Wamasai,Wairaqw,Wabarabaig, Wasukuma, waambiwa warudi "makwao".

[Mombo Wetu]

Acha kuongopa. Wana maeneo yao, lakini kinachofawanya kuhama kwenye maeneo yao ni ukame na sio kunyang'anywa kwa maeneo yao.

nani mwongo zaidi ya mwenzake? Soma kitabu cha Charles Lane 1990s; Pasture Lost- Problem of policy a case of Barbaigs. Uone wafugaji walivyokuwa na rich knowldge kuliko ecologists wetu wengi wakuchonga. Wao kama wao wala ukame usingetokea kwa hii magnitude na rate hii although kuna climate change contribution ambayo ni global issue lakini severity inachangiwa na localsettings pia. Tatizo ni marginalisation iliyo convert maeneo mengi na kuwasukumiza kwenye vanzo vya maji na kuleta ecological alteration kwenye ecosystems. Mfano mzuri ni kinachofanywa na idara ya maji huko Hanang' wame tap maji yote kutoka kwenye chanzo sasa ground recharging sijui itafanyikaje matokeo wanasingizia watu wamevamia msitu wa kwenye mlima...no thank you hizi myths zetu bila scientific verification ziatupeleka pabaya sana.

 

[Zakumi]

Ndiyo maana sheria zetu zinasema ngo'mbe akiingia shambani ni tresspassing ila iko silent kama mkulima ata extend shamba lake kwenye eneo la wafugaji. Jiulize kwenye decision making bodies kunawafugaji wangapi ili waweze kuforward malalamiko yao au angalau interest zao ziwe protected when the laws/by laws are enacted. Matokeo yake nikuwa kila siku mfugaji ndo anae vamia na si mkulima kwasababu mahindi na maharage yako permanent while ng'ombe lazima wachungwe kwa pamoja na mwishowe warudishwe nyumbani. so common property mode of ownership is not legitimate but that of private mode of ownership is legitimate na wakulima wakifanyiwa fujo wana taka public sympathy ila hawa wanao baguliwa wakiomba public sympathy wanaambiwa washamba. Kama ni ushamba wote tu washamba kama sivyo why hand hoe to this age of mechanisation? Ukiuliza utaambiwa hatuna capital ila kwa wafugaji wao watajiju. Jamani tuwe fair kwa watu wetu tuwe na huruma na tujitoe kuwasaidia wote ni wagonjwa na kwa ugonjwa wao sisi pia ni victim either absolutly or relatively. Sipendi kuingia kwenye siasa ila kwaajili ya wafugaji saa nyingine nashindwa kujizuia.

Mahindi na Maharage yako permanent sio usemi sahihi. Mahindi upandwa, kuvunwa, kusafirishwa na kuliwa.

wafugaji waliotajwa kwenye mada ni Normads na hazijafanyika juhudi zozote za wao kubadilika. Wao wenyewe hawajfanya juhudi hizo au serikali hajaweka mikakati ya kuwabadilisha.

Hata cowboys walikuwa normads, lakini wamebadilika. Sasa cowboy hawezi kuwa mfugaji wa ng'ombe bila ya kuwa mkulima.

Na ndugu zetu wafugaji ni lazima waachane kutegemea majani na nyasi zinazoota kwa kudra za Mwenyezi Mungu. Waanze kulisha mimea ya kulisha mifugo yao.

 

[Kibunango]

Imefikia wakati sasa serikali kwa makusudi kabisa wawawezeshe hawa wafugaji kwa kuwatafutia eneo muwafaka, eneo ambalo litaendana na hali halisi ya mifugo yao.

Naona aya hii hukuisoma;

“Wanatwambia tuuze mifugo yetu palepale; au tuisombe kwa malori hadi kwenye mnada, Pugu, Dar es Salaam, au tuhamie mkoani Lindi ambako wanasema wametenga ardhi kwa ajili ya wafugaji,” anaeleza mfugaji Kalaita Parkuris huku machozi yakimlengalenga machoni.

 

[Zakumi]

nani mwongo zaidi ya mwenzake? Soma kitabu cha Charles Lane 1995; Pasture Lost- Problem of policy a case of Barbaigs. Uone wafugaji walivyokuwa na rich knowldge kuliko ecologists wetu wengi wakuchonga. Wao kama wao wala ukame usingetokea kwa hii magnitude na rate hii although kuna climate change contribution ambayo ni global issue lakini severity inachangiwa na localsettings pia. Tatizo ni marginalisation iliyo convert maeneo mengi na kuwasukumiza kwenye vanzo vya maji na kuleta ecological alteration kwenye ecosystems. Mfano mzuri ni kinachofanywa na idara ya maji huko Hanang' wame tap maji yote kutoka kwenye chanzo sasa ground recharging sijui itafanyikaje matokeo wanasingizia watu wamevamia msitu wa kwenye mlima...no thank you hizi myths zetu bila scientific verification ziatupeleka pabaya sana.

