Mwanza — President John Magufuli has said the government eyes revamping fish processing factories and Mwanza Textile Mill to create employment for the skilled but idle workforce and boost socio-economic development.

Dr Magufuli, who ended his two-day tour of Mwanza Region yesterday, addressed thousands of residents here saying deliberate strategies are in place for Mwanza to be a true business hub as envisaged.

He said for the government to work on envisaged development, “ambitious discipline was crucial”, calling on all the leaders to be accountable to public properties.

He ordered the “immediate arrest of all thieves who swindled properties of the Nyanza Cooperative Union (NCU)” and tasked security organs and other responsible units to make sure NCU assets were returned back.

On industrialisation, Dr Magufuli said Mwanza was poised to realise the agenda, citing the potential in textile and fish industries. “We have to make sure that we regain our lost glory in industrialisation and revamp our Mwatex and 11 fish factories that were almost dead.

We can surely do it,” he stressed. He declared war on illegal fishing and ordered the confiscation of the trucks transporting them since entertaining the practice was “poisonous to massive fish production and fish processing factories”.

If the malpractice is properly contained, fish production was likely to triple in just three months and create employment, he noted.

Dr Magufuli also ordered the shelving of plans to move petty traders out of the city centre, pointing out that they also deserved equal chances to make money and challenged the local authorities to chart best ways of distributing them to potential business areas.

However, he warned against the tendency of petty traders selling items from businessmen who are not paying statutory revenues, saying such kind of trading should stop immediately. He said while he will be advocating for the fair deal in their activities, petty traders should be loyal and demand receipts once they buy items from the wholesellers.

Dr Magufuli suggested the establishment of a one-stop day centre for public shopping in the city centre or allocation of a special street for petty traders.

He issued three months to the City Fathers to work out on the sugges- tions and act accordingly. On Mwanza Airport, the president or- dered the contractor to resume work anytime this week while the government was processing his payments.

The completion of the airport was crucial to the economy of the region and the entire Lake Zone since it will attract many businesses through tourism and other economic avenues. A n o t h e r tough action was announced against suppliers of fake cotton seeds who used to cheat at the expense of poor farmers asking for the organs to deal with them as well.

He expressed his appreciation over “the impressive implementation of the construction of a pedestrian flyover at Furahisha area as well as construction of 2.8km road from Furahisha to the Airport”. “This project is proceeding very well and I would like to see this road heading straight to the airport instead of ending at Pasiansi as earlier planned.

I will make sure funds are available for the additional work,” he pledged. The president also pleaded for the maintenance of peace in the country, asking political parties to put cheap politics aside and join him to build the nation.

He said it was sinful to disrupt peace on the pretext of democracy, insisting that true democracy must be exercised only when people have something to eat.

Britons’ pull out of European Union has been extensively covered all over the world, more so, in East Africa, a region whose three founder members Britain colonised, and four of its member countries are affiliated to the Commonwealth.

While the leave campaigners in the UK’s referendum accused the “remain” camp of overplaying the repercussions of BREXIT, media houses in the EA region, confined their reports on the engines of globalisation-finance, technology trade, treaties, education, travelling and staying in the UK, underplaying as to why the British want to retain their say as a nation.

At the centre of the referendum was mounting pressure within Conservative MPs and in the UK Independence Party (UKIP) who have been arguing that Britain has lost its say as a nation since 1975, when it voted to stay in the EU in a prior referendum.

“The EU has changed a lot since then, gaining control over our daily lives,” the British MPs kept on hammering the message in the Assembly, prompting the out gone Prime Minister David Cameroon to say: “It is time for the Britons to have their say.”

Mr Cameroon had promised to conduct a referendum over EU membership, he walked his talk and went a step ahead, to commit a political suicide, by resigning over the results – when England voted strongly for BREXIT, defeating his “remain” campaign.

The BREXIT episode sends several clear messages to our region; that, even most powerful countries such as Britain, would not close their eyes when their sovereignty is being encroached through regional groupings and other affiliations and that good leaders should adhere to political principles they believe, conquering temptations to remain in power.

