LAND, Housing and Human Settlements Development Minister William Lukuvi has smelt a rat on the procedures followed in selling some government houses and has now tasked the Police to scrutinise the validity of ownership documents.
Minister Lukuvi directives came after discovering that a government house located at Mikocheni in Dar es Salaam was sold to a Ghanaian national under dubious circumstances.
The Ghanaian, Charles Sakodi, was issued with ownership certificate of the house No 43 located in Ursino Street in Mikocheni, in which he was a tenant for fifteen years.
He also directed the police to investigate the reason that led to the selling of another house to Hans Macha located along Charambe Street in Upanga which was owned by the National Insurance Corporation (NIC) at a cost of 130m/- while its value by 2006 was more than 1bn/-.
“I have tasked the police to investigate these two houses and I will provide them with another list of people whose ownership is doubtful so that they can work on them,” he said.
Minister Lukuvi ordered all the houses to be returned to the government and hold accountable all people involved in the dirty deals either from NHC or the ministry, including prosecuting them.
He added that the police should also make follow ups on organisations and conmen who leased National Housing Corporation houses and later sold them to other people.
Minister Lukuvi said that such organisations had been selling houses to people at a cost of between 15m/- and 20m/-.
He wanted to know people involved because it was impossible for an individual to be involved in such transactions without NHC’s knowledge.
Accompanied by Deputy Commissioner of Police from the Investigations Department Afwilile Mponi, Minister Lukuvi said that he handed the houses over to the police for investigations to expose how government properties were sold illegally.
He further explained that Sakodi was renting the NHC house but later became the owner of the house, a scenario that raised contradictions.
“I discovered this deal two months ago and directed NHC to work on it but I learnt that it was above their capacity and thus decided to task the police in order to ensure that the house is returned to the government,” he said.
The NIC Executive Director Dr Elirehema Doriye, said that house No 459 located at Upanga was indebted in 1996 and the corporation was taken to court because it was indebted to the tune of 10m/-.
He said the court ruled in favour of a person who filed the case and was allowed to sell the house but in 2016 NIC paid its debt and the court imposed an injunction that the ownership certificate should not be changed but in 2017 the ownership was transferred to Macha.
He said that after his appointment he went through different documents and raised doubts over the house and decided to make close follow ups of its ownership and handed the matter over to Minister Lukuvi.
