First Ladies of countries throughout Africa pose for a photo Monday, April 20, 2009, at the African First Ladies Health Summit in Los Angeles. Standing back row from left: Ida Odinga wife of Kenyan prime minister; Hadjia Laraba Tandja of Niger; Penehupifo Pohamba of Namibia; Thandiwe Banda of Zambia; Maria da Luz Dai Guebuza of Mozambique; Mathato Sarah Mosisili of Lesotho and Sia Nyama Koroma of Sierra Leone. Seated front row from left: Adelcia Barreto Pires of Cape Verde; Chantal Biya of Cameroon; Ana Paula Dos Santos of Angola; Queen Inkhosikati LaMbikiza of Swaziland and Dr. Turai Umaru Yar'Adua of Nigeria.

WAPI MAMA YETU SALMA?

Utaalamu wa ukwezi wa mnazi na jinsi ya kulichuna dafu.

Katika hali ambayo haikutegemewa, Mzee Mandela ajitokeza katika mkutano wa kampeni za mwisho mwisho kabda ya uchaguzi wa tarehe 22 mwezi huu, kuonyesha kumuunga mkono kwake mgombea wa ANC bwana Jacob Zuma. Mzee Mandela alitumia nafasi hiyo kuwakumbushia ANC ya kuwa wanajukumu la kuondoa umasikini na kuleta umoja nchini Afrika ya Kusini. Mamilioni ya watu bado wanaishi katika hali ya dhiki kama inavyoonyesha picha ya pili toka chini. Picha ya juu anaonekana Mzee Mandela akisaidiwa kushuka jukwaani na Zuma mara baada ya mkutano huo wa kampeni.

Malawi ex-president endorses rival for elections

Malawi's ex-president Bakili Muluzi has endorsed a political rival to be the main opposition presidential candidate in elections next month, a week after their parties formed an alliance.
Muluzi, leader of the United Democratic Front (UDF), decided to back Malawi Congress Party (MDC) chief John Tembo against President Bingu wa Mutharika and five other candidates in the May 19 election.
"I want to assure you honorable Tembo that we will support you as a presidential candidate. There is need to field one presidential candidate," he told Tembo before 5,000 people at a joint rally in Blantyre late Saturday.
While Muluzi agreed to back Tembo for the presidential race, he said the two parties will maintain their identities and party symbols and separately fight the parliamentary elections.
"We will vote for our candidates and the MCP will also vote for their own candidates... that is what politics is all about," Muluzi added.
The election commission last month rejected Muluzi's own bid to run for election for a third time.
The commission ruled that he had already hit a two-term limit after serving from 1994 to 2004, after toppling the notorious former dictator Kamuzu Banda.
Corruption charges against Muluzi have overshadowed his bid to return to power.
He was charged in February by the Anti-Corruption Bureau with dozens of graft counts over the alleged theft of 12 million dollars in aid money.

Masanamu ya Obama na Malkia Elizabeth pale London.

Mashine ya kukoboa na kusaga ya kienyeji. Haya ni mazowezi mojawapo wayapatayo kina mama wa vijijini bila hata ya kwenda gym.

Raisi Kikwete akiwa katika picha ya pamoja kutoka kushoto - Nahodha Vuai(Waziri Kiongozi-Zanzibari), Shein(Makamu wa Raisi) na Karume(Raisi wa Zanzibari).

