Thursday, April 14, 2016
Saturday, April 2, 2016
Relief as Ewura reduces electricity tariff charges
All customers, regardless of the amount of power purchased and the meter tariff, have been relieved from paying monthly service charge amounting to Sh5,520.
ELECTRICITY consumers will, with effect from yesterday, no longer pay service charge while they will also benefit from a power tariff cut of up to 2.4 per cent.
However, the power tariff reduction will not apply to domestic customers consuming less than 75 units per month, who will be required to pay Sh100 per unit, a zero per cent cut.
On the other hand, residential, small commercial and light industrial users, public lighting and billboards with an average power consumption of up to 7,500 units per month will now be required to pay Sh292 per unit instead of the previous Sh298, a 2 per cent decrease.
Under the low voltage category for low tariff customers power is supplied at single phase (230V) whereas the latter consuming up to 7,500 units being supplied at a voltage of single phase (230 V) as well as three phase (400V).
All customers, regardless of the amount of power purchased and the meter tariff, have been relieved from paying monthly service charge amounting to Sh5,520.
Reduction in power tariffs comes in the wake of a review application to the Energy and Water Utilities Regulatory Authority (Ewura) in mid February by Tanzania Electric Supply Company (Tanesco) seeking the Authority’s approval to cut average power tariff by 1.1 per cent, from Sh. 274.9/kWh to Sh. 272/kWh with effectively from April , this year, including abolition of the monthly service charge.
Tanesco’s request was soon followed by a public hearing to gather views from various stakeholders, culminating in the EWURA board’s approval of the changes last week.
Ewura Director General Felix Ngamlagosi announced the new tariff rates yesterday in Dar es Salaam at a press conference. He said the approved new tariffs imply a decrease in tariff from 1.5 per cent to 2.4 per cent with immediate effect.
The Ewura chief said that fees which had been scrapped included general use and service line application fees amounting to Sh5,000.
He said Tanesco’s tariff application for 2017 had been postponed and would be resubmitted by August 31, this year, for further power tariff decrease averaging 7.9 per cent by January, 2017.
The director general added that for general use customers, where power is metered at 400V with an average consumption of more than 75,000 units, tariff would be Sh195 per unit from Sh198, a 2.3 per cent reduction.
He named companies with medium voltage connection to part with Sh157 per unit from Sh159, a reduction of 1.5 per cent.
For customers who connected to high voltage, including ZECO, Bulyanhulu Gold Mine and Twiga Cement, the new tariff would be Sh152 per unit from Sh156 per unit previously, a 2.4 per cent decrease.
According to Tanesco, the new proposed tariffs would enable it to finance its operational costs and capital investment programmes while complying with the government policy to ensure the country’s population’s access to power reached 75 per cent by 2025.
However, the general public opinion is that while a tariff reduction was possible in the long term, it was not appropriate to implement in the short term as proposed by Tanesco,
The public view is that a reduction of tariffs by 1 per cent would not be able to sustain Tanesco’s operational costs.
The Ewura Consumer Consultative Council (CCC) objected to the idea of Tanesco obtaining a loan from the Bank of Tanzania to pay its outstanding debts amounting to Sh.699.5bn, saying at the end of the day customers would be made to pay.
Ewura has also revoked the Tanesco multi-year tariff adjustment order (Order Number 13-007) and its subsequent tariff amendments.
Apart from power tariff reduction, Ewura has also ordered that penalty for consumers tempering with Tanesco metering system, customers shall be stipulated in the electricity regulations.
EWURA is issued by the following condition that Tanesco shall strictly follow the least cost merit order dispatch and submit to the authority.
Added that By 30 June 2016 Tanesco shall submit a revised capital investment programme in line with the allowed depletion and return on its regulatory asset base equivalent to Sh 351.4 bn/-, adding that any change to the plan should get approval from the Authority.
The Ewura chief announced that within six months Tanesco should submit to it an implementation plan for a metering system improvement in the distribution network to enable accurate measurement of energy and determination of system loses.
