Fuel prices drop 9 per cent

Fuel pump prices drop 9 per cent starting on Tuesday, thanks to the reduction of fees charged by various government agencies and the indicative price calculation conducted by the Energy and Water Utilities Regulatory Authority (EWURA). However, oil marketing companies have rejected the new prices, saying they will incur losses. EWURA Director General, Mr Harun Masebu and the Board Chairman, Mr Simon Sayore told a news conference here on Monday that all oil marketing companies must respect the new indicative prices, effective today and that failure to do so will attract penalty. 

"The new prices will be applicable effective tomorrow, (August 3, 2011) and everyone must take note of the changes. We will not accept any excuses to justify hiking of prices," said Mr Masebu when asked if it was practicable to put into effect the new prices, starting today."When prices increase, pump prices immediately shoot up, but when there is a reduction, traders come up with stories of "existing old stocks. We will not entertain any excuses," Mr Masebu said. 

He said there has been over 51 per cent slash of various agency charges announced by Minister for Finance, Mustafa Mkulo. "As regulators, there isn't much to do to address the increasing world market prices for petroleum products. The shilling is also depreciating against foreign currencies," Mr Masebu said. Last June, Mr Mkulo announced sweeping changes in taxes charged on fuel products, including kerosene while dropping excise duty on diesel which has had a significant impact. 

Pump prices had also been high due to numerous charges paid to government agencies including Surface and Marine Transport Regulatory Authority, Tanzania Ports Authority, Tanzania Bureau of Standards and Weights and Measures Agency and Tanzania Revenue Authority. The Ewura Board Chairman, Mr Sayore said since 2009 when the authority started publishing indicative prices, there has been a reduction of about 40 per cent."If we did not have EWURA, consumers would be paying 40 per cent more of the current prices," he said. 

According to indicative prices released yesterday, a litre of petrol in Dar es Salaam will cost 2,004/-, diesel 1,911/- and kerosene at 1,905/-. That represents the lowest prices while the highest pump prices will be paid by consumers in Kagera and Kigoma regions. They will buy a litre of petrol at 2,235/-, diesel at 2,142/- and kerosene at 2,136/- .Meanwhile, as the industry watchdog announced new prices on Monday, the Tanzania Association of Oil Marketing Companies (TAOMAC) said it would "be unable to sell" petroleum products at the new prices. 

The association Chairman, Mr Naidoo Seelan, told the 'Daily News' in a telephone interview on Monday that the indicative and cap prices set by EWURA were below the costs of the products. 
"EWURA should revert to the old templates that have been in place since 2009, otherwise we would not be able to heed their order. It should come up with a template that makes sense," he stressed. 

Asked on whether the term "unable to serve" should be interpreted as boycott, he said; "No, it is not a boycott, what we are saying is that If we will sell our products at prices set by EWURA, we will be making losses."According to Mr Seelan, the new template by the energy and water utilities regulator shows artificial rather than actual costs. 

He complained that a good number of proposals forwarded to EWURA by stakeholders in the industry during the consultation period, were not taken on board. 
Mr Seelan noted that even with the old template in place pump prices never reached the cap prices. 
A random survey conducted in Dar es Salaam yesterday found out that a litre of petrol was selling at between 2,040/- and 2,060/- while diesel was fetching 2,060/- and 2,090/- per litre. 
A litre of kerosene was sold at between 1,940/- and 2,070/- . 

EWURA, oil marketing companies and other stakeholders have for the past one month, been engaged in consultations to review fuel prices in the local market. 
This follows an announcement by Finance Minister, Mr Mustafa Mkulo, when presenting budget estimates for 2011/12 in the National Assembly in June, this year, that the government would review various taxes and levies imposed on fuel in a bid to reduce prices of the commodity.

