PRESIDENT John Magufuli has revoked ownership of land for the Oxford Development Limited, which was offered by Mlilingwa village in Ngerengere Ward, Morogoro District, after uncovering elements of fraud and irregularities during the process of offering such land.
Due to the fraud and irregularities involved, the president has ordered repossession of 3,502 acres of land to the village for use by the villagers.
The land dispute between villagers and the investor forced the Minister for Lands, Housing and Human Settlements Development, Mr William Lukuvi, to inspect whether the ownership process followed set rules and regulations.
Speaking to the villagers, the minister said the president has reviewed a summary of the meeting to offer the land to the investor and discovered massive fraud and irregularities committed by the leaders of the village, district and land department and ordered the land to be returned to the villagers.He directed the village government to take measures to all responsible people who were involved to give the land to the investor and make sure the culprits were arrested and dragged to the court for the law to take its course.
In addition to that, the government has also ordered the police force and Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB) to arrest and take appropriate action against all village leaders, the investor and all people involved in falsifying documents to mislead the government on the land matter.
“I have been sent by the president to come and solve this matter and all involved must be arrested and be taken to task to serve as a warning to others who are involved in such fraud,” stated Mr Lukuvi.
According to the minister, there will be no more village meetings which will approve land offer to investor without the presence of the district commissioner, who will send a summary letter of the meeting to the minister which must have signatures of legitimate villagers.
Mr Lukuvi asked investors, who wish to invest to follow rules and regulations, to stop acquiring land through shortcuts by bribing village government leaders as they contribute to conflict of interest and leave the land undeveloped and open to invasion and cultivation by the people.
He further said that if there was any investor who acquired land without following procedures, he should start afresh and if it will be found that there were any faults in the process, ownership will be revoked and land use changed in accordance with the law.
The meeting was also attended by Oxford Development Company Limited representative, Mr Kashoka Panga. For his part, the MP for Morogoro South East, Mr Omary Mgumba, the Fifth Phase Government was determined to do more practical work thus citizens should support the effort.
He said in his constituency, there were many land disputes amidst rising population and shortage of land on which to cultivate and live.
The Chairperson of the Morogoro Council, Mr Kibena Kingo, said Ngerengere Ward has a shortage of land as it is surrounded by army camps, which occupy a big chunk of land due the nature of their operations.
/Daily News.
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