Sina haja ya kusoma hicho kitabu. WaBarbaigs ni Normads. Na makabila mengi ya kiNormads yameshindwa kufanya mabadiliko ya wao ku-survive katika karne hii na yamekuwa chanzo cha migogoro ya resources barani Africa.

Kumbuka hata hao ng'ombe wanachangia sehemu kubwa katika global warming na hii ni issues kubwa kuliko marginazation unayotaka kuelezea hapa.

Data za global warming za mwaka 1995 na za 2009, zingempa huyo mwandishi wa kitabu mtazamo mpya kabisa wa suala hilo.

 

[Mombo Wetu]

Mahindi na Maharage yako permanent sio usemi sahihi. Mahindi upandwa, kuvunwa, kusafirishwa na kuliwa.

wafugaji waliotajwa kwenye mada ni Normads na hazijafanyika juhudi zozote za wao kubadilika. Wao wenyewe hawajfanya juhudi hizo au serikali hajaweka mikakati ya kuwabadilisha.

Hata cowboys walikuwa normads, lakini wamebadilika. Sasa cowboy hawezi kuwa mfugaji wa ng'ombe bila ya kuwa mkulima.

Na ndugu zetu wafugaji ni lazima waachane kutegemea majani na nyasi zinazoota kwa kudra za Mwenyezi Mungu. Waanze kulisha mimea ya kulisha mifugo yao.

Nilitaka kueleza why common property kwa wafugaji na private to farmers haikutokea accidentally ni kwasababu of how much of pasture is needed to feed a cow now that much distribute the land to the owners of zebu type of cows which are ecologically cheap to keep than exotic one. Then utahitaji zaidi ya ardhi yote ya Tanzania kuwagawia kila family kuweza kulisha mifugo yao privately ndiyo maana wafugaji wa evulutionalise kwaku hold land kama common property. Sasa je maharage na mahindi yanahitaji radius ngapi ku extract nutrients now you get what I mean nao ndo maana wana settle nakuwa na privately owned chunk of land. Sasa kuwahukumu wafugaji walio weza kuamua wisely ku own land as common property na kuwa protect wale kutokana na mode of production private ownership ndo suitable is not socially optimal. Cha msingi nikuwa na program za kuleta transformation kama hatutaki hii mode of communal ownership ambayo wao siyo wataalam tena maana uelea wao unaishia hapo ambapo sisi tunaona hawafanyi vizuri. The solution is to agree to be responsible kuja na alternatives ambazo hazitawa victimize.

 

[Mombo Wetu]

Sina haja ya kusoma hicho kitabu. WaBarbaigs ni Normads. Na makabila mengi ya kiNormads yameshindwa kufanya mabadiliko ya wao ku-survive katika karne hii na yamekuwa chanzo cha migogoro ya resources barani Africa.

Kumbuka hata hao ng'ombe wanachangia sehemu kubwa katika global warming na hii ni issues kubwa kuliko marginazation unayotaka kuelezea hapa.

Data za global warming za mwaka 1995 na za 2009, zingempa huyo mwandishi wa kitabu mtazamo mpya kabisa wa suala hilo.

Kama unadhani ni ng'ombe basi kalagabahao je mwanadamu ambaye ame calculatiwa how much is spending from birth to death na jinsi anavyochangia kwenye global warming unasemaje? tuwauwe wapungue na fertility rate (fecundity) kwetu ndo iko juu? Basi ni muige nyani ngabu miafrika ndo tulivyo.

Any way si na maana ya kuku attack personaly ila nachomaanisha tuache kulauumu tutimize responsibilty zetu kwa jamii zetu zote mbili za kifugaji na kikulima. Na ecosystem behaviours zimeshaonekana ni complex ku come up na simple answers kwakifupi hata wataalam hawana majibu kumebakia academic politics kila moja akitaka kupublish na kupata consultancy zenye kulipa kwaajili ya academic merits na income generation.

 

[Companero]

Warudi makwao wapi? Sirikali kupitia Nafko iliwaondoa Wabarabaig kibao Hanang ili ianzishe mashamba ya ngano!Wengine wakakimbilia Babati. Huko nako wakaondolewa kupisha wawekezaji wa Utalii. Kila wanapoenda wanaondolewa. Sasa mnataka warudi wapi?

 

[Zakumi]

Warudi makwao wapi? Sirikali kupitia Nafko iliwaondoa Wabarabaig kibao Hanang ili ianzishe mashamba ya ngano!Wengine wakakimbilia Babati. Huko nako wakaondolewa kupisha wawekezaji wa Utalii. Kila wanapoenda wanaondolewa. Sasa mnataka warudi wapi?

