PRESIDENT John Magufuli has revoked ownership of land for the Oxford Development Limited, which was offered by Mlilingwa village in Ngerengere Ward, Morogoro District, after uncovering elements of fraud and irregularities during the process of offering such land.
Due to the fraud and irregularities
involved, the president has ordered repossession of 3,502 acres of land
to the village for use by the villagers.
The land dispute between villagers and
the investor forced the Minister for Lands, Housing and Human
Settlements Development, Mr William Lukuvi, to inspect whether the
ownership process followed set rules and regulations.
Speaking to the villagers, the minister
said the president has reviewed a summary of the meeting to offer the
land to the investor and discovered massive fraud and irregularities
committed by the leaders of the village, district and land department
and ordered the land to be returned to the villagers.
He directed the village government to
take measures to all responsible people who were involved to give the
land to the investor and make sure the culprits were arrested and
dragged to the court for the law to take its course.
In addition to that, the government has
also ordered the police force and Prevention and Combating of Corruption
Bureau (PCCB) to arrest and take appropriate action against all village
leaders, the investor and all people involved in falsifying documents
to mislead the government on the land matter.
“I have been sent by the president to
come and solve this matter and all involved must be arrested and be
taken to task to serve as a warning to others who are involved in such
fraud,” stated Mr Lukuvi.
According to the minister, there will be
no more village meetings which will approve land offer to investor
without the presence of the district commissioner, who will send a
summary letter of the meeting to the minister which must have signatures
of legitimate villagers.
Mr Lukuvi asked investors, who wish to
invest to follow rules and regulations, to stop acquiring land through
shortcuts by bribing village government leaders as they contribute to
conflict of interest and leave the land undeveloped and open to invasion
and cultivation by the people.
He further said that if there was any
investor who acquired land without following procedures, he should start
afresh and if it will be found that there were any faults in the
process, ownership will be revoked and land use changed in accordance
with the law.
The meeting was also attended by Oxford
Development Company Limited representative, Mr Kashoka Panga. For his
part, the MP for Morogoro South East, Mr Omary Mgumba, the Fifth Phase
Government was determined to do more practical work thus citizens should
support the effort.
He said in his constituency, there were
many land disputes amidst rising population and shortage of land on
which to cultivate and live.
The Chairperson of the Morogoro Council,
Mr Kibena Kingo, said Ngerengere Ward has a shortage of land as it is
surrounded by army camps, which occupy a big chunk of land due the
nature of their operations
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