Category: The Citizen

Telecommunications company Halotel says it has invested more than $1 billion (about Sh2.7 trillion) in Tanzania since launching operations in the country more than a decade ago.

Speaking during the opening of the company’s pavilion at the 49th Dar es Salaam International Trade Fair (DITF), popularly known as Sabasaba, the company’s acting chief executive officer, Ms Tran Thi Thuy Dung, said much of the investment had gone into building telecommunications towers and expanding network coverage to reach more Tanzanians.

“We continue to invest not only for business growth but also in infrastructure development. Every year we invest more than $100 million in the Tanzanian market through the construction of additional towers and expansion of our services to reach more people,” she said. The 2026 DITF officially opened on June 28 and will run until July 13.

Beyond network expansion, Halotel announced major upgrades to its HaloPesa mobile money platform as part of celebrations marking the service’s 10th anniversary in Tanzania.

Ms Dung said the company had launched a redesigned HaloPesa application featuring an improved user interface and additional services, including digital loans and mobile payment options for electricity and water bills.

She said the enhancements were intended to support the government’s efforts to increase the use of digital payments and reduce reliance on cash transactions.

The announcement comes as the government prepares to introduce mandatory digital payments for selected public services from July 1.

Presenting the 2026/27 national budget, Finance Minister Ambassador Khamis Mussa Omar said the reforms are intended to advance Tanzania’s digital transformation agenda, improve transaction efficiency, curb financial crime, enhance transparency and reduce the costs associated with handling cash.

According to the government, mandatory digital payments will gradually be introduced across various sectors, including public transport services such as rapid transit buses, ferries, railways, air travel and app-based transport services.

Commenting on Halotel’s participation at the trade fair, Ms Dung said the exhibition offered the company an opportunity to engage directly with customers and gather feedback to improve its services.

“Sabasaba gives us the opportunity to interact directly with our customers, understand their needs and receive valuable feedback that will help us improve our services and continue delivering innovative solutions that meet their expectations,” she said.

She added that, beyond telecommunications services, Halotel remained committed to improving the lives of Tanzanians through continued investment in technology, digital financial services and communications infrastructure.

Halotel Commercial Director Abdallah Salum said this year’s exhibition provides an important platform to strengthen customer engagement.

“This year, HaloPesa marks 10 years of service and has been enhanced with additional digital financial solutions aimed at promoting wider adoption of cashless payments,” he said.

Trade has always operated within rules. For much of the twentieth century, those rules centred on tariffs. As tariffs have fallen through successive WTO negotiations, a different set of barriers has taken their place: technical standards.

Today, an avocado consignment moving from Arusha to Germany must meet phytosanitary requirements, traceability rules, pesticide residue limits and, increasingly, supply chain due diligence obligations linked to the EU deforestation regulation.

A farmer in Njombe growing green peas for export faces a level of compliance that would have been unrecognisable a generation ago.

This expansion of standards reflects real shifts in consumer expectations, regulatory oversight and investor scrutiny.

Food safety concerns, environmental pressures and sustainability requirements have pushed buyers in high income markets to demand verifiable proof of compliance.

Schemes such as Global G.A.P., the British Retail Consortium and the Global Food Safety Initiative now function less as technical benchmarks and more as gateways to premium markets.

The World Bank (2025), estimates that technical barriers to trade, including standards compliance costs, outweigh the impact of tariffs in some sectors by a factor of two or more.

For smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa, limited access to finance, infrastructure and information has historically turned these requirements into barriers to entry rather than pathways to growth.

Standards are no longer a bureaucratic hurdle to clear. They have become a strategic asset. The question for African producers is no longer whether to engage with standards, but how to do so in a way that is affordable, scalable and commercially sustainable.

Africa’s agricultural potential is widely recognised. Diverse climates, fertile soils and proximity to fast growing markets position the continent well within global supply chains. What has been missing is not production capacity, but the institutional systems needed to demonstrate compliance at scale.

