HudumaBongo is a democratic movement on social network platforms Twitter and Facebook, to gather complaints as votes on Tanzanian service providers covering major business sectors such as telecom companies, utility companies, airlines and so on. Follow them on @HudumaMbayaTz or Like their Page on Facebook.
TANESCO emerges 1st Round Winner
By HudumaBongo
The utility company Tanzania Electric Supply Company (TANESCO) has emerged the winner of the 1st round of customer annoyance survey conducted on Facebook and Twitter by HudumaBongo, a citizen initiative in Tanzania. Second and third place were filled by the telecommunication companies Tigo and Vodacom respectively.
In the first round 29 companies were vying to be the best worst service providers as voted by Tanzanians themselves. A total of 119 individual votes were received through both social network sites. Here are the winners in other categories:
AIR TRAVEL: PRECISION AIR (8 votes)
BUS TRAVEL: HAPPY NATION (2 votes)
MEDIA: STAR TIMES (4 votes)
PARKING: MAGOGONI FERRY (2 votes)
TELECOMS: TIGO (28 votes)
UTILITIES: TANESCO (33 votes)
We on behalf of the citizen's of Tanzania call upon the leaders of these companies to take effective measures to ensure their customers get the best services. The 2nd Round of vote collection has commenced, and all complaints can be registered on Twitter with @HudumaMbayaTZ or on HudumaBongo page on Facebook. Let your voice be heard!
Sunday, 25 November 2012
Understanding Oil Contracts - Special Guest Post
Uhuru Blog is pleased to bring you a special guest post by Zara Rahman, a research associate at OpenOil, an energy consultancy and publishing house based in Berlin founded on the values that creative, practical and socially progressive policy making in the oil and gas industry is vital to our collective future. They have published a freely available book compiled together with leading oil experts and professional, available here. As Tanzania emerges as an important future source of oil and gas, understanding contracts signed with the government becomes increasingly crucial.
Oil contracts – why so important?
By Zara Rahman
The problem
Think of the oil industry, and you think of secrecy,
corruption, spills and environmental problems. But transparency, even in this
secretive industry, is increasing. Hard to believe perhaps given the industry's
poor record in this area, but the tide is turning, and more and more data is
being put online. There are many initiatives doing great work on making
machine-readable data accessible and allowing people to really understand it,
but until now, there has been one data stream which has remained incredibly
elitist.
Oil contracts. There is an emerging norm of governments
publishing, or putting online, the contracts that they sign with international
oil companies, and this is a great success for the transparency movement
globally. No longer will there be secretive, closed door negotiating sessions
which leave citizens (and even many in the government) wondering what exactly
was agreed to, how much money their government is getting, what the oil company
should or should not be doing, and whether or not they got a 'good deal'. There
are now 7 jurisdictions around the world who publish their oil contracts, and
there are more to come, with transparency of oil contracts being written into
constitutions and emerging as a best practice globally.
Publishing the contracts is the first step towards allowing
citizens to know what is happening, but there is one key problem. An oil
contract is typically over 100 pages long and written in complicated legal
jargon. It is not the kind of document that someone without a law degree, or
years of specialisation in the topic, can pick up and really understand.
Tools to help people understand these contracts have, until
now, been overwhelmingly aimed at industry employees or those with elite levels
of education– private courses costing £2,000 per person for two days, held in
London or Abu Dhabi, or expensive law text books aimed at the postgraduate law
student. Clearly, neither of these is going to help a civil society activist in
the Niger Delta make sense of the contracts governing their oil industry.
The solution – bringing open thinking to the oil industry
At the beginning of November 2012, OpenOil convened a group
of 10 world-renowned experts to come together for a week and collaboratively
write a book on how to read and understand oil contracts, in what is known as a
'booksprint.' The method was developed in the open source technology world, and
has been developed by Adam Hyde of http://booksprints.net
and involves no pre-production, and very little post-production.
To many, the idea of writing a book on a topic as complex
and involved as oil contracts seemed crazy, especially considering the fact
that no preparation was done beforehand; no planning chapter titles, or
organising who was going to write what. All work began at 9am on the Monday,
and involved having a lot of faith in the facilitator of the method, who has
now used the booksprint method to produce over 50 books.
The result was “Oil Contracts – How to Read and Understand
them”, released under the Creative Commons license, free for download from http://openoil.net/contracts-booksprint
How does a guidebook help?
