Revenue and Expenditure Estimates of the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Housing Development for the 2016/2017 Financial Year

HON. DUNSTAN L. KITANDULA: Honorable Chairman, let me start by congratulating the Honorable Minister and his assistants for the good work they are doing in managing this Ministry, a Ministry which for some time has been facing many practical and systemic challenges. Congratulations.
Mr. Chairman, you will agree with me that land resources have a unique importance for human life and development. In addition, for the economy of our country, the majority of people depend on agriculture, an important sector in meeting their daily needs. It is due to this fact that land resources are the right of every Tanzanian and that denying any Tanzanian the right to own and use it is a violation of human rights.
Honorable Chairman, the wave of border disputes and land invasions in rural areas has become a major problem in our country. This problem is an obstacle to the development of the people and the Nation as a whole. These conflicts have continued to cause loss of property, deaths and to develop hostility between communities and thus make citizens remain poor and live poor lives.
Mr. Chairman, in addition, the presence of large undeveloped farms is another major source of land conflicts in the country. For a long time, our system of canceling the ownership of land that is not being used properly according to the purpose of ownership of the respective land has been used to provide an opening for a few people to monopolize the land without using it and leaving many citizens to suffer for lack of land. I highly commend the Government for the great efforts being made now to ensure that the abandoned farms are canceled and finally distributed to the citizens. Congratulations to the Minister for managing this well.
Mr. Chairman, Mkinga District is one of the Districts facing land ownership disputes and the presence of abandoned fields for a long time. At different times, the office of the Director of the Mkinga Council and I have personally submitted to the Ministry of Lands, the District's recommendations regarding the resolution of these disputes. When the recommendations of the office of the Director of the Mkinga Council were submitted to the Ministry of Lands in early 2007, at that time Mkinga was still part of the Muheza District; My office resubmitted the request through a letter with Reference MB/MKN/Ardh01/2011 dated November 17, 2011.
Mr. Chairman, throughout the life of the Tenth Parliament, I was constantly reminding this matter with contributions to the Ministry's budget speeches, and letters. Despite these efforts, these challenges have not yet been resolved. Dear Minister, I was very relieved to receive your letter asking the Members of Parliament to list the land conflicts in our states. Therefore, I use this opportunity to remind the Ministry about these requests which basically have taken a long time to be resolved:-
(i) Kilulu Farm - this farm is where the Mkinga District Headquarters is built. This farm was first owned by Brother Van Brandis and Mrs. Mary Van Brandis until 31/10/1959 when ownership moved to Brother Akberali Walli Jiwa. This owner did not develop this farm with a size of 5,699.9 acres until his ownership was canceled in 1972. After canceling the ownership, the Government paid compensation and the farm became under the Government.
Later, Muheza District received an application for ownership of the farm from M/S Arusha Farms Ltd. (CHAVDA). All the formalities were done and he was given 2,699.9 acres and 3000 acres were given to the people of the neighboring villages of Vuo, Mwachala and Purungu Kasera who had land problems. M/S Arusha Farms Ltd was given a letter of right of occupancy dated 10/05/1991 which was registered by the Registrar of Deeds on 13/05/1990 at Land Office Number 125127.
This owner applied for a loan from CRDB by mortgaging the letter of issue. In addition, he failed to repay the loan and CRDB sold the land to M/s Mbegu Technologies Ltd. on 27/03/2004 who paid the loan, but he also could not develop the farm. Brother Akberali Jiwa, despite the land being confiscated and compensation being paid, submitted his request to return the ownership of the land. His request was presented in the meeting of the Land Allocation Committee on 10/10/1996 and it was decided to be presented in the Regional Land Advisory Committee.
Honorable Chairman, the Committee under the Chairmanship of the Regional Commissioner agreed that Brother Akberali Jiwa should be given this farm because M/s Arusha Farm Ltd. they have failed to develop it. Muheza Council issued a letter of issue for ownership of 99 years from 1/10/1998 to Akberali Jiwa in the name of Kilulu Company (2000) Ltd. After the problem of double allocation emerged, the Muheza Council wrote a letter with Ref. MUDF/3844/63 dated 2/4/2007 to the Land Commissioner to request the cancellation of those titles.
