DAR ES SALAAM, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- Tanzania's Zanzibar authorities said on Monday they have invested over 230 million Tanzanian shillings (around 0.1 million dollars) in the construction of a terrace to obstruct salty seawater from flowing into Mjananza agricultural valley on Pemba Island.
Saada Mkuya Salum, the Minister of State in the First Vice-President's Office, told the House of Representatives that the project will be financed under the National Environment Management Council's (NEMC) Climate Change Fund.
She made the remarks when she responded to a Representative for Pandani constituency, Omar Fakih Hamad, who wanted to know efforts the government was taking to protect farmers against invasive salty seawater from the Indian Ocean along the eastern Pemba coastal belt.
Salum said the project is scheduled to start this month, adding that the successful execution of the project will enable Mjananza farmers to continue with their farming activities smoothly.
Salum said Zanzibar, like many other parts of the world, has been adversely affected by climate change, which led to disasters like tsunami, hurricanes, floods, droughts and excessive rains.
She said the government is taking various measures to mitigate the effects of climate change, citing mangrove planting and construction of terraces along the coast as some of the initiatives. Xinhua
Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga has revealed that he sacked DP William Ruto when he was the Minister for Agriculture for stealing maize.
While speaking in Mombasa on Sunday, February 20, the ODM leader stated that he was the one who employed William Ruto during the grand coalition government and sacked him over graft before Mwai Kibaki moved him into the higher education ministry.
“Huyo Ruto mimi niliajiri yeye, kama Waziri yangu ya Kilimo alipoiba mahindi nikafuta yeye, Kibaki akamuokoa , akampeleka Higher Education,” (I employed Ruto as the Agriculture Minister, but when he stole maize I sacked him, it is President Kibaki who gave him a lifeline by appointing him as a Minister for Higher Education). The former Premier stated.
Photo of ODM leader Raila Odinga while meeting governors in Naivasha. Image courtesy
Raila went on to refute claims that he is a government project stating that President Uhuru was his junior during the grand coalition government.
“I picked Musalia Mudavadi as my deputy, together with Uhuru Kenyatta. How can I be his project?” he posed.
The ODM leader urged coastal residents to continue supporting his candidacy, promising a huge economic revolution aimed at raising the country’s standard of living.
Raila restated his administration’s commitment to establishing a social protection fund for all poor families, with each family receiving a monthly stipend of Ksh 6000. Source:By Ezra Nyakundi, KDRTV
The Covid-19 pandemic has arguably been one of the greatest challenges faced by many people in their lifetime.
There is no question that it has put enormous strain on public health systems and healthcare workers.
“It changed the way we live, socialise and work, disrupting vital aspects of our lives,” points out Mimi Kalinda, a seasoned communications professional. “These changes have had a massive impact on our emotional well-being. Bereavement, isolation, loss of income and anxiety have triggered mental health conditions and exacerbated exiting ones. Around the world, mental health started to become a growing concern for people irrespective of age, demographics or income groups.”
While Covid-19 has resulted in a growing need for mental health services globally, in Africa funding for much needed mental health services was either disrupted or halted as a result of the pandemic3. Mental health conditions on the continent are often not addressed as a result of the stigma attached to mental illness, coupled with a lack of government budget. Even prior to the pandemic, the continent had one of the lowest mental health public expenditure rates globally.
If the bad news is that Covid-19 exacerbated mental health, the good news is that a growing number of studies are pointing to the fact that receiving the Covid-19 vaccine results in significant improvements in mental health.
This is primarily due to the fact that vaccinations have proved to reduce the risks associated with contracting Covid-19, which in turns lessens general anxiety. Those who are vaccinated are increasingly reporting reduced anxiety and depression compared to those who choose not to get vaccinated. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0256406
“After a period in which many people felt disempowered, getting the vaccine and knowing you have some protection against the risk of severe disease provides a sense of control and lessens feelings of anxiety. It also provides hope that your life will return to a semblance of normality,” says Kalinda.
“All indications are that when you reduce your health risks – through the vaccine, for example – mental distress will be similarly reduced.”
Around the world businesses, restaurants, airlines and other public establishments are starting to check people’s vaccination status, with entry reserved for those who are vaccinated.