The terms decided in contracts can have long reaching
effects, and be valid for anything up to 20 or even 30 years. The environmental
standards that companies have to abide by, clauses relating to the affect of
the project upon the local economy, and most importantly for many, the amount
of money that the government is going to get, are all decided upon in the
contract.
Unfortunately however, there is no one fixed number that we
can read and then know for sure how much money the government is getting. Profit
or production splits are complicated calculations, typically outlined in a
number of different clauses (and there are many more variants depending upon
the type of contract used). This means that in order to have a real
understanding of governance of the industry in a particular country, it is
essential to have a real handle on all of the issues outlined in the contract.
The book runs through all of the salient issues addressed in
contracts, and uses actual excerpts from contracts around the world to compare
ways of dealing with certain issues. 8 different public domain contracts are
referred to and quoted extensively throughout. Half of the 'family' of
contracts are actual signed contracts, and half are 'model' contracts, which
have been released by their respective governments. Contract excerpts, though a
little intimidating to begin with, are explained in detail to allow the reader
to get a handle on the language used in the contracts, so that after reading
they can pick up a contract and, firstly, feel some sense of familiarity in the
contract terms used, as well as know where to look to answer their particular
question.
What now?
OpenOil are now looking for partners to work with on
evolution of the book, and already there has been strong interest in
translating the book into various languages to increase its accessibility
across the world. A training curriculum will be developed out of the book, and
training courses – the low cost equivalent to the expensive courses mentioned
above – will be organised for civil society, parliamentarians, media, and
interested members of the parliament.
These courses will take place in locations where these
issues really matter – Kampala, Nairobi, Dar-es-Salaam, to name just a few. For
now though, the book has been downloaded hundreds of times and, it is hoped, is already a crucial tool to those
wanting to know how to understand their oil industry.
Wednesday, 10 October 2012
Using the Internet to correct Politics
I came across an interesting piece of data analysis done by the communications consultancy firm Portland, where they tracked the number of geo-tagged tweets originating in Africa over a 3 month period (view the pdf file here). The top 5 countries in terms of volume of tweets were South Africa, Kenya. Nigeria, Egypt and Morocco.
One may ask "So what?" Can social media such as Twitter and Facebook bring about any meaningful change? Or is it just another outlet for spreading funny cat videos and empowering celebrities? This issue was thrust into the limelight with the recent uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa, starting with Iran but quickly followed by Tunisia, Egypt and the Arab uprisings. The use of Twitter and Facebook to organize and spread the protests has been well documented from the use of Twitter to ignite the protests in Iran to Wael Ghonim's Facebook group calling for mass protests in Egypt. Public intellectuals, however, have argued over whether social media has played a central role in these uprisings or not. Malcolm Gladwell, the well-known writer for The New Yorker, penned an interesting piece down-playing the social media effect. He cites among other things, the many revolutions which have succesfully taken place before the introduction of Twitter and Facebook. Many others have placed a varying importance on social media and the internet in kickstarting revolutions (Read this piece for a summary of positions).
I argue that the internet and social media play a far greater role in bringing about regime change then people like Gladwell give it credit for. The internet, without a doubt, has revolutionized the way we share information. The speed with which we can send messages, share photos and watch videos has increased tremendously (when is the last time you sent a "snail mail" at the Post Office?). This immediate exchange of ideas and information makes it very easy for campaigns to synchronize their message and to reach out to the disaffected masses who also feel the same way about the political situations. The fact that 30 years of Hosni Mubarak's rule was brought down in a matter of months is testament to the ability of the internet to channel and coordinate people's frustration.
To prove this I did some data analysis of my own. I compared two variables, political freedom in different countries which I derived from an annual report called Freedom In the World published by Freedom House which assesses political rights in 195 countries, assigning to each country a score ranging from 0-40 (where 40 indicates that citizens enjoy all their political rights, a country such as Norway or 0 in the case of North Korea, where the people have no say). I compared this to internet connectivity obtained from World Bank's figures on Number of internet users per 100 people. This gives us an indication of whether there is any correlation between internet connectivity, political repression/freedom to the likelihood of protests and political uprising.
This list contains notable countries such as Egypt, Tunisia, Syria and Russia, all of which have been in the media recently for protests, some having successfully replaced a dictator. Other countries such as Azerbaijan and Georgia also have a largely disaffected population who are demanding more political freedom.
