Habari

Arusha mountains up for sale in new type of scam

IN Arusha, the saying that ‘love can move mountains’ is apparently being taken to new heights, the wave of selling off these land mass features to foreigners for the love of money showing no signs of cooling off any time soon.

VALENTINE MARC NKWAME
Arusha


IN Arusha, the saying that ‘love can move mountains’ is apparently being taken to new heights, the wave of selling off these land mass features to foreigners for the love of money showing no signs of cooling off any time soon.


And this time around, the deal involves not just a single peak, but three of them, all situated at the highest points of the 1,560-plus metre high Oldonyo-Engasi Mountain, where it is alleged a so far an unidentified �foreigner� has set up a personal cocoon of sorts.


These peaks topping the huge, sprawling mountain – also known as Oldonyo-Masi – also feature thick, lush-green mountain forests which are home to abundant water sources and small wild animals. The mountain stands mainly within Moivaro Village, Moshono Ward in Arumeru District, with a part of it spreading into Baraa Ward in the Arusha Municipality area.


According to sources within the Arusha regional administration offices, the new owner of the mountain remains mysterious and faceless as he goes about the business of camouflaging his envisaged ‘hotel-resort’ project with green paint to match the surrounding environment. This seems to be paying dividends, to some extent.


Area residents say initially a local intermediary (dalali), who they identified by his nickname ‘Black Toto,’ was seen mapping out the top section of the mountain. Later, other people planted official government beacons demarcating the mountain and before the villagers knew it, a ‘hotel’ construction project was underway.
�?Said one local resident in an interview: ”We later came to learn that a certain ‘mzungu’ has taken over the mountain and was aiming to transform it into a tourist resort. We were also told that the locals we had earlier seen supervising the works of chopping down trees and landscaping the area were simply stooges.”


According to the local residents, former Arusha Regional Commissioner Abbas Kandoro had at one point moved to stop the hotel construction project, as well as plot expansion schemes going on around the mountain. However, after Kandoro was transferred to Dar es Salaam, the project resumed in full swing.


It was only when a wall fence being erected around the resort site crumbled and fell apart during heavy rains, that Arusha Municipal Council authorities sent over engineers to find out whether the project had a valid building permit, and discovered that the project was not even within the Arusha Municipality boundaries, but in neighbouring Arumeru District.


”This is serious. Foreigners with money to burn are buying all the mountains around us, and turning them into these so-called resorts,” noted a municipal ward councillor, adding: ”They started with Mount Muriet, now they have taken Oldonyo-Masi�what next?”


He did not rule out the possibility of Mount Meru or Mount Kilimanjaro – or both � eventually also being sold off to foreign investors in the tourism hospitality sector.


Further investigations have pinpointed the main local players in the Oldonyo-Masi ‘sell-off’ saga as the Moivaro Village chairperson Elias Mollel, his executive officer Meshak Mollel, and one William Mollel who is said to be a representative of the buyers.


Before the alleged ‘invasion’ of the new owners and developers, the mountain was recognized as state property, and a huge, government-owned beacon had stood on the peak since colonial days. However, this beacon has since disappeared.


Arusha Municipal councillors have so far denied any involvement in the emerging deal involving the Oldonyo-Masi mountain, while Arumeru District Commissioner Elias Wawa Lali and district executive officer Raphael Mbunda have both been unavailable for comment when sought by this newspaper.


Meanwhile, Moivaro Village authorities have also proved vague when approached for comment. ”No, the mountain has not been sold to foreigners,” was the flat statement of the village executive officer Meshaki Mollel, while insisting that the entire mountain had only been taken over by William Mollel, whom he described as a local farmer turned real estate developer.


The village chairman, Elias Mollel, was less cooperative when contacted by telephone, saying only that: ”I might know something about the mountain sale, but I am not ready to comment.”


The Baraa Ward councillor, Paul Lotta Laizer, said he had done everything in his power to keep the mountain from being sold, but without success. The Moshono Ward councillor, Emmanuel Munga, could not be located.


In another development, it was also learnt that just recently the Arusha Municipal Council revoked a ‘title deed’ granted to a certain Congolese national, Hemuli Retty, to own Mount Muriet located south of the municipality.


Source: This Day

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