Tanzania: Decisive Action Needed

The decision by the Defence and National Service and Home Affairs ministries to work together to stamp out rustling in Mara Region is welcome, though belated.

It is regrettable, coming after about a dozen lives have been lost and hundreds of animals stolen by armed raiders believed to have come from Kenya.

The visit to Rorya district by Defence minister Hussein Mwinyi and his Home Affairs counterpart, Mr Lawrence Masha, appears to have been at the prodding of either President Jakaya Kikwete or Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda.

The ministers didn't rush to assess the situation when the media published reports of night raids in Rorya and Tarime districts almost daily earlier this year.

It is small wonder then that agitated villagers told Dr Mwinyi and Mr Masha that the Government should supply them with guns so that they can protect themselves, charging that the police had failed to do so.

Now that the ministers have seen firsthand the mayhem unleashed in Rorya and Tarime residents by rustlers. We hope the Government will now take comprehensive measures to rid the areas of the perennial menace.

http://allafrica.com/

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