Stanley G. Grizzle honoured today with park dedication

The City of Toronto today dedicated the former Main Street Parkette to Stanley G. Grizzle, Canada’s first African-Canadian citizenship judge.

“Stanley G. Grizzle is an outstanding example of a person, who when faced with prejudicial barriers, fought injustices by taking positive action,” said Mayor David Miller at today’s dedication. “By renaming the Main Street Parkette to the Stanley G. Grizzle Park, area residents and all Torontonians recognize the many contributions of this remarkable man.”

Born in Toronto at the end of the First World War in 1918, Grizzle became a railway porter at the age of 22 to help support his family. He founded the Railway Porter’s Trade Union Council and, from 1946 to 1962, served as an officer of the Toronto CPR Division of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. Grizzle was a delegate to the Toronto Labour Council, a member of the Toronto Labour Committee for Human Rights, an associate editor and columnist for “Contrast” - a black community newspaper - and writer of the book “My Name’s Not George: The Story of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters in Canada.”

Check out my pictures from the event on my other blog: http://khalexpress.wordpress.com

Visit my other blog

http://khalexpress.wordpress.com/

Khal’sjournalismblog

Khal’sjournalismblog

Aga Khan arrives in Tanzania

The 49th Imam of the Ismailis His Highness the Aga Khan, seen here with Vice Prsident Dk Shein at the state house yesterday.

By Khalid Magram
Shia Imami Ismaili leader, His Higheness the Agakhan has announce his desire establishing a high level university in Tanzania.
Speaking with the Vice President, Dk Ali Mohamed Shein yesterday at the state house in Dar es Salaam, Aga Khan said the university will be buid in Arusha and it will be one of a kind in Africa.
The 49th spiritual leader of Ismaili community around the world said, the plot where the university is to be build has already been found and the funds for the project has already been set apart for this special purpose.
Aga khan, who is celebrating fifty years of his immate as a leader of Ismailis assured Vice President, plans of establishing several degree, phD to Doctorate in the nursing program at the Aga Khan University in Dar-es-salaam to enable those pursuing careers in the healtcare sector get their qualification in the country.
In their talks, Vice-President urged Chuo University of Aga Khan to look into possiblilities of creating a program for Neglected Tropical Diseases , in the effort to eradicate these deseases.
Aga Khan in his part emphasised on more research and development of drugs to fight tropical deseases such as Malaria.
Dk Shein praised His Highness for his caring dadication and aid in several sectors in Tanzania among them education, health and tourism.
Dk Shein congratulate him on his Golden Jubilee and his success in bringing about peace and prosperity and helping countries around the world including Tanzania.
Earlier there was pomp and ceremony upon Aga Khan arrival at Mwalimu J.K Nyerere intrenational Airport.
Soon as his LX-PAK jet airliner touched down around 12.30 local time, Airline door opened, then the representative of Aga Khan Network went in to welcome the Aga Khan to Tanzania. He was all smiles.
On the ground he was met by his host the Minister of Interior, Joseph Mungai.
The Ismaili national enthem was played by the Police band and then he was welcomed by traditional dancers of Ismailis and the Massai before glancing to a circus troupe performing their act.
Mungai said, Aga Khan has been very helpful and his corparation in the sector of education and health is second to none in the country.
“In the education sector I would like to remaind people of Tanzania that, the first women school which is in Zanzibar, was established by the granfather of the present Aga Khan in the effort to develop education in our nation," Said Mungai .Source: Mwananchi Newspaper

Tanzania-National identity cards a reality by 2009

Khalid Magram in Toronto


Tanzania’s national identity cards (IDs) project, expected to be ready by 2009, is estimated to cost the government about $35 million.

Minister of Home Affair made the ID’s project announcement when presenting expenditure estimates for the Ministry of Home Affairs for 2007/08.

“We have already acquired a building for the project,” Minister Joseph Mungai said.
In collaboration the ministry of Civil Service Management and other stakeholders, efforts were underway to form an agency which would supervise the distribution of the IDs, he said.

On dual citizenship, the report has been finalised and presented to the cabinet for scrutiny,
Mr Mungai said. The citizenship law of 1995 does not provide for dual citizenship.