Uchaguzi Mkuu nchini mwetu huko njiani na bado mpaka wa leo hatujaweza kulipatia ufumbuzi lile suala linalojulikana kama "Matatizo ya Muungano". Ukitizama kwa undani sana utaona ya kuwa hatutaweza kulitatua tatizo la muungano bila ya kwanza kutafuta ufumbuzi wa mvutano kati ya visiwa vya Pemba na Unguja. La kwanza linalotakiwa kufanyika ni kufikiria nani aingie baada ya Karume kumaliza. Hili linatakiwa lifanyike kwa busara sana kama kweli tuna nia ya kuuendeleza huu muungano. Kisiwa kipi atatoka na ni nani atafuata baada ya Karume ni muhimu sana kuzingatiwa. Kuna uwezekano sana wa kuwa na majina mengi watakaotaka kuwania Uraisi Zanzibari, ikiwa ni pamoja na Waziri Kiongozi wa sasa, pamoja na kina Bilal, Sharif Hamad na wengineo lakini Shein anaweza kuwa ndio chaguo zuri zaidi. Usalama na Uimara wa Tanzania uko ndani ya Muungano na ndio maana tunauhitaji uendelee kuwepo.

University of Connecticut's Hasheem Thabeet, a 7-foot-3 center from Tanzania, has decided to enter the National Basketball Association draft, the university said Tuesday.
Thabeet, a two-time defensive player of the year in the Big East conference in which Connecticut plays, averaged 13.6 points, 10.8 rebounds and 4.2 blocked shots per game in helping the Huskies to a 31-5 record and a Final Four berth in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) tournament.
"After spending time with my family and friends and speaking with Coach (Jim) Calhoun, I have decided to give up my final year at UConn and enter my name in the 2009 NBA Draft," Thabeet said in a statement released by the university.
"I have had a great experience at Connecticut and cannot thank my coaches and teammates enough. I look forward to the challenge of playing professionally and know that my time here at UConn has prepared me to be successful in the future.
"I also want to thank all of the fans in Husky Nation that have followed my career, especially those from my homeland of Tanzania, and hope they will all be as supportive of me at the professional level as they have been to this point."
Calhoun called Thabeet "one of the most dominant defensive players in the history of college basketball."
"I am certain that wherever he ends up in the NBA, he is ready to be equally successful," Calhoun said. "He is a special player and even more special as a person."

South Africa faces "failed state'" risk if ANC win: opposition

South Africa risks becoming a failed state if the ruling ANC wins a two-thirds majority in general elections on April 22, the leader of the main opposition Democratic Alliance said on Monday. Although it faces its toughest electoral challenge since the first post-apartheid elections were held in 1994, the African National Congress expects to win the vote by the two-thirds majority that would give it the power to change the constitution and extend its post-apartheid political dominance.
ANC president Jacob Zuma is also widely expected to become president of Africa's biggest economic power after the national and provincial elections next week.
"The choice in this election is very simply this: will South Africa become a successful democracy or will we end up a failed state?" DA leader Helen Zille told journalists on the final leg of her election campaign.
"And if we give Zuma and the ANC a two-thirds majority we are immensely increasing the likelihood of the downward spiral," she said.
Zille said there were indications the ANC intended to amend the constitution and limit the power of municipalities.
"If the ANC gets a two-thirds majority we would have lost this critical opportunity to ensure that we hold the power-abusers accountable and not give them carte blanche to continue abusing their power more and more," Zille said.
The ANC is still respected for its long fight against white-minority rule, but critics say it has betrayed the struggle since coming to power in 1994.
Analysts say the breakaway Congress of the People (COPE), formed by ANC dissidents, could reduce the ANC's parliamentary dominance in the face of growing public anger over graft, poor services, poverty and crime.
Prosecutors last week dropped corruption charges against Zuma, giving the ANC an election boost and ending years of legal battles for the ruling party's leader.
But analysts say the decision has raised concerns over the independence of the judiciary and will continue to cloud any Zuma presidency because the matter was never settled in court.
Zuma maintains his innocence and says the charges were politically motivated to prevent him becoming president.

Hii ni baadhi tuu ya madhara yanayosababishwa na ufisadi. Je tutafika...?

UZALENDO KWA BENDERA!!

NAWATAKIA KHERI YA PASAKA

NA

MAISHA MAREFU

YENYE

AFYA NJEMA NA AMANI.

Kwa wale ambao mko nje ya Bongo kwa kipindi... je mnaweza kukumbuka hii mitaa ya Dar? Si vibaya tukawa tunakumbushana kumbushana vijimitaa tulivyokulia!! Msaada kwa wanaokumbuka.

