The Dangerous of an Increased series of land conflicts in the Country

SPECIAL REPORT 

Tanzania is now seated on heating bomb that may explode any time following increased series of land conflicts currently escalating everywhere across the country, if deliberate and concerted measures will not be taken to deal with the worsening situation, Mirror digest can reveal.

 

The land conflicts normally involving small scale producers such as farmers, pastoralists  and big investors are also threatening long time cherish peace and harmony in many places, leave alone food insecurity which is sneaking along, in many parts marred by the conflicts.

An investigation conducted by Mirror digest in large part of the country revealed that many conflicts are fuelled by increasing agribusiness investments in which big local and foreign investors have taken huge chunks of land without following proper land acquisition process and procedures while small scale producers and livestock keepers are left landless.

A good example is the escalation of another big land clashes between the villagers of Galangala village, Basutu ward, Hanang district in Manyara region and illegal invaders of the former Basutu plantations in the ward.Last week, more than 700 irate villagers stormed into the former Basutu plantations and started distributing the land among themselves with the aim of forcing out what they called “invaders” of their land in the ward.

Interviewed in different occasions, the villagers said, their move follows illegal acquisition of their land by a huge number of business tycoons and government officials from in and outside the district, something which denies the local residents their right to own land.

However, they have vowed to leave no stone unturned against any foreigner investor who would resist from getting out of the land.Speaking to this reporter, one of the villagers Martha Laurent said that the illegal occupiers of their land come from Karatu, Singida, Dongobeshi, and other places.

However, when contacted for comments, the village Chairman, Ibrahim Orii distanced himself from the shoddy land deals, blaming the business tycoons instead for not following proper process and procedures of land acquisition.

In Kisarawe district, coastal region, more than 10,000 outraged villagers from eleven villageshave vowed to stage demonstrations against the government for failure to pay compensations amounting to Sh 549 million for village land acquired through a controversial land deal with a foreign biofuels firm more than four years ago.

Speaking to this reporter, the villagers said the investor, Sunbiofuel Company (SBF), acquired some 8,211ha of land from the villages after spirited campaigns backed by the district’s council leaders, to grow Jatropha, but the villagers have never been full compensated and the company has already sold its shares to another company called thirty degrees East (TDE) .

So far, the villagers have formed task force to make sure that they press their demands to higher authorities. The task-force chairperson, Ibrahim Muhadi from Malumbo village, Kibuta ward, told Mirror digest that under the conditions for the land acquisition agreed upon between the villagers and SBF, the investor was required to compensate individual and village lands all valued at Sh 840 million which has not been fully paid to date.

However, the investor had never fulfilled his promise made during land acquisition process. Some of the promises made were to build schools, dispensaries, roads infrastructures, creation of 5,000 employment opportunities and water supply services, but nothing has been made to date.Therefore the villagers demand to be paid immediately, or else they would seek audience with the Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda.

In Lutukira, village, Mkongotema ward, Songea rural district, more than 1,790 residents are up in arms against the investor,  for acquiring 50,000 hectares of fertile land in their village without following proper procedures.

They also accuse Songea district council for facilitating a shoddy land deal and protecting Lutukira Mixed Farm Ltd for their own interests and want the government to immediately to rescue the situation.

In an interview, one of the villagers Eligius Danda alleged that the land process and procedures were not follows and now the villagers want back their land. However, they blame the district council lawyer for facilitating controversial terms in the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which, to a large part, favours the investor.

Danda who is also a senior lecturer of the Moshi University College of Co-operatives and Business Studies (MUCCoBS), said that due to shortage of land, the villagers had initially agreed to give the investor some 25,000 hectares as a trial, but the investor reportedly backed by the district authorities pressed for allocation of 50,000 hectares.

While some investors like Lutukira Mixed Farm of Songea and the district council officials have dismissed allegations saying they are baseless, others have admitted to have not paid the villagers. 

However, land activists, lawyers and scholars have blamed the government for lack of transparency and full participation of the villagers in all stages of land acquisition process and procedures.