Daily News

The magic rolling coconut tree at Chole Island - Mafia

Employment opportunities:The UNICEF Internship Programme

The UNICEF Internship Programme offers eligible/qualified students at both Headquarters and country offices the opportunity to acquire direct practical experience in UNICEF's work under the direct supervision of experienced UNICEF staff.Eligibility requirements;

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- You should be fluent in English and one other UNICEF working language i.e. French, Spanish, Arabic, Russian or Chinese.  

- Your academic performance should be excellent, as demonstrated by recent university or institution records. 
- Your application for an internship should be supported by your university or related institution. A minimum requirement is a letter from one of your professors supporting your application. This is only needed when an internship assignment has been offered to you. 
- Applicants must have a demonstrated interest in the field of international development, particularly in areas of UNICEF priorities.
- Ability to adapt and work in a multi-cultural setting. 
- Has strong commitment to the values and principles of the United Nations and UNICEF's mission, guiding principles and Convention on the Rights of the Child. 
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However, please keep in mind that even if you meet these qualifications, there is no guarantee of placement. We receive many more applications from qualified candidates than we can place. Placement is subject to availability of meaningful assignments.

If you meet the above eligibility criteria and are interested in submitting an online application, please click HERE. Manually completed applications are not accepted anymore.

The completed online application will be automatically uploaded into the UNICEF Internship database, which is accessed by UNICEF managers globally. If you are applying for more than one location, the online application will allow you to choose the New York Headquarters location as well as up to three other field locations outside New York. 

Due to the high number of applications received in UNICEF, we will not be able to respond to each and every application. When you complete the online application, which requires your CV and P-11 (to download a P-11,click HERE) as attachments,  you will receive an acknowledgement email with a copy of the online application form you submitted attached to it. 

For queries and questions, please send an-mail to UNICEF at Internships@unicef.org. 

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Erasto Mpemba & The Mpemba Effect

The Mpemba effect is the observation that warmer water sometimes freezes faster than colder water. Although the observation has been verified, there is no single scientific explanation for the effect. Similar behavior was observed by ancient scientists such as Aristotle  and early modern scientists such as Francis Bacon and René Descartes. Aristotle's explanation involved an erroneous property he called antiperistasis, defined as "the supposed increase in the intensity of a quality as a result of being surrounded by its contrary quality".

The effect is named for Tanzanian Erasto Mpemba. He first encountered the phenomenon in 1963 in Form 3 of Magamba Secondary School, Tanganyika when freezing ice cream mix that was hot in cookery classes and noticing that they froze before cold mixes. After passing his O-level examinations, he became a student at Mkwawa Secondary (formerly High) School, Iringa, Tanzania. The headmaster invited Dr. Denis G. Osborne from the University College in Dar es Salaam to give a lecture on physics. After the lecture, Erasto Mpemba asked him the question "If you take two similar containers with equal volumes of water, one at 35 °C (95 °F) and the other at 100 °C (212 °F), and put them into a freezer, the one that started at 100 °C (212 °F) freezes first. Why?" only to be ridiculed by his classmates and teacher. After initial consternation, Dr. Osborne experimented on the issue back at his workplace and confirmed Erasto's finding. They published the results together in 1969.

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Tanserve

Traffic jams cost nation 4bn/- daily

The feasibility study on construction of flyovers at Ubungo and Tazara in Dar es Salaam has started. The move is aimed at addressing traffic jams, which are said to be costing the economy 4bn/- daily.The Minister for Works, Dr John Magufuli, told the National Assembly on Monday the ministry was also planning to introduce weigh in motion technology which will help ease congestion at weigh bridges, as weight of vehicles are to be recorded while in motion. 

"Feasibility study for Tazara flyover started last June with funding from JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency). The government has also submitted a request for Ubungo flyover to Japanese government through JICA to assist with construction," Dr Magufuli said.He said several measures have been drawn up including upgrading of feeder roads to help address the commercial capital's perennial traffic jams problem, while stressing that punitive actions would continue to be meted on rogue drivers and other road users. 