“In a highly unpredictable environment, vaccinations appear to be the only way in which society will see a return to a semblance of normality. It is looking increasingly likely that the civil liberties we took so for granted in a pre-pandemic world will only be returned to us if we are vaccinated,” concludes Kalinda. By Carême Kouamé, AMA
Knowledge is one of the greatest gifts we can pass to our children. Unfortunately, knowledge is often viewed as something that we need to get to be able to get something else. But gaining knowledge can be a reward, one that opens up our minds and our lives before real change can be brought about in reality. Imagine if all students understood the transformative nature of knowledge. They would be banging on the door to be let into lessons.
Truly great creators are also great learners. Take Leonardo Da Vinci. He was an illegitimate child of a wealthy notary (back when being illegitimate was a hurdle). Da Vinci was fascinated with learning and discovering. So much so that it would take science 450 years to catch up with his discoveries in fluid dynamics.
He realised at an early age that much of the knowledge he craved was only available in Latin, and because of his circumstances he was barred from a formal education. His solution? He taught himself Latin (no mean feat) so he could gain the knowledge he craved. Da Vinci is known as a polymath – someone whose knowledge extends across multiple areas. He was a genius – but largely self-taught. Da Vinci knew the transformative nature of knowledge.
Another hero of mine is Marie Curie – the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, the first person to win the Nobel Prize twice, and the only person to win the Nobel Prize in two scientific fields. Impressive! Her accomplishments are even more astonishing because they were made back when women were wrongly considered to be intellectually inferior to men.
During World War I she developed mobile radiography units to provide X-ray services to field hospitals. Recognising an urgent need for field radiological centres near the front lines, she set about accumulating knowledge on radiology, anatomy, and automotive mechanics, and after buying X-ray equipment, vehicles, and auxiliary generators, she developed mobile radiography units. Known as ‘Little Curies’, her invention is thought to have treated over a million wounded soldiers. All from a thirst for knowledge.
Both demonstrate the last part of the word knowledge: edge. They were on the edges of society, all rejected or diminished in some way: Da Vinci for being illegitimate; Curie for being a woman in a misogynous era. But they ignored that edge and went to the edge of their capabilities, using knowledge and learning as fuel to their ambitions. And both changed the world as a result. So how do we encourage children in the classroom and at home to go to the edge in the search for knowledge? Here are three suggestions:
Be the change
We've all heard the saying, "Be the change you wish to see in the world" attributed to Mahatma Gandhi, although what he actually said was, "We but mirror the world.” The sentiment is the same and simply made clearer in the well-known version. In short, who we are is what we see in the world. Who we are is mirrored back to us by our experiences. If we are always angry or sad, we tend to meet other people who are always angry or sad and find reasons to be angry or sad.
It therefore follows that if we could accumulate knowledge and change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. We would therefore ‘be’ the change we wished to see. I love that our younger generations are actively speaking out and protesting to make their world better. From Greta Thunberg to Emma González, from Amika George to Xiuhtezcatl Roske-Martinez there are many who want to bring about change.
We can’t expect positive change unless we are actively involved in that positive change. So, cycle back to the free knowledge. And experiment wildly. Learn new things. Have new experiences.
Take a moment to encourage children to be the person they want to be. They are in control of far more than they imagine. Ask them to notice how their mood impacts their results. Help them to see the connection between who they are and what they experience in the world.
Get into the good stuff that’s FREE!
In Da Vinci’s time, he needed to teach himself a language and beg and borrow to get access to the smartest minds of the time through books. Today we have 24/7 access to the world’s smartest minds via the internet. We also have equal access to idiots and cats playing the piano, but never has the accumulation of knowledge been easier or cheaper.
There are amazing free resources online from short courses offered by prestigious universities to sites like Wikipedia. It is possible to learn everything from Python coding to how to make the perfect cheese scone online either via YouTube demonstrations, or more structured training programs. Many are free or virtually free.
What we learn doesn’t need to be limited to the classroom. There is so much knowledge out there. We should all be encouraging children to explore that knowledge and to experiment wildly. If it’s free, the only cost is a little attention. How can we ever know what we’re good at or enjoy or find fascinating if we don’t experiment wildly?