The African Continental Free Trade Area adds urgency to this challenge. By lowering internal trade barriers, AfCFTA expands market opportunities and also raises expectations around quality and consistency.

If African producers are to compete on value rather than price alone, standards compliance must underpin both regional and international trade. Intra African trade reached around $5 billion in 2024, supported by corridor investments and policy reforms.

Yet value added agricultural exports- the segment most capable of generating rural jobs and stable incomes, remain constrained by gaps in standards infrastructure.

Closing those gaps is not a technical exercise. It is a development priority.

TradeMark Africa’s Standards and Sanitary and Phytosanitary portfolio sits at the centre of this agenda. Its proposition is straightforward: standards compliance is not a constraint on competitiveness for African firms; it is a precondition for it.

Tanzania’s horticulture sector offers a practical illustration of what this looks like in practice.

According to the Bank of Tanzania’s Monthly Economic Review (2024), horticulture became Tanzania’s leading agricultural export earner, generating $569.3 million in 2024- up from $417.7 million in 2023, a rise of over 36 % in a single year.

This growth reflects sustained investment in certification systems, market linkages and institutional capacity.

Working with the Tanzania Horticulture Association (TAHA), TradeMark Africa sought to understand not only whether compliance support delivers results in aggregate, but what it means for individual farmers and firms.

The evidence comes from a Fast Cycle Learning study combining quantitative surveys of 79 respondents across Arusha, Kilimanjaro, Mbeya and Njombe with targeted interviews.

Among farmers who adopted compliant practices, 94.8% reported measurable changes in their enterprises.

Increased sales volumes and improved prices were the most common outcomes.

Rejection rates – a major source of income loss, declined significantly. Before compliance support, 65% of farmers experienced rejections affecting up to half their produce.

After adoption, 95% reported rejections affecting no more than a quarter.

Among exporting firms, the results were even more pronounced. All firms surveyed reported increases in export volumes and values, alongside reductions in rejection and hold rates.

Median export volumes rose by around 150%, and three quarters of firms entered new export markets, particularly in Europe, while also expanding reach into Africa, Asia and the Middle East.

These are realised outcomes, not projections. They reflect the experience of farmers and firms supplying certified avocados and green peas into markets where traceability and compliance are non-negotiable.

The inclusion effects are equally important. Female farmers reported higher increases in sales volumes than their male counterparts-187% compared with 128%.

Structured compliance support can narrow persistent income gaps in agricultural value chains when it is designed with equity in mind.

TAHA’s approach is systemic rather than transactional. It trains farmers on certification requirements, organises them into certified groups, links those groups to exporting firms and engages inspection bodies, input suppliers and finance providers to sustain the system.

The satisfaction data aligns with this design. More than 85% of associate members receiving training reported satisfaction, with no dissatisfaction recorded.

Firms receiving certification support reported 100% satisfaction. Cost remains the most significant constraint. While 96% of farmers and all firms benefited from support at no direct cost, 57.7% of farmers identified the financial burden of adoption as the hardest element to manage. Technical capability can be built. Financial mechanisms must be part of the solution.

The broader lesson extends beyond Tanzania and horticulture. Standards are no longer a procedural requirement endured for market access. They are the currency of modern trade, shaping buyer relationships, pricing power and income stability.

As new regulatory regimes emerge – from carbon border measures to supply chain due diligence and deforestation rules – compliance will require more than farm level change. It depends on national systems: certification bodies, testing laboratories, phytosanitary services and digital traceability platforms.

Tanzania’s recent institutional gains demonstrate the payoff from such investments.

Phytosanitary certificate processing times fell from days to hours. Certification timelines shortened, and costs declined.

These system level improvements underpin the farm level results now evident among TAHA members. Buyer requirements will continue to evolve. The compliance landscape of 2030 will look different from today’s. Standards, however, will remain central.

The choice facing African producers and policy-makers is not whether to meet these requirements, but whether to build the systems that make compliance viable at scale.

Tanzania’s experience shows that the returns justify the investment. The price of entry into global markets has risen. So has the return on paying it.

