Editorial cartoon.

Residents of Segera, a small settlement at the junction of the Chalinze-Segera Road in Tanga Region, reportedly placed road blocs and stalled the traffic of the crucial highway for some time to register their fury over the handling of a land dispute. During the commotion, one person was shot dead by the police.

Our concern here is not whether the peasants were robbed of their land or not, because such a verdict is the preserve of the country’s courts of law. Our worry is over the increasing land disputes in our country, pointing to the fact that something is going wrong somewhere.

Tanzania has traditionally preserved village land so that not a single person in Tanzania should be deprived of the abundant resource that we have, contrary to the situation in some of our neighbouring countries and elsewhere around the globe.

That is why all village land was supposed to be surveyed and properly titled with rights of occupancy. As time goes, especially because of the wave of globalization and increased foreign investment, we are seeing more cases of hotly contested displacements, like in Kilombero, Loliondo and elsewhere.

We urge the relevant government authorities who have the mandate of allocating land to take their task seriously, otherwise they can easily lead the country into unwarranted land conflicts which could ignite even worse, unforeseen scenarios.

If we have clear policy guidelines on this sensitive matter, one wonders as to how this unpalatable disease can crop up and actually take roots.

As it goes, a stitch in time saves nine. The world of globalization and its resultant challenges are new to our society. However, the management of our country, and of the impact of globalization, is a duty that we cannot shun.

When it comes to land matters, it is advisable to be prudent from the start by ensuring that all the country’s citizens regardless of rank and status enjoy land security. There are countries that can rightly get away even with bloody land conflicts, but NOT Tanzania. There is no need for that mess because there is sufficient land for each and everybody.

As the world advances in all fields of human life, it is increasingly becoming clear that a good leadership is one that is empathetic as well as caring. We should not leave the majority poor in our midst at the mercy of cut-throat economic forces. Such is an incentive for dissatisfaction, a factor that we should not invite at any cost.

The form of protest of a person who is enlightened usually differs from that of somebody who is not educated—in this case, the greater number of our people. It is quite easy for the latter to blindly break the law in the quest of protecting legitimate interests, especially those that are directly associated with provision of basic human needs like food.

We thus call upon the Ministry of Lands and the local governments to be aware at all times that they are the ones who hold the key to a proper handling of this sensitive matter that is crucial to a peaceful future of our country.