· September, 2010

Stories about Tanzania from September, 2010

Tanzania: The Party That Gagged Itself

  28 September 2010

Elsie writes about election campaigns in Tanzania: “A couple of weeks ago CCM forbade its candidates from participating in political debates. This blanket ban covers presidential, parliamentary and local government candidates and includes private and public media as well as political rallies.”

Kenya: Prison Literature in East Africa

  28 September 2010

Kimani Wanjiru discusses prison literature in East Africa: “Maina wa Kinyatti perhaps has the highest number of books that vividly describe his harrowing experience. He has a collection of poems A Season of Blood: Poems from Kenyan Prison (1995)…”

Tanzania: An Environmental Disaster of Choice

  28 September 2010

An environmental disaster of choice: “…a proposed highway through Tanzania’s Serengeti National Park, the last great wildlife sanctuary on our planet, home to wildebeests, zebras, lions, cheetahs, and too many more species to name — is no less urgent and every bit as heartbreaking.”

Tanzania: Running for office using Kanga and social media

  21 September 2010

A Tanzanian politician uses kanga and social media to campaign: “The fact that Zitto Kabwe is reporting via Twitter, blog, Flickr and Facebook from Kigoma North, while at the same time operating an election campaing with traditional elements – like the ngoma and the kanga – is a clear fact...

Kenya: Hail the mobile phone

  7 September 2010

David Kimondo argues that the mobile phone has become the signature tool of development in Kenya: “A few years ago election monitoring and reporting was a tricky, tiring and often thankless affair…[involving] sending hordes of polling clerks, election observers and monitors, with paper files stashed in their underarms…”