GESI - MTWARA: The important factors at play in gas debate

By Songa wa Songa The Citizen Reporter

Thursday, 07 February 2013 22:58

Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda The Mtwara rebellion may have been set off by people seemingly disgruntled about gas from the region going off to Dar es Salaam, but that increasingly appears to be more of a symptom than the real “disease” that ails the local community. Let’s take a look at some of the factors at play: Jobs: The crisis seems to revolve around the prospect of employment opportunities for people of Mtwara, especially youth. The main beef stems from the argument that despite the fact that Dar es Salaam has more than 30 factories, the government has “inconsiderately” chosen to “rob” Mtwara of its God-given gas industry and added it to Dar es Salaam’s wealth. “There is no justification for the government’s decision,” a barefoot young man in shorts said, “and no explanation around it that we can understand.” A middle aged man argued that the processing plant would obviously not employ everyone and stamp out unemployment in the region but maintained that just a single employed person in the entire clan would make a world of difference. “Even if I am not the one to benefit,” he said, “the very few who will be employed in my community will make me happy.” Boom in the local economy: Early last year, Mr Mohammed Ibrahim was about to reap about Sh100 million from the vast land his family owns in Mtwara. But when news surfaced that the fortune to be made in gas would be shifted to Dar es Salaam, the potential buyers disappeared into thin air, leaving him with dreams turned into nightmares. Mr Ibrahim, a fisherman who doubles as a businessman, said he learnt the magic of purchasing power in improving the economy from what had happened when Saint Augustine University of Tanzania set up shop in the region. The community had anticipated a boom in the local economy, thanks to the purchasing power of gas plant workers, and the seaside village would finally be transformed into a prosperous gas hub. “People’s hopes were so high,” he said, “but they are now frustrated and they believe that their only salvation lies in stopping the flow of gas to Dar es Salaam.” Fluctuating cashew nut prices: The low price of the cashew nut—the main cash crop in the region—is one of the hidden reasons for the anger of people of Mtwara. Besides the road that remains unfinished more than 50 years after independence and the “abandoned” port of Mtwara, poor cashew nut prices remains a major beef. The crop is reportedly sold at throw-away price of Sh600 per kilo and this many residents believe the government is not doing enough to improve their livelihoods. But, according to Mr Sifuni Fadhili, the acting chief accountant at the cashew nut board in Mtwara, the drop from Sh2,000—Sh2,200 in 2010 to Sh800—600 in 2012 was due to forces of supply and demand on the global market, which was not the government’s fault. What intellectuals in Mtwara say: According to Rev Dr Aidan Msafiri, head of department of Philosophy and Ethics at the Saint Augustine University, Mtwara Centre, residents staged violent demonstrations against the government plan due to what he called lack of ACTION. The senior lecturer’s abbreviation stands for a leadership technique which involves Analysis of the situation, Convening a meeting of all major players, Transformation to break away from the traditional way of doing things, Innovation of new acceptable approaches and Observation of the mood of the people on the ground. “The government did not apply ACTION model from the very beginning,” he said. “Had it done so, we wouldn’t have seen all that needless violence.” Another senior lecturer and director of Research, Consultancy and Publication at SAUT, Dr Slaus Mwisomba, said the fracas was mainly triggered by a breakdown in communication on the part of the government and, more specifically, disregard for national development guidelines such as vision 2025, the five-year development plan and the National Strategy for Growth and Reduction of Poverty, known in Kiwashili abbreviation Mkukuta. “It’s like our leaders do not read these guidelines,” he said. “If they read Mkukuta and worked on what it says, we would have avoided the demos and violence.” But for a Mtwara native and scholar in public administration, Mr Maurice Gama, the violent demos that led to the loss of property worth millions of shillings and death of eight people came as a result of total loss of trust in the government by the citizens. The people of Mtwara just did not believe that the government would take care of their interests in the project. “If you look at what happened, you realise that people want ownership of the resources,” he said. “If people are not given the right answers, they are likely to create their own, and that’s what happened.” Miscommunication: On January 29, at the height of Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda’s three-day visit in the region, during which he met representatives of political, religious, business, civil and civic groups in the region, the premier and Mtwara Regional Commissioner Col (Rtd) Joseph Simbakalia admitted that they failed to communicate the right message to the people at the right time. The PM tasked the RC to form a task force comprising representatives of all interest groups and come up with a working communication strategy that would focus on what Mtwara and Mtwarans stand to gain directly and indirectly from gas and other investments in the region. These include cement and petrochemical factories. Mistrust, suspicion, betrayal: While residents of Mtwara mistrust the government and suspect that the entire plan is designed to deliberately deny Mtwara its only path to wealth and prosperity, the government also mistrusts wananchi and suspects that some of them are being used to muddy the waters. It also accuses their representatives of betrayal. When this reporter asked RC Simbakalia how far he had gone in formulating the new task force, he said he would implement it soon but expressed pessimism about the approach, based on experience. He added: “We must remember that we called representatives of the same interest groups opposing the government plan and clearly explained to them how the local people and the economy were going to benefit. But it appears that when they went back to their communities they communicated a completely different message. I think we need to come up with a completely different communication strategy.” Reach and message: From Mtwara town to far-flung villages in Masasi, Newala, Tandahimba and elsewhere in the region, the “no” camp left no stone unturned, it seems. It was a door-to-door campaign. And almost all anti -pipeline enthusiasts from all corners of the region spoke the same language. On January 27, the day I arrived in Mtwara, I had dinner at an open-air roadside food vendor’s behind the main stand. The restaurateur, an old woman seemingly in her late 60s, lamented: “We have more than 50 years of independence but the road connecting Mtwara and Dar es Salaam is not yet complete. Instead of strengthening the struggling Mtwara port, a new one is to be built in Bagamoyo. Now God has given us gas and they want to pump it to Dar es Salaam.” The following day, when I interviewed other opponents of the project, including local leaders in Msimbati and Mtandi villages, it was like they were speaking from the same script. In my interaction with representatives of religious, political, civil, business and other groups in opposition of the project who met Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda for three days, the sentiments were more or less the same. Cross party partnership: The movement leaders ably cleared the fog of party affiliations, which would have dealt a blow to the campaign if all the ruling party members and supporters shunned the idea. But the slogan “gas first, party ideologies later” worked magic. Although opposition to the project and the initial demonstrations were organised by eight political parties—Chadema, NCCR-Mageuzi, SAU, TLP, APPT Maendeleo, ADC, UDP and DP—the climax of cross-party success came when Mtwara Urban MP Hasnain Murji (CCM) declared his total support for those opposing the project. http://www.thecitizen.co.tz/news/4-national-news/28650-the-important-factors-at-play-in-gas-debate