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Paper short abstract:

This paper analyses the Tanzanian national land policy reform process through the lens of public participation. The paper highlights various limitations of the consultative review process, and examines divisions within Tanzanian civil society in their struggles for land and agrarian justice.

Paper long abstract:

This paper analyses the Tanzanian national land policy reform process through the lens of public participation. First, it highlights the rushed nature of the 'consultative workshops,' which took place in eight zones across the country in April and May 2016. It also discusses the lack of clarity in the drafting process, manifested for instance by the circulation of a so-called 'fake draft,' which threw initial civil society coordination efforts into disarray. At the same time, it questions the exclusive nature of the consultative process, particularly how larger and more established non-governmental organizations received preferential access, and more importantly, how the vast majority of the citizens were pre-empted from participating, given the absence of a Swahili draft. Second, the paper examines how the reform process revealed an important fault line dividing Tanzanian civil society. At the heart of civil society struggles for land and agrarian justice is an important yet unresolved question of whether and how one should engage with and react to large-scale land acquisitions. The divisions among various civil society actors not only stem from their individual political differences, but also from their idiosyncratic relationships to the state, donor agencies, and their particular agendas on land governance. In sum, a critical examination of the national land policy reform process complicates the agrarian question in contemporary Tanzania; the question is not simply whether and how capital takes hold of agriculture, but how and in what ways different actors vie for control over rural land and livelihoods, and with what consequences.