Tanzania is facing an enormous task in restoring law and order in a bid to reinstate investor confidence and maintain its sheen as an ideal investment destination.

Clashes between locals and investors as well as disregard of investors’ property rights have caused jitters among stakeholders. Locals have been attacking farms, mining areas and other assets owned by investors, saying their natural resources and land have been benefiting foreigners, locking Tanzanians in abject poverty.

“There’s a shared reservation among investors that law and order is slowly deteriorating. We have notified our President Jakaya Kikwete about the matter,” said Godfrey Simbeye, the executive director at the Tanzania Private Sector Foundation.

From Ngorongoro to west Kilimanjaro, investors have been engaging in endless disputes with locals over land or natural resource utilisation. 

More recently, Richland Resources resolved to sell its 50 per cent stake of the embattled TanzaniteOne mining company, citing a rise in illegal activities by locals within its mining area. Richland CEO Bernard Olivier said that such incidents not only threatened the safety of the company’s mineworkers, but also made its operations “extremely challenging,” informing its decision to quit.

On November 11, some Maasai pastoralists stormed Ndarakwai private ranch in Siha district in west Kilimanjaro and set it ablaze, occasioning the investor a $1 million loss.

“It was a horrible incident. There were tourists inside the lodge; and while we managed to evacuate them to safety, the country’s image was tainted,” said Peter Jones, the managing director of Tanganyika Films and Safaris.

Mr Jones had invested nearly $100 million within a period of 19 years in the Ndarakwai private ranch where he had built a lodge that has become popular among tourists enroute to climb Mount Kilimanjaro.

The arson attack led to an estimated loss of Tsh60 million ($35,294) in cancellations of bookings for the November-December season, and Tsh150 million ($88,235) for the January-March bookings.

Sirili Akko, the chief executive of Tanzania Association of Tour Operators condemned the attack, saying that it not only affected investment, but also profits.

“Failure to enforce the law not only affects investments, but also impacts on the profitability of current investments,” said Mr Akko.

“Most of these companies had applied for licenses under the Tanzania Investment Act number 26 of 1997 and, therefore, enjoy investment guarantees, including a predictable investment climate,” Mr Akko told The EastAfrican.

A total of 16 people have been arrested in connection with the incident. Siha District Commissioner Dr Charles Mlingwa however, said investigations were still underway.

The wildlife-rich private ranch serves as an animal corridor linking Arusha and Mount Kilimanjaro National Park in Tanzania with Amboseli National park in Kenya.