AfricaPress-Tanzania: THE High Court, Musoma District Registry, has resolved a dispute over legal ownership of a mosque and related developments at Butiama Village in Butiama District, Mara Region.
This follows the High Court’s decision given by Judge Zaphrine Galeba to dismiss an appeal lodged by Waislam wa Kijiji cha Butiama to challenge the ruling by District Land and Housing Tribunal in favour of Registered Trustees of the National Muslim Council of Tanzania (Bakwata).
The judge ruled: “This court upholds the decision of the District Land and Housing Tribunal and dismisses this appeal in its entirety with costs.” He said the arguments of Waislam wa Kijiji cha Butiama, the appellant, had failed to cast any blame on the judgment of the District Land and Housing Tribunal.
According to him, the appellant had no locus standi to bring a legal action in the tribunal as he had either to be registered in an artificial legal person or disclose names as natural persons, but neither of the two was the case.
During hearing of the appeal, counsel for the appellant presented submissions to fault the decision of the tribunal for holding that his client was not an incorporated body.
The counsel told the court that the appellant was an entity registered with the Registrar of Social Groups’at the District Commissioner’s Office. He submitted that the appellant was registered as an institution in 2010 and it was given a certificate.
In his determination of the appeal, the judge pointed out that in Tanzania all registrars after registering any process or institution they issued a certificate or some form of evidence to substantiate it.
He had asked the counsel for the appellant whether the question of registration was raised before the tribunal, of which he responded that it was not because he would have to rely on a document while they were arguing a preliminary objection, which would not call for use of documents.
The judge pointed out that the appellate court had no mandate to undo the lower court or tribunal’s judgement by basing on a point, which was not raised before the tribunal.
He also said the counsel for the appellant was not right in submitting that he was not able to present the document of registration of his clients because the matter had not gone to substantive hearing.
“That is so because the issue whether the appellant was a registered entity or not was raised as a preliminary objection in a written statement of defence,” the judge said.
He stated that had the appellant any credible document to counter that they would have either filed a list of additional documents to be relied on, attaching with it a certificate before hearing of the case.
“(The counsel for the appellant) should be reminded that some preliminary objections can be established or defeated by relying on documents. One of such instances is where the existence of a legal entity is at issue,” the judge said.
Judge Galeba pointed out that even at the level of appeal when he demanded to see a copy of the certificate of registration of the appellants into a legal entity, the counsel for the appellant informed the court that the document was at the home of one of his clients.
“The advocate did not even have the registration number of the legal entity he was referring to. In any event, (the advocate) did not ascertain whether his client was a company, a nongovernmental organisation, a board of trustees or any other legal personality known to Tanzanian laws,” he said.
The subject matter was related to unregistered land located at Butiama Village in Butiama District in Mara Region. The hotly contentious issue between the parties was who between them, owner of the mosque and related developments, including a hostel erected on its plot.
Each of the parties was maintaining the position that the mosque was its lawful property. The party which sued in the tribunal was the appellant, seeking for the declaration that he was the lawful owner of the land in dispute and Bakwata be evicted from the land and be ordered to pay 50.2m/- as general damages.
