In this blog post:
The
PM’s vague and terrifying decision.
Whose
land is it?
Press
meeting
Kigwangalla’s
promise down the drain
The
PM “solving the conflict”
Background
summary
There’s confusion and fear in Loliondo.
Nobody seems to know exactly what’s going on, but I’ve tried to write a blog post
about what’s known.
The PM’s vague
and terrifying decision.
In
the afternoon of 6th December, PM Majaliwa finally delivered his
long awaited, and much feared, decision about the 1,500 km2 of important
grazing land that Otterlo Business Corporation (OBC), that organises hunting
for Sheikh Mohammed of Dubai, have spent years lobbying to have alienated for a
“protected area”. The PM was to decide between a Game Controlled Area 2009,
which would be a catastrophic land alienation leading to destruction of lives
and livelihoods, environmental degradation and conflict with neighbours, or the
compromise proposal reached by the RC’s select committee, consisting of a
Wildlife Management Area, which the Loliondo Maasai had rejected for a decade
and a half of pressure, since it means setting aside land for “investors”,
while handing away much power over the land to the director of wildlife, the
said investors, and others.
First reports in the evening were that the PM
would have announced some very worrying “special WMA”, and it didn’t seem like
even those who were present at the meeting in Dodoma had understood, or wanted
to understand, what the PM had said. Some said it was about an expansion of
Ngorongoro Conservation Area where the Maasai live under the colonial style
rule of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority. A couple of very similar (copies
of a brief press statement) newspaper articles the following day made things
somewhat, but not much, clearer. The PM had ordered the Ministry of Natural
Resources and Tourism to prepare a legal bill with the aim of forming a special
authority to manage the 1,500 km2, even if all reports just mention “Loliondo
GCA” which would be the whole 4,000 km2, to protect the ecosystem of Serengeti
National Park, wildlife paths, breeding grounds and water sources, while
benefitting all sides. The MP said it would be ensured that the interest of
local people, their customs, traditions, and land use are considered in the legal
bill that is to be rushed through so that a final draft is ready for
February/March 2018, to be included in the 2018/2019 budget. A team of specialists,
after going through various options, recommended this “special authority” for
the broad interests of all sides, and with the aim of bringing peace and
sustainable conservation to Loliondo. To some people, me included, this sounds
like an all-out land grab, taking away the land from the villages to give it to
a “special authority” prepared by the Ministry of Natural Resources and
Tourism. Some of those who were at the meeting interpreted the PM’s – possibly
intentionally - cryptic words as if the 1,500 km2 would be for “wildlife only” or very restricted grazing, the most feared outcome of all, and all clearly
heard that Majaliwa said that OBC – contrary to the promises by Minister
Kigwangalla - will stay even if the executive director (who apparently now has
been fired) would be “investigated for corruption”.
