Abstract:
This study assessed the achievement of immigration department in maintaining peace and security in Arusha region, Tanzania. The objectives were; to identify strategies used by immigration department for promoting peace and security, to find out the extent to which such strategies were implemented, to identify challenges faced when implementing the strategies and to suggest remedial measures to the challenges. The study used mixed approach and adopted parallel convergent design. Interview guide and questionnaires were used to collect data from 33 respondents who comprised of 10 immigration officers, 10 custom officers, 10 police officers as well as 3 heads these departments. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics while qualitative data were thematically analyzed. Findings revealed that, major strategies used by immigration department for promoting peace and security include; control of drug smuggling, crime control, controlling terrorism and illegal migration control. The overall extent of achievement to which such strategies were implemented was found to be fairly moderate for the control of drug smuggling and controlling terrorism; and to a large extent for crime control and illegal migration control. Moreover, challenges faced by immigration department when implementing the strategies were mainly; inadequate immigration personnel, lack of local people's cooperation, poor inter-agency coordination and inadequate immigration physical facilities. The suggested remedial measures to the challenges include; to improve availability of enough officers, improving inter-agency coordination, ensuring enough budget for the Immigration Department and Improving community Participation. The study recommended an urgent need for optimum staffing of the immigration department as well as supply of adequate physical facilities.