Nevertheless, Tanzanians living abroad have been lobbying for sometime now to allow them bring their estimated $2.5 billion wealth and expertise into the country. Most of them had left the country in the early ’70s and ’80s.

Mr Mungai also said, that the government was committed to close all refugee camps in the country by end of the year.

The move that seem to create many critics localy and internationally.

“Of course there are genuine concerns on the part of governments that hiding among the refugee population in Tanzania may be those who committed genocide in 1994 and who are seeking to avoid capture and trial.” Deirdre Clancy, Director of the International Refugee Program of Human Rights First, said.

However, there is concern that some of the estimated 25,000 to 40,000 Rwandans who were in Tanzania at the beginning of November 2002 may have been, or will be forcibly returned, Clancy addded.

Moi-Special envoy to Sudan

By C. Bryson Hull

NAIROBI, July 25 (Reuters) - Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki on Wednesday named his predecessor Daniel arap Moi as special peace envoy to Sudan, to help facilitate a peace deal in the south that Kenya has a strong economic interest in seeing carried out.Kenya's presidential press service said in a statement Kibaki had made the appointment after consulting Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, and that Moi's focus would be on south Sudan but would involve regional diplomacy also. Moi, despite stepping down in 2002 after a 24-year rule characterised by torture of political opponents and graft that nearly ruined east Africa's largest economy, is considered one of Africa's most adept political survivors.Kibaki, who overwhelmingly won the 2002 elections and beat Moi's chosen successor, said Moi "had vast experience and knowledge of African affairs, and that his stature as an elder statesman made him well-suited for the role," the statement said. Despite their political fallout over the elections, viewed by many Kenyans as a renunciation of the Moi era, the two have met several times in the past year -- particularly after Kibaki has faced serious political opposition. Newspaper opinion pages for months have been full of speculation that the two are organising a political alliance for elections due in December. Political analysts have said Moi wants to protect vast family business interests he gleaned during his presidency and that Kibaki wants Moi's help in fragmenting an already-divided opposition. South Sudan, which is currently implementing a peace agreement to end its two-decade civil war with the northern government, is strategically important for Kenya, which borders the Sudanese region.Moi was influential in steering the peace talks -- and in pressuring Sudan's northern government -- which produced the deal in Kenya, signed in Nairobi on January 9, 2005.Kenya stands to benefit economically from a stable south Sudan, given that most trade will go through its Mombasa port and through its financial hub in the capital Nairobi.Many workers in southern Sudan are Kenyans and major Kenyan businesses including Kenya Commercial Bank (KCBK.NR: Quote, Profile, Research) and East African Breweries Ltd. (EABL.NR: Quote, Profile, Research) have set up shop.There are also moves to build a pipeline to carry south Sudan's oil out via Kenya to the Indian Ocean

Homegrown stories big hit

By Khalid Magram
August 2, 2007

Local film makers in Tanzania sell their own stories for the silver screen.
Tanzania's television screens have been dominated by foreign films but Tanzanian cinema is now the population's preferred option.
Tanzanian film makers are now producing more films about local stories in order to meet the growing demand for homegrown movies.

Check this video from Reuters:
http://www.reuters.com/news/video/videoStory?videoId=54632

McGill nurses bring Tanzania AIDS activist to campus

In her native Africa, nurse Betty Liduke spends her days walking from village to village, educating people about HIV/AIDS and challenging societal taboos. In the Highlands of Tanzania, where AIDS has orphaned a disproportionately high number of children, where HIV is seen as an inevitability and where the dying walk several kilometres to reach the nearest hospital, Liduke quietly and consistently urges wives to insist on condoms, trains dozens of ordinary people to become peer leaders and slowly substitutes facts among the local people.
Liduke works out of one of the three hospitals comprising the Highlands Hope consortium, a collaborative effort with the McGill School of Nursing and those hospitals. "What's unique about Betty is that her biomedical knowledge of the disease is thorough, plus she has a sense of leadership and group dynamics that is quite amazing and quite needed," said Madeleine Buck, an assistant director at the School of Nursing.
The School of Nursing is honouring Liduke with an appointment as its first International Clinical Instructor in Africa. The appointment recognizes her work as well as her role as an educator of future nursing students that the School will send to the area, as part of its ongoing commitment to train globally minded nurses and its recent contributions to help Highlands Hope deliver comprehensive HIV/AIDS care to rural Africans.
On Tuesday, August 22, at noon, Betty Liduke will speak on her experience single-handedly running a safe-sex World Health Organization program in 17 Tanzanian villages. The talk will be held in room 118 of the McGill School of Nursing, Wilson Hall, 3506 University St.Contact:Kathryn HaralambousCommunications OfficerUniversity Relations Office, McGill University514-398-3095