Take a moment to explore stuff online with your kids, at home or in the classroom. What obscure thing could someone learn? Have a look at what’s out there? Challenge the class to come up with one free course that looks interesting. Encourage them to sign up and do it. Look on Udemy, FutureLearn or others.
Wherever, Whoever or Whatever you are, you are the journey
Louise Hay was at the forefront of the modern self-help movement. One of her mantras was, “I am in the right place, at the right time, doing the right thing.” The idea that we should be someone else, doing something else, with other people in another place is incredibly toxic for our lives. We are in the right place, at the right time, doing the right thing. Even if those things don’t appear right, they are for the learning journey we are all on individually.
If you don’t agree, then where should you be? And how are you going to get to where you want to be? And what knowledge and insight are you going to need to attain to get you there? We all suffer from self-doubt at times, but the key question is what are we going to do about it?
I met someone in a prison a few years ago and he had spent over twenty years of his forty-year life behind bars. I asked him what advice he would pass on to others. This is his quote: “The choices are always there. It’s the decisions you take that really matter.” We often bemoan that life is unfair and that things don’t go our way. But why? All the choices in life are on offer, we just need to make good choices and course correct if we don’t. If you don’t like where you are, change it. Because with knowledge, you can.
Take a minute to encourage youngsters to look objectively at where they are, where they want to be and how they can bridge that gap via knowledge.
Sid Madge is a transformation and change specialist and founder of Meee. Meee draws on the best creativity and thinking from the worlds of branding, psychology, neuroscience, education and sociology, to help people embrace change and achieve extraordinary lives. Sid Madge is also author of the ‘Meee in Minute’ series of books which each offer 60 ways to change your life, work-, or family-life in 60 seconds.
The Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA). FILE PHOTO | NMG Photo Courtesy
A Kenyan man travelling from Burundi has been arrested at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) in Nairobi with $2 million in foreign currency.
Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) custom officials intercepted the traveler on Thursday and seized his parcel. He was arrested on suspicion of being part of a money-laundering scheme after failing to declare the cash as required by law.
“The money has been held and the matter is under investigation,’’ KRA commissioner for Custom and Border Control Lilian Nyawanda said in a statement.
KRA says when the passenger arrived at JKIA from Bujumbura, Burundi, he made a declaration of the currency indicating the origin as Banque de Credit de Bujumbura (BCB) to a recipient Brinks Global Services, Kenya.
After clearance by Customs Unit at the airport, the traveler later, presented the same money at the Swissport Cargo shed with different export documents for shipment to Global Services, UK.
The documents produced to support the export request were different from those produced on entry into the country.
The documents produced to support the export request were different from those produced on entry into the country.
“After noting the inconsistencies in information provided by the passenger, KRA has invited Asset Recovery Agency (ARA) to assist in investigating the matter as a possible money-laundering attempt,” said Ms Nyawanda.
The arrest comes barely days after KRA arrested a foreigner at Kenya's main airport with undeclared cash.
The foreigner, a Bahraini national identified as Khalid Jameel Saeed, was intercepted at JKIA with $975,000.
He was on transit to Bahrain through Egyptian Airlines. Last year, Posta staff working jointly with KRA customs officers based at City Square Post Office recovered $28,000 concealed in a jacket shipped into Kenya as a parcel from South Carolina State, US.
In another case last year, a Nigerian national was arrested at the JKIA on his way to Dubai with undeclared foreign currencies. Mr Mauzu Bala was arrested with the money-- in 880,000 US dollars, 60,000 euros and 63,000 Nigerian naira -- stacked in his handbag.
Section 12 (1) of the Proceeds of Crime and Anti-Money Laundering Act requires a person to declare any amount above $10,000 (approximately over Ksh1 million).
The law requires individuals travelling or sending parcels with a huge amount of money to declare and produce documents supporting the legitimacy of the cash in the fight against money laundering.
The United States government in the past has put Kenya on the list of global hotspots for money laundering, citing insufficient controls on the circulation of dirty cash and the lack of laws against terrorism financing.
A report published in 2019 by the United States Department of State Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs said money laundering in Kenya occurs in the formal and informal sectors, fuelled by domestic and foreign criminal operations.
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