Moshi, Tanzania

Moshi
Municipality
Moshi panorama with Mount Kilimanjaro in the background
Districts of the Kilimanjaro Region, including the Moshi Urban District but excluding the Siha District
Moshi Location of Moshi
Coordinates: 3°20′05.58″S 37°20′25.37″E / 3.3348833°S 37.3403806°E / -3.3348833; 37.3403806Coordinates: 3°20′05.58″S 37°20′25.37″E / 3.3348833°S 37.3403806°E / -3.3348833; 37.3403806
Country	Tanzania
Wards	List Bombambuzi Bondeni Kaloleni Karanga Kiboriloni Kilimanjaro Kiusa Korongoni Longuo Majengo Mawenzi Miembeni Mji Mpya Msaranga Ngangamfumuni Ng'ambo Njoro Pasua Rau Shirimatunda Soweto
Government
• Moshi Municipal Director	Bernadette Kinabo
• Moshi Municipal Mayor	Japhery R. Michael
Area[1]
• Total	59 km2 (23 sq mi)
Highest elevation	950 m (3,120 ft)
Lowest elevation	700 m (2,300 ft)
Population (2012)[2]
• Total	184,292
• Density	3,124/km2 (8,090/sq mi)
Time zone	East Africa Time (UTC+03)
Area code(s)	+255
Website	Moshi Municipal Council

Moshi Town as seen from Lower Moshi rice fields

From top: Kilimanjaro Mountain, Moshi Hotel (formerly the Livingstone Hotel), A23 Arusha-Himo road, Clock Tower

Moshi is a Tanzanian municipality^[3] with a population of 184,292 according to the 2012 census.^[2] The municipality is in the Kilimanjaro Region and is situated on the lower slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro, a dormant volcano that is the highest mountain in Africa. The municipality covers about 59 square kilometres (23 sq mi) and is the smallest municipality in Tanzania by area.^[4]

Many people from the Chagga and Pare ethnic groups live in Moshi, which lies on the east-west A23 Arusha–Himo road connecting Arusha and Voi, Kenya. Just to the east of Moshi is the intersection with the B1 north–south road eventually connecting with Tanga and Dar es Salaam. Moshi is often considered the cleanest town in Tanzania.^[1]

History and administration

Germany established a military camp in Moshi (Neu-Moschi) in August 1893.^{[5]:page 101} The northern line railroad reached Moshi in 1912.^{[5]:page 136}

Moshi attained the status of a town in 1956.^[4] In 1988, it became a municipality under Tanzanian law, but as of 31 October 2014, the process for submitting its application to become a city was in its final stages.^[6]

Moshi is divided administratively into 21 wards and then subdivided into 60 hamlets.^[4]

The municipal budget of Moshi in fiscal year 2012/2013 was estimated to be 22.2 billion Tanzanian shillings or US $14.1 million at an exchange rate of 1,575 shillings per dollar.^[7] Actual expenditures for that year were 20.3 billion shillings.^[7] The budget for the 2014/2015 fiscal year is 57.3 billion Tanzanian shillings or US $33.7 million at an exchange rate of 1,700 shillings per dollar.^[8]

Education

Like all of Tanzania, Moshi has universal primary education. According to the Tanzania Demographic and Health Survey 2010, the Kilimanjaro Region, which includes Moshi, had the second highest female literacy rate and the third highest male literacy rate among Tanzania's then-existing 26 regions.^[9] According to the Tanzania Poverty and Human Development Report 2005, the Moshi urban district had the highest literacy rate for persons over 15 years of age when compared to any of the 128 other districts in Tanzania.^[10]

Moshi hosts a number of higher education facilities. Those include the Kilimanjaro Christian Medical College (KCMCo), the Stefano Moshi Memorial University College (SMMUCo), the Mwenge Catholic University (MWECAU), the Moshi Co-operative University (MoCU), the College of African Wildlife Management (CAWM), the Kilimanjaro School of Pharmacy (KSP), and the Tanzania Training Centre for Orthopaedic Technologists (TATCOT).

