Impacts Of Mtwara Gas Project Conflict On Socio-Economic Activities

ABSTRACT 

The study intended to investigate the impact of the gas project conflict on local community socio-economic activities in Mtwara Municipality as its main objective. The specific objectives which guided data collection were: to explore the impacts of the gas project conflict on the local community‘s socio-economic activities; to assess the reasons for the local community‘s participation in the gas conflict; and to explore the role of the government in gas project conflict. The study used different methods to collect data with 98 household through survey method using questionnaire, 9 for interviews and 2 focus group discussions with 15 members each. Both random and purposive sampling procedures were used to draw a sample of 137 respondents. Several reasons were found to be the cause of the conflict, including the over expectation from the community, lack of enough stakeholders‘ participation, political interference, poor implementation of the promises by the government, and low project‘s profits sharing with the community. Hence, the local community went on strike to make the Government hear their needs. That conflict led into different impacts on the local community, including food insecurity, economic activities, agriculture, government agencies, private agencies, and income generation. Consequently, to stabilize and mitigate the conflict, there was increased public involvement and fulfillment of some promises. Till now the local community in Mtwara Municipality is expressing dissatisfactions. Hence, it is recommended that, to avoid other conflicts, strong measures, like implementation of promises, capacity building, involvement of all stakeholders and transparency of the benefits should be at place.