This analysis therefore may prove to be a powerful indicator of what countries are capable of pulling off well planned and well coordinated protests that are ultimately successful in achieving their desired goals which in most cases is regime change. Based on our predictions the countries listed above may all be host to considerable protests over the next year or two. The internet may literally be a revolution waiting to happen!
One may ask "So what?" Can social media such as Twitter and Facebook bring about any meaningful change? Or is it just another outlet for spreading funny cat videos and empowering celebrities? This issue was thrust into the limelight with the recent uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa, starting with Iran but quickly followed by Tunisia, Egypt and the Arab uprisings. The use of Twitter and Facebook to organize and spread the protests has been well documented from the use of Twitter to ignite the protests in Iran to Wael Ghonim's Facebook group calling for mass protests in Egypt. Public intellectuals, however, have argued over whether social media has played a central role in these uprisings or not. Malcolm Gladwell, the well-known writer for The New Yorker, penned an interesting piece down-playing the social media effect. He cites among other things, the many revolutions which have succesfully taken place before the introduction of Twitter and Facebook. Many others have placed a varying importance on social media and the internet in kickstarting revolutions (Read this piece for a summary of positions).
I argue that the internet and social media play a far greater role in bringing about regime change then people like Gladwell give it credit for. The internet, without a doubt, has revolutionized the way we share information. The speed with which we can send messages, share photos and watch videos has increased tremendously (when is the last time you sent a "snail mail" at the Post Office?). This immediate exchange of ideas and information makes it very easy for campaigns to synchronize their message and to reach out to the disaffected masses who also feel the same way about the political situations. The fact that 30 years of Hosni Mubarak's rule was brought down in a matter of months is testament to the ability of the internet to channel and coordinate people's frustration.
To prove this I did some data analysis of my own. I compared two variables, political freedom in different countries which I derived from an annual report called Freedom In the World published by Freedom House which assesses political rights in 195 countries, assigning to each country a score ranging from 0-40 (where 40 indicates that citizens enjoy all their political rights, a country such as Norway or 0 in the case of North Korea, where the people have no say). I compared this to internet connectivity obtained from World Bank's figures on Number of internet users per 100 people. This gives us an indication of whether there is any correlation between internet connectivity, political repression/freedom to the likelihood of protests and political uprising.
We turn our focus to the countries within the box above, which have political scores below 20 (a state of mild political repression to total dictatorship) but an internet connectivity of greater than 20% (that is over 20 people have internet connectivity out of a 100). The people in these countries have the most incentive for action as political freedom goes hand in hand with other basic human rights. At the same time, they also have internet as a tool with which to connect with other citizens to bring about the desired changes in political institutions.
| Syria | Nigeria | Tunisia | Nigeria | Jordan | Oman |
| Vietnam | Kenya | Belarus | Kenya | Armenia | United Arab Emirates |
| China | Russia | Egypt | Russia | Malaysia | Kuwait |
| Saudi Arabia | Morocco | Kazakhstan | Morocco | Singapore | Azerbaijan |
| Brunei | Bahrain | Thailand | Bahrain | Qatar | Malaysia |
| Georgia |
This analysis therefore may prove to be a powerful indicator of what countries are capable of pulling off well planned and well coordinated protests that are ultimately successful in achieving their desired goals which in most cases is regime change. Based on our predictions the countries listed above may all be host to considerable protests over the next year or two. The internet may literally be a revolution waiting to happen!
Saturday, 29 September 2012
Mourning Right to Information Day
28th September every year is marked as the Right to Information Day. Celebrated globally to raise awareness on citizen's right to access government held information, it was inagurated in 2003 with this being the 10th installement.
I spent the day mourning.
The freedom of expression advocate, Article19.org released a map to show the state of Right to Information laws and regulations in countries around the world:
An observation from this map is that most countries in the world are covered by either a law or regulation governing Right to Information. However, the most obvious lack of such a right is in Africa. The continent is awash with countries in white denoting no law or regulation exists in those countries which gives their citizens the fundamental right to demand information from their governments. The only other such region which lacks Right to Info laws are the dictatorial regimes of the Middle East and Asia such as Saudi Arabia, Syria, Oman and Turkmenistan. How can we accept that such a large number of supposedly democratic countries do not grant their citizen's the right to access information?
In an age where information is power, countries without Right to Access Information Laws are nothing but dictatorships in disguise.
I spent the day mourning.
