Thomson Safaris step up their propaganda while
continuing the occupation of Maasai grazing land at their self-styled 'Enashiva
Nature Reserve' – and their land grab PR person since 2007 appears as a
graduate student in collaboration with The Nature Conservancy.
The Government through Tanzania National Parks
Authorities and later the Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism renews and
intensifies the threat of grabbing a 1,500sq km “wildlife corridor”. And on 26th
March 2013 the Government declares total war on the people of Loliondo.
To my
frustration I’ve not been able to return to Loliondo for over a year and a
half, but I’ve managed to obtain some information from a selection of very busy people. The information about
some issues is still incomplete, but I can’t wait any longer to publish this
ridiculously delayed update.
I did
publish some reports I got from NCA in a separate blog post.
The Minister's 'Wildlife Corridor'
When a
Tanzanian Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism sets out to “solve” land
conflicts in Loliondo there are reasons to be very afraid. The latest person to
inherit this ministry and its role in the Loliondo land threat is Khamis
Kagasheki, who made a "consultative" visit to Loliondo on 27 January
2013, and has since launched a vociferous government campaign insisting that
the Maasai be kicked off 1,500sq km of their traditional grazing lands in the
so-called 'wildlife corridor' that borders Serengeti National Park.
This
longstanding government policy is the greatest threat to the lives and
livelihoods of Maasai pastoralists in Loliondo. As noted previously in this
blog, hunters from Dubai of Otterlo Business Corporation (OBC) are at the heart
of this land grab. OBC got the Loliondo Game Controlled Area (LGCA) North and South hunting blocks in
1992, a deal made with then President Ali Hassan Mwinyi behind the backs of
local villagers. The LGCA makes up 41 per cent of Ngorongoro District, some 4,000sq
km of land taking in the Divisions of Loliondo and Sale. The area of most interest to the
hunters is the grassland adjoining the Serengeti National Park,
which has always served as vital grazing for Maasai livestock in the district
during the dry season from July to October.
The LGCA was
established by the colonial authorities and endorsed by the 1974 Wildlife Act.
Its purpose was simply to regulate hunting on the village lands of the Maasai
and Sonjo. It was not a separate, exclusive
jurisdiction and was not intended to affect the herders' grazing patterns.
There was no contradiction or conflict between the LGCA and the village title
to land under Village Land Act number 5 of 1999 and the Loliondo villages had
in 1990 been registered according to the Local Government
Act
of 1982 after some serious land threats due to commercial pressure for land in
the 80s. In 1998 five villages developed village by-laws and land use plans to
better govern their lands and resources.
By 2005 staff from Tanzania National Parks Authority (TANAPA)
were sniffing around the Serengeti
National Park boundary
and in 2008 erected a line of concrete beacons through Ololosokwan village from
the Kenyan border. Villagers broke them up and removed them. Then came the Wildlife Conservation
Act of 2009 which, in the Government’s particular interpretation of it, serves
as a figleaf for the seizure of village land. The Act bans cultivation and grazing in 'game controlled
areas' and states that they should be separate from village land. The Act
requires the Minister of Natural Resources and Tourism to ‘ensure that no land
falling under the village land is included in the game controlled areas.’ The
Act of 2009 came into force in June 2010.
(The lighter background colour here is not intentional and I don't know how to remove it.)
In July
2009, during a severe drought, and as the hunting season approached, OBC and
the government's Field Force Unit (FFU) violently evicted and burnt down the
homesteads of at least 150 families within the 'corridor'. Many cattle were
lost, while one young girl – 7-year old Nashipai Gume from Arash - disappeared
in the chaos and has never been found. There was some limited national and
international response to these abuses, and in April of the election year 2010 women
across the district threatened to hand in their membership cards to CCM, the
ruling party.
A report by
the Standing Committee on Land, Natural Resources and Environment chaired by Job
Ndugai to investigate on the issue was supposed to be presented in parliament
on 9th February 2010, but its character of total whitewash caused uproar
already in the meeting of CCM legislators the day before and it never reached
parliament or was made public.
In December
2010 a constitutional suit (Miscellaneous Civil Cause No.15/2010) was filed in
the High Court of Tanzania by several CSOs – LHRC, PINGOs, Ngonet and UCRT -
against the Government to petition the July 2009 evictions.
The families evicted in 2009 slowly moved back, but the fear of what
could happen did not move away. In 2011 there was “reconciliation” between OBC
and leaders in Loliondo. OBC were already on friendly terms with leaders in
Oloipiri, but after “reconciliation” they also especially “befriended” leaders
in Kirtalo where they’ve built a village office.
