Prime Minister orders dialogue on Bagamoyo land disputes
Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa has directed the Bagamoyo District Commissioner (DC), Majid Mwanga, to seek an audience with the Saadani ward leaders, including leaders of the neighbouring villages to seek a lasting solution on land disputes.
Mr Majaliwa insisted on the need to have knowledge on the boundaries set by the government on the villages and wards. He issued the directive while speaking to residents of Saadani and Matipwili villages in Bagamoyo District, Coast Region, who stopped his motorcade immediately after visiting the Saadani National Park to oversee the area infrastructure.
“The DC, District Executive Officer and lands office should come up with their maps and sit with the village chairman and his land committee to establish the boundaries and I want to receive an implementation report on this directive,’’ he said.
The PM’s directive comes just a few days after President John Magufuli ordered the arrest and prosecution of pastoralists accused of assaulting Fukayosi villagers in Bagamoyo District. On March 17 while on his way back to Dar es Salaam from Dodoma, Dr Magufuli directed the Bagamoyo DC to make sure all the culprits are arrested and brought before legal organs.
The president stopped his motorcade at Fukayosi village in order to talk to villagers who had gathered at the ward offices holding placards bearing messages that demanded pastoralists of Mang’ati origins ordered to vacate the area.
One of the farmers told the president that the pastoralists have been harassing them by grazing their herds in their farms and when they tried to stop them they ended up being caned and some of them killed.
Responding, President Magufuli ordered the Bagamoyo DC to institute measures that will end the disputes between farmers and pastoralists. Since then, there has been no development concerning the president’s order.
“From today, there should be neither a pastoralist assaulting a farmer nor a farmer attacking a pastoralist. Livestock keepers should stop feeding their herds in farms, I will make a close follow up on this issue,” he said.
He directed the DC and other district leaders to work on the matter before he holds them accountable,” all those who have assaulted people should be arrested and brought before the law.”
In December, last year, a farmer in Morogoro Region was seriously injured after intervening in a brawl that had ensued following the pastoralists’ move to graze their cattle in a maize and beans farms at Mikumi in the district. The farmer, Augustino Mtitu, had to undergo a major operation to take out a spear that was pierced through his mouth to the neck.
According to Mr Majaliwa, there were reports that some people in the village had sold land to people from Dar es Salaam while knowing that the land belongs to Saadani National Park. “Those people should be arrested and subjected to appropriate legal instruments because no one is entitled to sell any land belonging to the national park.