HUDUMA YA MAJI VIJIJINI YAONGEZEKA IRINGA

Zaidi ya asilimia 60 ya wakazi wote wa vijijini wanapata huduma ya maji safi na salama kwa teknolojia ya mtiririko, kusukuma maji kwa mitambo ya umeme na dizeli na visima katika Mkoa wa Iringa hadi kufikia Disemba 2010.

Takwimu hizo zimetolewa na Mhandisi wa Maji wa Mkoa wa Iringa, Mhandisi Amos Mbelwa Byemerwa wakati akiwasilisha taarifa ya sekta ya Maji kwa mkoa wa Iringa kwa Waziri wa Maji, Prof. Mark J. Mwandosya (Mb) alipofanya ziara ya kikazi Mkoani Iringa katika ukumbi wa NSSF.

Amos Mbelwa Saulo Byemerwa, Mhandisi wa Maji Mkoa

Mhandisi Byemerwa amesema kuwa teknolojia inayotumika kuwapatia wananchi maji karibu na maskani yao ni miradi ya mtiririko, kusukuma maji kwa mitambo ya umeme na visima vilivyofungwa pampu za mkono. Aidha, Halmashauri ya Wilaya ya Iringa inaongoza kwa asilimia 67.5 ilifuatiwa na Halmashauri ya Wilaya ya Njombe yenye asilimia 67.4 wakati Halmashauri ya Mji Njombe ndiyo yenye asilimia ndogo ikiwa na asilimia 51 pekee.

Mhandisi Byemerwa ameongeza kuwa mkoa unavijiji 498 vyenye kamati za maji kati ya jumla ya vijiji 720 vya mkoa wa Iringa. Ameongeza kuwa vijiji 366 vinamifuko ya maji iliyokuwa na kiasi cha shilingi 255,635,452 hadi kufikia Desemba 2010.  Aidha, vijiji 92 vilivyopo katika awamu ya kwanza ya programu ya Maendeleo ya Sekta ya Maji vimekusanya jumla ya shilingi 209,787,799 kama sehemu ya asilimia 2.5 ya gharama za ujenzi wa miradi katika vijiji vyao. Amesema kuwa mkoa ulikuwa na vyombo huru 20 vya watumiaji maji vikiwa ni jumuiya za watumiaji maji 13 na mamlaka za maji 7.

Akiongelea ulinzi na utunzaji wa vyanzo vya maji Mhandisi Byemerwa amesema “mkoa unachukua mbalimbali kutunza vyanzo vya maji na kuhakikisha havichafuliwi wala kuharibiwa kutokana na kazi za kibinadamu karibu na vyanzo hivyo”. Amezitaja hatua hizo kuwa ni pamoja na kuvitambua vyanzo vya maji na kuviwekea mipaka na kutayarisha mpango wa kuhifadhi kila chanzo kilichotambulika kwa kushirikiana na wananchi. Hatua nyingine ni pamoja na kuunda vyama vya watumiaji maji katika mabonde madogo ya mito na kushirikiana na ofisi ya Bodi ya bonde la Rufiji na Ziwa Nyasa na mashirika yasiyo ya kiserikali kutoa elimu kwa wananchi juu ya hifadhi ya mazingira na matumizi endelevu ya rasilimali za maji.

Waziri wa Maji, Prof. Mark Mwandosya (kushoto) na Mkurugenzi Mtendaji

IRUWASA Mhandisi Mfugale wakifuatilia taarifa ya Maji Mkoa

Akichangia katika taarifa hiyo Waziri wa Maji, Prof. Mark Mwandosya amesema kuwa programu ya maendeleo ya sekta ya maji si ya serikali pekee bali inahusisha wadau mbalimbali wa ndani na nje kutokana na kuwa na malengo mbalimbali. Aidha, amesema “ugumu uliopo unatokana na kuzungumzia rasilimali finyu tulizonazo hivyo inahitajika nguvu ya ziada”.

...utafutaji kazi wachangia athari za afya kijamii

Uhamaji kutoka sehemu moja kwenda nyingine kwa minajili ya kutafuta kazi kwa ajili ya kujikimu ni miongoni mwa sababu za kijamii na kiuchumi zinazoathiri afya ya jamii nchini.

