By
ADAM IHUCHA -- There
is a sprawling picturesque savanna land in far north of Tanzania that has
divided the World.
This 4,000 sq km wildlife-rich
Loliondo area is nestled amid three jewels of East Africa’s tourism industry.
There’s Serengeti
National Park to the west and Ngorongoro Conservation Area to the south in
Tanzania side, while to the north is the Maasai Mara Game Reserve in Kenya.
It is here that the indigenous Maasai community find
pasture for their herds, trophy hunters angle for a shot to sooth their ego and
photographers revel in the abundant light and colour.
Wildebeest, whose annual migration has been declared
the Seventh Wonder of the World, drawing millions of tourists, also come to
calve in Loliondo.
As has been the case for most of the past twenty
years, today the indigenous Maasai communities are engaged in a battle for
survival pitting them against their government and high end trophy hunters who
want a piece of Loliondo. On the other hand are tour companies and civil
society organisations speaking up for the locals.
There are conflict of interests among
these different players and the inconsistent laws and policies, which have made
the issues behind the Loliondo saga so complex than what is seen in the upper
crust.
For instance, the Village Land Act 1999
recognizes Loliondo area as a village land, whereas the Wildlife Conservation
Act of 2009, in the other hand, categorizes Loliondo as a game controlled area.
As a consequence, the conflicting
parties have been taking advantage of these ambiguities to distort the whole
dispute in Loliondo, making the wrangle so complex to get solution.
Battle
The battles started
in 1992, when a Dubai-based luxury safari company, Ortello Business Corporation
(OBC), was given a hunting permit in the block.
Originally it was
alleged that the hunting outfit was responsible to smuggle massive live
wildlife.
Later on, the OBC was
accused to harass and even assassinates the indigenous Maasai, who attempted to
trespass into a hunting block.
There has been yet
another allegations that the company bribes the government officials.
All these continue to
be allegations, as the government remains tight-lipped even as it formed three
different probe teams and received their reports, which have never been made
public.
At the moment the
same hunting corporation is accused of land grabbing.
The World has been made to believe that
Tanzania government is brutal, as it has been attempting to
drive Maasai off their ancestral land to create room for
the United Arab Emirates royals’ hunting firm.
The common Maasai folks and the
international communities believe that land is to be sold off to the OBC, a
luxury game-hunting outfit reportedly set up by an official close to a UAE
royal family.
However, the government maintained that
the OBC, just like any other hunting firm has been operating in Loliondo for 22
years under 5-years renewable concession agreement and not otherwise.
Tanzania’s
Natural Resources and Tourism Minister, Lazaro Nyalandu strongly refuted the land
transaction claims as malicious and unfounded, maintaining that the country’s
law doesn’t allow foreigners to own land.
President
Jakaya Kikwete also added his voice through tweeter that --“There has never been, nor will there
ever be any plan by the government of Tanzania to evict the Maasai people from
their ancestral land.”
Edward Loure, Director of Ujamaa
Community Resources Team (UCRT) an NGO advocating for the
rights of marginalized indigenous community, says that land transaction comes out
of the fact that Loliondo is only place in Tanzania where upon arriving at the Ololosokwan
villages—the OBC headquarters -- one receives the following network text
message through the mobile network.
“Dear Guest, Welcome to the UAE. Enjoy the best network coverage and other unmatched services only with Etisalat. Please use<+> or <00>before the country code for international calls. For directory services call 181, for availability of GPRS, MMS 3G roaming services call Etisalat Travellers help line 8002300 & for inquiries on Tourism, entertainment, shopping, etc call 7000-1-7000(Roaming rates apply) Have a pleasant stay in the UAE.”
“Now tell me OBC is a private company
or is a UAE’s sovereign state within Tanzania? Where else you will find
investors uses their own country’s phone networks” Mr Loure queried, adding
that even the vehicles bear the UAE’s registration numbers.
As if that is not enough, he argues, OBC has been accorded the Tanzanian police and the entire security system to guard the so-called hunting block since 1992.
Again, OBC also owns a 1.6-mile
airstrip. Maasai communities on the ground say that the Jet that lands on the
respective airstrip has the capacity of carrying about 400 people.
“This means the aircrafts landing
directly to Loliondo private airstrip which has no immigration office. This is
what makes us believe that Loliondo is just a UAE’s Republic within Tanzania”
Mr Loure explains.
OBC, an UAE’s multi-million-dollar
hunting outfit says that all jets first land at Kilimanjaro International
Airport (KIA) for immigration to check and then fly to Loliondo.
