Hearts broken as immigrants leave
By Elias Msuya, The Citizen Correspondent
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With a major swoop by authorities planned any time following expiry of a presidential deadline for illegal immigrants to vacate, a number of them are living behind broken hearts and dwindling business fortunes among the locals.
Ngara. Hundreds of families in Tanzania are pondering a bleak future owing to a big void created by the vacating masses of immigrants whose continued stay the government has described as untenable.
With a major swoop by authorities planned any time following expiry of a presidential deadline for illegal immigrants to vacate, a number of them are living behind broken hearts and dwindling business fortunes among the locals.
A week-long survey in the worst affected Kagera Region, reveals that the staggering movement of the illegal immigrants to mostly Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda is not without a share of whining from Tanzanians with intertwined family roots or deep business ties. Those who could not survive the purge are adeptly looking for means to beat the trap to continue with their lives even as local authorities give assurance of a more diplomatic recourse for genuinely separated families or investors. In many Ngara District villages, it is a story of mixed fortunes as the immigrants leave while locals are now forced to take measures to fill the socio-economic void.
At the Rusumo border, village chairman Dauson Mhuru alias Kadende, is an unhappy man. Aged, 52, he is married to a Rwandese woman, Eluminata. Together, they have six children and raising another nine from the man’s earlier marriage which broke up.
“I took this woman in the early 1990s and since then she has used a permit given by the Immigration offices. But now the government says she must leave the country, so how do I take care of my big family without her?” he asks.
“I have gone to the Immigration offices and they have told me that her permit has expired and they have stopped issuing new ones. So now my wife must go to Rwanda and find a passport and seek Tanzanian citizenship, which will take a long time and will affect my family,” he added.
Mhuru also added that he can’t go back to his first wife because they still have a matrimonial conflict. He said the family depended on income from a public toilet the wife was running at the border.
“Despite my being the village chairman, I earn nothing because we don’t have a salary. I am just volunteering. I am engaged in petty trade and my wife supervises our public toilet project that brings in money to feed and educate our children, some of whom are in secondary school.”
“They all need our material and moral support as their parents. The government should re think about its decision and spare families such misery, because this matter is affecting many families,” he adds.
Mhuru said he was saddened by claims that as village leaders, they had been accepting bribes to allow in illegal immigrants. “I don’t speak for others but in my village, immigrants are those who came in the 70s most of whom are women,” he explained. The same predicament faces Sadiki Elias of Ruboma Village. He has a Burundian wife known as Elizabeth and a child.
After President Kikwete issued the notice, his wife went to Burundi but came back after only a week, saying she needed medical care which was not available in Burundi. “I have lived with my wife for 10 years without a child but we got one last year. I have heard that people like her must leave the country but I need to take care of her and the child,” he said.
Elias knows nothing about the dependent permit as they have lived without it all this long. “I will go for it anytime but we have been told nothing so far.” Another villager, Marko Lameck, also has a Burundian wife and seems ignorant of the paper work.
“It’s true that my wife is Burundian and she left home after the government notice. But she is now back and she is at the farm,” he says urging the authorities to issue them with the said permits.
Samuel Nkware, a Ngara resident says their local economy is likely to decline. “You know Burundians are muscular and work long hours as opposed to our own people. Many of us used them as labourers and for brick making. Most of the houses you see here were constructed by them.”
Ms Jadida Mohamed, a garment dealer at Benaco suburb in Kasulo Ward, is also unhappy that most of her customers are leaving. “The immigrants, especially Rwandans who are pastoralists, are very rich and made our businesses thrive. I fear their departure means our businesses will dwindle,” she said.
In Ngara town, Ms Maria Mugisha blames Tanzanian landlords and tycoons of bringing in the illegal immigrants to work in their farms and other businesses.
Peter Nyabebda, who resides at Kumnazi Village near the closed refugee camps, says those who were repatriated during the closing of the camps are now loitering in the streets working as cheap labourers.
“You know their countries are poor, they don’t have enough land and have no jobs, while
while there’s enough land in our country; which is why they come here,” he said.
However, the situation is different in Karagwe District. Aristides Muliro, who is a Bugene councillor, says illegal immigrants are problematic. He named one Njali Ndikukiko whose citizenship he claims is controversial but owns land at Nyakasimbe Ward.
“They are problematic and because they are rich they are boastful and arrogant even when we tend to react to a problem involving them. He explained that Ndikukiko was rejected by villagers and later an official investigation found his residency wanting. “But the man is still around!” he exclaimed.
Government response
A senior Immigration officer at the Tanzania-Rwanda border at Rusumo, Mr Mahirande Samuel, says the law is clear on immigrations rules.
“The law is clear and must be observed. Those married should have a dependent permit and renew them often. Those complaining do not observe these laws,” he says. He said their recent operation in Ngara township alone netted 268 Burundians, 52 Rwandans and two Ugandans.
Ngara District commissioner Constantine Kanyasu says his district has more than 50,000 illegal immigrants. Some 10,000 have voluntarily gone back.
“We have been educating our citizens on welcoming illegal immigrants as they take their budget share of social services such as education, health, water and economy,” he told The Citizen on Saturday.
He said after an operation to mop those still holed up in Tanzania for a tune of Sh150 million, they will start a diplomatic move with the neighbouring countries to settle some marital and economic disputes.”
