Karume Stands By Daughter in Land Row

The retired Zanzibar President, Amani Abeid Karume has defended her daughter's claim that she is the rightful owner of a plot in dispute near a graveyard between her and the Anglican Church in the Isles

Dr. Karume's defence of her daughter, Fatma, came a day after worshipers of the Anglican Church stormed the plot at Mfuuni, Mbweni area on Friday and demolished structures being erected there for a building under construction. While Fatma was reported to be the legal owner of the plot, the Anglican Church claimed it was part of the church area since before nationalization, and the land was earmarked for cemetery expansion.

Addressing a press conference with his daughter at his side at his home yesterday, ex-President Karume said his daughter has the title deed for the land issued by the government after she complied with all land allocation requirements, and that she is entitled to build a house there as she wish.

He added that he was the one who took the initiative to protect and maintain the cemetery area from invasion after the Anglican Church leadership and worshipers neglected it for a long time.


According to the ex-President, he and his family played a big role to defend the Anglican properties, including hiring security guards to avoid vandalism, as the owners did not take proper care of the area, and the doors of the church building were left open for a long time.
"The cemeteries that you see there have been under the care of our family for 20 years now...it is me personally and my family members that are taking care of them, and sometimes we hire labourers to weed out grass and clean the entire cemetery," Karume told reporters.


He expressed his disappointment over the utterances made by the Anglican Church leaders, saying they were over-carried by emotion in instructing the worshipers to invade the disputed piece of land instead of telling them the truth.
Fatma also expressed her dismay over the church's claims, and alleged that heaps of soil thrown at the cemetery was the work of a Chinese firm authorized by the same church leaders to do so. The firm is construction a hotel nearby, according to Ms. Karume.
Friday invasion of the controversial plot by the Anglican worshipers was preceded by special prayers presided over by Canon Mathew Mhagama who alleged that crosses at the cemetery were being pulled out by land grabbers, and equated the acts with blasphemy.