KAGERA REGION – UNIQUE FEATURES
Kagera region is identified in the minds of most
Tanzanians as banana and plantain country; the land of coffee and equally the
land of plenty. It is also identified as one of the regions which were favoured
by early contacts with European missionaries along with Kilimanjaro and Mbeya
regions. Consequently, Kagera has had an early start ahead of most Mainland
regions in terms of education. In 1967 it has an average adult literacy rate of
40% with only Dar es Salaam, Kilimanjaro and Ruvuma doing better. During the
1978 Census, Tanga, Morogoro, Mara and Iringa had caught up and surpassed
Kagera whose ranking deteriorated from number 4 to number 8 which position it
also held in 1988.
The regional headquarters of Bukoba for Kagera is 616 kms from Dodoma as the crow flies. Kigoma, the regional capital for Kigoma is 683 kms away. But unlike Kigoma, Kagera’s isolation in further compounded by poor roads into the region and by being sandwiched between the neighbouring countries of Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi in the north, west and by the Lake Victoria waters on the east. The region’s only land route to the rest of the Mainland is to the south. No other region in the country is bordered by so many foreign countries.
The region’s geographical isolation and the close proximity to the three foreign countries has made Kagera very vulnerable to foreign influences and problems. The influx of refugees from Rwanda and Burundi in the past two decades is a case in point. No other region has suffered from refugee damage as has Kagera.
The damage by deforestation as some 600,000 refugees sought to make camp and to meet their demands for fuelwood has been colossal. Game reserves were heavily poached, morals polluted and drug resistant STDs were introduced. As if this was not enough, roads were damaged through overuse, health and water facilities were overloaded. Source. Tanzania.go.tz
BUKOBAWADAU
Bukoba Wadau ni mtandao unao toa habari na matukio yanayo tokea katika mji wa bukoba pamoja na mkoa wa kagera kwa ujumla.
Email:bukobawadau@gmail.com | Phone :Mc baraka:0784 505045, 0754 505043
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