1.4. The Status of the Hunting Industry in the Post-Colonial Era

The independence government generally retained most colonial wildlife laws and institutional set-ups. The bulk of these included those relating to hunting. The wholesale adoption of the corpus of the laws and institutions regulating the hunting industry had two main implications for the independence government. On the one part, this involved the adoption of a mechanism that had been put in place to ensure the continued exploitation of the hunting industry for the benefit and interests of the international trophy market, with the government being the conduit pipe.

Secondly, inheriting the colonial laws and policies meant the inheritance of the hostility between the government and local community members. The latter were often denied access to resources in areas designated as National parks or Game reserves. During the colonial era, in most cases where national parks and game reserves were declared, local community members were forced to re-locate, sometimes by compulsion, leaving their ancestral lands and abandoning their age-old hunting practices.

In adopting the colonial hunting laws and policies, the independence government retained a policy that was primarily based on alienating and marginalizing local community members from the hunting industry. This set a base for the continued resentment of efforts to develop the hunting industry by community members living in areas where hunting activities are conducted and regulated by government organs. After independence most local people felt that their interests were still not considered paramount by government agencies charged with the implementation of hunting laws and policies. They did not see any benefits both in terms of the objectives of the industry and its relevance as a conduit for generating revenue in order to improve their (local peoples') living standards.

During the hay days of colonialism, the administration of the hunting industry was centralized. The views, interests and wishes of the central government on matters relating to the control of the hunting industry were transmitted directly to the lower levels of personnel who were appointees of the central government itself. After independence, the Fauna Conservation Ordinance was repealed and replaced by the Wildlife Conservation Act (1974) but this institutional set up was retained with slight modifications. The Director of Wildlife's overall power in the issuing of hunting licenses and permits, for example, was reinstated. Under the colonial laws, it was administrative officers who were charged with the issuance of hunting licenses.

The government's control of the hunting industry after independence was concretized with the promulgation of the Ujamaa policy of socialism and self-reliance in 1967. This policy was full of ideals on human dignity and public control of major economic activities. The policy's objective was to build a society of citizens where all were to have equal rights and opportunities, without any individual living in luxury at the expense of another. In an effort to implement this policy, the government appropriated all the major means of production and held them in trust of the people. Most privately owned properties, including business, commercial and residential premises were nationalized. The demise of private ownership of the means of production also affected the operations of the hunting industry.

The main objectives of the Ujamaa policy were, however, not effectively realized in terms of economic prosperity. Contrary to expectations of the proponents of the policy, the country's economy gradually moved from bad to worse. The main cause of the government's failure to achieve the objectives of the Ujamaa policy may be attributed to poor implementation of development projects and mismanagement and misappropriation of public funds. External factors such as the breakdown of the East African Community in 1977 followed by the 1978/79 war with Uganda and the unfavorable loan conditions granted to poor African countries by the West, aggravated the problems facing Tanzania's staggering economy.

The economic slap down in the early 70's and late 80's had major implications on the tourism industry as it failed to break even. The overall impact trickled down to the hunting industry. The industry's main activities were concentrated in neighboring Kenya. Although some hunting Safaris still operated in Tanzania, they almost always took off from Nairobi. Poaching along the Kenyan-Tanzanian borders increased tremendously leading to a drastic decline in wild animal species. The elephant population was the most affected of them all. Realizing the impeding danger, the Tanzania government imposed a ban on hunting for the period between 1973 and 1978.¹¹

Despite the ban in Tanzania, trade in wild animal species and products at the international market was still a lucrative business. Illicit hunting to supply the international market continued through dubious channels. Corruption became the order of the day in almost all sectors of the industry. The government decided to lift the ban with the hope that this action would salvage the crisis-ridden industry. When the hunting ban was lifted, the Tanzania Wildlife Corporation (TAWICO) was charged with the overall management of the hunting industry.¹²

The management of TAWICO is vested in a Board of Directors which is composed of a Chairperson appointed by the President, and other members appointed by the Minister responsible for wildlife. The qualifications or criteria for appointment to membership to the board are, however, not stipulated. With the lifting of the hunting ban, the power of the Director of Wildlife to allocate hunting blocks was suspended. The power to allocate these and determine hunting quotas was vested onto the Game Division but supervised by TAWICO. TAWICO also became the designated organization for purposes of controlling hunting licenses, monitor issuance of, among other licenses, those dealing with hunting, live capture of animals and hunting expeditions. The corporation was also vested with the power to hire firearms and ammunition and set requirements to govern the type of weapons to be used in hunts.¹³

In further efforts to curb poaching activities, the government also amended the Wildlife Conservation Act, introducing two new structures. First, the Wildlife Protection Unit (WPU) (also referred to as the Anti-Poaching Unit) was established.¹⁴ The WPU is placed under the administration of the Director of wildlife. It is charged with the task of protecting wildlife against unlawful hunters and to enforce the provisions of the Act relating to hunting, capturing and securing of game trophies. The amendment also creates the Tanzania Wildlife Protection Fund (TWPF). The TWPF is essentially a retention fund and it receives its revenue from among others sources, fees derived from hunting and handling of trophies.

The beginning of the 1980's witnessed a shift in the government's approach to economic reform. Although in principle Ujamaa still prevailed, the government started to encourage businesspersons to invest in various spheres of the economy including those that were nationalized. Indeed, by 1985 the government had devised policies and charted out economic development plans and strategies designed to encourage greater private participation. Trade was liberalized in a move to enable the government collect more revenue from sales tax and customs duty. In an effort to revamp the tourism sector and enable it inject more capital into the government coffers the government streamlined the state-owned Tanzania Tourist Corporation with a view to increasing its efficiency.

Together with these reform strategies, the government also set up an infrastructure that would foster improved relations with the private sector in order to boost its revenue collection derived from the hunting industry. The private sector responded positively to the government's initiative by forming and registering a hunter's body - the Tanzania Hunters Association (TAHOA).

With the change in the government's approach to opening up to the private sector in the hunting industry, TAWICO's role in regulating hunting increasingly became insignificant. It was therefore not a surprise when the government stripped off TAWICO's representative role in matters related to wildlife in 1988. Today TAWICO remains an ordinary private company seriously riled with financial problems. With the demise of TAWICO, the Director of Wildlife's power to regulate the hunting industry and specifically to control the allocation of hunting blocks, permits and licenses was restored.

The government's efforts to reform the hunting industry with a view to bolstering the industry have been made at both the local and international levels. One of the strategies that the government has made at the international level has been to make every effort to conform to hunting standards, norms and practices that are recognized by international legal instruments that it has either ratified or acceded. The government's initiative to implement and respond to international legal norms and standards relating to the hunting industry will be the subject of the next chapter.

11. See General Notice No. 210 of 1973
12. See Government Notice No. 231 of 1974 - TAWICO (Establishment Order).
13. See section 17 (b) of Government Notice No. 272 of 1974, published in November, 1974.
14. Section 3 of the amending Act introduces a new section 4A (Act No. 21 of 1978)