Maraisi wetu wa awamu ya pili, tatu na nne wakiwa kwenye mapozi na wake zao.

Kwa wale ambao hakupata bahati ya kuitumia pesa hii, si vibaya tukakumbushana kwani Tanzania yetu imetoka mbali.

Mdau akiparamia dala dala la Ubungo - Msasani. Mimi nadhani ili kupunguza vurugu za haya madala dala, inabidi Serikali ya Jiji iyawekee utaratibu mzuri mojawapo ikiwa ni muda(interval) wa kuchukua abiria vituoni. Hii inaweza kuondoa ile tabia ya kuwahi abiria vituoni ambayo husababisa ajali na foleni kubwa mabarabarani.

MAO PRODUCTIONS

Easter Party

Spinning the best from Africa

Sat April 11th, 2009

@ THE CALABASH
12 E FIRST ST
MT. VERNON,NY 10550

ADMISSION $5.00 b4 midnite & $10 after

DIRECTIONS AND INFO (917)709 6889

Wanyarwanda na Dunia kwa ujumla leo inaazimisha miaka 15 ya kumbukumbu ya mauaji ya watu 800,000 wa Rwanda ya mwaka 1994. Hatutasahau jinsi Dunia ilivyokiachia kitendo hiki kutokea wakati kulikuwa na uwezekano wa kukizuia au kupunguza ukubwa wa janga hili. Warwanda waliachwa wauwane wenyewe kwa wenyewe huku mataifa makubwa yenye uwezo wakiwafumbia macho kana kwamba Rwanda haikuwa katika jamii ya Kimataifa. Pamoja na yote yaliyotokea, wananchi wa Rwanda wameweza kuweka pembeni chuki baina yao na kutambua kuwa msamaha ndio njia ya kwenda mbele kuijenga tena Rwanda. Hongereni!!!