Also within six months it should come up with strategies for fighting illegal connections and eliminate delays in service provision pursuant to the customer service charter.
Tanesco should also submit to the Authority quarterly reports pertaining to revenue collection from outstanding debtors and payments made to outstanding creditors.
Ex-TRA chief, two others arraigned over $600m Stanbic Bank loan scam
Former Commissioner General of the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA), Harry Msamire Kitilya, and two former Stanbic Bank employees, yesterday appeared before the Kisutu Resident Magistrates’ Court charged with eight counts including conspiracy, forgery, money laundering and obtaining $6million (about Sh12billion) by false pretences.
Kitilya was arraigned along with Shose Mori Sinare and Sioi Graham Solomon, both former Stanbic Bank Tanzania Ltd employees.
The prosecution, led by Principal State Attorney Oswald Tibabyekomya, alleged before Principal Resident Magistrate Emmilius Mchauru that on diverse dates between August 2012 and March 2013 in Dar es Salaam the accused, together with other people not in court, conspired to obtain money by false pretences from the government of Tanzania.
It was alleged that on August 2012 at Stanbic Bank Tanzania Ltd headquarters in Dar es Salaam, Sinare, with intent to deceive, made a false Standard Bank financing proposal dated August 2, 2012 purporting to show that Standard Bank London, in collaboration with Stanbic Bank Tanzania Ltd, would raise a loan amounting to $550,000,000 for the government of Tanzania at a facilitation fee of 2.4 per cent of the principal amount, which she knew to be false.
It was further alleged that on September 20, 2012 at Stanbic Bank Tanzania Ltd headquarters, Sinare, with intent to deceive, made a false mandate letter for a proposed offer of $550m financing dated September 20, 2012 purporting to show that Standard Bank Plc, in collaboration with Stanbic Bank of Tanzania Ltd, would raise the $550m loan for the government of Tanzania.
The prosecution further alleged that Sinare would have facilitated the deal by engaging as a lead manager with a facilitation fee of 2.4 per cent of the principal amount, which she knew to be false.
On August 21, 2012 at the Ministry of Finance offices, Sinare fraudulently uttered a false mandate letter for the proposed offer of $550m, said the prosecution.
The sixth count, for all the accused persons , alleged that in November 2012 at Stanbic Bank Tanzania Ltd main office the accused, with intent to deceive, made a false collaboration agreement dated November 5, 2012 purporting to show that Stanbic Bank Tanzania Ltd had established a consortium to collaborate with Enterprises Growth Market Advisors (EGMA) Ltd to arrange for financing the said $550m to the government of Tanzania under which terms EGMA would arrange for negotiation and meetings involving the financing to the government, review finance documents and facilitate the provision of relevant documents or approvals that would be required by relevant Tanzania authorities, which they knew to be false.
The seventh count alleged that on diverse dates in March 2013, all the accused, with intent to defraud, obtained from the government of Tanzania $6m by falsely pretending that the said money was a facilitation fee payable to EGMA for facilitating, together with Stanbic Bank Tanzania, a $600m loan to the government.
The eighth count was on money laundering in which the prosecution alleged that on diverse dates between March 2013 and September 2015 the accused directly engaged themselves in a transaction involving $6m by transferring, withdrawing and depositing the money relating to that transaction in bank account numbers 0240026633702, 0240026633701 and 9120001251935 maintained by EGMA at Stanbic Bank Tanzania Limited, and bank account numbers 3300605539 and 3300603692 maintained by EGMA at KCB Bank Limited, while they ought to have known that the said money was proceeds of forgery.
The accused pleaded not guilty to the charges and were remanded until April 6, this year, when their case comes up for ruling on bail application.
However, cases involving money laundering are not bailable. In another development, PCCB yesterday arraigned Sumve MP, Richard Mganga Ndassa, for soliciting a Sh30 million bribe from the chief executive officer of Tanzania Electric Supply Company (TANESCO), Felchesmi Mramba.