Hayo yameemwa na Samweli Nyagawa, Afisa Ustawi wa Jamii mkoa wa Iringa wakati akitoa mada juu ya Sababu za kiuchumi na kijamii zinazoathiri afya ya jamii, katika Taasisi ya Afya ya Msingi (PHCI)- Iringa.

Nyagawa amesema kuwa uhamaji kwa malengo ya kutafuta kazi umekuwa ukiwatenganisha wanaume na wake zao na kuvunjika kwa mtandao wa asili wa familia. Uhamaji huo unatokana na kukua kwa miji hali inayoambatana na upungufu au ukosefu mkubwa wa ajira ameongeza.

Uwezo finyu wa wanawake wa kiuchumi pia unachangia kuathirika kwa afya ya jamii. Kutokuwa na uwezo wa kiuchumi kwa wanawake kunawaondolea uwezo wa machanguo baina ya mahitaji yao na kujikuta wameingia katika mkumbo unaohatarisha afya zao.

Afisa Ustawi wa Jamii huyo ameelezea pia ukeketaji wanawake na kiwango kidogo cha utahiri kwa wanaume nazo ni sababu zinazochangia athari za kiafya kwa jamii. Amesema kuwa ukeketaji hufanyika katika mazingira yasiyosalama na kusababisha unyanyasaji kwa wanawake.

Aidha, amezitaja sababu nyingine kuwa ni pamoja urithi wa wajane, usafishaji wajane na ulevi wa kupindukia kuwa sababu zote hizo zinachangia athari za kiafya katika jamii hasa maambukizi ya ugonjwa wa Ukimwi

Watu kadhaa wauawa kwenye mlipuko wa ghala la silaha Dar

Hali ya taharuki imetanda mji wa Dar Es Salaam, huku wakaazi wakiamka kuomboleza vifo vya zaidi ya watu kumi na zaidi ya wengine 60 kujeruhiwa kufuatia milipuko iliyotokea kwenye ghala la kuhifadhi silaha za kijeshi, lililo karibu na uwanja wa kimataifa wa ndege.

Wakaazi wa eneo la Gongo la Mboto lililo karibu na ghala hilo wamekesha nje baada ya makaazi yao kubomoka kutokana na mtikisiko wa milipuko hiyo iliyodumu kwa saa kadhaa. Milipuko hiyo ilisikika kwa umbali wa zaidi ya kilomita ishirini kutoka kituo hicho cha kijeshi.

Kwa mujibu wa Neema Mwaipopo aliyeshuhudia taharuki hiyo ameuambia mtandao huu kuwa milipuko hiyo ilianza mwendo wa saa mbili usiku ambapo wakazi wa maeneo ya jirani walilazimika kukimbia pasina kufahamu wapi waelekeapo na nini kilichotokea. Aidha, ameshuhudia mparaganyiko baina ya familia kupotezana na watoto wao wadogo.

Kamanda wa polisi jijini Dar-es-Salaam, Suleiman Kova, ametoa wito kwa raia wa mji kuwa watulivu huku maafisa wa ulinzi wakiendelea na mikakati ya kurejesha hali ya uthabiti.

Kova amesema uchunguzi wa awali umebainisha kuwa mlipuko huo ni ajali na wala sio shambulio la kigaidi.

Hii ni mara ya pili kwa milipuko kama hiyo kutoka jijini Dar es Saalam katika kipindi cha miaka miwili iliyopita.

mwaka wa 2009 zaidi ya watu ishirini waliuawa na wengine 300 kujerihiwa

kwa msaada wa bbcswahili.com

BRITAIN’S is based on history and showing its age. Geography dictates that Canada’s and Mexico’s will stay strong. Saudi Arabia’s will endure as long as America needs to buy its oil. The one with Hosni Mubarak (though not the one with Egypt itself) was dropped like a hot potato once the protests began.

America, in short, is both promiscuous and flighty when it comes to “special” relationships. One of the most fascinating is its long-standing fling with Israel. What, exactly, does America see in the Jewish state? And is the relationship in danger from the wind of change rattling Egypt and the wider Arab world?