Tanzania’s ambition to build a $1 trillion economy by 2050 will depend not only on expanding digital technologies but also on strengthening personal data protection to build public trust in the country’s rapidly growing digital economy, experts have said.

Speaking at the opening of the first National Privacy and Personal Data Protection Conference in Dar es Salaam yesterday, officials said trusted digital systems and robust data governance would be crucial in achieving the country’s long-term development goals.

Barrick Mining Corporation, through its joint venture with the Government of Tanzania under Twiga Minerals Corporation, has emerged as the top dividend contributor at Dividend Day 2026 after paying Sh221.9 billion to the State.

The dividend cheque of Sh221.907 billion was presented to President Samia Suluhu Hassan at State House in Dar es Salaam by Barrick Tanzania Country Manager, Dr Melkiory Ngido.

The payout placed Barrick-Twiga first among state-linked entities and reflects a continued rise in returns from the partnership. The company paid Sh93.6 billion in the previous financial year, Sh84 billion in 2022/23 and Sh53.5 billion in the year before. Dr Ngido said the performance was supported by improved operations at North Mara and Bulyanhulu mines, while Buzwagi is being transitioned into the Buzwagi Economic Special Zone.

He said since the establishment of the joint venture in 2019, Barrick-Twiga has contributed to government revenue through dividends, taxes, royalties, levies, wages and payments to local suppliers.

Beyond fiscal contributions, he said the mines support surrounding communities through corporate social responsibility programmes in education, health, water and infrastructure.

The operations also generate direct and indirect employment and expand opportunities for local contractors and suppliers.

The company said the results reflect efforts to align mining operations with economic, social and environmental responsibilities.

CRDB Insurance Company, in partnership with Agriculture and Climate Risk Enterprise (ACRE Africa), has launched a digital insurance product for livestock farmers.

The service, known as Smart Mifugo, is accessed through the DigiBima platform and uses artificial intelligence and biometric identification to register and manage livestock insurance policies.

Latest government figures presented in Parliament last month by the minister for Livestock and Fisheries Development, Bashiru Ally Kakurwa, show that the livestock sector contributes 6.2 percent to Tanzania’s gross domestic product (GDP), while fisheries contribute 1.6 percent and support about six million people through value chains.

The data also shows steady growth in livestock populations. Cattle increased by 3.4 percent from 39.24 million in the 2025/26 fiscal year to 40.57 million as of April this year.

Goats rose by 3.5 percent from 28.59 million to 29.59 million, while sheep increased by 3.0 percent from 9.66 million to 9.94 million.

Chicken numbers also rose by 4.7 percent from 108.22 million to 113.36 million. Indigenous chickens increased from 47.39 million to 49.75 million, while improved breeds rose from 55.69 million to 58.47 million.

The pig population increased by 5.6 percent from 4.13 million to 4.36 million.

Speaking during the launch of Smart Mifugo in Dar es Salaam yesterday, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries, Agnes Meena, said the sector remains a key part of the economy, contributing to employment, food supply, household incomes and industrial activity.

She said the sector faces challenges including disease, drought, floods and other shocks that affect productivity.

‘I am pleased that CRDB Insurance Company and ACRE Africa have introduced technology to protect livestock assets. Through Smart Mifugo, farmers can access digital insurance services more easily and transparently.

The use of artificial intelligence in identifying animals through nose prints is a major step,’ she said.

Ms Meena said the government continues to support private sector innovation to improve productivity and livelihoods, adding that the initiative aligns with efforts to modernise the livestock sector and improve value addition.

CRDB Bank Group managing director, Dr Abdulmajid Nsekela, said livestock remains a key economic asset and a source of income for many households.

He said farmers face challenges in proving ownership of livestock, which limits access to insurance and credit.

‘Smart Mifugo responds to this challenge. Livestock is identified using cow muzzle biometrics, which is unique to each animal,’ he said.

Dr Nsekela said the system reduces ownership disputes and allows livestock to be used as collateral for loans.

