Oh Zanzibar...

Interesting Story from about a week ago:

The Minister of Land and Agriculture went on the radio just over a week ago to announce that the people of Muyuni (village in Zanzibar - close to Jambiani) have absolutely no objections to the Government of Zanzibar appropriating a significant amount of land in the village.

This is a country where up until a year or so ago any discussions that were even remotely political were carried out behind closed doors and there was very little freedom of press. The is also the place where the Zanzibari board members of the NGO I'm working for were individually to meet with the village development committee (supporters of the Party in power) asked to account for their actions and literally branded as "enemies". If you had something to say you said it quietly and you looked over your shoulder frequently. The Lonely Planet and Rough Guide books warn travelers against initiating any type of political discussions when visiting Zanzibar.

Things have changed somewhat in the last year as election time approaches (October 2010) and you see more overt signs of support for the opposition party all over the island. But still, there is only one newspaper produced on the island (that had a very health and diverse selection of newspapers prior to the revolution of 1964) and it is government controlled. All of the other newspapers are brought in from the mainland...of course they are all read first and if there is anything that the Government of Zanzibar doesn't like than that paper is simply "not available" that day.

But Zanzibar, being Zanzibar, is a place of contradictions. Censorship is strong, freedom of expression is fairly restricted, but because of the legacy of Socialism on the island this is a place where any citizen can go to the President's Office and demand an audience with the President - and he has to meet with them.

And that's what happened with the case of Muyuni. People from Muyuni went to the President's Office where he did in fact see them. They spoke to him "very strongly about the subject" and in the end the Government had to give the land back to the village.

The people of Muyuni returned to the village where they suggested to the Minister for Land and Agriculture that he don't visit the village for a while...in fact, he shouldn't even use their road anymore as he is no longer welcome in the area. And so now he has to drive the long way around when trying to get to town.

And that's that I guess.