Kumbe unajua kuwa kwao ni Hanang. Warudi Hanang.

 

[Lole Gwakisa]

..Raisi Kikwete yuko tayari kuwapa ardhi kubwa tu Wasaudia, wakati wananchi wake mwenyewe wanateseka kwa kukosa ardhi ya kulisha mifugo yao.

..hivi serikali haiwezi kutengeneza mpango mzuri zaidi wa kuwapatia wafugaji maeneo ya kuendesha shughuli zao? kwanini wananchi wanyanyaswe namna hii ktk nchi yao wenyewe?

Joka , you are naive.
Hawa jamaa are living in the 14th century for no reason at all.
Mababu zangu were hunters and gatherers about 400 yers ago, we have changed and it has taken us that long.
Mtu hawezi kusafiri na mifungo for years looking for pastures.Hawa watu pamoja na siasa yetu ya kutobagua mtu are making a problem ambayo wengi wetu tua i-ignore.
Kuna notion kuwa nyasi zote za dunia hii popote zilipo ni za wafugaji na ngombe wao.Is this realistic?
Tuna endekeza hii conflict by not calling a spade a spade.
Ni kitu gani kiliwatoa hawa ndugu zetu Arusha? leaving in their wake land destruction, erosion and all.
Na ile land waliyoiharibu huko Arusha ,Handeni na Kiteto anakabidhiwa nani?
Wazee tujiulize maswali magumu.
Pili usichanganye suala la Wamasai na Wasaudia , you will end up confusing your self.

 

[Bluray]

Hatuna utaratibu wa kuli address hili, kama tunao siujui.

Kwa upande mmoja kila mtanzania ana haki ya kikatiba kwenda sehemu yeyote inayoruhusiwa ya jamhuri na kufanya kazi, ikiwamo kupata shamba kisheria na kulisha mifugo kisheria. Hatutaki kuifanya nchi yetu iwe kama china ambako wananchi wa vijijini wanahitaji "visa" kwenda Beijing.


Kwa upande wa pili, sio tu kwa sababu wafugaji wanaruhusiwa kikatiba basi maana yake wanaweza kuranda sehemy yoyote.Kama kuna mashamba ya watu inabidi waheshimu mali za wengine. Nafikiri kuna haja ya kutenga maeneo maalum ya jumuiya za wafugaji na zile za wakulima, na kwamba ukiachilia mbali kuwapelekea wakulima ng'ombe kwa minajili ya kuwapelekea nyama, wafugaji wasiruhusiwe kuingia maeneo ya wakulima yenye mashamba yao, na wakulima wasiruhusiwe kwenda kulima kwenye maeneo ya wafugaji.

Sioni ugumu katika hili.Labda mambo ya logistic ambayo always siku za kwanza inakuwa challenge kwa mambo mengi tu, mfumo huu ukishastawishwa watu watazoea na matukio haya ya mikwaruzano yataisha.

 

[Zakumi]

Joka , you are naive.
Hawa jamaa are living in the 14th century for no reason at all.
Mababu zangu were hunters and gatherers about 400 yers ago, we have changed and it has taken us that long.
Mtu hawezi kusafiri na mifungo for years looking for pastures.Hawa watu pamoja na siasa yetu ya kutobagua mtu are making a problem ambayo wengi wetu tua i-ignore.
Kuna notion kuwa nyasi zote za dunia hii popote zilipo ni za wafugaji na ngombe wao.Is this realistic?
Tuna endekeza hii conflict by not calling a spade a spade.
Ni kitu gani kiliwatoa hawa ndugu zetu Arusha? leaving in their wake land destruction, erosion and all.
Na ile land waliyoiharibu huko Arusha ,Handeni na Kiteto anakabidhiwa nani?
Wazee tujiulize maswali magumu.
Pili usichanganye suala la Wamasai na Wasaudia , you will end up confusing your self.

Lole Gwakisa:

Chukua tano. Mimi natoka Morogoro. Wakati wa El-nino ya mwaka 1998, kuna makabila yaliokuja huku kukimbia ukame.

Kuna waMang'ati walikuja. Hao hawana mifugo na hawalimi. Kazi yao ni kutafuta asali na wanavamia mashamba ya watu na kuchukua mahindi. Hapa wanawatia wenzao umasikini.

Watu wakisema, tunaambiwa kila mtanzania ana haki ya kuishi popote. Haki ya kuishi popote haimpi mtu ruhusa ya kuharibu the well being of others.

