People who were living in the flood-prone Jangwani area and Kinondoni valley in Dar es Salaam don’t deserve to get the new plots the government plans to allocate to the victims of last month’s devastating floods.

These people for many years defied the government and refused to move out of what are essentially death traps.  People have built houses in places that are not supposed to be inhabited.

People began allocating themselves plots in Jangwani and Kiondoni valleys in the 1980s despite being repeatedly warned that they were settling in areas that were prone to flooding.

The rains that lashed the city for three consecutive days last month finally brought home to them the futility of their stubbornness.  

The same people who were scoffing at the government are now begging it to help them.What happened in Jangwani and Kinondoni was self-inflicted harm.

If the government helps these stubborn and disrespectful individuals, it might as well assist people who set fire to their own homes.

R.B. Suleiman,
Dar es Salaam.

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