OFFICERS from the Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB) in Mvomero and Kilosa districts, Morogoro Region, have begun probing government officials, political leaders and other persons over their graft-motivated role in fuelling farmer and pastoralist disputes.
Morogoro Regional Commissioner Dr Rajabu
Rutengwe said this in Mvomero recently, adding that the PCCB officers
have been dispatched from the bureau’s headquarters in Dar es Salaam.
The move comes following reports that
the dispute among farmers and pastoralists has become persistent due to
the fact that some government officials, politicians and other groups of
people were engaging in corruption activities to fuel the same.
Dr Rutengwe noted that because of such
ill motives, responsible leaders in the districts in question have
failed to bring the dispute into an end.
He was speaking during a meeting between
the Minister in the President’s Office (Regional Administration and
Local Government), Mr George Simbachawene, ward and village executives
as well as other stakeholders, including farmers and pastoralists.
The RC said that shortly after last
year’s general election, the region’s defence and security committee
that he chairs embarked on tracing the instigators of the chaos, leading
to the arrest of a number of suspects who have since been charged in
court.
Dr Rutengwe noted further that the
regional government would have zero tolerance on politicians, activists
and the media suspected to be instigating the chaos.
“The time has come when we must stand
firm in defending the rule of law and ensuring that all the people
adhere to the laws of the land,” he said.
The Chairman of Mvomero District
Council, Mr Jonas Van-Zeland, called on the District Executive Director,
Mr George Mkondo, to ensure appropriate measures are taken against
village executives who are unscrupulously involved in the saga.
He named the Kambala Village Executive,
Stephen Kiyawike, whom he alleged being “one of the troublesome
leaders’’, charging him of failure to attend all the meetings that were
being summoned to deliberate on the matter.
Mr Van-Zeland noted further that
executives in the Kanga and Mziha wards have sold out 4,000 hectare of
village land without following proper procedures. He thus ordered that
they should be implicated in disciplinary measures.
He warned against the tendency by ward
councils to assume the role of prosecutor and judge, presiding over
various issues where they have been fining people huge sums of up to
200,000/- , pretending it settled expenses incurred.
Mr Simbachawene was recently quoted
saying that the government will have no tolerance on instigators of
disputes among farmers and pastoralists. He vowed to bring the conflict
to an end.
The minister said that the dispute has
become chronic with various officials from district, regional and
various ministries trying to intervene but in vain.
“I am here to deliver the government’s
stand on the matter and communicate the issue clearly to village
executives. It is high time we took appropriate measures to end the
disputes,” he said.
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