 

[jambotemuv]

Wengi wanowasakama wafugaji wa jadi Tz wakiamini ndo suluhisho kwa migogoro ya ardhi na kuboresha mazingira wanakosea kwa kujua au kutojua. Ikumbukwe kilimo (kulima na kufuga) ndo mhimili mkuu wa uchumi wa Tz. Penye utawala mzuri sekta mbili hizi hufaidiana/ kusaidiana kulikuza pato la jamii na taifa. Mkulima, mfugaji, na wengine wanahitaji mazao ya mifugo na mimea kwa maisha na uchumi.
1.Tukumbuke zaidi ya 90% ya mifugo Tz inamilikiwa na kutunzwa na wafugaji wa jadi?
2. Asilimia kubwa ya walaji nyama Tz na sehemu kubwa ya Afrika wanawategemea wafugaji wa jadi.
3. Hatujafanya vya kutosha kuuboresha ufugaji mkubwa, wa kibiashara, Tanzania. Uganda wamejaribu na maendeleo ni makubwa. Mfano Tz hakuna soko la mazao ya ufugaji linalomhamasisha mfugaji kujikwamua kiuchumi. Wafugaji kama wakulima wadogo wananyonywa jasho na wachuuzi serikali ikichekelea.
4. Wako wafugaji wengi wanaotuzalishia mifugo na mazao yake maporini ambako hakujavamiwa na wakulima au watumiaji wengine bila migogoro. Migogoro huzuka pindi maeneo yao yanapovamiwa kwa matumizi mbadala bila maandalizi shirikishi.
5. Tukiuhukumu ufugaji kisiasa kwa ushauri wa mataifa makubwa tunasahau kuwa hawatutakii mema hata siku moja.

 

[Mwiba]

Hao wasaudi watalima na kufuga wanyama hao ngombe na mbuzi na wataweza kujilisha kwa mtee na nyama na wataweza kuilisha Tz katika eneo hilo dogo tu ni mipango na uwajibikaji sio domo nyumba ya maneno,fikiria tu wanaweza kusuply maziwa ya ng'ombe fresh kwa gulf states zote mpaka Egypt na ni mali ya private ,ukubwa nasikia ni kama viwanja vya mpira vitatu na ng/ombe wanakula kwenye vyumba vyao.
Ngombe wa maziwa wa kizungu akilishwa basi anaweza kutoa maziwa yakaenea mtaa mzima ,sisi tuna ng'ombe kazi yao kula majani tu nchi nzima wanaimaliza lakini maziwa yakitimia chupa moja basi shukuru kama si ufisadi ni kitu gani ?

 

[Companero]

Kumbe unajua kuwa kwao ni Hanang. Warudi Hanang.

Huko Hanang ardhi yao mpaka leo haijarudishwa kikamilifu. Kuna mashamba 7 yenye zaidi ya ekari 100,000 zilizotwaliwa na Nafko. Kati ya hayo 3 wameuziwa wawekezaji kutoka Kenya, wanaitwa RAI Group. Wala hawalimi mashamba yote hivyo bado kuna pori kubwa tu ila hawaruhusu Wabarabaig kupita wala kupitisha mifugo yao. Mashamba mengine 2 Serikali imewarudishia wananchi walioko pembezoni mwa mashamba hayo ila mpaka leo hayagawanywa vizuri na inasemekana vigogo nao walijimegea ndio maana kukawa na mvutano wa ugawaji kwa zaidi ya miaka 4. Shamba lingine Serikali imeiuzia hospitali ya Haydom na lingine inataka kulinadi pia japo wananchi wameliomba. Mkuu alipopita huko 2008 aliwaambia wananchi waache maneno maneno. Sasa wakuu mnataka hawa Wabarabaig warudi Hanang kwenye ardhi ipi? Au unataka waende kuishi wapi? Mwezini?

 

[mwakatojofu]

ila noma sana. unalima jamaa anakuja kulisha mifugo yake kwenye shamba lako. du. si ustaarabu

 

[Mkandara]

Ama kweli Binadamu hana shukran,
Yaani watu mnawasakama hawa wafugaji wakati nyie ndio walaji wakubwa wa nyama choma, supu na Kisusio.. sasa matumbo yamejaa wafugaji mnawaona hawana maana tena..
Jamani tatizo la ardhi ya Ufugaji linatokana na sheria mbovu za umiliki wa ardhi...period..
Je, sio sisi tuliosema Tanzania ni yetu wote hakuna mipaka wala mmiliki wa ardhi hii isipokuwa serikali?..sasa hawa leo wanapewa mipaka jamani ati waruddi makwao?..verdict imepita kwa sababu ni wagufaji, hivyo hawana ardhi!
Mbona nyumba mnagawa viwanja na msiruhusu kila mtu ajenge anapotaka, au kuwaambia Wandengereko warudi kwao Rufiji mnataka kujenga maghorofa maanake ukitazama nao ni wafugaji wadogo mijini..
Wakuu zangu, Lugha zinazotumika sii nzuri kabisa, hawa wafugaji hawana makosa kabisa na wataendelea kuishi karne ya 18 kwa sababu ya mfumo mbaya.

