It's not fair but it's just, that's the law

BY EDITOR

5th January 2016.

As of today, the wails and tears of the ongoing demolition of structures in flood prone valleys will be as strong as the El Nino winds and rains. 

Victims are crying foul play and sympathizers are calling the operation cold and inhumane.

 

However, as sad and disheartening as the exercise maybe one question lingers, is it just?

 

In May last year after the April rains wrecked havoc across most all flood plains leaving thousands homeless and claiming numerous lives, the then President Jakaya Kikwete was forced to give the demolition order.

 

All structures, residential or otherwise in all flood prone areas in Dar es Salaam will be demolished with immediate effect, President Kikwete ordered. Kikwete also ordered residents living in those areas to vacate with immediate effect for their own safety and relocate to the government designated areas for them.

 

The executive order was issued on 14th May 2015, eight months ago when the former president visited the flooded Nyaishozi, Boko-Basihaya and Mkwajuni areas in Kinondoni District Dar es Salaam.So today’s demolition is the execution of an executive order issued almost a year ago, it may not be fair but it is just, and such is the law. 

With that hard reality in our faces one cannot not ignore the human factor, the sight of a child staring at rubbles that they used to call home or the wailing of a widow who owned no other property than the small shack that has been reduced to dust.

 

To empathize with them we must consider another order that the former president gave in relation to part of the reason why the floods are so devastating. The 4th administration president acknowledged that other than  natural causes, the floods were causing havoc because of poor drainage, a human factor that is in the hands of the government.

 

Kikwete challenged workers of Dar es Salaam Water Sewerage Corporation (DAWASCO) for failure to drain water around their offices and houses within their vicinity.

 

So while the residents of the valleys are facing the wrath of the law for failing to vacate, why is Dawasco not being censured for failure to improve the cities drainage systems an entire year after the executive order was issued?

 

With that said, the country must brace itself for the warning issued last week by the Tanzania Meteorological Agency (TMA) 

 

TMA warned that these rains are but the start of what will become the biggest El Nino on record since the 1997 one, they said it will unleash fury and destruction of a magnitude beyond any that has hit the EAC region ever before.

 

TMA Director General Dr Agnes Kijazi said this year’s rains would likely be double the 1997 El Nino rains and that it will likely cause famine, waterborne diseases and render thousands homeless.

 

In her own words she said; “It’s important that the public prepares for the worst flooding ever.” 

 

So when the rains hit in full swing, the victims of the demolition may very well turn around and thank the government for forcing them out of the path of the worst storm to hit the region in over a decade.

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN