Tanzania has known some form of regulation of land management
and use for over a century but has yet to come up with effective
enough modalities of making sure this all-important natural
resource creates as much revenue as it can. The Lands ministry
has changed names several times: ‘Lands and Surveys’ before
independence ‘Lands, Forestry and Wildlife’ in 1963, ‘Lands,
Settlement and Water’ in 1968 and ‘Lands, Housing and Urban
Development’ in 1984 but with little indication of this having
made much difference. It thereafter changed again to ‘Lands,
Natural Resources and Tourism’ in 1986, ‘Lands, Water, Housing
and Urban Development’ in 1987, ‘Lands, Natural Resources and
Tourism, in 1990, ‘Lands, Housing and Urban Development’ in
1995, ‘Lands and Human Settlement Development’ in 2005, and the
current ‘Lands, Housing and Human Settlements Development’, but
again to little avail, at least according to critics. Over one-
third of Tanzania’s land mass is officially designated as
national parks, game reserves or wi