• KCMCo is a campus of Tumaini University. It was started in 1997 and offers a number of medical courses. The college is located within the Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre complex, about 6 km from Moshi.
• SMMUCo is also a campus of Tumaini University. It was developed from the Masoka Management Training Institute and the Mwika Lutheran Bible College. It belongs to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania - Northern Diocese, and it is a multi-campus university college. Currently, SMMUCo has campuses in Masoka, Mwika and Moshi, with future campuses planned for Machame, Siha, and Karatu.
• MWECAU formerly a constituent college of the Saint Augustine University of Tanzania. It offers a model of professional excellence, as a center for training teachers and students to become clear thinkers while providing a holistic approach to learning and teaching through promotion of flexible teacher training programmes focused on appropriate methodologies. MWECAU is located 10 km north of Moshi.
• Since May 2004, the Moshi Co-operative University has been a constituent college of the Sokoine University of Agriculture. Formerly known as the Ushirika College, it is the oldest training institution in Tanzania and is located along Sokoine Road in Moshi. Moshi Co-operative University has accumulated 43 years' experience in the fields of co-operative accounting, co-operative management and rural development has of recently turned into other expertise in accounting, management, marketing, auditing and cooperative development employed in different institutions within and outside Tanzania. Moshi Co-operative University grew from a college enrolling only 150 students, conducting tailored courses, to a university college with a capacity of 1500 students.
• CAWM is commonly known as Mweka College. It was established in 1963 following the Arusha Manifesto (1961) as a pioneer institution for the training of African wildlife managers. Since this time, the College has been a leader in providing quality wildlife management training in Africa, and has trained over 4,000 wildlife managers from 28 African countries and 18 non-African countries. The majority of the CAWM's students come from the SADC region, although the College opens its doors to all students with an interest in African Wildlife Management.
• KSP is owned by the Saint Luke Foundation, a registered trust founded to provide broad spectrum services to an African population that faces serious deficiencies in pharmaceutical and health systems. KSP is currently the only pharmacy school providing competence based training for different levels of pharmaceuticals cadres to a diploma level.
• The Tanzania Training Centre for Orthopaedic Technologists (TATCOT) was founded in Moshi with the material, financial and human resource support of the governments of Tanzania and the Federal Republic of Germany in June 1981. TATCOT is a supra-regional training centre providing courses in the field of orthopaedic technology in Africa and enrols students from all English speaking African countries as well as other interested countries. The reason for establishing these courses was to educate the professionals who are required to provide technical services to people with amputations and other neuromuscular disorders such as poliomyelitis, paralysis, cerebral palsy, clubfoot and trauma. In order to do this the professionals are provided with the knowledge and skills to provide prostheses, orthoses, wheelchairs and supportive seating to people with disabilities.

Moshi also has several secondary schools. The government schools are Mawenzi Secondary School, Moshi Technical School, Moshi Secondary School, and J. K. Nyerere Secondary School. The private schools are Majengo Secondary School, Northern Highland Secondary School, International School Moshi, and Kibo Secondary School. In addition, each ward of Moshi has a community-established secondary school, such as Rau Secondary School and Kiboriloni Secondary School.

• Mawenzi Secondary School started as the Indian School of Moshi in 1956. It is now a thriving school of 1,100 pupils. All A-Level students are female boarders and come from all over Tanzania. The school specialises at A-Level in Kiswahili, geography, history, and English. The school operates a double shift system for junior pupils (Form 1–4). All subjects are taught in English, apart from Kiswahili and French. Mawenzi School has had a link with Buckie High School in Scotland since 1987. Pupils and teachers have travelled between Tanzania and Scotland many times.
• International School Moshi (ISM) was established in 1969 to serve the needs of the expatriate and local communities. ISM has about 400 students from nearly 40 different nationalities on two campuses in Moshi and Arusha.^[11] The Moshi campus has about 190 students, including 90 boarders, from 25 nationalities and offers a full range of courses from early childhood to the International Baccalaureate Diploma.^[12] ISM has been an International Baccalaureate World School since 1977.^[13] ISM is one of only two world schools in Tanzania to offer the primary years, middle years, and diploma programmes.^[14]

There are also various English academic schools with pre-primary, primary, and secondary education, such as the Eden Garden schools.

There are a number of non-governmental organizations in Moshi assisting with education. One of them is Give a Heart to Africa,^[15] which offers free education to adult women and assists several of them with starting their own businesses.

Medical care

The main private hospital in the area is the Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre (KCMC), a zonal referral hospital. This complex has more than 450 beds and serves a population of over 11 million individuals. The Good Samaritan Foundation of Tanzania founded KCMC in March 1971.^[16]

