Babati herders unhappy with ‘relocation’

Arusha. Embattled Barbaig herders who were recently forced out of grazing land in Vilima Vitatu Village in Babati District are appealing to the authorities to be given a suitable area to resettle.

They claim they were unfairly evicted from the disputed area as the High Court had way back in 2013 declared them the lawful inhabitants of Maramboi Hamlet, a forested spot rich in livestock forage.

“Where we were taken is unsuitable for livestock grazing, let alone permanent settlement,” lamented one of the villagers on condition of anonymity fearing reprisals from the authorities.

He said ever since their homes were torched on orders from the Babati District authorities last September, they had had no fruitful dialogue with the government leaders on their fate.

After their forced eviction, the 22 families of the livestock keepers were later resettled at Mfulang’ombe near the Lake Manyara shoreline, which they have unsuccessfully disputed.

“The place is waterlogged, the land is parched with limited forage and an area to accommodate us and our large herds,” he told The Citizen team visiting the area at the weekend. The livestock keepers claim they settled there from Hanang District in the 1970s but have lately been locked in a dispute with a foreign investor who went on to build a tourist lodge at the spot.

However, the decade-old conflict has zeroed on pressure to evict the livestock keepers because the disputed spot was a wildlife corridor linking the Tarangire National Park to the saline lake. The move to evict the mainly Barbaig herders is largely spearheaded by the Vilima Vitatu Village government and the Burunge Wildlife Management Area (WMA) and sealed by the 2010 decree of the Land Division of the High Court.

But in 2008, the 17 villagers successfully lodged an appeal before the Court of Appeal to repeal the High Court decree which sought to evict them. The ruling made on March 13, 2013 allowed the appeal with costs on grounds that no legal procedures had been followed in transforming the land into a WMA.

The deputy minister for Livestock Development and Fisheries, Mr Abdalah Ulega, recently visited the area and ordered the herders to be resettled in suitable area for their livelihood or requisite structures be put in place in the new settlement.

By the time he stepped in the crisis-ridden village, the number of families of those found at the new site had dropped to 17 from 22. A few of them are reported to have shifted to other areas of the country.