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Govt, residents in row over water source
2006-12-26 10:19:24
By Privatus Lipili, Dodoma
Over 618 people living within the Mzakwe water source are yet to heed to the government’s directive requiring them to relocate from the area.
Dodoma District Commissioner John Tuppa said the government had stopped its eviction plans because the residents had moved to court protesting the eviction order by the government.
The administrator made the disclosure over the weekend. He was addressing CCM Youth Wing that had volunteered to plant 1,000 trees around the source. The session was organised by Dodoma Urban Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (DUWASA).
DC Tuppa said the decision by the residents to go to court did not please him as a DC because the government was ready to negotiate with them and resolve the misunderstanding.
He said the government set aside 80m/- to compensate them.
’’Government has decided to stop the decision of paying them because it is not sure if it is going to win the case or not.
If the residents win— it will be meaningless to pay them. That is why we wanted them to withdraw the case and we pay them,’’ said Tuppa.
He said the decision by the resident to continue with the case is what makes the issue even more complicated. He noted that the suit was delaying a resolution on the matter.
Earlier on when welcoming Tuppa, the Managing Director of DUWASA, Engineer Peter Mokiwa said that DUWASA had already planted 6,100 trees in the area this year alone.
Mokiwa said that the aim of the Authority was to plant 300,000 trees in the area within the next three years. In future, he said, the Authority will incorporate other institutions like prisons in the tree planting.
The government gave notice for the residents of Mzakwe to shift the area two years ago. Some of the residents shifted and some of them have refused to shift saying that the compensation they got was not enough to enable them settle elsewhere.
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