By David Kisanga
20th January 2015
Committee says it was sold to investor
illegally
James Lembeli
The parliamentary committee for
Lands, Natural Resources and Environment yesterday ordered the Ministry of
Lands, Housing and Human Settlements Development to recover 3,000 hectares of
land the latter had sold to an investor - EcoEnergy Ltd in Bagamoyo District,
Coast Region.
According to the committee, the
3,000 hectares are within 20,000 hectares of Saadani National Park in the
district.
The committee said EcoEnergy Ltd
acquired the hectares of land from the former investor - RAZABA Ranch who
intended to grow sugarcane.
“According to Government Notice 2081
of 2005, the government declared the 20,000 hectares of land a part of the
national park, but the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Human Settlements
Development decided to sell it to the said investor,” said the committee’s
Chairman, James Lembeli.
The Chairman was speaking before
officials from the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Human Settlements Development
and Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism who attended the committee’s
meeting.
Lembeli said it is shocking to see
that the ministry in question had decided to give the investor over 3,000
hectares of land in 2008 while knowing that the land is already a part of the
National Park.
He said he was convinced that some
officials from the ministry were bribed in the process.
According to Lembeli, the committee
does not recognise the investor as the lawful owner of the said land but rather
the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism (the National Park).
Lembeli who is also a Member of
Parliament for Kahama has therefore ordered the ministry of Lands to hold talks
with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism and find means of recovering
the land.
“You should find a portion of land
somewhere else to allocate to that investor. Unlawful distribution of land by
the ministry can be a source of civil war in the society,” he said.
Lembeli warned the government
against using the parliamentary committee to endorse its dubious means.
He advised that his committee, the
Land Ministry and the investor should find solution to the matter as soon as
possible.
However, the resolutions should be submitted
before the committee in the next parliamentary sitting scheduled for later this
month in Dodoma.
One of the committee members, Susan
Kiwango cautioned the government to be extra careful on the matter since it is
of national interest, “we are going to lose our national parks if we continue
with such acts, why should we allow one individual to own hectares of land
within the National Park?”
She said the government should not
tolerate such issues, calling for urgent measures to save the park.
For his part, Permanent Secretary in
the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Human Settlements Development, Alphayo
Kidata said it is difficult for Eco-energy to accept losing the land since the
firm has already invested a lot on the said land.
Sometime last year, thousands of
villagers of Gama Makaani, Matipwili and Makurunge, located 40 kilometres from
Bagamoyo, expressed their concern over the government’s plan to forcefully
evict them from their village land and give it to an investor.
According to the investor, Anders
Bergfors, his company, Eco-energy was planning on acquiring a total of 11,200
hectares from the former RAZABA Ranch but the villagers argued otherwise saying
the proposed land under investment was 20,639 hectares and not 11,200 hectares
as the investor claimed.
When contacted for comments,
Managing Director for Eco-energy, Tanzania, Anders Bergfors, refuted the
allegations saying they were baseless and unfounded saying it was the villagers
who invaded the area.
According to the investor, the
company first conducted sensitisation campaigns in which all villagers were
involved, then launched demonstration farms at Matipwili village and when the
villagers saw the demonstration rice farm schemes, they welcomed the project
except for some few villagers from Gama Makaani.
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN
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