This study on citizens‟ expectations towards the achievement of development policy goals with respect to oil and gas exploration and was conducted in Mjini District of Unguja, Zanzibar. The study intended to identify the perceptions of ordinary citizens about the expected public benefits and anticipated challenges emanating from the exploration of oil and gas in their ordinary life. It also intended to compare citizens‟ expectations with the national policy arrangements in the oil and gas sector; and lastly to explore the policy options for harmonising citizens‟ expectations with documented development policy goals in the oil and gas sector. A cross-sectional research design was adopted to guide the whole study. The study used triangulation methods, thus adopting multiple data collection methods and data sources. The quantitative data were collected through administration of a structured questionnaire to 100 citizens. The questionnaire was supplemented by qualitative data collected from 10 key informants in order to enrich the quality of the study findings. Documentary review was also applied in collection of the secondary data that informed the study. The data collected using a questionnaire were coded and analyzed by using IBM SPSS Statistics software package and the frequency analysis outputs were subjected to further analysis by using Yeh‟s Index of Perception (YIP). This index was used to estimate the magnitude of citizens‟ expectations along a three-point Likert scale. Regarding the perception of the citizens about the expected public benefits emanating from the exploration of oil and gas in their ordinary life, the results showed that a greater proportion of the respondents expected good outcomes. The results also indicated that there was no perceived expectation that oil and gas exploration would result in liberation of the country from donor dependence. The results showed, that despite the good outcomes expected, a great proportion of the respondents anticipated development challenges might occur leading to political disappointment or relative depravation among citizens. The perceived expectation that oil and gas exploration would result in threat to the status of the environment and land grabbing was very high compared to other anticipated development challenges. With regard to comparison between citizens‟ expectations and national policy arrangement in oil and gas sector, the results showed that some of the citizens‟ expectations were in line with the documented development policy goals. This indicates the shared vision between the narrow interest of government and broad interest of the citizens leading to collective satisfaction. While some others were not in line with documented development policy goals, they indicate mismatch between the narrow interest of the government and broad interest of the citizens leading to relative deprivation. The study recommends the need to strengthen institutional framework (establishment of coordinating unit among different policies in oil and gas sectors) and adoption of the environmental mitigation strategies from the beginning of the process of exploration of oil and gas to the final stage and dissemination of the accurate information to citizens. Lastly, this study advocates the use of public choice and relative deprivation theories together to provide a good blend of research.

A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirement for the Degree of Master of Science in Development Policy (MSc. DP) of Mzumbe University