He said the service will be expanded to other CRDB markets, including Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

CRDB Insurance Company Managing Director Wilson Mnzava said the partnership supports financial innovation and inclusion.

‘We are starting with cattle and will expand to other livestock,’ he said.

He said farmers can access the service through CRDB Bank branches.

ACRE Africa Managing Director Ewan Wheeler said Tanzania has about 40 million cattle valued at around $4.5 billion, with much of the sector operating informally.

He said challenges in livestock identification have limited access to insurance and credit.

‘Artificial intelligence now provides a solution. Improved identification will increase lenders’ confidence and support lending to farmers,’ he said.

The increasing use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in music production has raised concerns among Tanzanian artistes and producers, with warnings that musicians could lose control over their voices and creative work if they use AI-powered platforms without caution.

AI tools are increasingly being used to generate beats, master tracks and create vocals that resemble human voices, raising questions over copyright, ownership and artistic identity.

Music producer Lizer Classic said the industry is not under threat, but warned that many artistes do not fully understand how some AI platforms handle uploaded content. ‘People often accept terms and conditions without reading them carefully. In doing so, they may allow their recordings and voices to be used to train AI systems,’ he said.

He said AI systems can analyse vocal patterns and potentially replicate an artist’s voice without consent.

‘When you record your voice, the system can identify your tone and style. One day you may hear a voice that sounds exactly like yours,’ he said.

AI expert Jumanne Abdallah said the technology should be seen as a tool rather than a threat, arguing that it is creating new opportunities for creatives.

‘The real issue is not AI itself but how people use it,’ he said.

Singer-songwriter Rehema Jamal said AI has helped reduce barriers for independent artistes by supporting demo production, idea development and marketing.

However, she said it should not replace human creativity.

‘It should not replace an artist’s authentic voice or emotional expression,’ she said.

Intellectual property lawyer Daniel Lawrence said AI is raising legal questions that existing copyright laws are still addressing.

‘If a voice is replicated without consent, questions arise over ownership and liability,’ he said.

He advised artistes to be cautious when uploading unreleased songs or vocal recordings to AI platforms, noting that usage policies vary between systems.

Creative entrepreneur Asha Suleiman said transparency will become more important as AI becomes more embedded in music production.

‘If AI is used in a song, there should be clarity on how it was applied,’ she said.

Stakeholders said regulation, education and awareness of intellectual property rights will be key as the industry adapts to AI technology.

Former Young Africans (Yanga) striker Fiston Kalala Mayele has become the first player with a Mainland Tanzania Premier League background to score at the FIFA World Cup.

The DR Congo international achieved the feat after scoring his country’s second goal in a 3-1 victory over Uzbekistan in their final Group K match on Saturday.

Mayele, who played for Yanga for two seasons after joining the club on August 1, 2021, before moving to Egyptian side Pyramids FC, found the back of the net in the 78th minute to put DR Congo firmly in control of the match. His contract with Pyramids FC is due to expire on June 30 this year. His goal not only sealed an important victory but also made him the first footballer to have featured in Tanzania’s top-flight league to score in a FIFA World Cup finals tournament.

Interestingly, Mayele was the only player in DR Congo’s World Cup squad currently playing his club football in Africa. He started the match on the bench before French coach Sébastien Desabre introduced him in the 51st minute, replacing experienced forward Cédric Bakambu of Spanish club Real Betis.

Before Saturday’s encounter, Mayele had not featured in DR Congo’s opening two Group K matches against Chile and Portugal, with Desabre opting for different attacking combinations. DR Congo endured a difficult start after conceding in the 10th minute through Uzbekistan captain Eldor Shomurodov.

However, the Leopards responded strongly in the second half. Yoane Wissa, who plays for Newcastle United, levelled the score from the penalty spot in the 68th minute before Mayele struck 10 minutes later to complete the turnaround.

Wissa added his second goal of the match deep into stoppage time to secure a convincing 3-1 victory and ensure DR Congo progressed to the Round of 32.

For Tanzanian football followers, Mayele’s achievement is another reminder of the quality that passed through the Mainland Premier League during his successful spell with Yanga.