Canada's Barrick Gold in Tanzania

"There is Death in them thar' Pits"
Canada's Barrick Gold in Tanzania

by Tracy GlynnThe Dominion - http://www.dominionpaper.ca


Small-scale miners and farmers have lost their land and livelihoods to open pit mining in Tanzania. Mustafa Iroga Tanzanian environmental lawyer Tundu Lissu wants Canada's Barrick Gold held accountable for abuses perpetrated by the company in Tanzania.

He is concerned by the latest rash of violent deaths occurring around the Barrick owned North Mara gold mine.
Local villager Kieva Yohanna was shot five times in the back after having allegedly entered the mine complex illegally on June 1. According to Lissu, his death marks the sixth violent death linked to Barrick's security operatives in less than a year.
In July 2005, police shot and killed Marwa Nyansinge on the grounds of the Nyabigena Primary School. As mine operatives fled the scene of the shooting they struck and killed another villager, Bhoke Maseke, who was holding a child. Marwa Nyansinge was targeted by police for allegedly stealing petroleum from the North Mara Gold mining company, then owned by the Canadian gold mining company Placer Dome and later bought by Barrick.
According to Lissu, the killings represent a shift in Barrick's strategy for dealing with locals critical of its operations.
In 2001, after being forcefully evicted from their homes to make way for the mine, hundreds of villagers, including community leaders and prominent locals, were targeted for illegal arrests, criminal prosecutions and long-term imprisonment. Lissu believes the strategy was intended to frighten community members and discourage resistance to the mine, but notes that it "never quite worked, particularly after we started to offer free legal representation to the villagers targeted."
The latest killings signal a change in tactics for Barrick to what Lissu calls 'naked violence,' but violence in Tanzania's mining industry and Canada's involvement is nothing new.
In the early 1990s, the Tanzanian government turned to Foreign Direct Investment to develop its mining sector. As Tanzania became the largest recipient of FDI in Africa, many Tanzanians' with small-scale mining and farming operations had their livelihoods destroyed through land acquisitions involving bulldozers and paramilitary forces.
"A potentially viable regional economy based on small-scale mining was physically destroyed at the behest of the World Bank and transnationals to make way for large-scale mining," says Jamie Kneen from Mining Watch Canada, "Who benefits? The companies and their shareholders. Not Tanzanians, or at least not the ones whose farms are being destroyed, or whose hand-dug pits were bulldozed, or whose shops no longer have customers."
The Bulyanhulu mine in northern Tanzania, operated by Kahama Mining Corporation is one of the world's most infamous cases of mine-related violence. In August 1996, it is alleged that over fifty artisanal (small-scale) miners were buried alive in a pit by a bulldozer used to construct the mine. The move was seen as a tactic to clear the pits of an estimated 250,000 artisanal miners in the community.
The Bulyanhulu mine was bought three years later by Toronto-based global mining giant Barrick Gold. Barrick and the Tanzanian government both denied allegations of mass murders at Bulyanhulu and accused those leading the charges of lying. Lissu and his organization, Lawyers' Environmental Action Team (LEAT), responded with videotapes, eyewitness accounts, family testimonies, and a list identifying 36 men that he says were buried alive.
One of the family testimonies came from Melania Baesi, the mother of two alleged victims, Jonathan and Ernest Lwekamwa. The last time she saw her two sons alive was when they were heading off to work in a small mine pit with a dozen other miners. One of the miners who had left the pit earlier that day to fetch a rope visited Melania Baesi's house that evening to recount what he saw when he returned to the pit from his errand: "Policemen were everywhere and the company's Caterpillar was leveling the pits. They tried to push me back into the pit but I managed to escape and run away into the bushes with sounds of gunfire behind me." When the families went to the pit hoping to rescue their loved ones, they found leveled pits instead.
Lissu and others maintain that the cover-up allowed Barrick to secure US$ 234 million in political risk insurance from the World Bank and Canada's Export Development Corporation. Critics also believe the cover-up may have been aided by Barrick's many influential friends—the company's international advisors have included former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and former U.S. president George Bush Sr.
In 2001, many international organizations, including the Council of Canadians, Mining Watch Canada and Amnesty International, called for an independent international investigation into the allegations of mass murder in the Bulyanhulu pit. A number of appeals for such an investigation were made to then Foreign Affairs Ministers; John Manley, Pierre Pettigrew and Bill Graham all rejected the calls for an independent inquiry.
Barrick is now the largest gold mining company in the world, and the Bulyanhulu mine has become one of its most profitable.
Like many mining activists around the world, Lissu has been arrested, charged, and jailed. He was arrested at his residence in Dar es Salaam on December 23, 2002, immediately after returning from the U.S. where he was then a research fellow at the World Resources Institute, and was held for over 24 hours in an underground jail known as "The Hole." Lissu and two colleagues, including the leader of the Tanzanian opposition party, were charged with violating Tanzania's 1976 Newspaper Act No. 3 for "uttering words with seditious intention." The sedition charge stemmed from their persistent claims that artisanal miners were buried alive at Bulyanhulu. The criminal charges of for sedition against Lissu and his colleagues remain to this day, but the prosecutors have yet to kick-start the proceedings. Lissu and his colleagues at LEAT continue to press for justice for small-scale miners despite police intimidation including raids of their homes and offices.
Lissu says Canadians must take action "to support an end to the killings of innocent civilians. We particularly request that our Canadian partners and friends draw public attention to these abuses and help bring Barrick Gold Corporation to account for its actions."
Lissu's latest call comes at a time when a Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade is holding roundtable discussions across the country on corporate social responsibility for Canadian mining companies operating overseas. It remains to be seen if these discussions will result in the attention and accountability that Lissu and so many others around the world are seeking.

