Arusha Times (Arusha)
Musa Juma
4 July 2009
Arusha — The Ngorongoro District Council has asked President Jakaya Kikwete to allow villagers to repossess part of the land presently under the occupancy of an American investor, Thomson Safaris Limited at Soitsambu.
The council has made the request advancing reasons of 'impending' conflict over that land. Pastoral residents, the council said, are striving to get pasture land for the survival of their animals given the prevailing drought in the district.
The investor has acquired about 12,000 acres put under his lease, but there are claims that the area covers traditional residential areas, pastures and local water sources.
The council chairman Simon Soinda told this reporter that the request had come after the full council resolution on the matter. There has been some unease between the investor and the residents of Soitsambu ward.
Soinda explained they have suggested Thomson Safaris Ltd to be left with only a few acres for their use in the area.
The District Commissioner for Ngorongoro, Elias Wawa-Lali in his response to this reporter said the council and local village government suggestions are being dealt with at the national level and that he believed lasting solution would soon be given.
The DC said as a temporary measure, he has requested Thomson Safaris Ltd to allow the local pastoralists to graze their animals on the land to save them from starvation.
He said in a previous developments, a commission appointed by the Prime Minister to collect findings on the disputed land had concluded Thomson Safaris Ltd was the legal occupant of the land.
The Ngorongoro District Executive Director William Mgalula said the Prime Minister's Commission report had been received and is being worked on.
The director added records showed Soitsambu villagers had given the land to the then government-owned Tanzania Breweries Limited for barley farming free of charge. They then e felt they had reasons to dispute the rationale and legality of occupancy by the new occupant.
He explained that TBL didn't cultivate the whole area given to them but later did unilaterally sell the land to the present owner without consent of the residents in the surrounding villages who claim to have previously owned it.
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