The freedom of expression advocate, Article19.org released a map to show the state of Right to Information laws and regulations in countries around the world:
An observation from this map is that most countries in the world are covered by either a law or regulation governing Right to Information. However, the most obvious lack of such a right is in Africa. The continent is awash with countries in white denoting no law or regulation exists in those countries which gives their citizens the fundamental right to demand information from their governments. The only other such region which lacks Right to Info laws are the dictatorial regimes of the Middle East and Asia such as Saudi Arabia, Syria, Oman and Turkmenistan. How can we accept that such a large number of supposedly democratic countries do not grant their citizen's the right to access information?
In an age where information is power, countries without Right to Access Information Laws are nothing but dictatorships in disguise.
Wednesday, 15 August 2012
OGP Update #4
A long overdue post but slowly and surely we are going through the OGP commitments. Here is our 4th installment of the Uhuru Project where we review commitments made by the Tanzanian government in a bid to join the Open Government Partnership. We review the following two, click on the link to get a more detailed analysis and or verdict in each case. And as always, thank you for your comments and support!
#1.2 Posting orders and receipts of medical supplies from the Medical Stores Department (MSD) online and on notice boards.
#2.3 Establish an open forum in collaboration with civil society to review quality, integrity, depth and pace of progress against OGP commitments.
#1.2 Posting orders and receipts of medical supplies from the Medical Stores Department (MSD) online and on notice boards.
#2.3 Establish an open forum in collaboration with civil society to review quality, integrity, depth and pace of progress against OGP commitments.
Sunday, 15 July 2012
OGP Update #3
Two more additions to the Open Government Partnership Tracker for Tanzania. Click on the link for detailed analysis:
#1.1 Quarterly reports on the progress of implementation of OGP commitments (the official version of what we are doing here).
#3.5 Prepare legislative amendments and regulations to strengthen asset disclosures of public officials.
#1.1 Quarterly reports on the progress of implementation of OGP commitments (the official version of what we are doing here).
#3.5 Prepare legislative amendments and regulations to strengthen asset disclosures of public officials.
Wednesday, 11 July 2012
Why the OGP should not admit Tanzania.
By Alykhan
If you are a fan of transparency and accountability then it must have come to your attention that Tanzania has submitted its intent to join the Open Government Partnership, a voluntary coalition of member states who are committed to be more open to its citizens. According to my opinion, Tanzania should not be admitted to the OGP. Here is why: Tanzania does not have Freedom of Information Legislation.
The OGP should set as their first and mandatory condition that any country admitted to this coalition should have a Freedom of Information Act legislated or at least in discussion in Parliament. This is an important ideological standpoint, as any country admitted to OGP legitimizes its commitment to transparency and potentially opens up access to more aid (we dont know if this has been set as a pre-condition for more aid). This is similar to joining the United Nations to legitimize a country and joining the EITI (Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative) to legitimize mineral earnings.
OGP country members and hopefuls already have a good track record when it comes to FOI legislation. Out of the 55 countries, only 4 lack any FOI legislation or a bill in discussion in parliament (http://uhuruyamawazo.blogspot.com/2012/05/freedom-of-information-legislation-in.html) and Tanzania is one of them.
If you are a fan of transparency and accountability then it must have come to your attention that Tanzania has submitted its intent to join the Open Government Partnership, a voluntary coalition of member states who are committed to be more open to its citizens. According to my opinion, Tanzania should not be admitted to the OGP. Here is why: Tanzania does not have Freedom of Information Legislation.
The OGP should set as their first and mandatory condition that any country admitted to this coalition should have a Freedom of Information Act legislated or at least in discussion in Parliament. This is an important ideological standpoint, as any country admitted to OGP legitimizes its commitment to transparency and potentially opens up access to more aid (we dont know if this has been set as a pre-condition for more aid). This is similar to joining the United Nations to legitimize a country and joining the EITI (Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative) to legitimize mineral earnings.
OGP country members and hopefuls already have a good track record when it comes to FOI legislation. Out of the 55 countries, only 4 lack any FOI legislation or a bill in discussion in parliament (http://uhuruyamawazo.blogspot.com/2012/05/freedom-of-information-legislation-in.html) and Tanzania is one of them.
Why is Freedom of Information Important?
This is the foundation of a truly transparent and accountable government when an ordinary citizen can request any public information from the government and take action on it. We cannot completely rely or trust government officials to reveal damaging information. Just as we need the police to maintain security in our country so we need an FOI legislation to ensure corrupt officials cannot get away.
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