Perspectives on persistent flooding of the Msimbazi Valley in Dar es Salaam viewed through a governance lens

ABSTRACT

This article follows the line of scholarship that treats urban flooding as the object of governance and uses a governance lens to analyse reported evidence of how and why detrimental flooding has persisted in the Msimbazi Valley in urban Dar es Salaam. Guided by the governmentality framework and interactive governance theory, an analysis of primary and secondary data was conducted. The analysis revealed the low motivation and commitment of capable staff and well-resourced administrative departments and units of Ilala and Kinondoni Municipal Councils involved in implementing relevant and appropriate measures to control, prevent and end floods. Since organizational values and principles that are well understood and have been embraced have the potential to reignite and revive individual and group commitment, it is recommended that staff and management teams of Ilala and Kinondoni Municipal Councils relearn their organizational values and/or retool themselves with values and principles that strongly inspire flood-prevention actions.

KEYWORDS:

• Msimbazi Valley flooding
• governmentality
• interactive governance
• ethics of governance

Acknowledgements

The author acknowledges the valuable comments and suggestions on improving the paper received from the two anonymous reviewers.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 https://www.jamiiforums.com/threads/mada-moto-mafuriko-jangwani-nini-kingefanyika-au-nini-kifanyike-sasa.1381762/

2 https://www.jamiiforums.com/threads/namna-ya-kutatua-changamoto-ya-mafuriko-jangwani.1437766//

3 https://www.jamiiforums.com/threads/mafuriko-ya-jangwani-wakati-wa-kushughulikia-tatizo-ni-huu.1470061

4 https://www.jamiiforums.com/threads/tatizo-la-mafuriko-mjini-dar-mvua-zikinyesha.1583773/

5 In this article, participants in the JamiiForum conversations are identified with the initials JF, followed by their names.

6 Indeed, citizens have been encroaching into the 60 m buffer zone to the extent by 2016, 19% of the 3,714,344.6 m2 buffer zone area was built-up (Kironde, 2016, p. 310).

7 It is true that Kinondoni Municipal Council did not demolish the houses built in flood-prone areas. However, between December 2015 and January 2016, the National Environmental Council (NEM) embarked on a major demolition of houses built on hazardous land in the Msimbazi Valley and by the time the courts put a moratorium to the exercise 700 houses had been demolished (Kironde, 2016, p. 309).

8 The subsequent detrimental flooding events occurred in 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020.

9 The bridge referred to here is the Tanzanite Bridge, which costed US$123.032 million (https://www.thecitizen.co.tz/tanzania/news/national/why-the-tanzanite-bridge-was-built-3759856). PI-4 wonders how the government could mobilize US$ 123.032 million to solve the problem of traffic congestion, but has not dared mobilizing ‘US$ 25 million for rebuilding the Jangwani Bridge’ to prevent floods and loss of life (World Bank, 2019, p. 108).

10 Nevertheless, the government provides essential social services (especially water and electricity) to residents of these informal and illegal settlements.

11 In English: ‘Prevention is better than cure.’

12 ‘Disaster preparedness and improved management’ was an important strategic objective in the IMC’s Strategic Plans for 2012/2013 to 2017/2018 and 2017/2018 to 2021/2022, and in the KMC’s Strategic Plan for 2016/2017-20]20/2021.

Additional information

Funding

This publication was made possible by support from the Social Science Research Council’s Transregional Collaboratory on the Indian Ocean , with funds provided by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Notes on contributors

Almas Fortunatus Mazigo

Almas Fortunatus Mazigo is a lecturer and researcher based at the Dar es Salaam University College of Education (DUCE) in Tanzania. He is trained in philosophy, development studies, and applied ethics. He has interest and expertise in action research and bottom-up approaches to knowledge generation. Dr Mazigo has employed the bottom-up approach in research projects on (i) poverty and wealth creation in the small-scale fisheries sector of Ukerewe District (2012-2015), (ii) responsible climate change management practices of coastal communities (2019-2021), (iii) community-led social innovations for transforming the governance of small-scale fisheries (2021-2022), (iv) agency, health and livelihood challenges of environmental refugees (2021-2022), (v) urban flooding governance (2021-2022), and (vi) community-led climate actions in coastal communities (2022-2023).