UDAKU MIX

A new ranking has placed the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) fourth among 100 top African universities.

UDSM has been placed behind the University of South Africa, University of Cape Town and University of Stellenbosch, all of South Africa, according to the Webometrics Ranking of World Universities.

The ranking, also known as Ranking Web of World Universities, aims at providing reliable, multidimensional, updated and useful information about the performance of universities from all over the world based on their web presence and impact.

Its objective is to improve the presence of academic and research institutions on the Web and to promote the open access publication of scientific results.

UDSM Vice Chancellor Rwekaza Mukandala yesterday attributed the university’s high placing to a new strategy  aimed at boosting general academic achievement and performance.

“With the assistance of the government, we have managed to add more lecture theatres and other necessary academic requirements that have led to performance improving significantly in recent years,’’ he said.

Prof Mukandala said a curriculum review at the university had also helped to this end.

UDSM is ranked first in East Africa followed by Uganda’s Makerere University and the University of Nairobi in Kenya, which are 11th and 20th, respectively, in Africa.

There are no immediate plans to extend the Arusha airport runway although a new apron will be built, the airport manager, Ms Esther Dede, has said.

Also in pipeline is the construction of a new terminal building to accommodate the increase in passenger traffic, but the length of the runway will remain the same for now.

She said the expansion and modernisation of facilities at the Arusha airport are contained in its master plan whose implementation is awaiting availability of funds.

Under it, a new terminal building would be constructed behind the current one and hence give enough space for the taxi ways for the increasing number of planes landing and taking off from there. Ms Dede was responding to questions on whether the airport runway would be extended to cater for large aircraft after last week’s unannounced landing of an Ethiopian jet at the tiny airfield.

“We have a master plan for the airport. But I have not seen anywhere in it that the runway will be extended. This airport will continue to cater for small and medium range aircraft,” she said.

She acknowledged in calls from stakeholders in the travel industry for the expansion of one of the busiest airports in the country to enable it to handle larger planes.

However, the official said that expansion is not contained in the present master plan and that unless that is done, Arusha Airport runway would remain with the same length; 1,620 metres. “We are okay. Our runway is up to standard; that is why it did not suffer the impact of the Ethiopian jet. But our airport is not meant for large aircraft,” she pointed out.

The unexpected landing of the Ethiopian-registered Boeing 767-300 ER carrying over 200 passengers and crew at the airport on Wednesday last week has brought the facility into the national focus, including safety concerns.

The jet, operated by an aviation firm in the Horn of Africa country, landed unannounced after an apparent communication breakdown with the Kilimanjaro International Airport (KIA) where it was destined to land.

Although the giant plane landed “safely” and managed to take off a few days later through application of specialised equipment, it skidded into the grass at the end of the 1,6200 metre long runway.

It took two days for engineers from Ethiopia and local counterparts to tow the giant bird back to the tarmac and on the right direction in the runway to enable it  take off.

According to aviation experts, Boeing 767-300ER  requires a runway with a minimum length of 2,341 metres at maximum landing weight. KIA’s runway is 3,200-metre long.

 Livestock herding communities and activists supporting them are happy about last Friday’s cabinet shake-up in which four ministers were sacked over alleged atrocities committed against the pastoralists.

“I am happy because some of my brothers were victims of excessive force used by the police and game rangers”, said Mr. Elikarim Mangi from Babati when reached on phone.

He said it was appalling that nothing had been done by the relevant authorities over the law enforcers and local administrators who took law into their hands on pretext of implementing Operation Tokomeza.

“What the president did was a good job. Some ministers are not serious with the people’s problems”, he told The Citizen on Sunday, citing cases of beatings and killings of innocent livestock keepers in various parts of the country.

Mr Mangi, who commutes between his timber business mart and large herds of cattle in Ruvuma region, said Manyara leaders should be made to account from the recent death of a woman in Babati district allegedly by the police.

Rev Elibariki Gayewi of the Lutheran Church in Hanang district said the sacking of ministers was an indication that the government was now serious in addressing the problems facing the people, particularly the nomadic pastoralists after being quiet for a long time.

“I am seeing this to be a great change for the good. It is a good sign for the government”, he stated, noting that he was aware of atrocities or beatings committed under Operation Tokomeza against members of the Barbaig community near Tarangire National Park and in Morogoro.

A resident of Minjingu township in Babati district and former councillor Mr. Olais Ole Koin said he was happy with the removal of Dr. Mathayo David Mathayo as a minister responsible for livestock,saying the sector has not been well managed.

However, he wondered why the prime minister Mizengo Pinda “has not been touched’ despite his apparent failure to manage the ministers and oversee the government operations as to per his day-to-day mandate.

He described the recent trends in the Parliament as an indication that it was now matured and active to challenge the government where it went wrong. “We want the government to ensure everybody is accountable”, he explained.

Mzee Mefunya Gapjojig, the first district commissioner for Hanang when the area was curved out of Arusha region in the mid-1980s remarked; “The pastoralists are now happy that the government has started to take action against frequent killings and harassments against them”.

A business consultant based in Arusha Zephaniah Gidang’ay said what the president did was “something in the right direction” but was surprised why the prime minister has not stepped down as a political responsibility.