MKEKA: Land Grabbing & Extinction threat of EA plants in TZ on Art Canvas

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Work by Said Michael in the exhibition 'Domo Cartoon'

“Our national debt is increasing every day… yet our leaders with sweet voices say; our country is capable of paying it back, in effect that our natural resources can sustain the debt in case we fail to pay.”- Alphonce Albert Stima at the 7^th ‘Kigoda cha Mwl Nyerere’ Intellectual Festival- in April’15; back then he was a third year student taking a BA in Political Science & Public Administration

Artwork by Nadir Tharani
in his latest exhibition 'Sentinel'

It’s not news that our national debt has been burgeoning, reaching a pitch high of 15365 USD million in Oct last year. Perhaps thankful to this new government; it’s now a few dollars lower standing at 15261 USD million last reported by the Central Bank of Tanzania.

At an exhibition at ‘Vipaji Gallery’ in Dar es Salaam, under the title ‘Domo-Cartoon’ with curator Gadi Ramathan; who in this exhibition picked works by over 5 illustrators, from all over the country. It was an illustration by Said Michael here, that found me relating to Alphonce’s sentiment. It depicts a foreign Mining Agent, hacking away at the bottom strata of a cliff. With bags of precious stones to his side, all awhile on top of the now perilous cliff, are natives in their traditional humble dwellings.

Mama Kooya Timan from Loliondo giving her testimony at the last annual Mwl Nyerere Intellectural Festival in UDSM

“When we were born we found the graves of our grandfathers, grandmothers, our fathers buried here…There are two companies which have caused serious grievances to our community in Loliondo. Namely the OBC-(Ortello Business Company-the United Arab Emirates Firm) & Thomson Safaris (a US-based tourism safari company); we have our villages in the middle of the land that OBC is given. They aggressively chase us away from the grazing land.

Nadir Tharani (white shirt doesn't like to be photographed) at the launch of his latest exhibition 'Sentinel' at Black Tomato

We ask ourselves if they want wild animals, where is the problem. We don’t kill our wildlife, first off in our Maasai tradition, we see aimless killing of wildlife as a sin, in fact our norms dictate. When these animals are in the procreating season, we don’t graze our animals in the same area; because we believe then, the grass isn’t good for our animals. We then leave that area for a time, till their young are grown.

Work by illustrator Malick Boaz at the 'Domo Cartoon' exhibition, to now be featured in a book sponsored by the French Embassy

Now it goes these two companies want our ancestral land entirely for themselves, notwithstanding. Thomson Safaris which is on the other side, also surrounded by villages. When our people from there try to let their animals out to graze, they shoot to kill. We’ve lost lives to this company, we are thus at a loss. Wondering where should we go? As we’re Tanzanians, we were born in Tanzania; don’t we deserve to enjoy the fruits of our land?”- Mama Kooya Timan from Loliondo.

Hon Judge Joseph Warioba & former first Lady Mama Maria Nyerere gracing the last Mwl Nyerere Intellectual Festival- By Sherehe Blog

Mama Kooya, was brought as a witness at the 7^th Kigoda cha Mwl Nyerere Intellectual festival, to testify of live cases of land grabbing in our country. She further went on to tell of a brave story, of how she together with 400+ women of the Loliondo region. In seeing themselves constantly harassed by these companies, threatened the local authorities to burn away their CCM membership cards. It was here that they managed to get the audience of the then Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda.

Work by Eman Fisima at the 'Domo Cartoon' exhbition held at Vipaji Gallery Foundation in DSM

It was the 17^th of September a little before the elections last year when I visited the ‘Domo Cartoon’ exhibition at Vipaji Gallery. Consequently on the same night, I also attended another launch of an exhibition titled ‘Sentinel’ by fine artist Nadir Tharani, this at the Black Tomato restaurant in city centre, DSM. It’s a winning factor that Mr. Tharani is also an architect (his firm has won several prizes by the Architects & Quantity Surveyors Registration Board in Tanzania).

As in this exhibition with works of acrylic on canvas, which go on to showcase in nostalgic silhouettes, the native tropical palm (‘Mnazi’- Cocos nucifera); found amorously on the East African coastal strip. He expertly sheds light on a pressing issue, that of the fast disappearing of our native East African coastal plants.