DURBAN, South Africa – Jacob Zuma, the man slated to become South Africa's next leader, declared himself vindicated Tuesday after prosecutors formally withdrew corruption charges just two weeks before the national election.
Zuma said the charges were "political and manipulative," and aimed at destroying his aspirations to become president. His opponents, however, said the move by prosecutors to drop the case was yet another case of political manipulation and called for a judicial review of the decision.
The High Court in Durban on Tuesday formally dropped charges in the eight-year saga, a day after the nation's top prosecutor acknowledged that the case had been tainted by misconduct but insisted that the charges themselves were solid.
Zuma, a 66-year-old former guerrilla fighter and intelligence chief of the governing African National Congress party he now leads, is almost certain to become president after the April 22 election given his party's dominance.
"My conscience is clear," he told a news conference in Durban on Tuesday. "I have not committed any crime against the state or the people of South Africa."
But the failure of a court to ultimately establish Zuma's innocence or guilt provoked protest Tuesday.
"It may have spared Zuma a trial, but it has damned him and the ANC to the enduring hell of suspicion and doubt," Business Day newspaper said.
The Cape Times, in a front-page editorial, said: "It is a great pity that we may never know whether the hands of the country's next president are clean or not."
Main opposition leader Helen Zille on Tuesday sought a judicial review of the decision. "This is political stage management disguised as legal procedure," said Zille of the Democratic Alliance party.
Zuma was greeted with cheers and chants from hundreds of supporters Tuesday outside the Durban courthouse where the charges were dropped. Some people climbed into trees to get a better view of him. Zuma addressed the crowd in Zulu for nearly an hour and urged them to put the matter behind them.
"We can't waste time; we need to develop the country and our people," Zuma said to applause. "This is now history. Let's go forward."
Zuma was accused of seeking bribes to thwart an investigation into wrongdoing by a French arms company involved in a massive weapons deal in the late 1990s. Prosecutors also have withdrawn charges against the company.
Mokotedi Mpshe, acting director of public prosecutions, said Monday that key prosecutors had abused their powers in pursuing the case against Zuma by trying to time an announcement of charges against him with a key ANC conference in late 2007, presumably to undermine his bid to become party president. Zuma ultimately won the leadership race at that conference.
The decision to drop the charges, coming just two weeks before national elections expected to be swept by the ANC, also was questioned. The National Prosecuting Authority has maintained that its decision was not timed to the election.
"Two weeks before the election, (the National Prosecuting Authority) has caved in to political pressure from the Jacob Zuma faction of the ANC, and discontinued a prosecution selectively," the Democratic Alliance said in a statement.
The dropped charges against Zuma are believed to be a minor sideshow in a scandal in which tens of millions of dollars allegedly were paid in bribes to secure contracts in the multibillion-dollar arms deal soon after democracy came to South Africa in 1994.
Seven countries — including Britain, France and Germany — as well as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development are investigating companies alleged to have paid the bribes. Three books have been written about it.
But South African officials steadfastly have refused demands from several quarters for an independent commission of inquiry. Some had hoped that getting Zuma on the witness stand would bring out the truth since he once threatened that he would not be the only one to fall.
In 2005, Zuma's friend and financial adviser Shabir Shaik was sentenced to 15 years in jail for fraud and corruption for securing bribes equivalent to $61,000 a year for Zuma to shield a French arms company from corruption investigations. Prosecutors said then there was enough evidence to convict Zuma.
Zuma was initially charged in 2005, but the case was dismissed in 2006. He was charged again in December 2007, days after he ousted then-President Thabo Mbeki as ANC president.
The corruption allegations, though, have not affected Zuma's support among a grass-roots base of impoverished black South Africans who believe his promises to transform basic needs like housing, education and health that have remained inadequate as a small ANC elite has become billionaires.
Support was not even affected by rape charges in 2006, which ended in Zuma's acquittal. He outraged some, though, by testifying that he had unprotected, consensual sex with an HIV-positive family friend and then took a shower in the belief it would protect him from the virus.
Zuma has threatened in the past to sue award-winning cartoonist Jonathan Shapiro for depicting him with a showerhead over his bald head. Earlier this year, the ANC was angered by a Sunday Times cartoon depicting Zuma preparing to rape justice. The Times said the cartoon was a comment on accusations Zuma was undermining justice with a protest campaign to have the corruption charges against him dropped.
On Tuesday, the Afrikaans-language newspaper Beeld ran a cartoon with the chief prosecutor replacing the showerhead with a halo.
___

Raisi Mugabe anaonekana kuchekelea baada ya kukutana na wafanya biashara wa Afrika ya Kusini ambao walimuhakikishia kuendelea kuwekeza nchini mwake ili kumsaidia kurekebisha uchumi wa Zimbabwe.

Wanaomunga mkono mgombea wa uraisi wa ANC bwana ZUMA, wakishangilia matokeo ya maamuzi ya mwendesha mashtaka kuondoa madai ya kumfikisha mahakamani bwana Zuma na kwamba hana tena kesi ya kujibu. Uamuzi huu unampa nafasi kubwa ya ushindi kwenye uchaguzi ujao wa April 22, wa raisi wa Afrika ya kusini.

Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni addresses delegates during the North-South Corridor Conference on infrastructure development at the Mulungushi International Conference Centre in Lusaka April 6, 2009. Uganda will construct a $1.2 billion dam from its own resources to boost power generation, President Museveni told the southern and central Africa conference.

Waziri wa Sheria wa Kenya, Martha Karua(pichani) ajiuzuru.

Waziri Mkuu wa Kenya Raila Odinga amshutumu Raisi Mwai Kibaki kwa kushindwa kutekeleza makubaliano ya yaliyomo kwenye kuundwa kwa Serikali ya mseto.