The arraignment of Ndassa brings to four the number of MPs from the ruling party who have been charged in court by the Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB) for soliciting bribes. On Thursday, the anti-corruption watchdog charged three MPs - Suleiman Ahmed Saddiq, Kangi Lugola and Victor Mwambalaswa - with soliciting a bribe totaling Sh30 million.
PCCB prosecutors Dennis Lekayo and Emmanuel Jacob told the court that Ndassa had asked for a Sh30million bribe from Mramba.
The prosecutors said the MP had promised the Tanesco boss that he would have helped him in convincing other MPs on his committee to approve the firm’s accounts for financial year 2015/2016 without discussing its contents.
Mixed feelings over JPM's salary
It began as an April Fools Day hoax when a word had it that President John Magufuli (pictured) who was on leave in his native Chato district in Geita Region announced his salary yesterday.
“It could be an April Fools Day joke,” remarked a heavyweight opposition politician on hearing that the once tabooed news about presidential salary has been broken right in a morning television talk show.
He thought he was taken for a ride typical of the day when people feel free to spread lies regardless of the consequences.
But the politician turned out to be wrong as the President, seemingly out of touch of nuances of the day, had indeed revealed his monthly salary of Sh9.5m with a promise to flash his salary slips to public on his return from leave when there would be no longer an April day to fool the people.
However, it was a revelation that would be received with mixed reactions involving both criticisms and pets on his back.
While some experts said the President was simply trying to send a message to public servants who fetches phenomenal salaries with no apparent reasons, others argued it was an openness worth encouragement in a society where the earning should match the toiling.
President Magufuli’s declaration came a day after a group of outspoken law makers demanded he broke the traditional presidential culture of silence, to spell out details of his monthly salary in public.
Dr Benson Bana, head of Political Science and Public Administration at the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM), hailed the move suggesting the President to set a defined policy over the system in which workers would be paid in concurrence with respective performance.
He condemned the adopted pattern in which chief executive officers in the public sector would pretend to have super brains and allocate themselves huge salaries in a situation where most duties in their entities would be performed by their subordinates.
A political science lecturer at the UDSM, Dr. Bashiru Ally said public servants getting higher salaries should not be perceived as thieves, but “the important issue should be to establish whether they amount they are paid is relevant to what they are doing.”
He suggested that the President should push for amendments of some laws aimed at regulating salaries for public servants before fully-fledged involvement in the move.
“In fact, I never expected that the President was paid such a low salary,” he said.
He said the important issue to discuss was not the amount that one was paid but a focus on cost benefits analysis over how some were paid higher than others. “Economically we are looking for production efficiency and not political efficiency,” he said.
A Mzumbe University senior economics lecturer, Prof Honest Ngowi, wanted the President to announce his whole package including allowances.
“I don’t believe that the President is paid that low. If it is true he will be the first president to be paid such small amount of salary.”
President Magufuli this week vowed to slash salaries of top executives in public corporations and agencies saying some of them were getting alarmingly huge salaries.
Addressing a public rally in his home town of Chato, President Magufuli said starting from next financial year, no executive of a public institution would be paid more than Sh15m a month.
Where are the drug kingpins? Query MPs
Members of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on HIV/ AIDS and Narcotics yesterday demanded government explanations on action taken against suspected drug kingpins whose names were forwarded to retired President Jakaya Kikwete.
They said such illicit trade has put the country on edge despite efforts being taken to address the menace which adversely impacts on the country’s economy.
During the former president’s later years, he was quoted as saying he had a list of drug barons drizzling the country with illicit drugs that destroy youth, thus raising public anxiety on what would follow next.
Recent moves to control drug trafficking and manufacturing locally have led to some members of the Parliamentary Committee demanding to know actions taken by the police following the former president’s revelations.
They told officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs that the country depended on the police force to counter drug trafficking.