Farouque Abdela Designs-A Zanzibari designer

Farouque with Princess Diana & Colin Powell

Born in Zanzibar, Farouque continued the family tradition as fourth generation tailor, going on to train at the London College of Fashion. Working with natural fibers and traditional African textiles, Farouque creates couture and avant garde fashions. His exquisite fashion sensibility has been seen in films and theaters as well as on international catwalks. Masai and Egyptian traditions strongly influence Farouque's work. Encouraged by the late Princess Diana to maintain the African influence in his work, Farouque hopes to help African fashion gain recognition as a vital influence in global style. To this end, Farouque has held individual fashion shows in varied locales including: the 1999 Zanzibar International Film Festival and the Save the Children Benefit in London.
Factfile:
Genre/Specialty:
Couture, Avant Garde
Locations that Carry Label:
Emerson and Green, Zanzibar and British Museum, London
Clientele:
Maya Angelou, Eddy Grant, Salif Keita, First Lady of Zanzibar, Cathy Tyson
Awards/Honors:
Girls Own Inc. (magazine) Trend Setter of the Year 1985
Individual Shows:
1999 Zanzibar International Film Festival, Zanzibar; Save the Children Benefit, Royal Festival Hall London
Group Shows:
Africa at Whiteleys, London Benefit for Rwanda, London; African Mosaique, Paris, New York, Washington
Education/Training:
London College of Fashion On Tailors and Cutters

Visit Farouque's website: http://www.farouque.8k.com/*1factfile.html

Did you know these facts about Zanzibar?