Kumbukeni ni hadi mwisho wa miaka ya 80, tumekuwa na hata kituo cha television, Computer na magri yalikuwa anasa, msemo wa naomba Lift ulikuwa kawaida kabisa!.. Sijawahi ona nchi za magharibi mtu akisubiri mtaani apewe lift na mtu asomjua!... ndio maisha yetu jamani kila kitu hatua kutokana na sheria butu zilizotufunga kamba za shingo..kisai kwamba mgugaji mwenye ng'ombe 3,000 bado ni maskini mlalahoi, kisha tunawaumu wafugaji badala ya system inayoshindwa kuelewa jinsi ya kuboresha utajiri huo.. Sisi sote maamuma, Tanzanite na vito kibao tumekuja vigundua lini? lakini muda wote tulivikalia na sio kwamba havikuwa na thamani..
Kila mkoa na kila wilaya wenye mifugo inatakiwa kuwa na sehemu za malisho au wafugaji wapewe ardhi kwa ajili ya malisho ya ng'ombe mifugo yao..
Ng'ombe wetu pamoja na hali ya hewa ni vitu ambavyo vinatufanya tuwe tofauti na Ulaya. Huwezi kumfugia Zebu au Ankole ndani ya chumba cha joto au baridi ukamlisha kwa kumkatia majani kama ng'ombe wa kizungu..
Kwa mtazamo wenu hata mifugo kama kuku, Kanga na bata hawatakiwi kabisa kurandaranda makazi ya watu..tena wanafungwa mijini tu ukienda nje kidogo ya mji kila nyumba ina kuku..
Ni maisha ambayo yanahitaji mwongozo, elimu na mfumo bora ktk kujenga mazingira bora badala ya kutumia maguvu na mitulinga kufikisha ujumbe.
In fact wananchi hao wa wilaya hiyo wataondoka hapo bila kufahamu sababu na kibaya zaidi wataendelea na ufugaji wao sehemu yoyote ile watakayo pelekwa kwani tatizo sio wao ila ni serikali kushindwa kutoa milki ya ardhi kwa wananchi wake...

 

[Lole Gwakisa]

Ama kweli Binadamu hana shukran,
Yaani watu mnawasakama hawa wafugaji wakati nyie ndio walaji wakubwa wa nyama choma, supu na Kisusio.. sasa matumbo yamejaa wafugaji mnawaona hawana maana tena..
Jamani tatizo la ardhi ya Ufugaji linatokana na sheria mbovu za umiliki wa ardhi...period..
Je, sio sisi tuliosema Tanzania ni yetu wote hakuna mipaka wala mmiliki wa ardhi hii isipokuwa serikali?..sasa hawa leo wanapewa mipaka jamani ati waruddi makwao?..verdict imepita kwa sababu ni wagufaji, hivyo hawana ardhi!

Mkuu Mkandara, si kweli kwamba wafugaji hawana ardhi, huo ni upotoshaji wa ukweli.
Ardhi wanayo tena kubwa sana .Tatizo ni kuwa wameiharibu kwa kuwa na mifugo mingi sana na ikisha haribika wao wanahamia ardhi nyingine.
Kuna majangwa mengi yaliyo jitokeza huko Arusha ,Mwanza, Shinyanga.
Mkuu tembelea sehemu hizo ili uweze kulijua tatizo linaloongelewa.

 

[Companero]

In Defense of John Cheyo and Pastoralism
By Navaya ole Ndaskoi, February 12, 2008
Source: UDADISI: Rethinking in Action: In Defense of John Cheyo and Pastoralism

I listened with disgust the Tanzanian Prime Minister, Peter Pinda, answer the questions asked by John Cheyo, MP for Bariadi East in parliament on Thursday February 5, 2009.

I arrived home and found the state owned TBC1 beaming live from Dodoma. Suddenly John Cheyo, a very wise and extremely serious opposition MP, stood-up straight like an arrow. He asked the premier something to the effect that when will the Government allocate pastureland for pastoralists who are being hounded from around the country?

I doff my cap to Cheyo for asking such a legitimate but rarely asked question. Keep up the good job our John. Do not give up hope. One day Tanzania will be a fair nation.

Delicately, but hardly surprisingly, Pinda took up the microphone and said very loudly something, translated from Kiswahili to English by the author, to the effect that the Government will no longer tolerate nomads who are destroying the environment.

The Prime Minister added that the Government will deal with the pastoralists according to the laws with immediate effect. He stressed even, 'enough is enough.'

I will try, to the best of my ability, to engage the Prime Minister hoping that the Government will come out of the woods and treat pastoralists fairly.

