Last week, Tanzania was cast in the spotlight after it was announced that Helium deposits were found in large quantities in certain parts of the nation. Norwegian exploration firm, Helium One, along with a team from Oxford and Durham Universities made the discovery in Tanzania’s Great Rift Valley. Reserves in this area are estimated to be as much as 54 Billion cubic feet (BCF). “Total known reserves (of helium) in the USA are around 153 BCF, this is a game changer for the future security of society’s helium needs and similar finds in the future may not be far away,” Chris Ballentine, a professor at Oxford University said. This is good news for the Tanzanian government and the Helium-consuming “world,” but for the people living in the Rift Valley, it’s the beginning of another cold war.
The Rift Valley has been the subject of land grab attempts by capitalists from the indigenous people. It is also home to the Maasai tribe, who have lived, predominantly, in Tanzania and Kenya for many years. They are an East African tribe famous for their distinctive clothing, their semi-nomadic way of life and their lion-hunting prowess. The Tanzanian government came under severe backlash a few years ago when it planned to evict the Maasai from the Rift Valley to allow Dubai princes use the area as their hunting ground. Former President Jakaya Kikwete was forced to disavow the land sale on Twitter after an online petition received about a million signatures. A similar scenario is playing out again, it seems.
President John Magufuli, Tanzania’s president who is nicknamed “the Bulldozer” for his hands-on, no holds barred approach to development, is definitely going to be a problem. Since his inauguration into office last year, Magufuli has instituted several radical policies in a bid to cut back on government expenditure, tamp down corruption in his government and instil discipline into every Tanzanian. He is the subject of a famous social media trend in East Africa known as #whatwouldMagufulido. The Helium deposits in the Rift Valley is reportedly worth $4.5 billion, a clear incentive for the pro-development president to do everything he can to make sure the money gets into the coffers of Tanzania’s government so as to drive his policies and projects. And it seems the process has started with his Minister for Energy and Minerals Professor Sospeter Muhongo announcing, two days ago, that the Norwegian company had been given the go-ahead to start drilling.
From all signs, Magufuli has been living up to his name. However, will he still be a bulldozer when he tries to explain to the Maasai tribe that they had to leave their homes to enable Helium be mined on a large scale in the valley? If things go south, the Helium miners would probably be the ones to lose out. What would Magufuli do?
