Liwale District Council was officially established on July 7, 1975 after being disbanded from Nachingwea due to the size of Nachingwea District. Prior to that, Liwale District was the Nachingwea District Division from 1961. Also in 1975, the District became the official Electoral Constituency where the first Member of Parliament was the Retired Prime Minister Rashid Mfaume Kawawa.
After being ousted from Nachingwea, Liwale District has been among the non-councils that will form Lindi region; this includes Kilwa, Lindi, Ruangwa, Nachingwea and Lindi Municipal District Councils.
Liwale District was a Council in 1984. It became a Local Government Authority which had full powers as defined in the 1982 Establishment Act.
Where it is
Geographically Liwale is located between Latitude 80 and 10050 south of the equator and longitude 36050 and 38048 East.
Boundaries
Liwale District is bordered by Nachingwea District to the south, Ruangwa District to the southeast, Kilwa District to the east; Rufiji District to the north, Mahenge District to the northwest and Tunduru District to the southwest.
Location
Liwale covers an area of 38,380 square kilometers which is more than half of the total area of Lindi Region. Out of the area more than 2/3 are forests with 27,965.4 square kilometers. Its distribution is as follows; Selous National Park 25,587 square kilometers, (This is 2/3 of the total area of the District). 1,394.20 square kilometers of Forest Reserve and Nyera-Kipelele Central Government Forest Reserve of 984.20 square kilometers. The remaining 12,793 square kilometers which is equivalent to one-third of the total area of the District is used for housing, buffer zone, agriculture and other economic activities.
Wards
The Liwale District is administratively divided into 20 wards:
Barikiwa
Kiangara
Kibutuka
Kimambi
Liwale ‘B’
Liwale Mjini
Makata
Mangirikiti
Mbaya
Mihumo
Mirui
Mkutano
Mlembwe
Mpigamiti
Nangano
Ngongowele
Likongowele
Nangando
Lilombe
Kichonda