By Henry Mwangonde and Syriacus Buguzi
Posted Thursday, June 25 2015 at 09:41
Posted Thursday, June 25 2015 at 09:41
IN SUMMARY
The
report by the Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC) says that more than
64.7 per cent of Tanzanians own land without formal documentation, with
most of the land falling in the hands of people described as “grabbers”.
Dar
es Salaam. A new report on land ownership in the country has detailed
shocking details of land gabbing, with at least half of one district
reportedly being owned by only 50 individuals.
The
report by the Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC) says that more than
64.7 per cent of Tanzanians own land without formal documentation, with
most of the land falling in the hands of people described as “grabbers”.
The
land held by such people, according to the report, is often owned in
the name of public interests, especially investment concessions.
Speaking during the launch of the report yesterday in Dar es Salaam,
LHRC Head of Corporate and Government Watch Flaviana Charles said that
land grabbing was increasingly becoming widespread in the country.
“We
looked at areas with big investments and noted a corresponding increase
in cases of human rights violations,’’ said Ms Charles as she
pinpointed Kilosa District in Morogoro Region where she revealed that
about half of the land was in the hands of not more than 50 individuals.
Kilosa
District covers an area of 14,918 square kilometres, is inhabited by
26,060 people, according to the 2002 national census.
“Rich
people own the land and this has brought conflicts due to shortage of
farming and grazing land for the common citizens,’’ said Ms Charles as
she alluded to the report indicating that commercial pressure and poor
land governance acquisitions were among the factors fuelling conflicts.
The
report indicates that obtaining land titles deeds has remained a huge
challenge for most Tanzanians whereby lack information on how land is
acquired and insecurity in villages has almost become the norm.
The
report, titled ‘Human Rights and Business’, is a compilation of data
obtained in the regions that have been named by the LHRC as hotspot
areas for human rights violation in the country. According to the
report, at least 17 million Tanzanians still lack certificates for
either customary or government rights of occupancy in about 15 regions
which were earmarked for research by the LHRC.
Most
of the country’s arable land, about 75 per cent, was found to have been
occupied by either local residents, investment companies or other
institutions including government agencies, the report further revealed.
It
warned that the expansion of national parks was becoming rapid and
creating land pressure, whereby at independence, the country was only
occupied by the Serengeti National Park while now, the number of parks
and other protected areas has expanded to more than 16.
In
his remarks, the Director of Research and Record-keeping at the
Commission for Human Rights and Good Governance, Mr Godlisten Nyange,
said issues to do with how business affects human rights is of great
concern to victims especially when they are not addressed.
He
noted that land issues had implications to the right to personal
integrity, the right to a healthy, sustainable way of life and standard
of living. He then urged the relevant authorities and business entities
to take the matter seriously. “It is high time businesses moved from
philanthropic corporate social responsibility to accountable business
practices which respect human rights,” he said.
In
light of this report, Mr Nyange said that the report called for more to
be done in the protection of human rights by various investors as a way
of paying back from the profits made in the course of business.
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