An open letter to President Jakaya Kikwete on the proposed Mto wa Mbu-Loliondo-Mugumu road project.
With respect and humility, I request you to grant me audience through this newspaper, as I am aware that you have a very busy schedule. Coming just after the celebration of Nyerere Day,
in honour of the legacy of founding President Julius Nyerere, my theme is that our nation has been encroached on and infested with a new kind of slavery, with the sale of self, values or public office for personal gain.
Leaving the Environmental Impact Assessment Report that you reordered aside; many pleas against the project dwell on tourism infrastructure, which contributes a significant share in job creation and national revenue, environmental damage is a subject very close to your heart, since you have been promoting Tanzania overseas during your travels. You are also well regarded locally and internationally as an environmentalist.
I would put my emphasis on how the commercial road construction will impact on the rural communities it is supposed to serve both on the western side of Serengeti National Park (Senapa) and its eastern counterpart.
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Humans believe they are superior to all other living things. It, therefore, makes sense that all other living things in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA) and Senapa are subject to the demands of human activity and settlement. Though, the activists against the project have not satisfied you, as to their grounds of their protest, I believe the proposed alternative might provide a 'win-win' situation.
Senior government and CCM officials have supported the project. Other "patriotic Tanzanians"JComments ON have argued that as an independent state, we are not subject to the whims and directives of foreign (and former colonial) powers on how we plan for own economic progress.
The Frankfurt Zoological Society (FZS) has carried out research on the Senapa for more than 50 years. The human population to the north east of Senapa was last year estimated at less than 1 million. The area comprises game reserves, clusters of villages and towns, including Loliondo, and its environs to as far as the southern parts of Lake Natron.
These communities mainly depend on subsistence agriculture and pastoralism. From their harvest of crops, dairy products and meat, what is not consumed finds its way to Arusha or Kenya. Karatu, Mto wa Mbu and their environs are the fruit and vegetable baskets for Arusha and beyond. Their produce does not rot in farms or stores for lack of a market.
Communities east of the Serengeti do not need a new highway. The same applies to the western side of Senapa. There is really no reason to build a highway between Mugumu - Loliondo - Mto wa Mbu. But if the government goes ahead with the project, what next?
- There will be a need to establish permanent maintenance camps, service stations, rest points and other human activity facilities;
- Satellite villages will emerge within the conservation, reserve and park boundaries;
- The speed limits for parks will not apply on the highway;
- A standard two-way lane highway is at least 10 metres, with a 'service area of about five meters each side. We shall end up with a 'belt' 20 metres wide;
As the Kiswahili adage goes, 'Aendapo mamba, kenge hufuata' (Where the crocodile goes, the monitor lizard will follow'). The 1.5 million or so wildebeest migration is also joined by other species, including zebra and impala, and the hunting animals like lions, hyena, and cheetah - this cycle will be severely disturbed.
There are land disputes in the areas east of Senapa, within the NCA and their environs. Cases of violence and human rights abuses have occurred. The project will possibly aggravate such misunderstandings between the locals and the government. The highway will also open the floodgates of land grabbers in the guise of 'investors' - both local and foreign.
Our country has been infested by a new form of slavery, where senior public officials 'sell' their value or positions to bidders for personal gain. I have termed them 'VOLUNTARY SLAVES' for want of a better term. To honour the Father of the Nation, Mwalimu Nyerere, we must maintain our national pride, refuse to sell our values and seek the maximum good for the majority citizens, who are the rural communities.
The 'win-win' solution is the southern route that can serve five times the number of local communities the Serengeti highway is envisaged to cater for. All this information is available on the website 'www.savetheserengeti.org' and its links. Please reconsider the decision in your known wisdom, discernment and farsightedness. It's my ardent wish that the Serengeti symphony of nature will not become a Serengeti tragedy of human folly! I wish you continued good health, strength and wisdom.
Bipin Vishani, Msasani, Dar es Salaam.
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I am a guide in the Tourism industry and would not take my guests to this country if they plan to go ahead with this tar road.
If government forget that they compete internationally with the rest of the world - let them be replaced when the money stop flowing into the country because of short sighted officials.
W.Beyers
I do understand your pain regarding your passion for animals and the impression to the outside world. You have to know, however, the highway project in the Serengeti National Park is people-centered, and not animal-centered. The 50km unpaved portion of the road is for the animals' and tourists' interest. The rest of the road is for the people's interest: infrastructure and human development. This is the justification for the construction of the highway. Hence, I urge the president to go ahead with the project as planned.
It is only now that I have seen the Opinion by Bipin Vishani on the matter of Highway Construction across the valued heritage of mankind, the Serenget. Bipin could not have been more cogent on the issue and I am wondering as to what, if any, has been the response from State House and the Government. A lot has been written and commented upon by many an expert world-wide, but it is amazing that even the supposedly enlightened Government of President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, continues to either beat about the bush on the problem or simply lay claim to what amounts to: "the Serengeti is Tanzanian and, therefore, it is up to Tanzanians to decide whatsoever they wish to do." The arguments raised by many and in particular by citizen Bipin Vishani represent the view of the majority in Tanzania and should be enough for the Government to rethink its decision. All this, over and above the fact that a whole tourist hotel (for big-time tourists) complete with a direct landing strip (future international airport) inside the Serengeti, stealthily built by those ready to cheat their way through for personal gain. Political expedience, especially during the recent election campaign, saw CCM leadership (the President himself and presidential aspiring Monduli MP Edward Lowassa) engage in populist rhetoric over a highway ostensibly planned for the benefit of the population through which the Highway would traverse. Now that Tanzanian minds have sobered up after bruising elections, let Tanzania give reason and scientific evidence a chance. The World Bank has come up with a viable alternative plan to meet all Government needs, why not take up the olive branch and go for a "win-win" solution? Left at that, next time we will be told of Government " plans to level Mt. Kilimanjaro for the benefit of land the squeezed Chagga people" and others at the expense of environmental degradation. Mwalimu Nyerere's legacy to Tanzania was fervid commitment to conservation, which was passed on President Mwinyi and President Mkapa without any attempt to diminish the pledge made at our country's independence. The scorch grass campaign being advocated by people around the President over Serengeti, is only intended to spell doom to the reputation of President Kikwete's loved Government. Never let the Serengeti Die, making Mwalimu turn in his grave. Craete a new informed panel to examine the pros and cons of the project and the results should guide the approach to the Serengeti project.