Prof dismisses envisaged tourism land bank

The professor, Joseph Mbaiwa told Mmegi that prime tourism areas taken from land boards to the Ministry of Lands and Housing (MLH) has created an impression that the bank was set up to have prime tourism concessions in the OD allocated to the ‘ privileged companies and individuals.

Mbaiwa has authored an academic paper titled: “Tourism in a Shadow State Environment: the case of the Okavango Delta” in which he argues that the land bank has characteristics of a shadow state scenario. “In a shadow state environment rulers are in strong alliance with their business colleagues and this has impact on how laws are made and how existing ones are implemented,” the paper reads.