Lastly, is an underlying conflict between ‘Realists’ and ‘Liberals’ globalisations’ accounts. One of fallacies in international relations is that nations are supposed to have ‘equal- sovereignty’ powers, irrespective of their economic and military capabilities.

However, the interaction between small and weak nations and super powers and emerging economies, on the other side, defies the principle of equity- sovereignty.

Though no reference is made to a historical massprotest against IMF in Tanzania almost two decades prior to the widely-known Battle for Seattle of anti-globalists in November 1999, the fact is that the cradle of protest against encroachment of sovereignty started in Tanzania, 34 years ago.

The first Tanzanian President, the late Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, in 1980s refused to sign-in harsh conditions imposed by IMF and loudly cried, “Since when, IMF is an International Monetary Police?” During the cold war in 1970s, Tanzania became a Frontline-State, coordinating liberation struggles in Southern African countries by then under foreign domination; South Africa, Mozambique, Angola, Zimbabwe and Namibia through military training and logistical support from the then rival Eastern Bloc countries of former USSR, East Germany, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, China, Hungary and North Korea.

Apparently, the role played by Tanzania as a Frontline state and its increasing political influence in various international forums, is reported to have irked countries in the other side of the Cold War. In 1970s Tanzania had about 50 foreign donors, rendering support to the EA country.

The country made significant progress in social services; free education, free health services, life expectancy, with mortality rate of under- five falling as 90 percent of school age children were by then schooling.

However, in 1982, IMF came with a mission to change the Tanzanian statecontrolled economy, by making a sharp devaluation of a Shilling ( The British declined to replace a Pound with Euros), privatisation of state industries, liberation of import and exports and reduction of civil servants.

Tanzania demonstrators who took to streets to protest against IMF conditionalities, marked a precedence of ordinary folks in a developing country, defending their sovereignty against globalising corporate.

In actual fact, the unpublicised demonstrations, took place almost two decades before the World Trade Organisations (WTO) protests in Seattle, which ushered-in, a series of protests against ‘unaccountable and undemocratic’ corporate organisations, in Washington, Lima, Prague and elsewhere.

Writing on global political economy, British author: Michael Nicholson, says; unlike the general process of globalisation, this aspect of the reduction of sovereignty was designed, and the IMF is an institution created explicitly with balance of payments as its primary task.

It is intended to reduce sovereignty and it is inappropriate to criticise IMF for doing this”. The Breton Wood Institutions and WTO belong to a myriad of many other international organisations and legal instruments, which in depriving-off, the sovereignty rights of most of Third World states, are termed by a British writer; Mr John Pliger, the ‘The new rulers of the World.

Africa’s social development indicators reveal a paradox: high unemployment and poverty coexisting with robust growth. Industrialization and trade are two key instruments playing a major role in economic growth performance having the potential to structurally transform Africa economies. The goal of trade-induced industrialization must also guide the conduct, negotiations and implementation of trade and investment agreements and arrangements.

In order to provide interested stakeholders with a better understanding of how trade can serve as an instrument of accelerated industrialization and structural transformation in Africa, the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) together with the Institute for Economic Development and Planning (IDEP), has partnered with the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) to offer an instructor-led e-Learning course based on ECA’s Economic Report for Africa 2015 (ERA 2015).

The number of participants is limited to 125 persons. Until the registration deadline, participants are accepted to the course free of charge on a rolling basis and subject to availability of slots. A certificate of completion will be issued to all participants who successfully complete the course.

The Edo state governor, Adams Oshiomhole, has criticised governors who fail to pay their workers, saying such act is criminal.

Mr. Oshiomhole said this while delivering a keynote address at a town hall organised by the Kukah Centre on Wednesday.

He said the failure to pay salaries violates the labour law, which stipulates when workers should be paid.

Mr. Oshiomhole said it was immoral for governors and national assembly members who enjoy fixed benefits to complain of resources to pay the national minimum wage.

“One thing I cannot accept is that if you cannot have a decentralized system of compensation for executives, governors, commissioners and local government chairmen, how can these governors turn around and question the wisdom of a national wage structures for workers. It is that selective application of fiscal federalism that I found extremely offensive and unacceptable,” he said.

