Tanzania drafts permanent strategy to resolve land disputes
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Tanzania's government has begun drafting a permanent national strategy to resolve land disputes, targeting faster settlement of conflicts that have persisted for years in parts of the country.
Tanzania's government has begun drafting a permanent national strategy to resolve land disputes, aiming to deliver faster and more effective settlement of conflicts across the country.
Deputy Minister for Lands, Housing and Human Settlements Development, Kaspar Mmuya, disclosed the initiative while answering a question in Parliament on 26 August 2026 during the first sitting of the fourth session of the 13th Parliament. Mmuya said the Prime Minister, Dr Mwigulu Lameck Nchemba, directed the Ministry to work with the Office of the Attorney General and the Prime Minister's Office for Regional Administration and Local Government (TAMISEMI) to prepare proposals for a permanent solution to land disputes.
Mmuya explained that the Ministry has worked with various institutions to prepare a Draft Strategy for the Resolution of Land Disputes, which, once implemented, will improve awareness, accountability and the speed of handling land disputes. He said implementation of the strategy also aims to strengthen peace and social cohesion, while improving the environment for investment in land and boosting the national economy.
Land disputes in Tanzania are a longstanding and widespread problem, driven largely by tension between farmers and pastoralists over shrinking arable and grazing land, compounded by rapid population growth, poor village boundary demarcation and weak local institutional frameworks for resolving competing claims. Existing mechanisms, including village land councils, tribunals and mediation, have often proven inconsistent, with conflicts in some areas such as Kilosa in Morogoro persisting for roughly a decade despite repeated interventions.
Earlier this month, the central government approved TZS 38 billion to survey all 12,333 villages in the country in a bid to end land disputes, with 4,873 villages surveyed to date. Zanzibar's administration has separately set up a dedicated Special Land Disputes Resolution Committee that has already resolved hundreds of cases.