ON MY MIND : Making National Land Policy inclusive and people-centred

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I hope this means that the Ministry of Lands welcomes further views from the public, especially given the limited opportunity to participate in earlier stakeholder sessions. With this in mind, I wish to share the comments of other researchers on agrarian and land issues in rural areas.

Compensation woes: The draft NLP rightly acknowledges that, at present, there is no administrative appeal mechanisms for those aggrieved with compensation, and that there are significant delays in compensation payments. In Bagamoyo, for example, many people are waiting for compensation and displacement to make way for a large-scale agro-industrial project, an economic processing zone, a port, a tarmac road, an airport. The policy actually gives investors a ten-year grace period before revoking Rights of Occupancy for non-development of acquired land. What does this mean for the original inhabitants? Moreover, the present valuation exercise in Bagamoyo has been male biased. Government valuers mainly registered men, as they were perceived to be the ‘heads of households’ and/or the de facto owners of land. In this way, government systems are systematically depriving women producers of their rights to land.

Making Tanzania’s National Land Policy inclusive and people-centred: In a recent blog, eight scholars and activists (Emmanuel Sulle et al 24/11/2016 PLAAS) praised the NLP,2016 for its strong statements on ensuring equal rights to land for women and for marginalised groups such as small-scale hunters and gatherers. However, they identifed areas which need improvement, and called for additional consultations at grassroots level, public feedback and commentary. Very few NGOs were invited to participate in the earlier consultative processes in 2015 and November 2016. Big International NGOs were over-represented, and short notice meant several organisations were unable to attend. This undermines the government’s intent to have an open inclusive process. And as the case of Bagamoyo has shown, gender equality rhetoric is not matched by practical implementation on the ground.

ON MY MIND : Making National Land Policy inclusive and people-centred

What you need to know:

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