When I went to primary school we were lectured about the environment. our teacher, out of guilty, listed the causes of soil erosion. She hardly listed two causes of erosion before hurling accusations to pastoralists and their livestock.

To be sure, too much energy has been devoted to painting out how excessive grazing by livestock, but not wild animals, has caused the country to deteriorate. Henry Fosbrooke was Chief Conservator for Ngorongoro Conservation Area for a very long time.

In 1972, he wrote the earth shattering Ngorongoro-The Eighth Wonder. He argued that one 'hears a great deal of talk about soil erosion, much of it nonsense, especially amongst those who wish to appear knowledgeable about conservation.'

Pastoralists move from one place to another. Moringe ole Parkipuny is a former MP for Ngorongoro. He says, 'They talk about the migration of wildebeest, zebra, gazelles and others. That is wildlife transhumant paten of use of natural resources on a seasonal basis. The Maasai, like other pastoralists from around the world, are transhumant.'

'During the rainy season livestock are moved by young people to the plains where then there is plenty of lush green grasses and water. They leave the highlands fallow so that the grass can grow. At the end of the rainy season the water ponds dry out and the grass being so fragile and short would be depleted. At the end of the rainy season wildlife retreats West [of Serengeti National Park] in the woodlands where there is water in the rivers and the Maasai retreat to the Ngorongoro highlands.' Where are you Pinda?

'You said let us find a place for pastoralists to go to, where did they come from?' Pinda asked rhetorically. A lot of praises were heaped on him. You would think zombies were celebrating. By then Cheyo was literarily shaking his head in utter disbelieve.

Where did the pastoralists come from? The Sukuma, the Maasai and the Barabaigs are the main societies currently portrayed by the Pindas of this world as one of the main causes of the conflict between pastoralists and farmers in Tanzania.

It is in records that in 1959 the British colonial Government drove the Maasai out of Serengeti National Park. Prof. Issa Shivji and Dr. Wilbert Kapinga documented this in fine details in their book titled Maasai Rights in Ngorongoro, Tanzania.

Parkipuny adds that Sukuma, Barbaigs, Sonjo, Ikoma, Kurya and others were also driven out of Serengeti. The colonialists favored the Maasai, for tourism reasons, and treated other tribes as dirty. So what one reads today is that Serengeti is Maasailand alone.

Sifuni Mchome has detailed how the Maasai were forced out of Mkomazi Game Reserve. The title of his book is self explanatory, Evictions and the Rights of People in Conservation Areas in Tanzania. The Maasai were among the victims according to him. Today Mkomazi has been elevated to the status of, yet, another national park. Ah!

Colonialists left behind only Serengeti National Park. Currently there are 15 national parks. How many people lost their lands when these parks, and other conservation areas, were created may never be known. Suffice to say pastoralists are among the losers.

It should be remembered too that the Government and well-connected capitalists, local and foreign, alienated massive lands under natural pastures in the name of 'maximum utilisation by all citizens.' This is so because politicians see such lands as being wasted.

No doubts, in a perverse and masochistic sort of way, this was immensely satisfying to all concerned. Mwalimu Nyerere was an eloquent spokesman for this point of view.

Nyerere, with due respect, wrote in Freedom and Development, 'When I use my energy and talent to clear a piece of ground for my use, it is clear that I am trying to transform this basic gift from God so that it can satisfy a human need. It is true, however, that this land is not mine, but the efforts made by me in clearing the land enabled me to lay claim of ownership over the cleared piece of ground. But it is not really the land itself that belongs to me but only the cleared ground which will remain mine as long as I continue to work it. By clearing that ground I have actually added to its value and have enabled it to be used to satisfy a human need. Whoever then takes this piece of ground must pay me for adding value to it through clearing it by my…labour' [original emphasis].

This type of thinking, which is used to claim that pastoralists are wasting the land, remains a shocking performance by a man of Nyerere's high intellectualism. What about pastoralists who depend entirely for survival on communally owned pasture lands?

In the 1980s the Tanzanian Government in collaboration with the Canadian Government started a gigantic wheat complex in Hanang at the detriment of the Barabaig pastoralists. This too is well recorded by Charles Lane in the book published in 1996 under the title Pastures Lost: Barabaig Economy, Resource Tenure, and the Alienation of Their Land in Tanzania. As I write this the Barabaigs are still struggling to get back their land.

How big is the land which was formerly pastureland that has been converted into national parks, game reserves, forest reserves, wildlife management areas, buffer zones, nesting sites, corridors, hunting blocs as well as wheat, barley and other plantations?

Even if Pinda is a rocket scientist, it sounds that he is not, common sense demands that he still should have at least a faint idea as to how the Hadzabe hunter-gatherers of Lake Eyasi use sticks to dig-up tubers and poisoned arrows to bring down an elephant to survive. He should have known that the Saami people of Norway, Finland and Sweden still live almost entirely on the reindeers and in fact practice transhumance.

