GRAND OPENING

For the first time in the History of the Africa Federation, the Conference was held at a resort away from the hustle and bustle of the Cities and Towns. The Organizing Committee put in place by Arusha Jamaat, demonstrated their zeal and ability to facilitate the congregation by having the programme run smoothly.

The program commenced with the Opening session, which was held on Friday 6^th April 2007, in the afternoon which saw the matters of Minutes and Accounts being attended to

It then took the direction of grandeur during the evening when the Opening Ceremony was held after dinner. Apart from the Jamaats representation, the representation of the WORLD FEDERATION was conspicuous with the presence of the Treasurer of the World Federation Alhaj Azad Bhai Kanani.

From its introduction in 2004, the Africa Federation continued to have respective Jamaats participate to defray the costs of this August Gathering. The following was the participation from different Jamaats, Institutions and Individuals.

Asghar Bharwani and Friends	Kampala Jamaat
Dar-es-Salaam Jamaat	Mombasa Jamaat
Habib African Bank	Sameer Merali
Habibsons Bank (UK)	Zuher Fazal (Leopard Tours)

HEALTHY ATTENDANCE

The Conference saw a registered attendance of close to 200 participants comprising of Dignitaries, Councilors, Delegates, Invitees and Observers. Most notable was the presence of the Ambassador to Kenya from the Islamic Republic of Iran, His Excellency Syed Mohamed Raesi.

AF CHAIRMAN”S KEYNOTE ADDRESS

Alhaj Ramzanali Nanji delivered his keynote speech, which covered the progress in brief of the just concluded term and the vision for the ensuing term.

He commenced his address with the Message from our grand Marjae, Ayatollah Syed Hussein Ali Al Sistani (May Allah Increase his life) whose message was as below.

v The necessity of maintaining the unity of the Jamaats.

v Giving great importance to youths, especially those amongst them who migrate to non-Islamic countries and the necessity to provide them with sufficient religious education to:

a) Maintain their faith and protect them from getting astray.

b) Maintain their social and religious values

c) Maintain their mother tongue since it is the best means of communication and continuation of unity.

v Taking care of the poor and the needy, be they from the Khoja Jamaat or from others amongst the followers of Ahlul Bayt (a.s.)

v To assist the followers of Ahlul Bayt (a.s) from non-Khojas in the fields of education and specialization.

v The necessity to spread thoughts of Ahlul Bayt (a.s.) and introducing people to them regardless of their religious background.

v Observing precaution in spending sahme-Imam (a.s.) making sure that it is spent in serving religion and defending the true madhab.

Ayatollah Syed Hussein Ali Al Sistani also sent his prayers for Tawfiq and success.

The Chairman took the opportunity to present the Medals to individuals whose contribution during the concluding term was quite pivotal.

The awards were given to

v ALHAJ ASGERBHAI BHARWANI of Dar-es-Salaam

v ALHAJ ANVERBHAI MANEKIA of Dar-es-Salaam

v ALHAJ AHMEDBHAI DAYA of Moshi

v ALHAJ EBRAHIMBHAI KASSAM of Kampala

v MUSTAFABHAI JAFFER (SABODO) of Dar-es-Salaam

Amongst issues which the Chairman touched upon, was the tremendous improvement which had been achieved in the matter of increase in the rental incomes from the rationalization of the property portfolio. An increase of 319% was achieved from the incomes of 2001. This effectively enables the Education Scheme to be rolled out three years ahead of the scheduled time of 2010.

The Chairman identified this term which would be dedicated to ECONOMIC UPLIFFTMENT of the Community.

In this regards he launched a fund which would be established to roll out the program.

At the August meeting, the respective boards submitted their activity reports of the three years tenure since 2004. Reports were tabled for activities covering Tableegh within the community, Tableegh Outside the Community, Education, Health, Youth Activities, Housing, MAMAS, Sports, Strategic Planning and Editorial. All the Reports were adopted by the Conference.

