Why Ngorongoro mass protest signals Maasai community is unrestricted as activists allege
The members of a pastoralist community demonstrated in Ngorongoro Conservation Area over the weekend without state organs intimidating them, indicating that rights of the communities are protected in the area.
By The Tranquility News Correspondent, Tanzania
A mass demonstration held in Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA) has proved to the world that communities co-existing with wildlife within the area enjoy their basic rights including to assemble and protest.
Tanzania woke up to news on the pastoralist communities marching along the main road heading for the area and the Serengeti National Park at dawn on Sunday August 18, 2024.
The pastoralist communities, particularly Maasai, were demanding the right to take part in forthcoming civic polls as well as beefed-up budget allocated for social services within the area.
Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority (NCAA) has all along been footing costs of education, health and other social services for the pastoralist communities whose population has of late increased by over ten-folds.
The number of people and livestock within the 8,288 Square Kilometers has grown exponentially —from 8,000 people and 260,000 livestock in 1959 to over 110,000 people and more than 800,000 livestock by 2022.
This upsurge threatens the delicate balance of the ecosystem, amplify human-livestock-wildlife conflicts and escalates chance for transmitting zoonotic disease including malignant catarrhal fever, rabies and East Coast fever.
The NCAA Manager for Public Relations Unit, Mr Hamis Dambaya, pointed an accusing finger at local and international activists for misleading the world that the communities were being harassed and denied of their basic rights.
“The world saw for itself over the weekend on how rights of the pastoralist communities are protected when some members coordinated by local and foreign civil society organisations went to the streets without any state organ intimidating them,” Mr Dambaya said.
The demonstration might have opened eyes of the civil society organisations whose major outcry has been human rights violation within the area notwithstanding the government’s reiteration on the misleading allegations.
Members of the community marched from one area to another in the area during the weekend demonstration, with the NCAA conservation paramilitaries assisting tourist vans to ensure the protestors respected their rights as well.
The world saw for itself over the weekend on how rights of the pastoralist communities are protected when some members coordinated by local and foreign civil society organisations went to the streets without any state organ intimidating them,” NGORONGORO Conservation Area Authority Manager for Public Relations Unit Hamis Dambaya.
Conservation regulations and overpopulation have restricted these communities from certain freedoms, such as farming and other income generating projects.
Owing to the lack of freedom to engage in various economic activities, the government has long been providing pastoralist households with food and health supports, as well as educational sponsorships for children who are often seen begging for alms from tourists.
Most members of the pastoral communities are reportedly tending cattle, goats, and sheep owned by young people who have completed their studies and secured jobs in urban areas.
This has led the area to be overwhelmed with livestock, escalating the human-livestock-wildlife conflicts.
Tourists who witnessed the demonstration noted that their itineraries were unaffected.
This served as evidence that the government is relocating pastoralist communities voluntarily, contrary to allegations from some local and international civil society organisations that the relocation exercise is a forceful eviction.
We were loaded into vehicles last night to attend what we thought was a meeting with traditional leaders, which turned out to be a demonstration,” anonymous Maasai community member from Naiyobi Village.
We were loaded into vehicles last night to attend what we thought was a meeting with traditional leaders, which turned out to be a demonstration,” said a community member from Naiyobi Village, who chose to remain anonymous for fear of reprisal.
“A major oversight by the organizers of the demonstration, including local and international civil society organisations, was their failure to remember they had previously claimed that state organs restricted pastoralist communities from moving within the area,” said Mr. Dambaya.
Some international institutions have, unfortunately, believed the misleading information that the Tanzania government is coercively evicting pastoralist communities, particularly the Maasai, from their ancestral lands.
Proponents of this false narrative neglect the fact that the Maasai are dispersed across the country in search for greener pastures and water, often sharing resources amicably with their host communities.
“The government has consistently emphasized that no indigenous groups in this country have land under the sole trusteeship of the state, and every Tanzanian is free to relocate to any area,” Mr Dambaya explained.
He added, “The situation is further complicated by individuals and institutions, both domestic and international ones, exploiting the Maasai. Notably, many organisers of the demonstration were not Tanzanian residents.”
Mr Dambaya said another technical mistake the organisers of the demonstration committed was attempting to paralyze other activities, revealing that the outsiders were determined to incite conflicts in the area.
“Preventing trucks and tourist vans from entering or crossing the area is interfering with rights of others, otherwise, they are free to demonstrate peacefully,” cautioned Mr Dambaya, stressing:
“Whenever you demand your right, desist from treading on rights of others. You should, instead, let them continue with their activities.” He vowed that NCAA would ensure demonstrations do not deter tourist vans and other activities in the areaΩ
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The Tranquility News Reporter/Sub Editor, Tanzania
Patty Magubira is an experienced environmental and business editor whose career started at the Tanzania's state-owned newspaper - The Daily News. He is a man of perfection. Aided by his extensive training as a community forestry expert before joining Tanzania School of Journalism. Magubira had successfully held various key posts in newsrooms, giving him an unmatched connections in media fraternity. Having worked as a bureau chief in Arusha and Mwanza, he managed to build a team work, boosting sales to the highest level ever. He was then promoted to a sub-editor after completing a training in Nairobi, Kenya. His incredible experience, critical thinking and exposure are critical to the quality of any media outlet.
