The Role Of Ward Tribunals In Solving Land Disputes In Tanzania: A Case Of Karatu District

ABSTRACT

The study was about the role of Ward Tribunals in solving Land Disputes particularly in Karatu District, Tanzania. Specifically it was guided by four specific objectives which are: to investigate the rationale of establishing Ward tribunals in solving land disputes, to examine the challenges faced by ward tribunals in solving land disputes, to analyze the legal implication of ward tribunals in solving land disputes and to find out the nature of land disputes which is addressed by the ward tribunals? The study involved 100 respondents comprising of those who were interviewed and those who filled the questionnaires. This sample was derived by applying purposive and simple random sampling methods, where purposive sampling aimed at targeting the District Land officers and investors involved in Land Disputes. Simple random sampling has been used to obtain the sample of the villagers involved in land disputes together with both members of the Village Land Dispute Resolution Council and Ward Tribunals. The SPSS software package version 16 has been used for data analysis. The findings in this study revealed that, there is efficiency in resolving Land Disputes by Ward Tribunals where 30% of respondents agreed, 22% disagreed 22% had neutral responses i.e. undecided, 20% strongly agreed and very few (6%) strongly disagreed. It is therefore interpreted that villagers have much faith in ward tribunals as the capable mechanism for land disputes resolution. In the same line, study findings revealed that, legal implications of ward Tribunals in resolving land disputes was based on section 8 of the Ward Tribunal Act, 1985 and their jurisdiction extends to the district in which they are established. It has been observed in this study that Ward Tribunals have power to mediate and assist parties to reach at a mutual acceptable solution to land disputes using customary principles of mediation. It is therefore recommended that, there should be monitoring systems in Karatu District, which are flexible and friendly to periodically check all justice systems and help devise a way of controlling these Land Dispute Tribunals. Qualification of Ward Tribunal members should be revised and be certain, and the minimum qualification should at least be a certificate in law. This will help to improve the performance of the Ward Tribunal council, because most of the activities involve the matters of law.