These questions are best tackled in reverse order. It is easy to see why an Arab democratic spring might chill relations between America and Israel. The peace between Israel and Egypt was made between leaders, not peoples. That hardly mattered when the people of Egypt, like other Arabs, had no voice. But it will matter once they find one. Right now, the demonstrators in

Tahrir Square

are demanding their own freedom, not Palestine’s. But the statelessness of the Palestinians remains the great unifying cause of the Arab world. So even Israelis acknowledge that if Arab leaders have in future to respond to the wishes of their people they will become more hostile to Israel—and, by extension, to Israel’s American paramour. In that case, if America’s relationship with Israel was a marriage of convenience, like the one it has just annulled with Mr Mubarak, America might begin to see the case for a divorce, or at least some separation.

But, of course, America’s attachment to Israel is not a marriage of convenience. It looks a lot more like true love. Listen to all the sweet talk, for a start. Even Barack Obama, who in his desire to mend America’s relations with Islam has been tougher on Israel than many presidents, goes misty-eyed when he harps on the “special relationship”. It is founded, he says, on “shared values, deep and interwoven connections, and mutual interests”. And the billing and cooing is the least of the evidence. The strongest proof of America’s feelings for Israel is all the inconvenience America puts up with for the relationship’s sake.

Some American friends of Israel argue gamely that Israel is a strategic asset to the superpower, a doughty democracy that provides intelligence, high technology, storage for American weapons and so forth. But that was an easier argument to make during the cold war. More recently, the benefits have been eclipsed by the costs. These range from the billions American taxpayers give Israel and Egypt to underwrite the 1979 peace, to all the resentment America’s Muslim allies harbour towards the superpower for being soft on the oppressor of the Palestinians. Its help to Israel may not be al-Qaeda’s main grievance against America, but in the war on terror this past decade Israel has surely been more of a liability than an asset in the contest for hearts and minds.

Far from being a marriage of convenience, in other words, it is a marriage of inconvenience. So is it a case of true love? Some Americans, refusing to accept this explanation, argue that although Israel is not linked to America by history, like Britain, or by geography, like Canada and Mexico, its relations with the Jewish state are entangled to an unusual degree in domestic politics. Harry Truman decided to support Israel’s founding after relentless lobbying. “I have to answer to hundreds of thousands who are anxious for the success of Zionism,” he grumbled. “I do not have hundreds of thousands of Arabs among my constituents.”

Since then, the power of the pro-Israel lobby in Washington has grown stronger, assuming epic proportions in some imaginations. Two American academics, John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, made the claim in a book in 2007 that without the Israel lobby George Bush would not have invaded Iraq. That is an exaggeration, to say the least. But the powerful congressional resistance Mr Obama bumped into last year when he tried to enforce a settlement freeze in Jerusalem and the West Bank almost certainly played some part in the failure of America’s latest peacemaking initiative in Palestine.

Still, to explain America’s intimacy with Israel through the political power of America’s Jews is to miss half the story. In recent decades a far broader range of Americans, including evangelical Christians but not only them, have joined the love affair.

Trust in old faithful

No matter how desperate the lot of the Palestinians, polls show that Americans feel greater sympathy for Israel, a country they can identify with. And if some Democrats have lately become somewhat readier to criticise Israel, the Republicans have more than compensated in the other direction. Most conservatives, especially since the 2001 attacks, see Israel as a beleaguered democracy that shares America’s Judeo-Christian values. For some this article of faith has become a subtle line of attack against Mr Obama, whom they deem too hard on Israel and (nudge, nudge) insufficiently Judeo-Christian himself. Republicans want to slash foreign aid, but not the aid to Israel. And while demonstrators thronged Cairo last week, Mike Huckabee, who may seek the Republican presidential nomination again, was declaring from Israel that it was “racist” to stop Jews settling in the West Bank.

Against this backdrop, with a Republican House and a presidential election less than two years away, Israeli fears of abandonment look unwarranted. America will be faithful. But it will have to pay a higher price for its fidelity in an Arab world whose leaders no longer dare to ignore the preferences of their people. The best way to escape this trap would be for America to win the Palestinians their state. In that event, Arabs in general might be willing to make a people’s peace with Israel. But it was hard enough to negotiate a compromise when the autocrats were in charge. Finding one the masses accept will be harder still.

kwa msaada wa theeconomist.com