Writes Leo Odera Omolo
The Maasai pastralist community living in the Northern Tanzanian region of Arusha has issued the government with ultimatum to either supply its starving members with free food or else it would block tourists from accessing the famous Serengeti national game park and the adjacent Ngorongoro World Heritage site.
The community has accused the Tanzanian government of reneging on an agreement and pushing its people into starvation.
The community, which is spread across the Tanzania-Kenya borders with half of its people living on the Kenyan side while another half on the Tanzanian side has given the Tanzanian government until December 22 to start issuing its members with free food as stipulated in the Ngorongoro agreement or allow them to cultivate the game park land and conduct farming therein.
The Northern Tourists Circuit comprises the world renowned Ngorongoro Crater, Serengeti National Park, Manyara and Tarangire National Parks, which accounts for 80 per cent of the country’s annual tourism earning estimated at USD 1.3 BILLION.
According to the pastoralist community leaders, the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority {GCAA} has failed to provide for the community.This failure has resulted in the deaths of three children from starvation and hunger.
The NCAA is legally bound to take care of the |Maasai patoralist population living within the conservation area in order to protect the wildlife and other natural resources.
He community says it will block tourists from accessing the parks to pressure the government to honor its part of the deal, or allow its people to cultivate the land in the parks and conduct farming activities therein.
The Maasai said the would turn the tourist circuit into a no-go zone for tourists during this Christmas season.
He ultimatum was issued last week by the secretary of the Ngorngoro Pastoralist Committee .Lazaro Saitoti who said that the government must immediately supply the community with 9000 tons of emergency food grains.n addition to the NCAA giving the pastoralist community the sums of USD 9,375 million,which is equivalent to 30 per cent of the NCAAtuoirst collection of USD 5,215 million,up from the current USD 812,200 million.
The committee protect the interests of the 64,000members of the Maasai community living within the Ngorongoro Conservation area.
Other demands by the Maasai contained in the statement is that none members of the community living in the area be forcefully evicted from the protected areas..
Further demands were that hotels and lodges operating within the conservancy areas should give the community the lion’s share in terms of employment opportunities.
The community is also demanding for three representatives on the NCAA board. Currently the board has only one member from the community. They also wanted to be assured of the political goodwill to develop the community along with its neighbors
The Ngorongoro member of parliament Kaika Sabubg’o Telele warned that the community threat to block the access to the famous tourist attraction sceneries was serious and things could get out of hand unless the government take the quickest action to address the problem.
IN the MP’s view, the delay in supplying food May be a calculated move to frustrate the indigenous Maasai to leave the NCAA and find places to stay away from the conservation zones.
A senior govern ment official, however, dismissed the threat as politically motivated and asked the community to channel its case through the right channel to register their complaints.
ends