Quick Now! Did you know these facts about Zanzibar?
.....
List of interesting items in short form plus information links to the web.
Zanzibar is popularly known as the "spice islands.”
Zanzibar is located about 30 K off the coast of mainland Tanzania in the Indian Ocean.
Zanzibar is actually an archipelago with the two main Islands of Zanzibar (also known as Unguja, the larger one) and Pemba (the smaller of the two).
Zanzibar was incorporated into the United Republic of Tanzania in 1964.
Zanzibar, which in 1992 had only 723,300 people, does have its own democratically elected president and government that run the internal affairs of the Islands.
Zanzibar's Serena Inn on the Stone Town waterfront is a splendid example of the careful preservation of historic buildings. This project undertaken by the Aga Kahn Fund for Economic Development, owner and manager of the Serena Hotels, involved the restoration and rehabilitation of two historic buildings , the Old Extelcoms Building and the Chinese Doctors' Residence.
Zanzibar has the largest number of carved doors in East Africa.
Zanzibar's Stone Town has 50 mosques and four Hindu temples.
The House of Wonders is one of the first buildings in East Africa to have electricity and Stone Town's oldest existing building.
In 1987, the Stone Town Conservation Authority was created to provide strict guidelines for architectural design and materials used in all renovations of public and privately owned buildings.
Above facts from Karen Hoffman's Stone Town story
• Zanzibar is the world's oldest functioning Swahili city.
• Zanzibar has seen an influx from the British, Dutch, Portuguese, Egyptian, Phoenicians, Assyrians, Indians, Chinese, Persians, Arabs and Sumerians at various times in its history.
Zanzibar offers the visitor a variety of pristine beaches and stunning coral reefs.
Zanzibar's Muslim worshippers, during daylight hours of Ramadan lunar month, may not eat, drink, smoke or have sex. Exempt only are the sick, young children and travelers .
The earliest visitation to Zanzibar was in the 8th century, when the Arab traders arrived.
Zanzibar's oldest remaining building is the 11th century mosque at Kizimkazi .
The name Swahili comes from the Arab word sawahil which means 'coast'.

Many more facts and links to come.

Tanzania: Fuel Prices - Present Pain, No Future Gain

Dar is fast becoming the scandal capital of sub-Saharan Africa, with a deleterious effect on the economy's performance.

Read more @ http://allafrica.com/stories/200707240685.html

Facts on Tanzania-Canadian relation

Diplomatic relations between Canada and Tanzania were established in 1961. The two countries have common political and social objectives, having worked together through the Commonwealth and the UN to fight racism, apartheid and colonialism. President Mkapa was Tanzania's high commissioner to Canada in 1982-83.
Since 1961, Canada has carried out projects in virtually every sector of Tanzanian society, including the rail system, education, military training, agriculture and water supply, health, sexual equality, women's issues, small business, micro-credit and combatting HIV/AIDS. Through the current bilateral aid program, Tanzania is receiving approximately C$10 million per year, but this should increase in 2004 and 2005. Moreover, the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) is funding humanitarian assistance for Burundian refugees in Tanzania and food aid for drought victims. In light of its efforts in the area of governance and its commitment to fight poverty, Tanzania has become one of nine countries of concentration under CIDA programming.
Canada supports Tanzania's efforts to move from a socialist and centralized one-party system to a pluralist democracy characterized by a free and open economy. Canada decided in February 2002 to write off the C$83.6 million debt owed it by Tanzania. In July 2003, Canada and Tanzania signed an agreement to permit duty-free access for virtually all goods produced in Tanzania. These actions reflect Canada's commitment under the G8 Africa Action Plan.
Bilateral trade totalled C$31 million in 2003. Canadian exports, which total C$28 million, consist mainly of mining equipment, used clothing, pre-fabricated buildings and telecommunications equipment. Canada imports C$3.0 million, mainly in cocoa, cashews, coffee, octopus and precious stones. Canadian companies in Tanzania invest mainly in the mining and energy sectors

Curruption Ranking-Where does Tanzania stands

Bill Clinton visits Tanzania

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton addresses a public rally at Pugu Kajiungeni, some 23km west of the capital Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, July 22, 2007. Clinton on Sunday launched a programme to make subsidised malaria drugs available in Tanzania in a test scheme that could serve as a blueprint for Africa as a whole. The project will make life-saving ACT drugs available at 90 percent less than the current market price to a national drug wholesaler, which will then distribute them to rural shops.