Mr. Chairman, according to the Council's statement, until today the Council has not received any response despite the regular monitoring.
Honorable Chairman, the current situation is that this area has four town planning drawings, three of which were prepared by the Regional Administrative Secretary in collaboration with the Muheza District Council before the establishment of the Mkinga District Council and the other drawing was prepared by the District Council of Shield In addition, this area has been measured a total of 400 plots for various uses including, institutions, Government buildings, public buildings, playgrounds, places of worship, residences, businesses and open spaces. Once again, I am asking the Government to cancel the ownership of Kilulu Plantation for the benefit of the public.
(ii) Moa Estate - this farm has a size of 15,739.60 acres and is owned by Mkomazi Plantations Ltd. of SLP 2520 Dar es Salaam which later changed its name to Mao Plantation and Aquaculture of SLP 364 Dar es Salaam, by document no. 2468, 9780 and 9781. The District Council sent a notice to cancel their title deeds for abandoning the farm and paying taxes. After that the District Council submitted a letter of recommendation to the Land Commissioner with Ref. And. MKG/LD/F/2/54 dated 28/07/2009. Procedures for cancellation of title continued in the Ministry but the Council received a letter from the owner explaining that the ownership name changed to Moa Plantation and Aquaculture of SLP 364 Dar es Salaam and that they want to develop the farm.
Mr. Chairman, since the District Council had submitted to the Ministry a letter of recommendation to cancel the title, it had to write a letter to the Land Commissioner with Ref. And. MKG/LD/F/2/56 dated 09/06/2001 telling him to receive the letter and that the farm has four villages that have been established and registered Moa, Ndumbani, Mayomboni and Mahandakini. In addition, those villages already have community services such as schools, clinics, roads and so on. In those areas, he should continue with the title cancellation procedures or if he stops the cancellation, then the owners should agree to divide the areas inhabited by villages and be developed by the people. Land Commissioner by letter no. LD/70503/76 dated 23/11/2011 stopped the deletion on the condition that they pay land tax from 1996 to 2011/12 and divide the areas with the mentioned villages.
Honorable Chairman, following the situation, the Council wrote a letter to the Land Commissioner with Ref. And. HW/MKG/LD/F/2/62 dated 27/07/2012 to continue with the cancellation procedures. The Land Commissioner through a letter with Ref. And. LD/70503/76 dated 23/11/2011 stopped the deletion on the condition that they pay the land tax from 1996 to 2011/2012 and divide the areas with the mentioned villages. However, they did not fulfill those conditions.
Honorable Chairman, following the situation, the Council wrote a letter to the Land Commissioner with Ref. And. HW/MKG/LD/F/2/62 dated 27/07/2012 to continue with the cancellation procedures. The Land Commissioner through his letter Ref. And. LD/70503 dated 15/01/2013 asked the Council to present the evidence which the Council did. In addition, the letter of the Assistant Land Commissioner with Ref. And. LD/NZ/12931/18/DW dated 15/04/2013 to the Acting Land Commissioner is also involved advising the deletion of those documents to continue. Currently the District Council is waiting for the Land Commissioner's decision.
(iii) Mwele Seed Farm - this farm has a size of 954 hectares, the owner is the Ministry of Agriculture. While this farm was intended to be a seed farm, the reality is that for about 15 years now, this farm has failed to be used as intended and a large part remains wild. The people of the villages surrounding this farm Mbabakofi, Maramba A, Maramba B and Lugongo have been the work force to clean this farm when they are allowed to open new fields and cultivate short-term crops every time the new farming season arrives.
Honorable Chairman, on 21/09/2007, the District Council wrote a letter to the Land Commissioner with Ref. And. MUD/ASF/VOL.VI/35 suggesting that this farm be broken down and distributed to the people of the neighboring villages due to its development being too small and taxes not being paid. However, these requests were never answered.
Mr. Chairman, this farm borders the village of Mbambakofi with about 500 households with a total of about 3,173 citizens. Mbambakofi is the only village in Mkinga District that lacks even an area to build important social services such as a primary school and a clinic. In addition, this farm is bordered by the small town of Maramba which is growing rapidly, with about 30,000 people and surrounded by the fields of Maramba JKT 2445 hectares, Lugongo Estate 6040 hectares, Kauzeni Estate 189.66 hectares, Mtapwa Estate 476 hectares.
