Compensations for Msimbazi relocation a hard nut to crack

Dar es Salaam. The Msimbazi River and Jangwani area residents have voiced their displeasure with the funds set aside for compensations.

The government is processing compensation for residents who are supposed to relocate to other locations in order for the new Msimbazi Basin Development Project to be implemented.

The project is funded by the World Bank (WB), which has approved $260 million (about Sh598 billion), while another Sh600 billion will be provided by Spain and the Netherlands.

The flood-prevention project will include the construction of a bridge along the Morogoro Road as well as extensive work on the river basin.

Over 680 flood victims in the basin were evacuated and given plots at Mabwepande in 2011, some 25 kilometres from the city centre.

However, some of them returned to the area despite receiving the compensation, and some of them could be among those involved in the compensation row.

In a quick rejoinder, the coordinator of government projects that are funded by the WB, Mr Humphrey Kanyenye, said evaluations involved nontransferable properties without including respective pieces of land.

This is because the government has issued a notice prohibiting any sort of development since 1979, according to him.

On the contrary, citizens have built permanent buildings, noting that ongoing compensations are issued based on the government’s mercy. “For the area covered by the notice since 1979, no compensation for land ownership will be paid,” he said.

“Those possessing title deeds for their land in the peripherals of the area will be paid in accordance with the law,” he added.

Furthermore, he said citizens were involved in the process that commenced in 2021, noting however that the problem was that some of them had huge expectations. “Valuers evaluated houses that have been demolished by floods in their present condition and not otherwise,” he said.

According to him, they are now working with 90 percent of the 2,592 victims who have accepted what has been allocated before paying attention to complaints from those who have rejected it.

Raising her concerns, a resident of Kigogo Mbuyuni, Ms Rukia Mrisho, said only Sh18 million has been set aside for compensating her house with 11 rooms.

She said evaluations had nothing more than an intention to kill some people like her with chronic diseases. “Our mother Samia (President Suluhu Hassan), you have been chosen by God since the ladies are more merciful than men, thus help us,” she said, showing pressure medicines from her handbag.

Mr Mrisho said one of the victims received compensation of Sh12 million, but valuers changed it to Sh17 million after the victim complained.

She said a local government officer has threatened to take the amount for implementing school projects if she maintains her position of rejecting the compensation.

Another resident, Mr Mbwana Tao, said he has signed the Sh13.8 million compensation after remembering that in the past there were people who lost even the small amount after refusing to sign the documents.

“However, my neighbour who possesses a house with two bedrooms and a sitting room, has been given Sh17 million, which is completely unjustifiable,” he said.

Another resident of Kigogo Mbuyuni, Mr Suleiman Kassim, said paying Sh3 million or Sh8 million in compensation to people who have lived in the area for over 25 to 30 years was an injustice.

“How will such citizens spend the money for acquiring a new house? My sister (President Samia Suluhu Hassan) has been touring different parts of the world looking for funds to implement such major projects,” he said.

“However, there is a network of people with ill intentions who have launched a campaign aimed at mudsliding the Head of State,” he added, noting that it is impossible for the WB to issue such little compensation.

Ms Teresia Thadei wondered how she was eligible for Sh1.2 million in compensation for her two-bedroom house, saying: “The amount isn’t enough even for buying a new plot.”

Ms Matilda Kalumba said she has been given Sh4 million for a 12-room house, which is far below the actual house’s market value. Contacted yesterday, the Kinondoni Constituency MP, Mr Tarimba Abbas said the compensation value has been disclosed after the conclusion of the evaluation process jointly carried out by the government and WB.

“It is a legal process that provides the value of occupied and unoccupied buildings.

Residents in the area are supposed to accept or reject the value of evaluations,” he said.

“Accepting payments means that authorities are given the green light for the payments to be effected, but rejection means calling for the exercise to be reviewed,” he added.

According to him, that is what the legislator has told his electorate, and there is no need for panic. His Segerea Constituency counterpart, Ms Bonnah Kamoli, said: “The process hasn’t reached my area of representation. Upon reaching my constituency, we will list, analyse and come up with a statement on the noted shortfalls.”