Court maintains its gun on earlier land verdict

THE Court of Appeal has refused to review its judgment on a land dispute involving Vilima Vitatu Village Council at Maramboi in Babati District and 17 villagers, who were accused of trespassing into an area allocated for wildlife management.

Justices Sauda Mjasiri, Kipenka Mussa and Ibrahim Juma ruled that grounds advanced by the applicants to support the application for review were reasons for appeal, meaning that the court will stick to its final decision. 

 

“In the circumstances, the applicants cannot, under the cover of review, be allowed to come back to the court with the same questions which were raised and disposed in their merits in the second appeal. In the result, this application must fail. It is dismissed accordingly with costs involved in it,” they ruled.

The applicants in the matter were Village Council known in its Kiswahili name ‘Halmashauri ya Kijii cha Vilima Vitatu’ and the Wildlife Management Area for Burunge also know in its Kiswahili as ‘Jumuiya ya Hifadhi ya Wanyama Pori-Burunge.’

In their application, the applicants had alleged that the first decision of the court was based on a manifest error on the face of record resulting in the miscarriage of justices. However, the justices of the appeals court noted that the proof of lawful occupation of the disputed land by the 17 villagers, the respondents in the matter, was a ground of appeal.

“This ground was clearly raised in the second appeal in the Court and was dealt with legally when the court considered the laws like the Land Act, 1999 and the Village Land Act, 1999,” they said.

According to the justices, the said laws govern the manner in which the Village Council and Village Assembly may deal with land falling under their jurisdiction. Similarly, they noted, the court also considered the involvement of the two village organs in designation of wildlife management area.

It was further learnt that the purported allocation of the land by Halmashauri ya Kijii cha Vilima Vitatu to Jumuiya ya Hifadhi ya Wanyama Pori-Burunge was not a proof, more so because the purported meetings held on December 11 and 14, 1999 for such allocation was also not proved in evidence.

Facts showed that the dispute occurred when the 17 villagers allegedly trespassed into the areas around 2006 and 2007.

The dispute was first presented before the District Land and Housing Tribunal for Manyara at Babati where the applicants filed a suit, seeking orders to evict the respondents.

The respondents filed a joint statement of defence in the Tribunal and denied being trespassers on the suit premises, claiming that they had been the lawful occupants since time immemorial, adding that the applicants had no legal right to take their land without following the applicable law.

On July 24, 2009, the tribunal made its decision and declared the respondents as trespassers and ordered their immediate eviction. Dissatisfied, the respondents preferred an appeal before the High Court, but became unsuccessful as their appeal was dismissed.