Even Russia, the first country to send man into space, has its own nomads and hunter-gatherers in this very century. They live from the West of Russia to Siberia.

It is immaterial for the Prime Minister to emotionally speak for the hapless albinos and ending up trampling too heavily the constitution which he as recently as February 8, 2008 vowed to protect. It is alleged that Pinda shade tears for saying killers of albinos must be killed instantly to revenge before taken to court and proved guilty beyond doubt.

While the on going killings of albinos is regrettable and must be stopped it is perhaps not unlike the state-made paupers who are being hounded from Loliondo to Ihefu.

I challenge Pinda to order the Maasai, the Sukuma, the Kurya and all the others to return to Serengeti. The Barbaig must return to Basuto. Let the Pare, the Sambaa, the Maasai and all the others who were evicted from Mkomazi return to their ancestral lands.

The world will soon see what Pinda is made of.

 

[Lole Gwakisa]

In Defense of John Cheyo and Pastoralism
By Navaya ole Ndaskoi, February 12, 2008
Source: UDADISI: Rethinking in Action: In Defense of John Cheyo and Pastoralism

I listened with disgust the Tanzanian Prime Minister, Peter Pinda, answer the questions asked by John Cheyo, MP for Bariadi East in parliament on Thursday February 5, 2009.

I arrived home and found the state owned TBC1 beaming live from Dodoma. Suddenly John Cheyo, a very wise and extremely serious opposition MP, stood-up straight like an arrow. He asked the premier something to the effect that when will the Government allocate pastureland for pastoralists who are being hounded from around the country?

I doff my cap to Cheyo for asking such a legitimate but rarely asked question. Keep up the good job our John. Do not give up hope. One day Tanzania will be a fair nation.

Delicately, but hardly surprisingly, Pinda took up the microphone and said very loudly something, translated from Kiswahili to English by the author, to the effect that the Government will no longer tolerate nomads who are destroying the environment.

The Prime Minister added that the Government will deal with the pastoralists according to the laws with immediate effect. He stressed even, 'enough is enough.'

I will try, to the best of my ability, to engage the Prime Minister hoping that the Government will come out of the woods and treat pastoralists fairly.

When I went to primary school we were lectured about the environment. our teacher, out of guilty, listed the causes of soil erosion. She hardly listed two causes of erosion before hurling accusations to pastoralists and their livestock.

To be sure, too much energy has been devoted to painting out how excessive grazing by livestock, but not wild animals, has caused the country to deteriorate. Henry Fosbrooke was Chief Conservator for Ngorongoro Conservation Area for a very long time.

In 1972, he wrote the earth shattering Ngorongoro-The Eighth Wonder. He argued that one 'hears a great deal of talk about soil erosion, much of it nonsense, especially amongst those who wish to appear knowledgeable about conservation.'

Pastoralists move from one place to another. Moringe ole Parkipuny is a former MP for Ngorongoro. He says, 'They talk about the migration of wildebeest, zebra, gazelles and others. That is wildlife transhumant paten of use of natural resources on a seasonal basis. The Maasai, like other pastoralists from around the world, are transhumant.'

'During the rainy season livestock are moved by young people to the plains where then there is plenty of lush green grasses and water. They leave the highlands fallow so that the grass can grow. At the end of the rainy season the water ponds dry out and the grass being so fragile and short would be depleted. At the end of the rainy season wildlife retreats West [of Serengeti National Park] in the woodlands where there is water in the rivers and the Maasai retreat to the Ngorongoro highlands.' Where are you Pinda?

'You said let us find a place for pastoralists to go to, where did they come from?' Pinda asked rhetorically. A lot of praises were heaped on him. You would think zombies were celebrating. By then Cheyo was literarily shaking his head in utter disbelieve.

Where did the pastoralists come from? The Sukuma, the Maasai and the Barabaigs are the main societies currently portrayed by the Pindas of this world as one of the main causes of the conflict between pastoralists and farmers in Tanzania.

It is in records that in 1959 the British colonial Government drove the Maasai out of Serengeti National Park. Prof. Issa Shivji and Dr. Wilbert Kapinga documented this in fine details in their book titled Maasai Rights in Ngorongoro, Tanzania.

Parkipuny adds that Sukuma, Barbaigs, Sonjo, Ikoma, Kurya and others were also driven out of Serengeti. The colonialists favored the Maasai, for tourism reasons, and treated other tribes as dirty. So what one reads today is that Serengeti is Maasailand alone.

Sifuni Mchome has detailed how the Maasai were forced out of Mkomazi Game Reserve. The title of his book is self explanatory, Evictions and the Rights of People in Conservation Areas in Tanzania. The Maasai were among the victims according to him. Today Mkomazi has been elevated to the status of, yet, another national park. Ah!