The Treasurer of the World Federation, Alhaj Azad Bhai Kanani delivered his address and highlighted the exceptionally good relations currently being enjoyed between the World federation and the Africa Federation.

He went on to further stress the importance of the milestone project of the Muballigheen Training Program (MTP) which had been launched and suggested that it should be looked upon as a program which will eventually make our Community completely self sufficient as this program was designed to produce Muballigheen for the service to our Community.

He urged the Jamaats to respond positively and threw a challenge to Africa to enroll at least seven potential candidates for this program scheduled to commence in September 2007.

Two resolutions were adopted at the Conference, these were

Extension of the Constitution Review Commission
Extension of the rationalization of Property Portfolio

The following was the new team which assumed office for the ensuing term.

THE NEW TEAM

OFFICE BEARERS

Honorary Chairman	Alhaj Ramzanali Nanji
Honorary Vice Chairman Mainland	Alhaj Zulfikar Dewji
Honorary Vice Chairman Regional Council	*To be announced*
Honorary Treasurer	Alhaj Murtaza Kanani
Honorary Secretary	Alhaj Fazleabbas Chandoo
Honorary Assistant Treasurer	Alhaj Kazim Moledina
Executive Secretary	Mukhtar Assaria

TRUSTEES

Tanzania	Alhaj Shaukat Jaffer
	Alhaj Mehboob Versi
Kenya	Alhaj Sultan Moloo
	Alhaj Aunali Datoo
Uganda	Alhaj Ebrahim Kassam
	Alhaj Mohammed Manji

ADVISORS

Alhaj Manzoorali Kanani	Nairobi
Alhaj Masumali Meghji	Mombasa
Alhaj Ashgar Bharwani	Dar-es-Salaam
Alhaj Shiraz Rashid (Property Matters)	Dar-es-Salaam

BOARD CHAIRMEN

EDUCATION BOARD	Alhaj Iqbal Sunderjee
MULLA ASGHAR MEMORIAL AWARD SCHEME	Alhaj Dr Mohamed Dhirani
EDITORIAL BOARD	Alhaj Hussein Datoo
AFRICA YOUTH NETWORK	Alhaj Nishathussein Karim
CENTRAL HEALTH BOARD	Alhaj Aunali Khalfan
SPORTS COUNCIL	Alhaj Zuher Kanji
HOUSING	Alhaj Anver Rajpar
CRC	Alhaj Amir Somji
CENTRAL BILAL BOARD	*To be announced*
AFRICA FEDERATION TABLIGH BOARD	*To be announced*
ECONOMIC UPLIFTMENT	*To be announced*
STRATEGIC PLANNING	*To be announced*
SETWELL BOARD	*To be announced*

The boards whose chairman have not been nominated shall be done do shortly.

NOMINATED COUNCILORS

Maputo	Alhaj Dr. Asghar Moledina
Nairobi	Alhaj Manzoor Kanani
Mombasa	Alhaj Ghulam Khakhu
	Alhaj Iqbal Sunderji
	Alhaj Nishathussein Karim
Dar-es-Salaam	Alhaj Asghar Bharwani
Arusha	Alhaj Amir Somji
	Alhaj Zuher Fazal
Nakuru	Alhaj Hassan Fazal
Moshi	Alhaj Shafik Kanji

Additional Two Councilors will be named in due course by the Chairman of the Federation Alhaj Ramzan Nanji.

The NEW CRC TEAM

Amir Somji – Arusha	Iqbal Sounderjee - Madagascar
Dr Asghar Moledina – Maputo	Amir Merali – Mombasa
Mohamed Nathoo – Dar-es-Salaam	Mohamed Hemani – Mombasa
Shabbir Najafi – Kampala	Mukhtar Assaria – Nairobi
Abdulrazak Khalfan – South Africa

Secretariat

30^th April 2007 (12^th Rabi-ul-Aakhar 1428)