoluble.

And the world economy went on to indicate hard times ahead, what with oil hitting provebial USD 100 per barrel in the first week of the year.