The Dar es Salaam-based International Medical and Technological University (IMTU) has been operating from a leased government premises for only 100/- per year.
The University had paid just 1,500/- for 15 years from 1996 to 2011, according to lease contract availed to the Guardian yesterday.
A copy of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) seen by The Guardian entered into on 28 August, 1996 between the government and IMTU owner Vignan Educational Foundation; an Indian registered trustee, showed that the tenant paid rent of 100/- per annum from August 1996 to August 2011.
The property on Plot number 2348, Bock H located in Mbezi Beach in the outskirts of Dar es Salaam, referred to in the MoU as demised premises, belonged to the defunct state-owned Tanzania Saruji Corporation whose assets are now under the National Development Corporation (NDC).
But the institution is accused of not paying the rent since 2011 when the first contract expired and the owner reviewed the terms and increased the rent to 78m/- per month. The institution has now been served with a fourteen-day eviction notice.The NDC Corporate Affairs Manager, Abel Ngapemba confirmed to the Guardian yesterday that the corporation had decided to kick out the University for failure to pay rent. He however exonerated the NDC from the amount agreed in the first contract, saying that the initial agreement was reached between the tenant and then owner Tanzania Saruji Corporation.
“The property was put under NDC after the lease contract was signed so there was nothing we could do about it,” he said and adding:
“But we waited until it (the contract) expired then we reviewed it and came up with new rates that the tenant had not been able to pay.”
This paper contacted IMTU corporate affairs office for comment but was told to wait for a statement that would be sent soon but the official did not reply by press time.
According to eviction notice addressed to IMTU, seen by this paper, the institution had been given 14 days to vacate the premises and settle the outstanding debt in new rates from 2011, amounting to 3bn/-.
“Since then, you have refused, ignored or failed to vacate from the suit premises and refused to pay the outstanding rent of 3,061,680,000/- despite persistent demands requiring you to do so,” reads the notice served by Fosters Auctioneers & General Traders.
“Take not that if you fail to vacate the premises and pay the outstanding arrears within fourteen days from the date hereof, our instruction is to evict you by force without further notice and attach your properties for recovery of unpaid debt.”
According to the contract, at the time of the lease, the property comprised one finished and four unfinished structured then collectively called Mbezi Housing Estate and the tenant was permitted to develop it.
“In order for the demised premises to be utilised for the intended purposes the tenant hereby covenants with the landlord as follows: to pay the reserved rent of 100/- per annum on the days and in the manner aforesaid,” the MoU reads in part.
Around the same time the rent expired in 2011 when the institution made headlines when the students complained of its then policy of quoting and charging fees in dollars. In November that year , the students marched to the Education and Vocational Training Ministry to air their grievances over the matter.
The following month, after intense pressure, the institution signed an agreement requiring it to among other conditions, quote and charge university fees in Tanzanian shillings and not in US dollar.
The agreement was also signed by IMTU’s students’ organisation (IMTUSO), the Tanzania Commission for Universities (TCU), Higher Education Students Loans Board (HESLB) and Ministry of Education and Vocational Training.
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN
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