Msaada Tutani

Pole kwa majukumu! na hongera kwa kutupasha habari mbalimbali, mimi ninaomba yoyote anae fahamu contact za ROBERT AKUKU, naomba tuwasiliane nae kupitia email- rrhobi@yahoo.com , huyu tulipotezana nae miaka ya 2001 uko Msoma-Serengeti, au kama yeye mwenyewe ameona ujumbe u naomba tuwasiliane nae.

Nashukuru

-Rhobi Richard-

Yoweri Musevenyi inabidi ambiwe "sasa toka imetosha". Mwalimu kaondoka kamuwacha, akaja Mzee Mwinyi naye kamaliza vipindi vyake viwili...jamaa bado yupo! Kaingia Mkapa na mpaka anamaliza...jamaa bado yupo! Sasa JK...jamaa bado yupo. Huyu bwana vipi huyu? Kama mheshimiwa Moi aliweza kutoka kwa nini isiwe yeye?

Inaonekana kuna jamaa Bongo walimzimia bwana Kichaka mpaka sura yake kwenye mabasi!

Hapo juu ndiye baba mzazi wa mtoto David Banda, kwa jina anaitwa Yohane Banda. Nahisi jamaa lazima atakuwa anasaidiwa vidola kidogo. Ukweli ni kwamba mwanawe yuko kwenye malezi bora kuliko haliyokuwa nayo mwanzoni.

US President Barack Obama (L), Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi (C) and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev pose for a family photo during the G20 summit at the ExCel centre, in east London. Medvedev hailed Obama as "my new comrade" Thursday after their first face-to-face talks, saying the US president "can listen" -- even if little progress was made on substance.

ADDS FULL LIST OF NAMES TO LEADERS SEEN ** G20 leaders gathered in London, Wednesday, April 1, 2009, are pictured with Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, center, at London's Buckingham Palace. Back from left: Mr Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund; Ban Ki-moon, Secretary General of the United Nations; Pascal Lamy, Director General of the World Trade Organisation; Abhisit Vejjajiva, Chair of ASEAN and Prime Minister of Thailand; Silvio Berlusconi, Prime Minister of Italy; Taro Aso, Prime Minister of Japan; Mirek Topolanek, President of the European Council;Professor Mario Draghi, Chairman of the Financial Stability Forum; Robert Zoellick, President of the World Bank. Middle from left: Kevin Rudd, Prime Minister of Australia; Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada; Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany; Jose Luis Zapatero, Prime Minister of Spain; Jan Peter Balkenende, Prime Minister of the Netherlands; Kgalema Motlanthe, President of South Africa; Barack Obama, President of the United States of America; Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Prime Minister of Turkey; Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India; Jose Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission; Meles Zenawi Chair of NEPAD and Prime Minister of Ethiopia). Front from left: Lee Myung-bak, President of Korea; Nicolas Sarkozy, President of France; King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia; Hu Jintao, President of China; Gordon Brown, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom; Queen Elizabeth II; Luiz Innacio Lula da Silva, President of Brazil; Susilo, Bambang Yudhoyono, President of Indonesia; Felipe Calderon, President of Mexico; Cristina Kirchner, President of Argentina; Dmitry A Medvedev, President of Russia.

Raisi Kgalema Motlanthe wa Afrika ya Kusini ndiye kiongozi pekee toka Barani Afrika aliyepata mwaliko wa kwenda kuwasikiliza na labda kutoa kasauti kidogo pale London kwenye mkutano wa wakubwa wa G20. Hivi ni lini Afrika tutapata nafasi ya uwakilishi wa kutosha inapokuja masuala ya dunia hii?

Hukumu imetolewa kwa watu watatu ambao wanasadikiwa kuhusika na mauaji ya mwanamusiki wa Kimataifa wa musiki wa ragga toka Afrika ya Kusini bwana Lucky Dube. Hukumu hiyo imetolewa na Jaji Senu Moshindi wa Mahakama Kuu huko South Ganteng jijini Johannesburg. Pichani wahutumiwa hao toka kushoto ni: Sifiso Mhlanga, Julio Shirindza na Mbuti Mabe.