“Even today I remain firm that we must maintain a national minimum wage and we must find ways to implement and adjust it to reflect the cost of living and it is the duty of government and employers to find the revenue to pay those they hired to work whether in private of government employed. Non-payment of wages is a criminal breach of contract whether in recession or prosperity,” Mr. Oshiomhole said.

“When the minimum wage was enacted, governors said it was not payable. But I said it was not meant to be convenient but that it was a law and that government and governors must be seen to obey the law.

“When the National assembly said they will decentralise the minimum wage, I insisted that it cannot be,” he added.

Mr. Oshiomhole lamented the backlog of unpaid local government workers salaries across the country, , but said state governors should not be held responsible for failure to pay primary school teachers.

“As a governor I do not employ, pay or fire for the local government, so I cannot be responsible for that tier of government,” said Mr. Oshiomhole.

Earlier, former governor of Cross River State, Donald Duke criticised the current administration of the All Progressives Congress for failing to deliver on its promised “change”.

Mr. Duke said politicians were engaged in selfish and fraudulent activities.

“Sadly politicians in our society today are mostly jobbers and budget padders. Advocating for themselves and not the society. They cleverly and surreptitiously apply the word change,” Mr. Duke said.

“I of course being a member of the PDP will not use that word; however improvement is a constant. Not being satisfied with how society is and seeking to better it, we advocate improvement not change.

“Don’t forget in 1966 we had a change, a violent one from a Democracy to Military. So change is not always necessarily the way to go. As for the change ‘we see dey so’, time will tell,” he said.

South African Airlines (SAA) “tried all the tricks in the book”, but the law has finally prevailed and it “serves them right”, Vernon Bricknell former owner and MD of Nationwide Airlines, told Fin24 on Wednesday.

Although he is disappointed that the South Gauteng High Court did not award the full amount Nationwide requested from SAA, Bricknell is satisfied that the national carrier “got what they rightfully deserved”.

Nationwide claimed R171.5m in damages, plus interest calculated from 2010, but the court has now ordered SAA to pay Nationwide R104.6m plus interest as damages for its uncompetitive practices. Nationwide had to stop operations in April 2008 and is currently in liquidation.

The court agreed with the Competition Tribunal that SAA’s behaviour from 2001 to 2005 was the biggest contributing factor to Nationwide’s loss in passenger volumes. The tribunal found that most of SAA’s abuse was due to certain practices relating to the travel agent sector.

Case had been going since 2001

“At least the case has been finalised now. It has been going since 2001. I was determined that the law should prevail and it has, but not to the extent we had hoped for,” said Bricknell.

“SAA had caused us so much harm and hopefully they will now stop doing what they did to every competitive airline in SA. They certainly won’t be allowed to do this in Europe, where states are not allowed to subsidise airlines.”

He believes it is time for aviation regulations in SA to be revised in this regard too.

“SAA needs a lot more than just a change of board. It must start making a profit instead of just killing their competition,” said Bricknell.

“Hopefully the result of our case and Comair’s upcoming one (will make) SAA start to behave itself. I am thankful they got what they deserved. I wonder if SAA could survive after the outcome of the upcoming Comair case. And we would probably have to wait and see if SAA pays us, I guess.”

He emphasised that it is important for SAA to “stop killing competition”.

“Even after we won our first case against SAA, they blatantly continued with with the same behaviour, but now they got a good smack,” said Bricknell. He added that, although Nationwide was awarded a great deal less in damages than it had asked for, SAA must also pay interest on that amount from 2010 when Nationwide won its case but SAA decided to continue with a dispute on the amount to be paid as damages.

“This matter was heard before the South Gauteng High Court in February 2016. The nature of Nationwide’s claim was the second of its kind to be brought in SA law and the third to be litigated, setting a precedent within SA competition law.”

That is why she regards the case as a landmark decision, setting a precedent for future damages claims in SA competition law. The court in the Comair case against SAA, which is based on the same grounds but involves a much longer period of time, will have reference to the Nationwide decision.

“We are not aware whether or not SAA will appeal as it has 15 days to file a notice of appeal,” said Verster.

SAA spokesperson Tlali Tlali told Fin24 on Wednesday that SAA is still considering the matter, and must attach weight to both its implications and possible legal options if there are grounds to pursue such options.

