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Tabata Dampo: 20m/- pay offer
2008-04-02 10:46:00
By Correspondent Njonanje Samwel
The government has said it will pay 20m/- compensation for each of the 88 houses confirmed to have been illegally pulled down in Dar es Salaam`s Tabata Dampo area over a month ago.
This is according to Steven Wassira, Minister of State in the Prime Minister (Regional Administration and Local Government) in an announcement at a news conference in the city yesterday.
The development follows mounting pressure from both the owners and occupants of the houses and the public since the vigorously disputed demolition exercise.
It should touch off to a much-deserved sigh of relief by the owners of the houses, which were flattened on orders from Ilala Municipal authorities at Tabata Dampo area on February 29.
The minister used the conference to release the details of a report compiled by a four-member team he formed last month to investigate the demolitions, which left some 500 people from 96 families homeless.
He said the team, which submitted its report to him on March 29 after investigating the matter for about two weeks, had convinced itself that the municipal authorities erred in issuing the demolition order.
Elaborating, Wassira said the team was commissioned to study the circumstances under which the houses were demolished on orders from the municipal authorities.
Essentially, it was out to examine the legality or otherwise of the procedure followed by the municipal authorities in executing the demolition exercise.
He said the demolitions involved gross violations of procedures and the country`s laws, adding: ``The government is not happy with the way the Ilala Municipal officers handled the issue. They blatantly violated the country’s laws and grossly erred in the execution of their duties.``
Pleading with the victims of the demolition exercise to accept government`s compensation offer, the minister stated that the municipal officers had unlawfully used State organs and instruments to deprive innocent wananchi of their basic human rights.
However, he declined to say if the government would take any disciplinary or other measures against the officers concerned, saying that was for the Ilala Municipal Council to decide.
Reports confirmed by Wassira said the victims had a case pending in court in connection with the status of their residence but it was concluded two days before the municipal’s graders swung into action, reducing the houses to rubble.
``The officers resolved to flatten the houses only two days after the court judgment, which was obviously contrary to the law,`` he pointed out, without going into the details of the court ruling.
He added: ``They (municipal officers) did not even care to give the victims the procedural 30-day notice prior to the demolition exercise as required by law.``
Minister Wassira`s office rejected a six-member team formed by the Ilala Municipal Council ostensibly to investigate the demolitions and instead formed its own.
The latter team was given ten days from March 13 to complete its assignment but was later granted six more days.
For about two months now, the 500 people whose houses were pulled down in the illegal operation have made do with makeshift shelter, mainly tents.
They have also vehemently snubbed calls for relocation, insisting that fair compensation mattered more than being offered alternative plots most could not develop.
Wassira hinted in his remarks yesterday that only owners of the houses demolition were entitled to the compensation. That left the fate of the quarters` non-owner occupants hanging in the balance.
It was unclear whether there would be any compensation in respect of the household items and other property destroyed or damaged during the demolition exercise.
It was also not immediately established whether the house owners concerned were satisfied with the 20m/- compensation and whether they and the other victims were contemplating any further action, including seeking legal redress and accepting the relocation option.
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