Mining Companies 'Stealing Millions' from Africa

Tax evasion by international mining companies operating in countries across Africa is depriving African governments of much-needed revenues that could be used to fight poverty, says a coalition of development groups in a new report.
"Mining companies have long ensured that they pay as little tax as possible to the countries that own such resources. As a result, the citizens of mineral-rich countries continue to live in poverty," says report editor Kato Lambrechts.
"Breaking the Curse: How Transparent Taxation and Fair Taxes Can Turn Africa's Mineral Wealth into Development" spotlights mining taxation and transparency in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Malawi, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, and Zambia. The report estimates that Ghana, where gold accounts for 90 percent of exports, lost nearly $400 million in potential revenues between 1990 and 2007 due to tax allowances and "lack of expertise in the revenue collection authority." Meanwhile, "in Tanzania, no mining company, other than AngloGold Ashanti, had paid corporate income tax by the end of 2008 -- ten years after industrial mining began in the country."
Mining Companies Deprive Africa of Millions in Lost Revenue
From: ActionAid, Christian Aid, Southern Africa Resource Watch, Tax Justice Network Africa, and Third World Network Africa
Wednesday 25th March 2009
Mining companies routinely deprive African countries of huge amounts of tax revenue that could be used to combat poverty, a new report reveals today.
Breaking the Curse: How Transparent Taxation and Fair Taxes can Turn Africa’s Mineral Wealth into Development highlights the methods mining companies use to pay as little tax as possible. These include:
Forcing governments to grant tax subsidies and concessions by threatening to go elsewhere if they are not forthcoming
Insisting mining contracts signed with governments remain secret. Some governments, also anxious the contracts are not held up to public scrutiny – are happy to oblige.
Using the secrecy surrounding contracts to pursue aggressive tax avoidance strategies.
In at least one country, the Democratic Republic of Congo, (DRC), there have been allegations of corrupt politicians awarding illegal tax exemptions to mining companies in return for private gain.
False accounting used, the report alleges, to enable companies to artificially depress profits in countries where they operate to evade tax.
The report has been jointly published by ActionAid, Christian Aid, Third World Network Africa, Tax Justice Network Africa, and Southern Africa Resource Watch.
“One practical step to addressing poverty in Africa is to ensure that all multinational mining companies pay equitable amounts of tax,” said Brian Kagoro, ActionAid’s Pan African Policy Manager.
“If they did, governments could fund social welfare programmes with revenue generated from taxes rather than seeking to borrow money externally.
“Mining contracts and payments to governments need to be subjected to rigorous parliamentary scrutiny to improve accountability in this sector.
“And we need to strengthen the capacity of national regulatory tax authorities as well as rationalise international accounting standards to ensure compliance,” he added.
The report warns that although some attempts at reform are now being made in countries like Tanzania and Zambia, they could founder because of the recent crash in international mineral prices.
Governments across Africa are finding their negotiating capacity vis-à-vis mining companies suddenly diminished.
Those who have already started reforming their old mining tax regimes or renegotiating mining contracts are now facing enormous pressure from companies to reverse these tax reforms in response to falling international prices.
Report editor Kato Lambrechts, from Christian Aid’s Africa policy unit, said: “The record amounts various minerals fetched until the bubble burst last year meant little or nothing to ordinary Africans.
“Mining companies have long ensured that they pay as little tax as possible to the countries that own such resources. As a result, the citizens of mineral-rich countries continue to live in poverty.
“The losses are fuelled by a lack of transparency concerning the financial remittances mining companies make to government institutions, coupled with the inability of revenue departments in poorer countries to audit the complicated accounts of multinational mining companies.”
The laws, policies, and institutions that govern the financial payments made by mining corporations to governments need comprehensive reform.
Among the report’s recommendations is a call for a new international accounting standard that would require multinational extractive companies to report on their profits, expenditures, taxes, fees and community grants paid in each financial year in each country where they operate.