Tanzania and land: Preaching water,drinking wine?

Last week, Tanzania's minister for
East African Cooperation Mr
Samwel Sitta insisted that the
country's land remained a
sovereign matter and cautioned
against attempts to drag it into the
East African Community's agenda.
The prospect of "foreigners" (Read
entrepreneurial Kenyans) owning
land in the country due to the
opening up of the region by treaties
governing the bloc has been highly
sensitive, and indeed Mr Sitta was
quoted by the state-owned daily as
saying that there were all sorts of
"dirty tricks" being employed in
order to drag the land issue into
the EAC treaty.
Speaking in Dar es Salaam at an
induction seminar for newly-
elected Tanzania members to the
East African Legislative Assembly,
Mr Sitta claimed land was a key
target and urged the legislators to
guard the national interests of their
country.
While it is understandable that
state representatives in regional
affairs have a duty to safeguard
their national interests, events in
Tanzania may be punching a hole in
the minister's thinly veiled attempt
at land "protectionism".
Earlier this year, the Tanzanian-
based Land Resources and
Research Institute published a
damning report on land conflicts in
the country.
The report says land disputes
pitting poor villagers against
powerful investors are now at more
than 1,000 every year.
According to the institute's
executive director Yefred Myenzi,
on average there are five land
disputes daily in Tanzania and,
three out of five involve powerful
investors.
In this context Mr Sitta's call
should come in for closer scrutiny
given the famously protective
country cannot guarantee the
interests of its locals.
Conducted in December 2011 and
covering 16 out of 132 districts, the
study insinuates that what is
happening in the country is that the
well to do--both citizens and
outsiders-- are in a land grabbing
race.
. Full Article

Africa Review*- Tanzania and land: Preaching water, drinking wine?
this is bad tanzania could be isolated

Noiroberry,

..sasa mmeishaambiwa kwamba hali ni mbaya huku Tanzania kwamba migogoro/magomvi kuhusu ardhi yamekuwa mengi. Given the situation, kwanini mnaendelea kulilia tu kwamba Tanzania ifungue ardhi yake kwa kila mtu??

..halafu Uganda,na Rwanda, wana scarcity kubwa ya ardhi kuliko nyinyi wa-Kenya, lakini wao wamekaa kimya wameridhika na uamuzi wa Tanzania. Nyinyi wa-Kenya kinachowasumbua ni nini?

..kama wananchi wa Kenya wanashida na ardhi taifisheni kama alivyofanya Mugabe kwa ardhi yake.

NB:

..Tanzania haiwezi kuwa isolated. NEVER!!

..Tunapaka na Kenya,Uganda,Rwanda,Burundi, DRC,Malawi,Mozambique,na Zambia.

Economical emancipation of any People has always resulted from their release from an agrarian existence and hence concentration of people and means of production in specific viable Urban Centres. If you even read news from anywhere beyond your village, you will probably have been informed that Kenya leads in the African indexes on Rural-urban migration due to a growing middle-class, education and improved economic empowerment - land therefore will increasingly lessen it's attractiveness as a primary Asset of growth.

The greatest lie perpetuated by Tanzanians in East Africa is, and has always been, that other East African Nations, specifically Kenya, were lecherous of land in Tanzania. Nothing is further from the Truth, which savagely clouds relationship between Kenya and Tanzania. Ndugu, because you are so blinded by this illogical envious hate for Kenya, you have barely read the article whose origin is not even Kenyan. Isomee, tafadhali na kama huielewi, uliza kaelezwa kikamilifu, bana!!

at the end of the day tanzania will privatize all land

At the end of the day ordinary Tanzanians will end up as losers as all their land with go to private companies....now i c why it became an election issue in Arusha.

tuvamieni kijeshi basi ..........maana ardhi yetu na hatutaki pia hamwishi longolongo.