Next to KCMC is the Kilimanjaro Centre for Community Ophthalmology (KCCO), which was founded in 2001 and is co-directed by Dr. Paul Courtright and Dr. Susan Lewallen. A new three-story building for KCCO was finished in 2007, funded by several individuals and non-governmental organizations.^[17] The KCCO is "dedicated to the elimination of avoidable blindness through programmes, training, and research focusing on the delivery of sustainable and replicable community ophthalmology services".^[18] The KCCO has an "official memorandum of understanding ... with the Department of Ophthalmology and Kilimanjaro Christian Medical College under which the KCCO assumes or shares responsibility (subject to specific funding grants) for many teaching activities, running workshops and seminars, supervising the ... [Ophthalmic Resource Centre for Eastern Africa], serving in an advisory capacity for planning Eye Department services, conducting epidemiologic and clinical research in prevention or treatment of vision loss or related fields, and serves on committees".^[19]

Moshi also hosts the Kilimanjaro Clinical Research Institute (KCRI), which is the research arm of KCMC. KCRI evolved from the Kilimanjaro Clinical Research Centre (KCRC) in 2009. KCRC was established in 2006 with the support of the Dutch government through the Netherlands-African partnership for Capacity development and Clinical interventions Against Poverty-related disease (NACCAP).^[20][21]

The primary public hospital in Moshi is the Mawenzi Regional Hospital, which started sometime before 1920 as a small dispensary for German soldiers and became a hospital in 1956. The hospital has about 300 beds but is severely underfunded. In late 2010, its surgical services were suspended indefinitely by the Government and Private Hospitals Inspection Committee of the Tanzanian Ministry of Health and Social Welfare. The head of the committee, Dr. Pamella Sawa, said, "During our inspection, we inspected the theatre room of Mawenzi Hospital and found it very dirty, with no[t] enough ventilation, the situation which is dangerous not only to the patient but also to his/her attendant...."^[22] The hospital includes a Care and Treatment Centre for people living with HIV/AIDS. The hospital's physical therapy department has a student learning program in cooperation with Norway, in which Norwegian physiotherapy students in their second and third years come as short term apprentices.

Other institutions and establishments

Moshi municipality has other institutions and establishments, such as the Small Industries Development Organization, the Kilimanjaro Industrial Development Trust, the Furniture Industry Training Institute, the Moshi Memorial Stadium, and a small airport.

The main market in Moshi is known as Soko La Kati. Moshi also has a large, open-air market known as Kiboriloni. The market, which is loosely structured, has been for decades a regional hub for commodities such as clothing, merchandise, fresh food, and household items. It operates four days a week. Most of the operators are local residents.

Moshi has scheduled airline connections to the rest of Tanzania and other countries through Kilimanjaro International Airport, which is operated by the Kilimanjaro Airport Development Company and located in Hai District along the Moshi-Arusha Highway. Several international and domestic airlines operate there, including KLM, Condor, RwandAir, Fly540, Ethiopian Airways, Kenya Airways, Precision Air Services,^[23] Turkish Airlines, and Qatar Airways.^[24]

Tourism

Askari monument in Moshi

Moshi hosts several cultural tourism programs operating on the lower slopes of nearby Mt Kilimanjaro. Moshi also serves as the base for many expeditions up the mountain, with climbers staying in nearby hotels and employing local residents as guides, porters, and cooks.

• To promote tourism in the municipality, the Kilimanjaro Marathon was established in 2002 and is now held annually at the end of February or beginning of March. The race is a member of the Association of International Marathons and Distance Races. In 2014, 304 persons finished the 42.2 kilometres (26.2 mi) full marathon,^[25] and 2,273 persons finished the 21.1 kilometres (13.1 mi) half marathon.^[26] The race also includes a 5 km fun run. Apart from promoting tourism, the race promotes the sport in Tanzania and has the official backing of the Tanzania Tourist Board, Athletics Tanzania, and the International Association of Athletics Federations.^[27]
• KILIFAIR is organized to be an international tourism & industry fair, promoting and presenting companies based in the Kilimanjaro region. The fair has the character of a business networking event for the tourism industry, in combination with a community fair to attract local people, families & expats.

Timing: At the beginning of June every year (from 2015). Past Event: 2015, June 5 – 7. Coming Event: 2016, June 3 – 5. Venue: Moshi Golf Club sports ground - at Moshi, Kilimanjaro, 15,000 sqm exhibition fair ground.

