Mshauri: Commends TNRF for establishing a forum of farmers and herders in Pawaga division

Pawaga Division Officer, Nasson Mwaulesi (Photo by Friday Simbaya)

Iringa District Land and Natural Resources Officer, Donald Mshauri has commended Tanzania Natural Resource Forum (TNRF) to establish a forum of farmers and herders in Pawaga division to reduce conflicts between these groups.

He said this yesterday during a meeting of stakeholders in land issues in Iringa District, Iringa Region which was organized by the Tanzania Natural Resource Forum.

Mshauri said that the establishment of the forum has reduced conflicts between farmers and pastoralists in Division Pawaga the problem he said has existed for some time now.

He said that there are factors that led to conflicts over land in its territory, including the increase in livestock and an increase of migrants from other districts coming to Pawaga.

"Cattle herders have lived in arid non-sufficient water and pasture when farmers lived in valleys where there is water and agricultural activities is carried out ...," explained the officer's land and natural resources.

He said that these things are motivated by the lack of regulations and an enabling environment enabling cattle keepers not to benefit from resources available in the valley.

On his part, Project Coordinator of the Land from Tanzania Natural Resource Forum (TNRF), Godfrey Massey said that TNRF has created a forum of farmers and pastoralists in Pawaga division with the aim of bringing them together to discuss and find ways of resolving challenges facing them together.

He said that the project has provided training on land rights and leadership to the villagers and leaders of the four villages, whereby 200 villagers and 200 local officials have been trained.

Massey said that the villages include Itunudu, Mbolimboli, Kisanga and Isele and the training for eight land observers, two each village by gender were given further training to be teachers and counselors in issues of land in their villages.

However, recent TNRF conducted a public training on land rights and rural governance and provide legal aid to the three villages in Pawaga.

The villages that benefited were Mkumbwanyi, Magombwe and Mkombilenga total of 334 villagers among them 215 men and 119 women had benefited from the training.

Meanwhile, Pawaga Division Officer, Nasson Mwaulesi called on a meeting with all government servants working in his division for reminding them about job responsibility.

The Divisional officer among the other things he introduced new staff to understand each other and be servants with discipline and ethics to the society they live with.

Mwaulesi said that employees are required to have a session with divisional officer every three months and warned them to stay away from politics during this period of general elections in October this year.

On other hand, the trainer Masalu Elias Luhula - TNRF said Administration and Management of land at village level is well provided within the Village Land Act, 1999. 

He said The Act gives mandate of administration and Management of village land to two Authorities, the Village Council and the Village Assembly.

The Village Council is the authority entrusted with management and administration of village land on behalf of villagers in the village. 

Luhula said the Village Council has the power to allocate land available in the village land. Allocation of land out of the village land affects interest in land of villagers and the village as a whole. 

Therefore the law requires that, the village council get approval of the Village Assembly. 

This is trainer’s experience from field study. The training was conducted in Pawaga division in Iringa District, Iringa Region from April until August this year (2015) by the Tanzania Natural Resource Forum (TNRF) with financial support from CARE – Denmark under the Ardhi Yetu Project. 

During the training, he discovered a number of challenges that face the administration of land at village level. 

“It is the fundamental principal of law that no village land can be allocated or dealt in anyhow with the village council without prior approval of the village assembly” he said. 

Despite the fact that, land laws became operational since 2001, the village councils in different villages continued to allocate land without approval of the village assembly contrary to the law.

He said this was testified by villagers in Isele village in Iringa district where the village council decided to allocate village land to different people in the village in early August, 2015 without convening a Village Assembly to approve that action. 

Also in 2013 at Magombwe village in Iringa District without consent of the villagers, the Village Council together with some elders agreed with other village leaders (Mkuyuni village) that part of Magombwe village land to be taken and form part of Mkuyuni village.

Mshauri:Jukwaa la wafugaji na wakulima lapunguza migogoro...

Afisa Tarafa ya Pawaga, Nasson Mwaulesi  (Picha na Friday Simbaya)

OFISA Ardhi na Maliasli wa Wilaya ya Iringa, Donald Mshauri amepongeza Jumuiko la Maliasili Tanzania (TNRF) kwa kuanzisha Jukwaa la wakulima na wafugaji wa tarafa la Pawaga linaloshughulikia migogoro baina ya makundi hayo.

Mshauri alisema hayo jana wakati wa mkutano wa wadau wa masuala ya ardhi katika Wilaya ya Iringa, mkoani Iringa uliyoandaliwa na Jumuiko la Maliasili Tanzania.

Alisema kuwa kuanzishwa kwa jukwaa hilo kumepunguza migogoro kati ya wakulima na wafugaji katika Tarafa ya Pawaga tatizo ambalo limekuwepo muda sasa.

Alisema kuwa zipo sababu zilizopelekea migogoro ya ardhi katika wilaya yake, zikiwemo ongezeko la mifugo na ongezeko la wahamiaji kutoka wilaya zingine kuja Pawaga.

“Wafugaji wamekuwa wakiishi nyanda kame zisizo na maji na malisho ya kutosha wakati wakulima wakiishi mabondeni ambako kuna maji na shughuli za kilimo kufanyika…,” alielezea ofisa ardhi na maliasili huyo.

Mshauri alisema kuwa mambo hayo huchochewa na kukosekana kwa taratibu na mazingira rafiki yanayowezesha wafugaji kunufaika na rasilimamali zinazopatikana mabodeni.

Naye, Mratibu wa Mradi wa Ardhi Jumuiko la Maliasili Tanzania (TNRF), Godfrey Massey alisema kuwa TNRF imeunda Jukwaa la wakulima na wafugaji wa tarafa ya Pawaga kwa lengo la kuwaleta pamoja ili wajadili chanagmoto zinazowakumba na kutafuta namna yakukabilianazo kwa pamoja.

