In Summary
There is a lot more that needs to be considered
before any decision to evict people from their land is made, but
apparently our government does not even give the locals opportunity to
express their wishes.
Dar es Salaam. African countries should have
ethical economic land policies to save the continent from land
conflicts, international land conference was told on Wednesday.
African land need clear stewardship for the benefit of both current and the future generations.
This should put into consideration interests of small-scale farmers by involving them in any decisions made on the use of land.
The observation was made by Dr Camillu Kassala
from Christian Professionals of Tanzania Research Fellow, Interfaith
Standing Committee for Socio-economic Justice and Integrity of Creation,
when presenting a paper at a conference in Dar es Salaam.
He said land holds the social-cultural attractions
of many African communities; therefore forceful eviction of locals from
their land in the name of investments interferes with social identity
of people.
“There is a lot more that needs to be considered
before any decision to evict people from their land is made, but
apparently our government does not even give the locals opportunity to
express their wishes,” he said.
According to Dr Kassala, the government is never
neutral when it comes to acquisition of land by investors and only
thinks of how to remain in power.
He accused the government of always working in the
interest of influential members of the private sector who often give
irrational demands.
For his part, the University of Dar es Salaam
lecturer, Dr Ringo Tenga, basing on his previous research, said land
grabbing is very much evident in Tanzania as the government tries to
downplay the reality.