Sports and events

• Football is the most dominating sport in Moshi just as in whole of Tanzania. In mid-1990s Ushirika FC was the only club from Moshi playing Tanzanian Premier League, however it dropped from the league and was never revamped. There have been various efforts by people of Moshi to have a club representing in the premier league. Recently, a newly established football club, Panone FC, managed to reach First Division League.^[28][29][30] There's also another football team, Machava FC, Panone FC's rivals. Both teams use Ushirika Stadium, owned and operated by the Moshi Co-operative University, as their home stadium.
• Moshi is the home of two golf courses, Moshi Golf Course operated by Moshi Gymkhana Club (MGC) and TPC Moshi Golf Course operated by TPC Club. The clubs host various national and regional events^[31] annually coordinated by Tanzania Golf Union (TGU).^[32]

Industry

There are also a number of manufacturing industries including TPC, Ltd., Bonite Bottlers, Ltd., Serengeti Breweries, Ltd., Tanzania Breweries Maltings, Kibo Match Group, Inc., African Mosfly Industries, Ltd., Union Service Stores, and Imara Wood Productions Company, Ltd. There are several metalworking workshops such as Simon Engineering, Press Forge and CFW Moshi. Moshi plays a host to a number of agri-industry activities that includes a number of green house farms for flowers and vegetables. Moreover Moshi, hosts a coffee factory (Milcafe, Ltd.) that specializes in the blending and packaging of tea along with the curing, grinding, and packing of coffee.

Agriculture

Moshi's lower altitude and drier climate mean that the main crops grown on the higher slopes of Mt Kilimanjaro, coffee^[33] and bananas,^[34] do not thrive there. The outskirts of Moshi are known for extensive farms of maize and beans, grown once per year during the long rainy season (known as "masika" in Kiswahili). In addition, the Tanganyika Planting Company operates a very large sugar cane plantation and company town 20 kilometres (12 mi) south of Moshi.^[35]

Roman Catholic missionaries introduced Arabica coffee cultivation to the Moshi region in 1893.^[34][36] The Kilimanjaro Native Co-operative Union was established in 1929^[33] by the district commissioner, Charles Cecil Farquharson Dundas.^[36] Its purpose was to enable Chagga coffee growers to compete on equal terms in world markets with European growers.^[36] KNCU collects coffee from 96 village societies, representing over 150,000 small-scale farmers.^[33] KNCU handles between 50 and 70 percent of the coffee grown in the area and trades over 5,250 tons of Arabica coffee, or about 11 percent of national production.^[33]

Climate

Moshi has a tropical wet and dry climate. Its weather is dominated year round by monsoonal flow. The northeast monsoon prevails December through March and is accompanied by the highest temperatures of the year. The southeast monsoon prevails from June through September. Unique among the world's monsoons, both monsoons in Tanzania are divergent in the low levels, shallow (averaging only 2 km. in depth), and capped by inversion and dry, subsiding air. These factors result in light or insignificant rainfall year round except during the transitional periods between the monsoons.^[37][38]

Moshi's altitude keeps temperatures lower than surrounding cities, even without the maritime effects that a coastal city enjoys. Nighttime temperatures are relatively consistent throughout the year, averaging from 15 to 17 degrees Celsius. Moshi has noticeably warmer daytime temperatures from October through March, when average high temperatures exceed 30 degrees Celsius, and noticeably cooler daytime temperatures from May through August, when average high temperatures are 25 to 26 degrees Celsius.

Moshi's wettest months are March through May, when around 71 percent of its annual precipitation falls.

Politics

Moshi has been the base of opposition politics since the struggle for independence.

The last Mangi Mkuu (Paramount Chief) of the Chagga, Thomas Lenana Marealle II, whose palace was located in Moshi, worked for the independence of Tanganyika when it was still a United Nations trust territory under British administration. In his speech to the United Nations Trusteeship Council on 17 June 1957, he said that Tanganyika could become self-governing within ten to fifteen years.^[40] This speech occurred one day before Julius Nyerere addressed the same body.^[41]

Several presidential candidates and chairpersons of opposition parties, including Chadema (Party for Democracy and Progress), the National Convention for Construction and Reform - Mageuzi, the Tanzania Labour Party, and Demokrasia Makini, hail from the Kilimanjaro Region that has Moshi as its capital.

In 2010, the unsuccessful Chadema presidential candidate, Willibrod Peter Slaa, received 55.6 percent of the popular vote in the Moshi Urban District compared to 43.5 percent for the nationwide winner, Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete of the Chama cha Mapinduzi party.^[42]

The Moshi Urban District parliamentary seat is one of the few seats in the country to be held continuously by an opposition political party since the first multiparty election of 1995. In 2010, the Chadema parliamentary candidate, Philemon Kiwelu Ndesamburo, was elected to office with 62.3 percent of the vote.^[43]

As of May 2012, six of the seven special seats on the Moshi Municipal Council are held by Chadema party members.^[44]

See also

• Kilimanjaro Region
• Railway stations in Tanzania

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Moshi.

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Moshi.

• Moshi Municipal Council
• KCMC Hospital Moshi
• Kilimanjaro Clinical Research Institute