Alisema kuwa mradi huo umetoa mafunzo ya haki za ardhi na utwala vijijini kwa wanavijiji na viongozi wa vijiji vinne katika tarafa ya Pawaga ambapo wanavijiji 200 na viongozi 200 wamepatiwa mafunzo.

Massey alisema kuwa vijiji hivyo ni Itunudu, Mbolimboli, Kisanga na Isele pamoja na kutoa mafunzo kwa waangalizi nane, wawili kila kijiji kwa kuzingatia jinsia walipatiwa mafunzo zaidi ili waendelea kuwa walimu na washauri wa masuala ya ardhi katika vijiji vyao.

Hata hivyo, hivi karibuni TNRF ilifanya mafunzo ya hadhara juu ya haki za ardhi na utawala vijijini na kutoa msaada wa sheria kwa wanajiji katika vijiji vitatu katika tarafa ya Pawaga.

Vijiji hivyo ni Mkumbwanyi, Magombwe na Mkombilenga ambapo jumla ya wanavijiji 334 kati yao wanaume 215 na wanawake 119 walinufaika na mafunzo hayo.

Wakati huohuo, Afisa Tarafa ya Pawaga, Nasson Mwaulesi aiitisha kikao na watumishi wote wa serikali wanaofanya kazi ndani ya tarafa hiyo kwa kuwakumbusha kuhusu uwajibikaji kazini kila mmoja kwa nafasi yake.

Afisa tarafa huyo pamoja na mambo mengine aliwatabulisha watumishi wapya ili wafahamiane na kuwaasa watumishi kuwa na maadili mema katika kuishi na jamii.

Mwaulesi alisema kuwa watumishi wanatakiwa kuwa na kikao na afisa tarafa kila baada ya miezi mitatu na kuwaonya watumishi hao kutojihusisha na masuala ya siasa katika kipindi hiki cha kuelekea Uchaguzi Mkuu Oktoba mwaka huu.

Alisema kuwa watumishi hao wanatakiwa kuzingatia maadili mema katika kuishi na jamii, kujipenda pamoja na unadhifu. 

Kikao hicho kulihudhuriwa na watendaji wa kata, walimu wakuu wa shule za msingi na sekondari, waratibu elimu kata, maofisa ugani, maofisa maendeleo ya jamii na ofisa umwagiliaji wa tarafa.

Wengine waliohudhuria kikao hicho ni pamoja na polisi tarafa ya Pawaga, mkuu wa gereza la Pawaga, mkuu wa kituo cha afya Kimende-Pawaga na hakimu wa mahakama ya mwanzo Pawaga.

Mwisho.

Pro-EU campaigners fear 4 million young people will be barred from voting

 

Undergraduate students at Aberystwyth university. Campaigners fear that a ‘whole generation’ of young people will be locked out of voting in the EU referendum.

Toby Helm

At least four million young people aged between 18 and 24 face being locked out of voting in the EU referendum because they are not on the electoral register.

Last night the head of Labour’s campaign to keep the United Kingdom in the EU, former home secretary Alan Johnson, said he was concerned that “a whole generation” could be excluded.

The issue of missing young voters – made worse by changes to the registration system introduced by the government last year – is a particular problem for those campaigning for the UK to stay in, because this age group is far more positive about membership than older generations.

The In campaign will officially launch its campaign tomorrow and will put National Union of Students’ president Megan Dunn on its board in an attempt to promote interest among young voters.

Johnson said that pro-EU campaigners now needed to step up efforts to get young people to register as voters under the new system of “individual electoral registration” (IER). “Unless we do more about this, a whole generation will be left off,” he said.

Another board member, former TUC general secretary Brendan Barber, said it was crucial to energise student and other young voters to turn out.

Previously, universities and colleges enrolled all their students automatically, and an adult could register anyone of voting age in the household, as well as those aged 17 who would reach voting age within a year.

But the government changed the rules so that everyone has to sign up individually and produce a national insurance number.

The fall-off in young people registered and those aged 17 has been particularly dramatic. Electoral commission figures show that 30% (around 2.9m) of people aged 18 to 24 are not on the register, compared with 16% of the population as a whole. In addition, 1.9 million more people – many of whom are believed to be young – will be added to that total if they fail to register by the end of the year. Most strikingly, there has been a 47% reduction since last year in the number of 17-year-olds who are registered in the system.

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Investigations by the organisation Hope not Hate, which is promoting more involvement in the democratic process by young people and will launch a voter registration drive next month, suggest that well over four million young people may not be on the register when the referendum happens, probably in September next year.

Nick Lowles, its director, said: “A combination of those not being on the register in the first place, young people dropping off in December, students not registering and the appalling decline in 17-year-olds joining the register will make the job of the In campaign even harder in the runup to the referendum.

“Young people are a key constituency for the pro-European campaign. They are generally more positive about Europe, more relaxed about immigration and living in a multicultural society and more optimistic. But with hundreds of thousands of young people dropping off the register this autumn to add to the three million already off, the In campaign is going to be at a disadvantage.

“The problem is that once you’ve dropped off the register, it is so much harder for parties and campaign groups to find and re-register you. The In and Leave campaigns will be given copies of the electoral register with names of everyone enrolled. What they won’t be given is the names and addresses of the 1.9 million who might be dropping off in December and the millions of others who are already not on the register.”

Recent polling by YouGov found a strong correlation between attitudes to EU membership and age. The under-25 age groups favour staying in against leaving by 64% to 23%, while over-60s back leaving by 52% to 43%.

MAGAZETI LEO JUMAPILI