A law lecturer at the School of Law of the University of Dar es Salaam has flouted the government’s move especially when it uses force to evict its people whom they found to have allegedly erected their houses on plots earmarked for future development projects elsewhere in the country. Speaking in an exclusive interview recently in Dar es Salaam, Abdon Rwegasira said that, the government does not follow the right channel which governs land law that recognizes together with other things the right of occupants and their erected structures. He says that, such structures irrespective of the way they have been erected have to be respected in regard to their value and that if pulled down to pave room for an intended project, owners have to be compensated with new ones before the actual action of eviction is ordered to take place. Elaborating into details on the aspects of humanitarian grounds about the issue he says that, the government has a tendency of issuing 45 days notice to evictees, and on expiry of such days they embark on a forceful eviction which of course the attitude is against the land law. In protest to the government’s move, a University don defends his argument by saying that, before the government issues a notice, it must have already built houses for the victims to migrate first even before a notice is issued to them. According to him, an eviction exercise might take place where an evictee has defied the order to migrate into a newly build house which shall have been built on a newly surveyed land for his or her own reasons and this should be done upon the expiry timeframe as per the notice earlier issued. But contrary to what is being witnessed by many peace lovers in this country is when their government takes an action and orders court brokers to carry the demolition of people’s structures which is done under the strict supervision of the anti-police riot squad popularly known as Field Force Unit (FFU). Elaborating on the issue, as a lawyer specializing in land laws, Rwegasira puts forward his argument and said that, this is contrary to the laws of human rights and settlements which states clearly that, evictees have to be given a notice within 45 days to vacate when permanent structures have been build for them, and not given money as practiced in many cases in the country.
In view of this, it has come clear as an abuse of human rights as what is happening today, many families are left homeless after having been forcefully removed out of their houses upon the order of the court ruling on a pending land case in controversy giving powers to a court broker such as the Majembe Auction Mart to carry out the exercise without mercy. Rwegasira made the concern shortly after the launch of his 412 paged book titled “Land as a human right” whose major theme has been focused on the challenges of land rights and the history of land law and its practice in Tanzania. The book to be used by law students, researchers and policy makers in the country was officially launched by the Minister for Lands, Housing and Human Settlements Development Professor Anna Tibaijuka in a colorful ceremony which took place at the University of Dar es Salaam Council Chamber. However, in its 9 chapters, the author has ably analyzed the sources of land problems as interplay of many factors including claims of land rights, and has challenged land law practitioners to be straightforward in respecting the rights of others and desist from listening claims of land rights outside the framework of law “We are currently witnessing a very disturbing phenomenon of disposal of prime public land to the so called investors, the bulk of whom have always been foreigners, without due regard to public interest. Public land preserved by past governments for various development projects has been disposed off under unclear circumstances”, reads a paragraph in author’s book. He has also stated that, “What is even more worrying is that land tenure insecurity has been on the rise due to fraudulent land transactions which are being perpetrated by the very people who are supposed to ensure that such malpractices do not take place”. According to the UDSM Vice-Chancellor Professor Rwekaza Mukandara in his earlier remarks, he described the book to be among the few available publications in library at the university mlimani campus that ranks the third among the best books which talks about land laws in the country. He said, the first book that addresses land law issues and practice in Tanzania titled, “Customary land law in Tanzania, a source book (1973) was published by Professor Gamaliel Fimbo who wrote the book in 1973 and another publication titled, “Essays in land laws in Tanzania” which was also published by Professor Fimbo in 1986. According to him, the two books have been the only two publications used for references in land law today. However, he said adding that, many books have been used from outside the country for lecturing students which do not have local contents in matters related with land laws.
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