Colonialists left behind only Serengeti National Park. Currently there are 15 national parks. How many people lost their lands when these parks, and other conservation areas, were created may never be known. Suffice to say pastoralists are among the losers.

It should be remembered too that the Government and well-connected capitalists, local and foreign, alienated massive lands under natural pastures in the name of 'maximum utilisation by all citizens.' This is so because politicians see such lands as being wasted.

No doubts, in a perverse and masochistic sort of way, this was immensely satisfying to all concerned. Mwalimu Nyerere was an eloquent spokesman for this point of view.

Nyerere, with due respect, wrote in Freedom and Development, 'When I use my energy and talent to clear a piece of ground for my use, it is clear that I am trying to transform this basic gift from God so that it can satisfy a human need. It is true, however, that this land is not mine, but the efforts made by me in clearing the land enabled me to lay claim of ownership over the cleared piece of ground. But it is not really the land itself that belongs to me but only the cleared ground which will remain mine as long as I continue to work it. By clearing that ground I have actually added to its value and have enabled it to be used to satisfy a human need. Whoever then takes this piece of ground must pay me for adding value to it through clearing it by my…labour' [original emphasis].

This type of thinking, which is used to claim that pastoralists are wasting the land, remains a shocking performance by a man of Nyerere's high intellectualism. What about pastoralists who depend entirely for survival on communally owned pasture lands?

Mkuu Companero,Mr Ole Ndaskoi opinion on the livestock issue and overgrazing on farmers lands is wrong , dead wrong when it comes to what you are tring to potray.
The Masaai must learn to live in the present world.That Masaai kids would take 5000 herd of cattle to garze in low land to leave th high land fallow for fure use is now outdated and prehistoric.
If all the Masaai would have EACH 1000 herd of cattle, then Tanzania will not be enough for them and their cattle.I hope you can see where we are heading to-prehistoric land skirmishes in this 21st century.
Above all ,Mr Ole Ndaskoi and his bethren MUST CHANGE for better livestock husbandry.
We understand that there are people who simply love cattle as a form of wealth at the expense of the rest of the wananchi.
His uncalled for attacks on Hon Pinda is disgusting to say the least.

 

[Companero]

It should be noted that this systematic land alienation, which highly inhibited the Maasai from practicing their cultural mode of production that was based on " seasonal movement of people and cattle called ‘transhumance' which assumes freedom of movement" (Shivji & Kapinga 1998: 39), was – paradoxically - accompanied by the creation of the myth of the ‘Maasailand' and the ‘Maasai tribe.' According to Spencer (2003), the Maasai – who identify themselves with the common land that they know so well and share for grazing - have a keen sense of the shifting opportunities and hazard in the space around them but this was oblivious to the settler developmentalists. They viewed Maasai's free movement as constraints on development even though some of them - as some of Hodgson (2001) quotes from the colonial archives show - knew that the Maasai's way of life was based on a "rational system adapted to the ecology and the delicate environment in which the Maasai operates" (Shivji & Kapinga 1998: 39). This myth of ‘irrational constraint on development' was manipulated to create controllable place called Maasailand and its controllable subjects as the following description highlights:

Isolating Maasai spatially, politically, and ethnically disrupted the networks of interaction and exchange upon which the livelihoods and identities were premised… One of the first British initiatives was to create a Masai reserve and cajole and coerce Maa-speaking livestock herders to move into the Reserve…Brown's [a colonial administrator who was the chief proponent of the Reserve] zeal to create a Reserve had several sources. One rationale was posed in moral terms, as response to what many British perceived as the sad dissolution of the Maasai as a "tribe"…Most administrators attributed their scattering to their continued suffering after the ravages of the epidemic and civil wars of the late nineteenth century and the administrative negligence of the Germans, rather than a conscious effort by Maasai to diversify economically, re-establish involvement with neighbouring peoples, and reassert their own modes of spatial interaction…Upset that such fragmentation and dispersal had occurred among "the Maasai" of travellers' tales and colonial lore, they vowed to restore "the Maasai" to their reputed former glory and vitality as a "tribe" by reuniting the scattered fragments and concentrating them in a single, bounded area. But the rhetoric of reconstituting the Maasai to their former tribal "vitality" masked more instrumental concerns for consolidating them into a bounded area (Hodgson 2001: 51-52)

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Hodgson, D. L. 2001. Once intrepid warrior: Gender, ethnicity, and cultural politics of Maasai development. Indiana University Press, Indianapolis.

Shivji, I. G. & Kapinga, W. B. 1998. Maasai rights in Ngorongoro, Tanzania. Hakiardhi Dar-es-Salaam

Spencer, P. 2003. Time, space, and the unknown: Maasai configurations of power and providence. Routledge, London.