Dr Magufuli said some 31.75 kilometres of feeder roads in the city were currently under construction to bitumen level while an extra 43 kilometres have already been scientifically analysed and that funding to upgrade them is being sought. "Feasibility study for 11.6 kilometres of Kimara Baruti to Msewe and Changanyikeni (2.6km) and Kimara, Kilungule to External along Mandela road (9km) is underway and will be ready this financial year," Dr Magufuli said. 

Other measures to address congestion include investment in Dar es Salaam Rapid Transport project with the construction of depots at Ubungo, Jangwani, Kivukoni and Kariakoo. According to the budget estimates speech, over 5bn/- has been set aside to improve infrastructure in Dar es Salaam during the year.Dr Magufuli also said other projects to address congestion in the city include introduction of commuter train services between the city centre and the suburbs, boat services from Bagamoyo, Tegeta, Kunduchi and the city centre. 

But the over 1.49trn/- budget has also targeted several other trunk roads, bridges, feeder roads countrywide as the government targets to increase tarmac roads from the current 6,500 kilometres to over 11,000kms in the next five years.Debating the Works Ministry's budget estimates, Shadow Minister for Works, Mr Salvatory Machemli (Chadema Ukerewe) and Vice- Chairperson of Parliamentary Infrastructure Committee, Ms Anne Kilango Malecela (CCM Same East) urged the government to seriously address the problem of congestion on the city's roads. 

"Because of an estimated 4bn/- loss daily to traffic jams, the country is losing over 1.44trn/- per annum which is equal to the Ministry of Works budget," Ms Kilango-Malecela said while pointing out that the Committee suggests that Dar es Salaam transport system be under one administration to avoid confusion.The Committee suggested that the government should start considering initiating a project dubbed Highway cum Industrial Corridor which will be a Dar es Salaam city bypass which will stretch from Bagamoyo to Kibaha, Kisarawe and end at Kigamboni. 

In his presentation, the Shadow Minister, Mr Machemli, questioned why Magufuli's budget has allocated more money for the construction of senior government officials and cabinet ministers' residences in Dar es Salaam instead of the designated capital, Dodoma."The opposition would like to get responses as to why the ministry has requested money to construct 47 houses of which 28 will be built in Dar es Salaam while only two in Dodoma?" he wondered.

Daily News

CCM gives Lowassa,Chenge a month to resign.

Two sitting Members of Parliament, both prominent members of the ruling CCM and former cabinet ministers, have been given until next month to relinquish their positions in the party or risk being shown the door.Former Prime Minister Edward Lowassa and former Attorney General Andrew Chenge are associated – alongside businessman Rostam Aziz – with controversial transactions that have cost the country dearly financially and in various other ways as well as tainted the party’s image.

However, Aziz has since heeded calls by the party that he give way by recently resigning as member of the powerful CCM National Executive Committee (NEC) and as MP for Igunga constituency in Tabora Region.The deadline just given is among the resolutions made here by the party’s Central Committee (CC) that also set the date for the next sitting of the NEC, the body empowered to take measures in line with the decision reached in April this year in connection with the matter.At its April meeting, also held here, the committee resolved that all CCM leaders associated with corrupt practices resign from all party’s positions, failure which the party would act hard against them.

“NEC will meet again sometime in September where, among other things, it will evaluate the progress made in implementing previous decisions,” CCM Ideology and Publicity Secretary Nape Nnauye declared at a media briefing at the end of the CC meeting yesterday. “The party is determined to ensure that the party cultivates and promotes ethical practice within all its ranks and calls upon all those ordered to resign to use the time available to act accordingly in the party’s interest,” he said.

Commenting on widely circulating reports that CCM was reluctant to take measures against beleaguered bigwigs Lowassa and Chenge for fear that their popularity among MPs would see the party disintegrate, Nnauye said: “‘No individual within CCM is more famous, popular or important than CCM itself. CCM is not worried about or scared of anything or anyone. It’s much better that we lose a constituency or a ward in a by-election than continue embracing unethical leaders.”