Kagera regional commissioner Fabian Massawe says things will not be business as usual
.jpg)
With a major swoop by authorities planned any time following expiry of a presidential deadline for illegal immigrants to vacate, a number of them are living behind broken hearts and dwindling business fortunes among the locals.
Ngara. Hundreds of families in Tanzania are pondering a bleak future owing to a big void created by the vacating masses of immigrants whose continued stay the government has described as untenable.
With a major swoop by authorities planned any time following expiry of a presidential deadline for illegal immigrants to vacate, a number of them are living behind broken hearts and dwindling business fortunes among the locals.
A week-long survey in the worst affected Kagera Region, reveals that the staggering movement of the illegal immigrants to mostly Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda is not without a share of whining from Tanzanians with intertwined family roots or deep business ties. Those who could not survive the purge are adeptly looking for means to beat the trap to continue with their lives even as local authorities give assurance of a more diplomatic recourse for genuinely separated families or investors. In many Ngara District villages, it is a story of mixed fortunes as the immigrants leave while locals are now forced to take measures to fill the socio-economic void.
At the Rusumo border, village chairman Dauson Mhuru alias Kadende, is an unhappy man. Aged, 52, he is married to a Rwandese woman, Eluminata. Together, they have six children and raising another nine from the man’s earlier marriage which broke up.
“I took this woman in the early 1990s and since then she has used a permit given by the Immigration offices. But now the government says she must leave the country, so how do I take care of my big family without her?” he asks.
“I have gone to the Immigration offices and they have told me that her permit has expired and they have stopped issuing new ones. So now my wife must go to Rwanda and find a passport and seek Tanzanian citizenship, which will take a long time and will affect my family,” he added.
Mhuru also added that he can’t go back to his first wife because they still have a matrimonial conflict. He said the family depended on income from a public toilet the wife was running at the border.
“Despite my being the village chairman, I earn nothing because we don’t have a salary. I am just volunteering. I am engaged in petty trade and my wife supervises our public toilet project that brings in money to feed and educate our children, some of whom are in secondary school.”
“They all need our material and moral support as their parents. The government should re think about its decision and spare families such misery, because this matter is affecting many families,” he adds.
Mhuru said he was saddened by claims that as village leaders, they had been accepting bribes to allow in illegal immigrants. “I don’t speak for others but in my village, immigrants are those who came in the 70s most of whom are women,” he explained. The same predicament faces Sadiki Elias of Ruboma Village. He has a Burundian wife known as Elizabeth and a child.
After President Kikwete issued the notice, his wife went to Burundi but came back after only a week, saying she needed medical care which was not available in Burundi. “I have lived with my wife for 10 years without a child but we got one last year. I have heard that people like her must leave the country but I need to take care of her and the child,” he said.
Elias knows nothing about the dependent permit as they have lived without it all this long. “I will go for it anytime but we have been told nothing so far.” Another villager, Marko Lameck, also has a Burundian wife and seems ignorant of the paper work.
“It’s true that my wife is Burundian and she left home after the government notice. But she is now back and she is at the farm,” he says urging the authorities to issue them with the said permits.
Samuel Nkware, a Ngara resident says their local economy is likely to decline. “You know Burundians are muscular and work long hours as opposed to our own people. Many of us used them as labourers and for brick making. Most of the houses you see here were constructed by them.”
Ms Jadida Mohamed, a garment dealer at Benaco suburb in Kasulo Ward, is also unhappy that most of her customers are leaving. “The immigrants, especially Rwandans who are pastoralists, are very rich and made our businesses thrive. I fear their departure means our businesses will dwindle,” she said.
In Ngara town, Ms Maria Mugisha blames Tanzanian landlords and tycoons of bringing in the illegal immigrants to work in their farms and other businesses.
Peter Nyabebda, who resides at Kumnazi Village near the closed refugee camps, says those who were repatriated during the closing of the camps are now loitering in the streets working as cheap labourers.
“You know their countries are poor, they don’t have enough land and have no jobs, while
while there’s enough land in our country; which is why they come here,” he said.
However, the situation is different in Karagwe District. Aristides Muliro, who is a Bugene councillor, says illegal immigrants are problematic. He named one Njali Ndikukiko whose citizenship he claims is controversial but owns land at Nyakasimbe Ward.
“They are problematic and because they are rich they are boastful and arrogant even when we tend to react to a problem involving them. He explained that Ndikukiko was rejected by villagers and later an official investigation found his residency wanting. “But the man is still around!” he exclaimed.
Government response
A senior Immigration officer at the Tanzania-Rwanda border at Rusumo, Mr Mahirande Samuel, says the law is clear on immigrations rules.
“The law is clear and must be observed. Those married should have a dependent permit and renew them often. Those complaining do not observe these laws,” he says. He said their recent operation in Ngara township alone netted 268 Burundians, 52 Rwandans and two Ugandans.
Ngara District commissioner Constantine Kanyasu says his district has more than 50,000 illegal immigrants. Some 10,000 have voluntarily gone back.
“We have been educating our citizens on welcoming illegal immigrants as they take their budget share of social services such as education, health, water and economy,” he told The Citizen on Saturday.
He said after an operation to mop those still holed up in Tanzania for a tune of Sh150 million, they will start a diplomatic move with the neighbouring countries to settle some marital and economic disputes.”
Kagera regional commissioner Fabian Massawe says things will not be business as usual
