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Brief House Committee on Nyamuma case, House Speaker advises LHRC
2008-05-06 10:09:26
By Lusekelo Philemon
Speaker of the National Assembly Samwel Sitta has advised the Legal and Human Right Centre (LHRC) to take the case of Nyamuma residents in Mara Region to the Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional, Legal and Public Administration Affairs.
Speaking in Dar es Salaam over the weekend during the LHRC general meeting, Sitta said he was disappointed to learn that some junior government officers were violating human rights, which the government had vowed to uphold.
He said it would be better if the centre would present the issue to the committee which was due to meet in two weeks time.
``I requested LHRC to take the Nyamuma issue to the House Committee so as to enlighten its members on the way forward,`` added Sitta, in a telephone interview with The Guardian yesterday.
He said the Nyamuma episode was a matter of public interest, and, being part of the society, Parliament needed to know what was going on around the country.
``The idea is not to give judgment on the matter but rather to make the House well-informed,`` he said.
He said the House committee, as an overseer of all issues related to legal and public administration, would not at any point interfere with freedom of the judiciary as the matter was already in court.
He said the LHRC presentation to the Parliamentary Committee should be done in camera, and would not be for public consumption.
Earlier on, LHRC Director Helen Kijo-Bisimba said her officers had on several occasions been arrested and detained by Serengeti district authorities whenever they followed up the matter.
LHRC and other human right activists had been fighting for the right of Nyamuma residents, who were evicted in 2004 and their houses set on fire.
The 134 evicted villagers took their case to the Commission of Human Rights and Good governance, which recommended that the victims be compensated for loss of their houses and properties.
However, the government refused to comply with the commission`s recommendation, a move that prompted the LHRC to file the case to the Appeal Court.
The appeal is still pending.
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