We’ll bury many if Kiteto situation isn’t addressed penings in Kiteto?

It seems that the cries by the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, who is also Kongwa Member of Parliament, Mr Job Ndugai and several other law makers about the wanton killings in Kiteto have not been heard by the government. If the government has heard the cries, surely it would have moved to normalise the situation.

But that is not the case as there are reports of more innocent deaths from the district resulting from conflicts between pastoralists and farmers. These two groups are competing over land. While farmers want to improve agriculture and assure the country of food safety, on the other hand herders are also eyeing the same land as pasture for their cattle.

We all know that farming and animal keeping are two major occupations which have engaged millions of Tanzanians. Livelihood of many families especially in rural settings, depend on these two activities.

And these two activities have been contributing tremendously in sustaining lives of many people, directly and indirectly. To some extent, agriculture and animal husbandry contribute to the national economic growth, albeit at slow pace.

It goes without saying therefore that the government was supposed to be very keen in ensuring that it provides good infrastructure to enable these two groups’ contribution to the national well being to improve.

For the past two weeks the public has been treated to gruesome pictures of people who have been hacked to death in the land conflict in Kiteto. This is not the first or second time such deaths occur. It was similar incidents several months ago which forced Mr Ndugai to make a passionate speech in the Parliament, calling on the government to act quickly as lives of many innocent people in the district were at stake.

Last week, after the pictures were published in social media and an MP calling for government intervention, Mr Ndugai refrained from making further comments but likened the situation in Kiteto to what is happening in Somalia.

Even if these two communities were not contributing to the national economy, as their guardian the government was supposed to ensure that they do not kill one another. Therefore, the government cannot disassociate itself from blame over these deaths.

What is amazing is that alarms over these deaths were raised long time ago but little has been done in terms of quelling the situation. This gives picture that the government does not care about the wellbeing of its people.

Land conflicts pitting farmers and pastoralists are widespread – they are a national phenomenon. To a large extent the conflicts have been fuelled by the government failure to help its people manage land properly.

After the operation to remove herders from Ihefu valley in Mbarali, pastoralists have been left to roam the country freely.

Even those who were removed by the government from Ihefu were dumped in areas without proper preparations. They were promised infrastructure for their livestock but they found none. They were promised secured land but it emerged that the government had not implemented land use plans in areas where the pastoralists were dumped.

The government should seriously address this problem because it is now one of the serious threats to peace and security across the country. Time has come now for the government to wake up and act and if it continues in its slumber we should be prepared to bury many innocent people.