Hai DC, Mr Novatus Makunga speaks to residents of the district at a meeting to resolve the dispute. (File photo)
Source : Daily News by DEUS NGOWI in Moshi
HAI District Commissioner (DC), Mr Novatus Makunga has allayed fears among Maasai community that its members will be dispelled from the contentious areas they live in near Kilimanjaro International Airport (KIA) before the matter is conclusively resolved.
Speaking to the DAILY NEWS recently, DC Makunga said the dispute can be brokered at the regional level and there is no need for leaders in Kia and Masama Rundugai wards to collect money from citizens, to allegedly cover costs for their defence and for a trip to Dodoma to meet the Prime Minister, Mr Mizengo Pinda.
The DC said the solution can be arrived by engaging with the locals by 100 per cent and that is what had been decided by Regional Defence and Security Committee.
He said the process will involve experts from about four ministries, so there is no need for anybody to worry or panic but rather carry on with economic activities.
Mr Makunga said that towards that end, he met with traditional leaders (The Laigwanan) at Mtakuja Village on March 28 and those involved were from Sanya Stesheni, Tindigani and Mtakuja villages in Kia Ward and those from Chemka Village in Masama Rundugai Ward who are embroiled in the dispute against the Kilimanjaro Airport Development Company (Kadco) that runs the airfield.
“I told them explicitly that they should help us arrive at the solution by clearing the air because some people distort the Regional Commissioner (RC), Mr Leonidas Gama’s goodwill to solve the matter.
They go about telling people that the government has issued a two week ultimatum for them to move from the area. There is no any order of that kind.
“Towards the end of February we met at Moshi with some experts from the Ministry of Land and Human Settlement; Prime Minister’s Office; Local Government and Regional Administration; Arusha and Kilimanjaro RC offices, Hai District councillors and proposed that the best way is to temporarily put barrels in the contested area so as to identify the problem on both sides,” said Mr Makunga.
However, DC Makunga said the Laigwanan would not buy the idea to set up barrels on the area. The DC added that community members through their leaders should come up with an alternative way to initiate the process, because the process cannot just start from the nowhere.
There must be a point of reference on the ground. Mr Makunga warned that the sort of activism they opted for would not help sort out the matter.
Mr Makunga said there was already in place a task force meant to work on the matter, including experts on map and land issues, but the exercise would not commence unless the community in the disputed land is incorporated. Until the weekend, the community in question was being awaited to come up with proposals so as to kick-start the process.
The DC said he addressed himself to the problem three months after his appointment as a DC on May 2012, by summoning two meetings - one at Kia Ward and another one at Masama Rundugai and formed an expert panel to prepare a report.
However, he could not cross to a second step as there are three villages in Arumeru District, namely Malula, Samaria and Majengo. In February, Kilimanjaro Regional Commissioner (RC), Mr Leonidas Gama allowed the citizens to remain in the land they had been occupying for years while plans were underway to sort out the matter. The meeting was attended by, among others, Hai Legislator, Mr Freeman Mbowe.
On March 25, this year, citizens from the five villages took to the streets in protest of what they said were plans to oust them from areas that they inherited from their forefathers. The district and regional authorities cooled them down, ensuring them there was no such order.
The dispute, according to DC Makunga, started in 1990 then subsided when a veteran journalist, Mr Jenerali Ulimwengu was the DC.
It surfaced again after the government had undertaken a joint venture with KADCO, a company that sold shares to a UK based company Mott McDonald, The South African Infrastructure Fund and Tanzanian Inter Consult Limited.
The company that is, however, now wholly owned by Tanzania Government has since looked for ways to ascertain itself as to the airport boundaries that seem to have been encroached by locals, but met with objections from locals who contend it unjustly overlaps to their land.
Speaking to the DAILY NEWS recently, DC Makunga said the dispute can be brokered at the regional level and there is no need for leaders in Kia and Masama Rundugai wards to collect money from citizens, to allegedly cover costs for their defence and for a trip to Dodoma to meet the Prime Minister, Mr Mizengo Pinda.
The DC said the solution can be arrived by engaging with the locals by 100 per cent and that is what had been decided by Regional Defence and Security Committee.
He said the process will involve experts from about four ministries, so there is no need for anybody to worry or panic but rather carry on with economic activities.
Mr Makunga said that towards that end, he met with traditional leaders (The Laigwanan) at Mtakuja Village on March 28 and those involved were from Sanya Stesheni, Tindigani and Mtakuja villages in Kia Ward and those from Chemka Village in Masama Rundugai Ward who are embroiled in the dispute against the Kilimanjaro Airport Development Company (Kadco) that runs the airfield.
“I told them explicitly that they should help us arrive at the solution by clearing the air because some people distort the Regional Commissioner (RC), Mr Leonidas Gama’s goodwill to solve the matter.
They go about telling people that the government has issued a two week ultimatum for them to move from the area. There is no any order of that kind.
“Towards the end of February we met at Moshi with some experts from the Ministry of Land and Human Settlement; Prime Minister’s Office; Local Government and Regional Administration; Arusha and Kilimanjaro RC offices, Hai District councillors and proposed that the best way is to temporarily put barrels in the contested area so as to identify the problem on both sides,” said Mr Makunga.
However, DC Makunga said the Laigwanan would not buy the idea to set up barrels on the area. The DC added that community members through their leaders should come up with an alternative way to initiate the process, because the process cannot just start from the nowhere.
There must be a point of reference on the ground. Mr Makunga warned that the sort of activism they opted for would not help sort out the matter.
Mr Makunga said there was already in place a task force meant to work on the matter, including experts on map and land issues, but the exercise would not commence unless the community in the disputed land is incorporated. Until the weekend, the community in question was being awaited to come up with proposals so as to kick-start the process.
The DC said he addressed himself to the problem three months after his appointment as a DC on May 2012, by summoning two meetings - one at Kia Ward and another one at Masama Rundugai and formed an expert panel to prepare a report.
However, he could not cross to a second step as there are three villages in Arumeru District, namely Malula, Samaria and Majengo. In February, Kilimanjaro Regional Commissioner (RC), Mr Leonidas Gama allowed the citizens to remain in the land they had been occupying for years while plans were underway to sort out the matter. The meeting was attended by, among others, Hai Legislator, Mr Freeman Mbowe.
On March 25, this year, citizens from the five villages took to the streets in protest of what they said were plans to oust them from areas that they inherited from their forefathers. The district and regional authorities cooled them down, ensuring them there was no such order.
The dispute, according to DC Makunga, started in 1990 then subsided when a veteran journalist, Mr Jenerali Ulimwengu was the DC.
It surfaced again after the government had undertaken a joint venture with KADCO, a company that sold shares to a UK based company Mott McDonald, The South African Infrastructure Fund and Tanzanian Inter Consult Limited.
The company that is, however, now wholly owned by Tanzania Government has since looked for ways to ascertain itself as to the airport boundaries that seem to have been encroached by locals, but met with objections from locals who contend it unjustly overlaps to their land.
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