REUTERS/Emmanuel KwitemaDAR ES SALAAM, July 22 (Reuters) - Former U.S. President Bill Clinton launched a programme on Sunday to make subsidised malaria drugs available in Tanzania in a test scheme that could serve as a blueprint for Africa as a whole.
The project will make life-saving ACT drugs available at 90 percent less than the current market price to a national drug wholesaler, which will then distribute them to rural shops.
Malaria, caused by a parasite carried by mosquitoes, kills up to 3 million people a year worldwide and makes 300 million seriously ill. Ninety percent of deaths are in Africa south of the Sahara, mostly among young children.
Many of those lives could be saved with modern artemisinin combination therapy (ACT) drugs, which are far more effective than older treatments such as chloroquine. But a price of up to $8 to $10 per treatment puts them out of reach for many people.
"Not one soul should die of malaria," Clinton told reporters at a town outside Dar es Salaam after touring three medical stores.
Although drugmakers including Novartis and Sanofi-Aventis SA have reduced the cost of ACT medicines to around $1 when they are used in the public sector, the majority of Africans buy their medicine privately.
In Tanzania, around half of patients with malaria seek treatment through private drug shops instead of public health facilities, and most are unable to afford ACTs. Instead, they usually buy older drugs that are 20 to 30 times cheaper but are often ineffective due to drug resistance.
The pilot programme by the Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative is designed to test the practicality of subsidising ACT drugs as a way to increase their use, a foundation spokesman said. The programme will be rolled out in two areas in central Tanzania and targets 450,000 people in a year.
ACT treatments are derived from a medicinal Chinese plant and are costly to manufacture.
International organisations and governments, including those form the Netherlands and Britain, are currently considering a multimillion-dollar global subsidy plan for ACT medicines.
Awa Marie Coll-Seck, executive director of the U.N.-backed Roll Back Malaria Partnership, told reporters in London earlier this year she hoped a $300 million global scheme could be introduced as early as 2008.
Clinton, who is on a four-nation African tour of South Africa, Malawi, Zambia and Tanzania, said after meeting Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa that his foundation would provide support for skills training for medical personnel there to honour Zambia for its impressive fight against AIDS.
The former U.S president said his Clinton Foundation and UNITAIDS, a global anti-AIDS group, had agreed a deal with pharmaceutical firms to reduce prices of anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs) for poorer nations.
Prices of ARVs for poor nations will be in the region of $25 to $60 per person per year, down from about $200 per annually.
In Malawi, Clinton inspected a $70 million modern 80-bed hospital under construction in Neno, one the country's poorest districts 75 miles south of the commercial city of Blantyre.
The hospital will completed in March next year and Clinton promised to officially open it.
(Additional reporting by Ben Hirschler in London, Mabvuto Banda in Malawi and Shapi Shacinda in Zambia)

Woga wa Wabunge wa CCM, umeligharimu Taifa!?

Mara nyingi tumekuwa tukiwalaumu watendaji mbalimbali kwa kushindwa kufanya jambo hili au lile na wakati mwingine kwa kufanya jambo fulani. Tumewapigia kelele mawaziri, Waziri Mkuu, Gavana, n.k lakini kuna kikundi cha watu ambacho hadi hivi sasa hakijapewa lawama kinachostahili. Hiki ni kikundi cha wabunge waliowengi zaidi Bungeni ambao licha ya wingi wao wamekuwa wakigwaya kuisimamia serikali ipasavyo na matokeo yake ni kashfa ambazo zimekuwa zikiongozana kama lila na fila. Ni maoni yangu kuwa Wabunge wa CCM kama wangetaka wangeweza kabisa kutuondolea viongozi uchwara, wababaishaji na kuwawajibisha watendaji wa serikali. Ni nini kifanyike ili wabunge hawa hatimaye waanza kutumia nafasi na haki yao ya Kikatiba kutetea maslahi ya wananchi? Tutaendelea kungoja lini ili waamke na waanze kufanya kazi zao inavyotarajiwa na kuombewa na watu wengi? Au ndio "kilichoenda kwa mganga" hivyo tusubiri 2010?

Credit to KLH NEWS