Honorable Chairman, the condition of abandonment of this farm has become worse now than it was in 2007, when the District Council first asked for the demolition of this farm. Currently, the situation has become so bad that even many of the existing buildings have collapsed and the few that are left have become ruins, any agricultural machinery and equipment that was there in the farm has been damaged and the remaining few have been moved to Morogoro. Currently, the farm is left with no more than five workers from those who were there in the 1990s.
(iv) Maramba Farm JKT - its size is 2,445 hectares and it is owned by the Army. Large area is unused and tax free. The letter written about Mwele Seed Farm also included proposals to subdivide this farm so that the people of Mdogo wa Maramba can find an area to build their homes.
(v) Segoma Farm - the Segoma forest with 2,311 acres is located within the Sigi Segoma farm with a size of 2829 acres. This farm was owned by the Muheza District Economic Organization (SHUWIMU) by document no. 7675 dated 01/04/1990 of 33 years. Due to lack of capital and deterioration of SHUWIMU, this document was changed ownership to Muheza District Council from 16/02/2007.
Honorable Chairman, in 1992 SHUWIMU for lack of capital and expertise entered into a joint venture with M/s Sigi Agricultural Co. Ltd., and when SHUWIMU was dissolved, the farm was owned by Muheza District Council, which canceled the existing joint venture and entered into a joint venture with SWIFTCOM of Tanga. This caused M/s Sigi Agricultural Co. Ltd. filing case number 18 of 1996 to challenge the cancellation of his partnership.
Honorable Chairman, in 2011 the judgment of this case was given by the Muheza Council and given victory. In 2007, the Mkinga District Council was established by being beaten from Muheza. In the property sharing exercise, this farm was allocated to the Mkinga Council.
Honorable Chairman, after the judgment was given, the Council with the funding of the Tanzania Forest Conservation Group (TFCG) conducted a reality check at that time and gave information in a meeting held on 08/10/2012 involving the leaders of the village of Songea, Ward, experts of the Council , Tanzania Forest Service Agency - Northern Region and Regional experts. In addition, the session came out with recommendations since the village of Segoma has a serious problem of land shortage, 518 acres of land should be distributed to the people for agricultural activities and housing and 2,311 acres should be set aside as a forest reserve.
Honorable Chairman, on 15/12/2012 the meeting of the Council of Councilors as the rightful owners of this resource approved these proposals and ordered that 518 acres be allocated to the people of Segoma village for residential and agricultural activities and 231 acres be owned by Segoma village to be village forest. In order to implement the Council's order, the Management contacted the Regional Manager of the Forest Service Agency for handover. However, the Regional Manager of the Forestry Services Agency requested to meet with the leadership of the Council to discuss the village's ownership of forests. When the information of the request was brought to the Council meeting on 16-17/07/2014, the Council ordered that the Land and Forestry experts of the District implement the Council's Resolution of 05/12/2012.
Honorable Chairman, after the Management implemented the order, on 28/11/2014, to great surprise, the Council received a letter from the Head of the District ordering the cessation of allocating land to the people for agriculture and housing and likewise to hand over the forest to the village of Segoma. This matter has caused great concern to the citizens to the extent that they came to Dodoma during the budget sessions to present their complaints. In addition, at the end of the budget debate, I had to ask for clarification regarding this matter and the Deputy Minister admitted that the people of Segoma have the right to be given the said land and that he will visit Mkinga to find a solution to this matter.
Honorable Chairman, while we continue to wait for the implementation of the Deputy Minister's promise to visit Mkinga to come and find a solution to this crisis, the Council received a letter from the Administrative Secretary of the Region with Ref. And. BF 174/314/02/35 dated 02/12/2015 ordering an area of ​​518 acres to be officially handed over to the village and a forest area of ​​2311 acres to be under the management of the Forestry Services Agency until another decision is made.
Honorable Chairman, these decisions to deprive the Mkinga Council of its resources are not only for the purpose of great oppression but also contradict the Forest Law of 2002 which clearly states that the community can protect, preserve, manage and sustainably use the forests in the village land to meet their long-term developmental needs.