Works by Nadir Tharani in his latest exhbition 'Sentinel' displayed at the Black Tomato restaurant in city centre DSM

“The East African Coastal Forests Eco-region…the biodiversity values of the forests are recognized as being of global importance. Although the last decade has seen an increase in conservation efforts in this region, threats, problems and pressures still persist and are even increasing, including overexploitation of natural resources, lack of coordinated activities, lack of implementing and integrating policies, and a decline of fundamental resources for the responsible government sectors.”-Protecting East Africa’s Coastal forests-WWF global website

Work by Eman Fisima at the 'Domo Cartoon' exhbition held at Vipaji Gallery Foundation in DSM

Talking to Nadir it was to learn that he didn’t consciously orchestrate the works in this exhibition, to highlight the disappearance of native plants in the east African coastal strip. “..I wanted to capture their beauty like the piece ‘gust’, you know suddenly they go like that, then they move, always making little noises…I have palm trees near my house, they’re always moving slight, sharp breaths of air.”

Work by Jacob Maganga at the exhbition 'Domo Cartoon' to now be featured in a book sponsored by the french embassy in TZ

Indeed that sharp breath of fresh air in our humid coast, is better provided by native trees of the area. Like the-Acacia nilotica (Mkunga), Afzelia quanzensis (Mkongo), Albizia amara (Mujogolo), Baphia Kirkii (Mkuruti), Brachystigia spiciformis (Mtundu), Khaya anthotheca (Mkanganzi), Lannea schweinfurthi (Mpwipwi), Milicia excels (Mvule), Salvadora persica (Mswaki), Sclerocarya caffra (Morula), Sterculia Africana (Mluze), Tamarindus Indicus (Mkwaju), Adansonia digitata (Mbuyu)-and or the Ficus sycamorus (Mkuyu-Mkungu tree). Which now in the local landscape of the city of Dar es Salaam, can barely be spotted.

Work by Jacob Maganga at the exhibition 'Domo Cartoon' to now be featured in a book sponsored by the french embassy in TZ

“The ecosystem of coastal East Africa is highly unusual in that about 1,750 plants are found in these forests many of which are endemic…Satellite data shows that these forests are more than 90% destroyed and the pieces that still exist are fragmented and many are highly degraded. Many of the plants that live in them are therefore rare and highly vulnerable to extinction.” -Dr. Anne H Outwater (Environmental Columnist with the Daily News-‘Nature Notebook’). She is currently authoring a book with Ilana Locker and Roy Gereau of the Missouri Botanic Garden titled, ‘Plants of Coastal East Africa: A guide to protection & planning’. To be published in both Kiswahili & English with Mkuki na Nyota publishers in Tanzania.

Work by Meddy Jummane at the exhibition 'Domo Cartoon' to now be featured in a book sponsored by the French Embassy in TZ

So art can be aesthetically pleasing like in the case of ‘sentinel’ or funny as in the case of the ‘Domo Cartoon’; still it’s ever more poignant when it’s highlighting a cause. While I was at the Mwl Nyerere Intellectual Festival, there were more witnesses who shed light on real cases of land grabbing in the country. Like the case of the Rice Farm in Kapunga Village, Mbarali District in the Mbeya region where the government in 2006, sold this land to Export Trading Company Ltd, which previously was co owned by the government and the residents of the area.

Work by Meddy Jummane at the exhibition 'Domo Cartoon' to now be featured in a book sponsored by the French Embassy in TZ

“ "History tells us Mwl Julius K. Nyerere, came to the village of Kapunga in 1965…In the 70’s the government started to research on commercial rice farming in Kapunga. Ultimately on the 25^th of Oct in 1985, the food organization in Tanzania NAFCO, wrote a letter to the village of Kapunga, asking them for land of the size of 5,500 hectares. I have the copy of that letter here, if anyone wants to see it.”-Feint Mwashikumbulu.

An admirer of Nadir Tharani's works at exhbition 'Sentinel'

It fares the exhibition Domo Cartoon which well highlights plights of communities like Kapunga Village. On its inauguration saw the French ambassador to Tanzania Mme Malika Berak, very impressed. So it fares according to the curator of this exhibition Gadi- “By April this year Mme Berak, has promised to have the works of the participants of this exhibition published in a pictorial book, already we have worked on the manuscript sent it to them...”

Work by Nadir Tharani in his latest exhbition 'Sentinel' displayed at the Black Tomato restaurant in city centre DSM

‘Domo Cartoon’ highlights critical issues with our governance and our state of mind as citizens in this country. Likewise the eerie beauty of the ‘mnazi’ in the exhibition ‘Sentinel’, gives a searing warning on the ridiculous of depleting the East African natural flora; which stretches from Mozambique to Southern Somalia.