In an interview with Elias Mtinda, the agriculture and food security advisor for Action Aid Tanzania, he said that the land conflicts are fuelled mainly by few people who either use their positions to acquire huge chunks of land or facilitates shoddy deals with foreign investors with the aim of benefiting themselves.

“These people acquire big chunks of land against the law and sometimes they don’t develop, so due to increased population, land is becoming scarce in many villages, that’s why locals tend to demand back their land hence clashes ” he said.

Mtinda recommended that the government should implement the land laws properly and the investors should adhere to the land laws of the country. He also said the government should conduct land surveys and land use plan to enable villagers get title deeds and own land.

For his part, programme officer for Land Rights Research and Resources Institute alias Haki ardhi, Godfrey Massay said that there are myriad of reasons on the increasing trend of land conflicts; some are caused by expansion of towns, and poor land compensations of the land holders, increasing investments and land speculations in village lands.

Godfrey who is a lawyer named other reasons as weak land conflict adjudication bodies at village and ward levels and costly and cumbersome judicial system. Also in the list are stereotype towards pastoralism lack of knowledge of land rights among citizens, political interference in land acquisitions, weak land administration bodies at local levels, corruption and unscrupulous elites.

Godfrey who has done several researches on land conflicts issues in the country said that there is need for legal reforms and changes of practices and habits. Constitutional protection of land rights, land rights awareness programmes, support and strengthening of land administrative and arbitral bodies recognition and allocation of indigenous pastoralist and grazing areas and comprehensive village land use plan in all villages.

He also recommended that there is a need for democratic and accountable government and respect of human rights.

For his part, Land issues expert Valentine Olyang’iri Ngorisaalso working for Haki ardhi, had different views. According to him, the problem of increased land conflicts is not because of land laws but lack of implementation of the laws. He said that land laws are very good but the government officials who are tasked to implement them are not honest and in many cases they are corrupt as they collude with investors to facilitate shoddy land deals.

Valentine who is also environmentalist said that the whole system of investment in the country should be overhauled because the increasing land conflicts are fuelled by a tendency of the investors to go direct to the village level and lure the villagers instead of adhering to proper procedures of land acquisition.

However, he said that the current wave of land conflicts is a sign that the villagers are now aware of their rights, so, the government should give them more education on their rights so that they can make informed choices when dealing with foreign investors.

Former programme Officer for Lawyers Environmental Action Team (LEAT) Stanslaus Nyembeawho is a lawyer said that most of these problems of land conflicts emanates from awkward land laws and policies which do not favorite the  locals.

Citing an example of 99 years land tenure an investor is given while the population of Tanzania is on the increase, he said that it is nonsense an investor a huge land under controversial terms while many youth are jobless and the locals have no adequate land which is number one capital for many villagers.

He said experience shows that the investors are not sustainable and the nature of their investments have very devastating effects on local production especially soil fertility adding that sometimes the villagers end up paying up costs of land degradation and loss of access to local resources.

“Most investors have the culture of dispossession and harvesting without investing. So to say, there is a danger of creating vagabonds and criminals in big cities due to the influx of people whose farms have been grabbed by investors to big towns and cities like Dar es Salaam” he said.

A lecturer of University of Dar es Salaam, political science and public Administration Dr. Godfrey Sansa said that the whole idea of foreign investment is exploitative in nature that’s why there are many land conflicts. 

“If you look at the nature of foreign investments, which, in recent days have been fuelling land conflicts, you will learn that it is because most contracts entered between the investors and the villagers are not transparent. You find that when entering contracts the investors are presented with very competent lawyers and advocates but the villagers are presented with village leaders and even if they are represented by the district council lawyers, normally these lawyers are not competent enough” he said.

He suggests that there is a need to empower the villagers in terms of land laws, policies and the contracts. However, the legal framework governing land should be overhauled and the leaders should put forward commitment and patriotism.

Ends.

By MwigaMtavya