Honorable Chairman, it should be remembered that more than two million hectares of forests in this country are managed by the Governments of more than 1000 villages. Therefore, the village of Segoma being entrusted to manage their natural forest will not be the first time. We would like to see the wisdom used in 2015 to allow Enguserosambu Ward in Ngorogoro District to manage the Longido II forest applied even to the Segoma forest.
Mr. Chairman, this is due to the fact that these citizens have taken care of the Segoma forest and are responsible for ensuring that the forest remains safe without being asked or handed over by the Government. It is sad to see today these citizens being robbed of this resource by force, ridicule and humiliation that they are invaders. The Mkinga Council and the villagers of Segoma want to benefit from the ownership of their resources through the income from the harvest of this forest in order to improve social services and bring development to the village.
(vi) Kwamtili Estate - this farm has a size of 1,150 hectares and is owned by Kwamtili Estate Ltd. with certificate of Incorporation No. 2649 registered on 09/01/1961 with the following shareholders:

S/N SHAREHOLDER NAME RESIDENCE ADDRESS

1 Dennis Martin Fielder 4 Market Square Tenbury,Wells Worcestershine – UK Returned to England
2 National Agriculture &
Food Corporation (NAFCO) Box 903 DSM Corporation dissolved
3 Handrik Tjails Scheen C1/30 Algami nes Bank, Amsterdam , Netherland Died
4 Louis Van Wagenburg Layscian Ag Vaghel, Holland Died
5 Schoonmarkers Bart
Venderburg De Conqabsen, 163 Schlkher, Holland Died
6 Tracey Elan Allison The Willos Terrigton, Herefordenshire, UK Deceased
7 Juvent Magoggo 42 Block S. Mikanjuni Box 5855 Tanga Lives Tanga
8 WJ Tame Ltd Box 118 Tanga Deceased
9 Jacobus Cornelius Logtanburg Vaghel, Holland Deceased
Josephus Moris


Honorable Chairman, this farm located in Kwamtili, Bosha Ward, Mkinga District was used for commercial cultivation of Kakau. However, for about 26 years, cocoa farming activities have stopped after the former Company Management under Brother Dennis Fielder abandoned the farm. In addition, after the farm was abandoned, one of the shareholders Ndugu Juvent Magoggo has been doing small activities including harvesting trees in this farm with the aim of getting money for small production; and likewise to allow the people surrounding the farm to grow non-permanent crops. However, at present, brother Magoggo has been unable to continue these activities after being denied permits to harvest trees and transport logs.
Mr. Chairman, due to the existence of a vacuum in the ownership of this farm, groups of people have arisen who claim to have the right to own this farm and thus rent the farming areas to the people surrounding this farm by paying them a portion of the harvest resulting from the use of the land. In addition, there has been a wave of foreign nationals showing up using the shadow of the former CEO of the farm and carrying out Brother Dennis Fielder to destroy the company's assets, including wood cutting and starting the process of owning this land. In this, the citizens are pointing the finger at the office of the Forest Reserve Agency - Mkinga District.
Honorable Chairman, the people of Kwamtili and Bosha Ward in general have remained in poverty after the cocoa farming activities in the Kwamtili farm which gave them employment were stopped. The solution for these citizens is to be given areas in this farm so that by using the method of small farmers they can do agricultural activities and thus make a living. I am asking the Government to make a decision to cancel the deed of the Kwamtili farm and then distribute it to the people for agriculture, and the other part to be set aside as a village forest reserve.
(vii) Mjesani Sisal Estate - this farm with document no. 48108 and the size of 22,725 acres was abandoned for a long time and the situation caused the land to be broken and four villages were established within the farm which are Kwangena, Mchangani, Bomba Mavengero and Mnyenzani. In addition, Mohamed Company Ltd. of SLP 20600 Dar es Salaam has emerged and started to develop some areas of this farm. This situation has brought a great challenge, especially considering that the villages within this farm have already been registered with TAMISEMI. For example, the village of Kwangena with a size of 300 hectares has been given a registration document for village no. TA/KIJ/603 dated 03/01/1997, moreover, the surveying of villages was done with surveying maps to obtain permits.
