3.2 Policy

Policies are governments' main tools for implementing development plans, strategies and above all, legislation. They usually set out broad instructions and procedures for implementing them. Most of them specify and stipulate procedures and set criteria intended to provide guidance to those charged with implementing and executing government directives and plans. The strategies are often set out in guidelines and thereafter transformed into law.

In view of the important role of policies in setting a foundation for enacting law, it is considered necessary to explore Tanzania's hunting policy before delving onto the law that governs this industry. As noted earlier, Tanzania's hunting industry dates back to 1946 when the Game Controlled Areas were established and divided into hunting blocks through legislative enactment. The colonial government did not have any comprehensive wildlife policy. Its guiding "policy" on hunting was generally ad hoc and uncoordinated to allow professional hunters and settlers to hunt trophy animals. By and large, it reflected the international market's demand for game trophy.

The independence government's adoption of the colonial legacy meant the adoption of the lacuna in respect to a hunting policy. Its main policy guide, though not written, was to encourage hunting as a way of attracting foreign exchange earnings. It extended Game Reserves, National Parks and Game Controlled Areas and issued guidelines to control the industry. The policy of Ujamaa and Self Reliance that was grounded on public (government) ownership of the major means of production adopted by the government in the late 1960's, as intimated earlier, was certainly not conducive for private sector involvement in the hunting industry. From the investor's perspective, there was no guarantee that the government would not revert back to the nationalization policy. These fears were founded upon, among other things, the lack of a policy document charting out the government's commitment. This weighed heavily on the hunting industry and subsequently on the government's efforts to revamp the ailing economy.

In a move to show it's commitment to encourage private investment in the hunting industry, the government decided to break new ground in wildlife conservation and management by promulgating a comprehensive wildlife policy that covers the industry.²⁴ The policy document recognizes tourist and resident hunting as forming the basis of Tanzania's wildlife utilization industry. It categorically provides that it is the government's intention to retain ownership of and overall responsibility for management of the hunting industry to ensure that national priorities are addressed and abuses are controlled.

The policy encourages private investment in various forms of consumptive and non-consumptive uses of wildlife resources. It calls for a sound international and domestic tourism industry that depends largely on, among other things, hunting of wildlife. One of the strategies the policy sets forth for achieving this objective is for the government to ensure that companies involved in the hunting industry are registered and that they conduct all their business in accordance with the law. The policy also seeks to recognize the role and position of local community members and the use of indigenous knowledge systems of hunting. It provides that:

"While there is a thriving resident hunting industry in open areas, it is now recognized that this serves the richer urban dwelling Tanzanians and non-citizen residents, and that the industry as presently structured poses many problems of management. On the one hand villagers are neither able to afford the resident licensing fees nor the use of traditional weapons under the current legislation. On the other hand, richer urban dwelling Tanzanians apply to shoot a number of animals at well below market prices and at considerable opportunity cost to those of rural communities on whose land they hunt."²⁵

The policy also sets out a number of strategies to foster improved hunting by tourists. It seeks to facilitate open and fair allocation of hunting blocks through a system that is transparent and acceptable to all stakeholders, set sustainable hunting quotas, conduct examinations for professional hunters and monitor their competence in hunting. The policy also calls for effective enforcement of hunting regulations in order to ensure a high standard of hunting with a view to creating an enabling environment for promoting both local and foreign hunters.

As is already evident, most of the policy aspirations introduce a new paradigm in the hunting industry. Realizing this, the policy calls for the revising of the wildlife legislation to take on board a number of new concepts and developments it introduces. The process of revising the law will certainly have to take into account the policy's implication on the hunting industry as we have already noted earlier that law is the government's main tool for enforcing policy. An examination of the legislative provisions governing the hunting industry would suffice at this juncture.

24. See the Wildlife Policy of 1998
25. Ibid, section 3.3.8