Tanzania’s government is under increasing scrutiny for excluding Maasai pastoralists ahead of November local elections, effectively disenfranchising some 40,000 voters in the country’s north. The removal of polling stations in the disputed area – requiring voters to cast their ballots some 377 kilometres away – alongside the stripping of social services and denial of building permits has sparked peaceful mass protests.
Human rights groups accuse the authorities of suppressing the Maasai voice to further land interests in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, legally recognized as Maasai ancestral land. Critics of the electoral move say the government is using environmental concerns like overgrazing as a pretext to strip Maasai of voting rights, amid plans to expand tourism in the UNESCO World Heritage site. Maasai leaders, however, believe the true motive is to displace their community. ‘We have been deprived of our right to vote,’ says Maasai activist Ezekiel Omelangi. ‘We will have no voice in the coming elections.’