On communication networks, the OBC
Country Director, Issac Mollel argues that the Etisalat phone network is only
used when the UAE’s King visit Loliondo and not a permanent network
“The king is a head of state, so even
when he is in Loliondo he still run the country back home and the only way is
through communications. They come with etisalat so that his people could access
him easily. Idea is not to undermine Tanzania laws at all” Mr Mollel explains.
He also refuted the current claims that
it plans to purchase the wildlife rich Loliondo Game Controlled Area.
“We have neither bought the land, nor conceived such an idea at all, after all Tanzania’s Land law is prohibitive for foreigners to purchase land” he concluded.
“We have neither bought the land, nor conceived such an idea at all, after all Tanzania’s Land law is prohibitive for foreigners to purchase land” he concluded.
The OBC boss says there are
photographic companies operating in Loliondo in collaboration with NGOs, which
are behind these mudslinging campaigns against it.
“Idea behind these nasty campaign is to
frustrate OBC so that we can quit for them to dominate the area. So one angle
of this war is purely fuelled by conflict of interests” Mr Mollel says.
Who Owns Land?
Even
after all said and done, but still, Loliondo is
burning. Why? There
is an elephant in the living room that no one talks about it.
What is actual
status of the 4,000 sq km land of Loliondo?
Is it a village land or game controlled area? This is a mother of all hullabaloos,
for over two decades, but never got an answer.
While
the Tanzania government has all along been maintaining that Loliondo area is
the game controlled area, the Maasai community on the other hand have been
vocal saying the land is a village property.
Elifuraha
Laltaika, Tumaini University Law Lecturer, says that historically, the whole of Loliondo area is Maasai
ancestral land, and it extends to Maasai Mara in Kenya.
However, later on, conservation laws
categorized it as a game controlled area, Laltaika says, adding that the most
relevant law here to avoid stretching the story too far, is the Wildlife
Conservation Act of 1974.
This law categorized Loliondo and
indeed many other parts of Maasai land as game controlled area.
“This has never been an issue because
such categorization did not prohibit human habitation (human/wildlife
co-existence) as it is the case for a national park designation” he explains.
So, when the new village land Act was
enacted in 1999, it recognized Loliondo as consisting of recognized villages
irrespective of the categorization as a game controlled area, Mr. Laltaika
says.
In fact, other local government laws
recognized the villages as such as well, and village certificates were issued
accordingly.
Now, the problem came about when in
2009, the wildlife conservation Act of 1974 was completely repealed and
replaced by the new Wildlife conservation Act 2009, he argues.
The new law expressly prohibits human
settlement in game controlled areas, loliondo included.
The Maasai opposed the law even before
it was passed by parliament, and the explanation (lame as it sounded then and
even now) was that: "once the law
is passed, the minister within 12 months will be required to review all
existing game controlled areas and remove from the list, all those that in his
view, have lost the conservation importance for being game controlled
areas."
No criteria were issued and no
particular body was tasked with such an important duty. It was left open ended
to ministerial discretion and conservation lobbyists.
So, the law was passed but till now,
game controlled areas have not been reviewed.
“People do not seem to be aware of this
problem, and the government uses it to its enormous advantage” Mr. Laltaika
underlines.
Land
Reform
Apparently in an effort to enforce the
new wildlife Act 2009, the government in 2013 came up with an idea of land use
plan in Loliondo where the 4,000 sq km area was to be demarcated into village
land and game controlled area.
According to the blueprint, a total of
2,500 square kilometres will be handed to the local communities and the
Tanzanian government has committed itself to build dams to provide water for the
herds of cattle.
The government will retain some 1,500
square kilometres, namely the part of Loliondo adjoining the Serengeti National
Park, which serves as part of the annual migration routes for the wildebeest
and also provides water sources for the game while being marginal for cattle or
goat grazing.
The Serengeti
ecosystem is famous for its annual migration of over 1.5 million white bearded
(or brindled) wildebeest and 250,000 zebra and for its numerous Nile crocodile.
As well as the
migration of ungulates, the park is well known for its healthy stock of other
resident wildlife, particularly the Big Five – Lion, African leopard, Elephant,
black rhinoceros and African buffalo.
This area is the most
wildlife-rich and will be categorized into lucrative hunting block out of 120
blocks scattered across the country, under OBC.
OBC, available records show,
generates over $800,000 to Tanzania annually. There is no other part in
Tanzania with hunting block, other than Ngorongoro District, that receives
enormous funds from hunting business for community development.
