LANDLORDS using their properties as collaterals to secure loans for non-farm spending have their days numbered under the envisaged criminalisation of the conduct.
The government says amendments of the
Land Act are on the card to discipline the tricky and dishonest
landowners who misuse the loans acquired under the land collaterals.
Deputy Permanent Secretary (PS) in the
Ministry of Lands, Housing and Human Settlements Development Dr Moses
Kusiluka told the ‘Daily News’ in Dar es Salaam yesterday that the
amendments are ready and may be tabled in the next parliamentary session
for approval.
“The minister has met and discussed with
commercial banks about land and farm owners who took loans for the
development of their farms but ended up diverting the money to other
non-farming activities,” said Dr Kusiluka, decrying the problem, which
he described as huge and serious.
He said the government has decided to
amend the law to stop the malpractice in the future. The deputy PS said
after amendments, the law will categorically outlaw the use of
land/farms as collaterals to borrow money for expenditures not related
to the farm development.
“Landlords will have their hands tied by
the law, they can only use loans to develop their farms, that is, if
the investor wants the loan for harvester, they should exclusively use
the money for that purpose, otherwise they will be committing an
offence,” Dr Kusiluka said.
He described the current trend as
alarming, saying many people have borrowed huge amount of money from
banks, threatening their survivals.
“We have ordered banks to ask their
potential borrowers to use other securities because we cannot tolerate
landlords abandoning the properties... we will revoke their ownership
and put the lands to other uses,” he said.
Dr Kusiluka who also acts as the
ministry PS threatened continued revocation of land ownerships,
regardless of status, “Even if the owners have used them as collaterals
in banks.”
Meanwhile, land leasers will from now be
relieved of long queues and hustles in paying rental fees, thanks to an
introduced electronic system, which starts imme diately, to ease the
process.
“We will soon dispatch our officers to
collaborate with their counterparts from the ministry of finance and
district councils to raise awareness on the system for paying land
taxes... we believe many people will find it interesting and less
tedious,” he said.
There are three ways through which the
leaser can determine the amount payable -- mobile phones, ministry’s
website and ministry’s tax estimate desks.
“With the use of a phone, leasers can go
to the main menu by clicking *152*00# and through text messages, they
will ably access information concerning their tax estimates,” he said.
Dr Kusiluka pointed out that through the
ministry’s website, leasers will feed information about their plots
(lot ID), their information will appear with the payment number and
through M-Pesa, Tigo Pesa or HaloPesa they will feed in a reference
number to pay the tax.
“Leasers can also pay through banks (NMB
and CRDB) and all the receipts will be sent as text messages but those
who want paper receipts can still get them at our offices and at
district councils,” he said.
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