In dollar terms, South Africa is once again the biggest economy on the African continent, a position it reclaimed from Nigeria.

This was attributed to the appreciation of the rand, South Africa’s currency, and the devaluation of the Nigerian naira following the introduction of a flexible foreign exchange regime.

Using the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at the end of 2015 published by the International Monetary Fund, Bloomberg reported that the size of South Africa’s economy was $301 billion at the rand’s current exchange rate, while Nigeria’s GDP was put at $296 billion.

Bloomberg noted that the rand has gained more than 16 per cent against the US currency since the start of 2016, while in contrast, Nigeria’s naira has lost more than a third of its value.

In afternoon trade wednesday, the rand firmed by more than a per cent against the dollar, to R13.29.

Despite the switch, Nigeria and South Africa both face the risk of recession, having contracted in the first quarter of the year, according to Bloomberg.

Nigeria’s economy shrank by 0.4 per cent, while South Africa’s GDP contracted by 0.2 per cent.

Nigeria has suffered amid low oil prices, while South Africa is sensitive to shifts in the commodity cycle.

“More than the growth outlook, in the short term the ranking of these economies is likely to be determined by exchange rate movements,” an economist at Exotix Partners LLP, Alan Cameron said.

He said although Nigeria was unlikely to be unseated as Africa’s largest economy in the long run, “the momentum that took it there in the first place is now long gone”.

Also, the Head of Research, SCM Capital Limited, Mr. Sewa Wusu, told THISDAY that the challenge of naira devaluation has caused a lot of economic challenges to the country, particularly with respect to the GDP.

“This should give policy makers the drive to rectify the forex challenges. Of course they have done their best by introducing a flexible exchange rate, but the issue is beyond that. The issue currently is about our forex earning potential.

“But I think the government is up to the challenge. I think we need a quick fix on the economy. That would help to support the naira and strengthen the currency,” Wusu added.

But the CEO, Cowry Asset Management Limited, Johnson Chukwu, said the priority of the government should be to restore economic growth, saying that if growth is not restored, the naira would continue to depreciate.

“When the economy begins to grow, the currency would adjust appropriately. So the focus of the government should be on whatever it intends to do to restore growth. We are heading into a recession and we should take steps to avoid depression.

“If growth is restored, eventually the economy would grow. There is no magic we can do for the naira to regain strength unless we restore growth,” Chukwu said in a phone interview with THISDAY.

The South African Reserve Bank forecasts zero growth for 2016, while unemployment still remains above 26 per cent. In July, South Africa stepped past Egypt as the continents’ second largest economy in dollar terms, having dropped behind the North African country earlier in the year.

Meanwhile, the naira dipped to N317 to the dollar on the interbank forex market yesterday, lower than the N312.50 from the previous day. On the parallel market, however, the naira firmed up slightly to N394 to the dollar, higher than the N395 on Tuesday.

The Central Bank of Nigeria intervened in the interbank forex market on Tuesday to help support the naira after it hit an all-time low of N350 to the dollar in thin trading on that day, traders had said.

The naira has been under pressure since the central bank floated the currency in June to allow it trade freely on the interbank market. The currency has been hit by a plunge in oil prices, Nigeria’s economic mainstay, which caused foreign investors to flee bond and equities markets.
The central bank last month told international money transfer operators to pay dollar proceeds from customer transfers into local commercial banks in naira, while selling the dollars themselves to bureau de change (BDC) outlets.

On Tuesday the central bank pegged the dollar transactions which banks can carry out with BDCs at $30,000 per week and set a margin for banks to sell dollar to currency outlets at not more than 1.5 per cent over the rate at which they bought.

The CBN hopes the move will help narrow the gulf between the official and black market rates and boost dollar liquidity, traders said.

The central bank set a margin of two per cent over the rate at which BDCs sourced dollars from banks as resale premium to customers and pegged BDC disbursement at $5,000 per transaction to cover travel allowance, medical bills and school fees.

The naira hit N400 against the dollar on the black market last week, weakened partly by dollar demand from individuals travelling abroad for their summer holidays, Reuters reported.