Protest
This is what triggered an
ongoing scream and global online campaign by Avaaz that the Tanzania plans to
sell off Maasai land to UAE’s royal family.
The
Maasai communities backed by civil societies have rejected the state idea,
demanding the government to change the entire game controlled area of Loliondo into
a village land.
“We
want the state to act in accordance with the Wildlife Act No 6 of 2009, which
demands all the game controlled areas found in the village lands should cease
from existing” says Samwel Nangiria, a spokesperson for Ngorongoro NGOs Network
(NGONET).
They
also turned down the state plan to chop off 1,500 sq km area for the game
controlled area, saying the area is the only pastureland for livestock, the
livelihood of about 40,000 indigenous Maasai in Loliondo.
“If
the government will go ahead with its plan to chop off our villages land for
wildlife conservation and hunting block concession, we will go to court to
claim our alienated land which created the Serengeti National park without our
consent and compensation,” Mr. Nangiria warned.
Analysts
say the state’s proposal could bring long-term opportunities but also threats
to immediate interests.
There will be winners
and losers but in order to achieve a net positive outcome that has the
potential to see long-term peace and prosperity for all in Loliondo.
The winners must
invest in solutions and the losers will have to change and compromise in
order to benefit from a new era of opportunities arising from the dark ages
engulfing Loliondo up today.
OBC will see their
operational area chopped down to a fraction of its former size of 4,000 sq km; to be dispensed to the villages
where they can introduce the community managed wildlife areas (WMAs).
If all goes well, communities
will be the biggest net winners as they would be handed over more control of
their lands but will have to compromise with government for the scheme to work
in the national as well as local interests.
NGOs
Role.
However the real
struggle has been between the government and the NGOs.
According to the former
Natural Resources and Tourism Minister, Hamis Kaghasheki it is interesting for a small controlled
area like Loliondo to have more than 30 NGOs.
As a result, this
business, as it became an industry by virtue of its power, money and influence,
has evolved from a relatively free reign to build up a substantial business
model out of conflict.
It has rewarded
those NGOs and their principles international credibility, significant
territorial dividends, as well as a substantial and well organized funding
streams from aligned foreign institutional and private donors.
These NGOs and their
leaders are both the heroes, whose controversial methods, dramatic and highly
damaging media campaigns, most notable being the "Stop the Serengeti Sell
off", have enthralled some and appalled others.
It is only a brave
or foolish investor that sets foot in Loliondo so the saying goes.
Other than OBC, that
there are only a handful of unhappy, harassed and insecure tourism investors
distributed into few and far small isolated corners of the division, widespread
escalating confrontations and conflicts, continuing poverty and dependence on
hand outs to poorly fill the development gap, is testimony to the conflict.
There is no doubt
about the potential of Loliondo inherent in the division's natural beauty,
wildlife and Maasai culture, and as part of the wider Serengeti ecosystem.
This is why it is
increasingly important and valuable to the world, the nation's interest and the
local people that it is conserved and sustainably utilized.
Perhaps there is
hope that comes with realization.
Solution
The government must
invest leadership, substantial sustained time and effort to build trust and
faith, to research, understand and resolve the conflicts.
The community must
engage with government to reach an understanding of the opportunities for
change and the ending of conflicts.
Investors must be remaining
patient and the NGOs must re-orientate, refit, allow and make room for
constructive engagement between all stakeholders for lasting peace and
prosperity.
According to Mr. Laltaika, to solve the
dispute, the law should be changed entirely by removing Loliondo from a list of
game controlled areas.
In this way the Maasai will not only
have security of land tenure but they can also be able to take care of the
natural resources within their land with the help of the government and other
conservation actors.
The problem is that while the Maasai
have taken a constitutional case to complain about human rights abuses caused
by the eviction in 2009, the case has not been heard three years down the line,
on the pretext that since a constitutional case requires three judges to hear
it, the judiciary has not been able to get them.
In the alternative, the Maasai could
file an administrative law case in court to compel the minister to review all
game controlled areas and remove Loliondo from the list, as the law requires.
“About the president's tweet and
demands by the Maasai today, a trite knowledge of law tells us that legal
positions (created by Acts of parliament) may generally be modified only using
the procedures used for their adoption or by a court's interpretation” he says.
Conversely, political statements can
cover up things, but that is only for a short period of time.
“What all these boil down to, is that I
agree with the Maasai's demand because there is an urgent need to push for the
implementation of the law (degazattement) or soliciting a court's position by
way of an administrative law case” Mr. Laltaika explains.
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