Mr. Chairman, following this confusion regarding the ownership of land in the mentioned villages, the citizens of the respective villages have been crying for a long time to ask the Government to intervene in order to remove the controversy regarding the ownership of the areas of their villages. For example, the General Assembly of Kwangena Village sat and asked to be given land according to the approved village map. The Council of Councilors approved the request and the Council through a letter with Ref. And. HW/MKG/D.35/138/5 dated 17/072012 submitted the request to the Land Commissioner, in 2015 the Ministry sent its experts to revive the boundaries of the farm and to the great surprise of the people of Kwangena only 216 acres were allotted. In addition, within a very short period of time, the survey map was registered with number 82741, and another document with LONO was prepared. 560486 and the document was registered on 26/11/2015.
(viii) Conflict between Mkota Village and Mkomazi National Park - the people of Kimuuni Township in Mkota Village, Mwakijembe Ward have been living in that area since before independence. This neighborhood has approximately 170 households and 530 income residents. These full-time citizens have been a great help to the protection and resources of our country, especially considering that this area borders the neighboring country of Kenya. These people are complaining that their area has been taken over by the Mkomazi National Reserve and Pori Tengefu La Umba and that now they have to leave the area despite making a big investment by using their energy to dig large ponds to water their livestock.
Mr. Chairman, I have brought this crisis to the attention of the Government and I have discussed this matter many times in the Tenth Parliament, but so far no solution has been found. Honorable Anna Tibaijuka when he was Minister of Lands accompanied by the Regional Defense and Security Committee, visited Mkinga District and held a public meeting in this village. In that meeting, the Honorable Minister promised the people to deal with this crisis. In addition, the former Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Tourism Mr. Mahmood Mgimwa accompanied by the Regional Protection and Security Committee also visited the crisis area (Kimuni) and held a public meeting where he received the request of the people for this area to be given the status of Wildlife Management Area (WMA) and promised the Ministry to initiate the process of converting this area into a WMA.
(ix) Manza Bay Sisal Estate - is a collection of four farms with a total size of 2,217.6 acres farm no. 273 documents and. 7047 LONO. 124814 461 acres, plot no. 196 document no. 14275 LONO. 12621 498.6 acres, plot no. 272 document no. 3576 LONO. 642 acres 507 and farm document no. 14322 764 acres. The owner of these fields is Mbegu Technologies Inc. Ltd. of SLP 173 Smoke. All these farms have entered the area of ​​Kasea Town which is the Headquarters of Mkinga District. In this context, I ask the Government to see the importance of canceling these documents so that this area can be used to develop the city of Kasera.
Honorable Chairman, along with the conflicts above, there are other conflicts that emerged as a result of the village survey exercise in 2007 that involved experts from the Ministry of Land, Housing and Development and Mkinga Council experts. The essence of these conflicts is an exercise carried out without ensuring the participation of the leaders of all sides of the respective villages in determining the boundaries, something that has led the villages that did not have representation to protest to recognize the set boundaries.
Honorable Chairman, the list of villages with these conflicts is as follows:-
(a) Daluni Kibaoni Village and Ng‟ombeni Village; (b) Daluni Kibaoni Village, Mgambo Shashui Village and Movovo Village;
(c) Mnyenzani Village and Jirihini Village;
(d) Magodi Village and Mwanyumba Village;
(e) Dima Village and Mazola Kilifi Village;
(f) Doda Village and Magaoni Village;
(g) Monga Vyeru Village and Kichalikani Village;
(h) Mwakijembe Village and Mkota Village;
(i) Msimbazi Village and Dima Village; and
(j) Bosha Village and Churwa Village.
Mr. Chairman, it is my belief that now the long-term challenges of the presence of disputes over village boundaries, land ownership and the existence of farms that have been abandoned for a long time in Mkinga District will be resolved.
Honorable Chairman, I ask the Honorable Minister when he concludes the argument for this budget to tell us what the Government's statement is regarding these challenges, and we ask him to give priority to visiting Mkinga to come and resolve these conflicts.
Mr. Chairman, I support the motion.