Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete has announced sweeping reforms, the highlight of which will be the seizure of big tracks of land owned by rich individuals and transfer them to poor, landless people. The move is aimed at forestalling a land crisis in future.
”One controversial trend that may disrupt our stability is the erratic sale of communal land to rich individuals,” President Kikwete told Arusha leaders at the end of his tour in the region. Kikwete said land disputes have the potential to cause chaos. That eventuality has to be avoided, he said.
That exercise would put to an end many land disputes and also dissuade rich people from acquiring large chunks of village land to the detriment of the welfare of the majority, he said.
”These people normally follow all legal procedures required to secure land?so procedures are legal, but the deeds are illegal because they actually dispossess poor people of their ancestral land,” President Kikwete explained.
He directed Tanzanian regional authorities to side with common people, to prevent their ancestral land from being grabbed. All land in Tanzania is held in trust by the President on behalf of all Tanzanians and is therefore public property. (IPP Media)
Source: IPPMEDIA
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