The powerful striker was instrumental in helping the Jangwani Street side dominate domestic competitions and reach the CAF Confederation Cup final before earning his move to Pyramids FC, where he has continued to establish himself among Africa’s leading forwards.

His rise from the Tanzanian league to the World Cup scoring charts also highlights the increasing ability of the Mainland Premier League to attract and develop players capable of performing on football’s biggest stage.

Mayele and DR Congo now face an even tougher challenge when they meet England in the Round of 32 on July 1, with the striker expected to play a key role as the Leopards seek to extend their historic World Cup campaign.

The ‘PMC Services for the Estab­lishment of Morogoro Polytechnic College and Improvement of Tech­nical Education and Training in Tan­zania’ is an Official Development Assistance (ODA) project funded by the Government of the Republic of Korea and implemented by Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), with Bucheon Universi­ty Industry-Academic Cooperation Foundation Consortium serving as the PMC. The project aims to estab­lish an industry demand-based technical education and training system in Tanzania.

The project will establish a poly­technic college in Morogoro Region offering three-year Diploma pro­grams and prepare the foundation for six departments and eight edu­cation programs in Automobile, Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, ICT, Mechatronics, and Agriculture.

It aims to train practical mid-level technicians, expand youth employment oppor­tunities, and support regional eco­nomic development.

During the project period, the consortium will develop 24 cur­ricula, 30 textbooks, and e-book materials, and conduct a two-week invitational training program for 25 officials and staff from the Minis­try of Education and the Vocational Education and Training Authority.

It will also support student employment and entrepreneurship, local industry-academia coopera­tion, and the one-year pilot opera­tion of Morogoro Polytechnic Col­lege in 2030. These activities will be carried out in phases until Decem­ber 2030.

Through this project, Morogoro Polytechnic College is expected to become a leading technical educa­tion and training institution that fosters mid-level technicians and contributes to regional economic development in Tanzania.

The government has intensified pressure on State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) and other public entities to improve efficiency and meet dividend and statutory payment obligations, as it targets higher revenue collections following a record Sh1.028 trillion haul in the 2024/25 financial year.

Treasury Registrar Nehemiah Mchechu issued the warning in Dar es Salaam over the weekend during a briefing ahead of Gawio Day, scheduled for State House on June 30, 2026.

Some 250 vulnerable families in Chamazi, Dar es Salaam, received food assistance during Tanzania Buddhist Charity Day, an initiative aimed at supporting households facing economic challenges.

The beneficiaries received food packages containing rice, maize flour, wheat flour, cooking oil and sugar during the event held at Bodhi International School under the theme Blessings for All.

Organised by the Chinese Buddhist Association of Tanzania, the annual event seeks to support vulnerable groups and promote community service. Among the beneficiaries was Chamazi resident Rahab Abdi, who said the support came at a time when she was struggling with illness and unemployment.

‘I am sick and unemployed and I have no one to support me. I also need healthcare support and money for medication,’ she said.

Another beneficiary, Hija Omary from Vigoa, called for the programme to be expanded to include education support and services for children with special needs.

Kitogo Kitimbe, also from Vigoa, urged organisers to continue providing assistance, saying many families were still facing economic difficulties.

The event also included cultural activities and speeches by community leaders.

Speaking during the event, Chairman of the Chinese Buddhist Association of Tanzania, Venerable Master Xianhong, said helping others contributes to social wellbeing and community development.

‘Helping others is one way of building a peaceful society. People should continue supporting one another,’ he said.

According to organisers, the event marked the ninth year of charity activities organised by the Chinese Buddhist community in Tanzania.

Chamazi Ward Chairpersons’ Council chairman Jones Katunzi called on the organisation to consider supporting vulnerable residents through health insurance programmes, noting that more than 1,000 elderly people in the ward require such support.

Meanwhile, LongQuan Bodhi School Headteacher Jane Shao said the organisation is constructing a vocational training centre expected to admit up to 200 youths from next year.