Chadema Special Seats MP Grace Tendega said trafficking has become a big problem, questioning police actions against those in the list of suspects as drug barons presented to the former president.
“We need to know actions taken so far regarding the list of drug barons presented to the fourth phase president,” she queried.
Tendega also demanded to know the person behind the all the delays in concluding court cases involving drug dealers as they take a long time to be completed even when the Police have exhibits in hand.
She also accused the Police Force of delaying to destroy seized narcotics already been used as exhibit in court, expressing fears that such drugs could be infiltrated into the local market by untrustworthy police officers.
“We visited the warehouse where impounded narcotic drugs are kept as exhibits. The storage is poor, a situation which may enable the police in charge to be tempted to sell some of them thus causing more problems to the country… You need to improve its storage and destroy them immediately once the cases are concluded in court,” she said.
Another committee member, Zuberi Kachauka said that if the list of drug dealers presented to the fourth phase president lacks enough evidence to arrest the suspects, “police were supposed to find another way of dealing with the suspects to establish the truth.
“The former president once confirmed to have a list of drug dealers and the police were supposed to start from there to investigate the suspects … if having names is not enough evidence the government could call them and request them to stop the illicit trade,” he said. The MP also demanded to know why the coast of East Africa is currently becoming a transit hub for illicit drugs.
Ukonga MP Mwita Waitara (Chadema) said that changing of drugs exhibits has been drawing back efforts to fight against the vice.
He said that police have been impounding drugs but when demanded to tender them as exhibits in court they only say that they were not narcotics.
Singida West MP Elibariki Kingu said that the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) needs to speed up the process of filing cases related to illicit drugs.
Kingu cited a case facing a suspected drug kingpin, Ali Khatib Haji Hassan, also known as Shkuba, saying that the case has been at the court for four years without being concluded.
He said that the Government Chemist had never been asked to submit to the court any exhibit relating to that case. Responding, Home Affairs Minister Charles Kitwanga said that he had never come across the list of drug barons, insisting that police were working to ensure that they establish a system which will help to identify all drug dealers.
“We want to establish a system which will help to identify suppliers, distributers and users and take action against them… the list might be available but the important issue here is to identify them,” the minister said.
For his part, Inspector General of Police Ernest Mangu said that cases related to illicit drugs are complicated and delays to conclude them are caused by many stakeholders.
He said that the police cannot file illicit drug cases in court without proof from the Government Chemist that the samples taken were illicit drugs.
TZ trains medics for EAC cross-border diseases
Tanzania and other East African Community (EAC) member states have embarked in a mission to train 25 laboratory technicians and medical doctors to diagnose and treat cross-border diseases.
But the World Bank-sponsored joint-project titled; ‘East Africa Public Health Laboratory Networking’ is primarily carried out by Tanzania’s Ministry of Health Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children.
“Scientists to be trained will have the capacity to improve the cross-border laboratories and be able to diagnose and provide accurate results for the given diseases,” Director of the National Health Laboratory Quality Assurance in the health ministry Dr Fausta Mosha told reporters in Dar es Salaam on Thursday.
The training hosted by Muhimbili Health and Allied Sciences is part of the implementation of the project that commenced in 2001 through 2020.
“We want to see our laboratories reflect the five stars international standard like others in the neighboring countries,” she said, elaborating that the project was focused on mitigating the rise of transmitting diseases that result from people’s movement across the bloc.
She said so far the project has managed to launch several laboratories including Ndanda in Mtwara and in Mbeya to diagnose Ebola disease, Kibong’oto TB laboratory in Kilimanjaro while construction work for a Bio-safety III laboratory in Dar es Salaam is at its touches.
Chairman for Training and Capacity Building Prof. Appolinary Kamuhabwa said the five-week training will cover relevant courses including laboratory management, financing performance as well as laboratory accreditation.
“As cross-border deseases keep on multiplying, health workers should be equipped with skills to diagnose samples of diseases,” said the professo, adding: “but it will also cover areas of ICT and laboratory rehabilitation.”
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