Over 70 people take over land in Mirerani

Mirerani. More than 70 residents of Endiamtu Ward in Mirerani in Simanjiro District, Manyara Region, have invaded an open space and parcelled out pieces of land amongst themselves. They did so in protest over the move by some local leaders to sell the land.

Speaking yesterday while holding bush knives and hoes to clear the area, the residents said they had made the decision on the land close to the area owned by the Export Processing Zones Authority (EPZA) as they had no land on which to build residential houses.

One of the residents, Debora Lazaro, said they had decided to allocate the plots to themselves because the area had been sold by their former leaders, creating deep anxiety among them in respect of present and future generations.

“They tell us that the area is owned by EPZA, but no land is reserved for us for subsequent transfer to our children.

These leaders are benefiting themselves by arbitrarily selling the land,” Lazaro said.

Another resident, Peter Mkumbo, requested the government to intervene in the matter as the leaders had sold huge chunks of the land to wealthy individuals without the consent of the residents, saying they would keep allocating pieces of the land for themselves until they were removed by force.

However, Endiamtu Ward Executive Officer Edmund Tibiita urged the residents to remain cool as a big area of the land was allocated for the construction of EPZA projects.

He explained that, district lands official would go there soon show them the official boundaries .

“We are making a follow-up on the matter. So, give us three days until Thursday when we shall meet again here to discuss the matter and find a solution rather than taking the law into your ; we are waiting for district leaders,” Tibiita said.

For his part, Endiamtu Ward councillor Philemon Oyogo said he had been in the position for only two months, stressing that he was in the process of knowing the boundaries involving all 12 neighborhoods of the ward.

“We are being faced with the challenge of not having chairpersons of all 12 neighborhoods after a court dropped them from their positions. So, we are failing to convene community meetings to discuss a couple of crucial meetings, including this one,” Oyogo said.