Nyalandu: Maasai will stay

 
Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism Lazaro Nyalandu speaks to journalists in Dodoma yesterday about the story by the UK Guardian on eviction of 40,000 Maasai from Loliondo. Right is Tanzania National Parks (Tanapa) public relations officer Pascal Shelutete. PHOTO | EMMANUEL HERMAN

Dodoma. The government has vehemently dismissed a report by the UK-based Guardian newspaper that Tanzania was planning to evict 40,000 Maasai pastoralists in Loliondo District and turn their ancestral land into a reserve for the royal family of Dubai to hunt big game.

Natural Resources and Tourism minister Lazaro Nyarandu described the report as malicious, misleading and unfortunate. Mr Nyalandu who was addressing a news conference yesterday said the article in the international newspaper aimed at mudslinging the country in the eyes of the international community.

 According to the newspaper article, the Maasai had been ordered to vacate their traditional lands by the end of the year.  It went on to say that the government was ready to offer compensation worth Sh1 billion to be channelled into socio-economic development projects, instead of paying the cash directly to the affected people, but the Maasai had dismissed it.

 “I feel betrayed,” said Samwel Nangiria, the co-ordinator of the local Ngonett civil society group. “One billion is very little and you cannot compare that with land. It’s inherited. Their mothers and grandmothers are buried in that land. There’s nothing you can compare with a situation like that,” the newspaper quoted Mr Nangiria as saying.

Nangiria said he believed the government never truly intended to abandon the scheme in the Loliondo District but was wary of global attention. “They had to pretend they were dropping the agenda to fool the international press,” he said.

He noted that it had proved difficult to contact the Ortelo Business Corporation (OBC), a luxury safari company set up by a UAE official close to the royal family. The OBC has operated in Loliondo for more than 20 years with clients reportedly including Prince Andrew.

There were reports that Maasai representatives travelled to Dodoma to meet Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda on Tuesday to express their anger. But yesterday Mr Nyalandu refuted the reports describing them as unfounded.

“My ministry has not seen any of them and the Prime Minister never received that delegation,” he said, insisting that he was planning to visit the area to address people and reiterated the government’s commitment that no Tanzanian would become an immigrant in his own country.