He brushed aside “any possibility” of the party standing on dangerously shaky ground by taking the decisions it was taking, noting: “Let all those thinking or believing that they can lure CCM members to defect proceed with their plans. We once had strong leaders such as (former minister) Augustine Mrema and (former Zanzibar Chief Minister) Seif Shariff Hamad and they defected, yet CCM has weathered the storms and remained unshaken.”

Reacting to the trio’s pronouncements to the effect that NEC has never directed that they resign, as repeatedly reiterated by members of the party’s secretariat leaders, Nnauye said information on all resolutions is always relayed during formal meetings “and there was no way they can be altered at random”.

Lowassa resigned as PM in February 2008 after being associated with involvement in a controversially awarded tender for emergency power generation to Richmond Company, which had no capacity to deliver. He however, remains a NEC member and legislator for Monduli.

Chenge, who similarly still sits on the NEC and is MP for Bariadi West, is said to have benefited financially from the 1999 controversial purchase of radar from the UK at a cost of 40 million sterling pounds instead of the market value of around 12 million pounds. He resigned as Infrastructure minister in 2008 following intense pressure from the public.

Rostam Aziz is said to be closely connected to the company which many believe contributed to Lowassa’s fall from grace. This is none other than Kagoda Agricultural Ltd, one of the firms that benefited from the 133 billion/- suspiciously withdrawn from the Bank of Tanzania’s External Payment Arrears (EPA) account in 2005.

The trio’s suspicious practices and behaviour are widely believed to have contributed to CCM’s relatively poor performance in the October 2010 General Elections that saw eventual presidential poll winner Jakaya Kikwete to garner a mere 61 per cent of the total vote compared to 80 per cent in 2005.

CCM also suffered massive defeats in key urban constituencies in Mwanza, Mbeya, Arusha, Iringa and Dar es Salaam regions. The Opposition camp shone in some traditionally CCM strongholds in the rural parts of Shinyanga, Mwanza, Kigoma, Mbeya and Arusha regions.Unlike Lowassa and Chenge, who have yet to heed CCM’s resignation orders, Rostam Aziz announced his resignation from the NEC and as MP on July 13.

Nnauye said CCM will soon draw up a timetable that would lead to the announcement of the party’s flag bearer in the Igunga by-election.“CCM has received and accepted Aziz’s decision to relinquish his posts in the party and as an MP and has resolved that all campaign-related activities will be conducted under the leadership of our Tabora regional and Igunga district offices. We are confident that we will retain the constituency,” he added.

The Guardian

Relief as load-shedding eases

Dar es salaam residents have been enjoying better power supply for the past five days, thanks to improved generation at the Independent Power Tanzania Limited (IPTL) thermal plant at Tegeta. The plant has been running at full capacity of 100MW a day since Tuesday last week, according to IPTL Director, Mr Magesvaran Subramaniam. 

Mr Subramaniam told the 'Daily News' on Sunday that the improvement followed supply of adequate heavy fuel by the government.The IPTL plant has for several months been generating only 10MW for lack of fuel which the government was supposed to supply, hence exacerbating the prolonged power crisis.According to the Tanzania Electric Supply Company (TANESCO), the country has been facing a deficit of more than 200MW on the national grid which was to be reduced greatly when IPTL started production at full capacity. 

Mr Subramaniam said power generation at the plant has been increasing gradually depending on the availability of fuel. "We were producing 10MW, sometimes 20MW or 50MW depending on availability of fuel, but since Tuesday we have been at full capacity. We are optimistic that this generation will continue as promised by the government," he said. 

Some parts of the city have been getting uninterrupted power supply for the last four days, while the situation in other parts of the city is also said to experience relief.TANESCO officials on Sunday were not available for comment on the development.
Daily News