In 2011 the
newly elected (=same old) government proposed its 2010-2030 land use plan
including the notorious 'wildlife corridor' that cuts away vital dry season
grazing land from eight villages. Conveniently, right in the middle of this
slice of land, are the OBC headquarters and airstrip at Kishoshoroni in
Soitsambu village. This plan was vigorously rejected by local leaders. The land
use planning was 100% financed by OBC as the company’s manager himself had told
journalists.
The
president visited Loliondo in late July 2012 handing out compensation cattle
for the 2009 drought, allegedly to selected people, and making promises about
road construction and the power plant. The “corridor” was not mentioned and
many leaders thought that the government had been “defeated”.
When I visited Kirtalo in late September 2011 I was told by some not
very sober leaders that OBC had stopped disturbing grazing, but for the hunting
season of 2012 cattle were chased away from the area around the hunting
company’s camp. Many leaders made visits to the OBC camp, but nobody seems to
know exactly what they were doing there, and in 2012 there were meetings of
youths demanding to know what was going on.
In a not at
all unrelated development on 20th November 2012 it was established
that Tanzania National Parks (TANAPA) had beacons stored at Klein’s Gate in
Ololosokwan, reminding villagers of the attempt to set up a new boundary in
2008. After a big meeting hundreds of villagers marched to the gate to meet the
Chief Park Warden and put up a board to inform anyone concerned where the
village land starts. In the next march to the gate thousands of people took the
beacons and dumped them inside the national park. Several
villages (eg Maaloni and Arash) are even worse affected than Ololosokwan, but
harder to get reports from. I wrote about the Beacons from Hell.
In January 2013 many planes from Dubai
were, due to wet conditions, landing at Wasso airstrip, instead of on OBC’s own
airstrip. It was not hunting season.
January 27
This
is when Khamis Kagasheki made his visit, masquerading as an arbiter stepping in to
resolve a conflict between the communities and investors such as OBC and
Thomson. I’ve got reports that the days leading up
to the visit by the Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism leaders and some
villagers from Kirtalo were using OBC vehicles to chase away cattle from some
areas.
Those who
were present at the meeting say that the Minister did not properly explain why
he was there or what he planned to do about the problems that were exposed to
him. What was clear is that he did not grasp the fundamental question of,
“Whose land is it?”, but only saw conflict among “stakeholders” – “investors”,
“communities” and local government. I got reports that Kagasheki appeared not
to know why he was there and seemed to be on holiday.
The only
concrete idea for Loliondo from the Minister was that of forming an association
of investors. What use is there in having them banding together? This combined
with the usual lashing out against NGOs did not indicate that Kagasheki had any
interest in helping the pastoralists with the many threats against their land.
At the 27th January meeting with
Minister Kagasheki, OBC were represented by the general manager Isaack Mollel,
and professional hunter Mohamed Horsley who turned himself into a spokesperson
for wildlife…
The Minister Returns
During the
last weekend of February at meetings in Ololosokwan Minister Kagasheki affirmed
that the best “solution” for land conflict in Loliondo was the government’s
idea of grabbing the 1,500sq km “wildlife corridor” or Game Controlled Area as
per the Wildlife Conservation Act of 2009. This was again strongly rejected by
local representatives since it would mean the destruction of the identity,
heritage, lives and livelihoods of the majority of the population. Then the
minister mislead the press to believe that the people were being “given” their
own land – except the corridor – under the condition that they establish a
Wildlife Management Area or WMA (which is anyway a formula for increasing
central government control and expanding “investor” influence, the last thing
needed by the people of Loliondo who can plan their land use with existing
laws), and that this was a way of “addressing a historical injustice” - when in
fact it commits one.
Kagasheki’s 21st March Visit
After a
brief meeting in Arusha with top district leaders the Minister for Natural
Resources and Tourism showed up again in Loliondo travelling together with the
MP. Local leaders had got information that the minister was sent by the
President to announce that the 'corridor' would be taken by the Government as a
Game Controlled Area to protect wildlife and water catchments. The local
leaders refused to enter the District Council conference hall together with the
Minister and demanded that he should rather answer questions from people
outside. This made the Minister leave in a fury. (Things had become so urgent
that I tried to write a short blog post that would explain the situation to
anyone who could help)
Oloipiri Declaration on 25th March
Thousands
of people met in Oloipiri and decided to stay united, end any involvement with
OBC and, when the government had announced the land grab, to initiate a court
case with an injunction plus a reclaim of Serengeti, and that all political
leaders, including the MP, would resign from their posts. I’ve been told that
most Oloipiri declaration resolutions are still under way for implementation.
Announcement on 26th March – a
Declaration of War
To
journalists in Dar es Salaam Minister Khamis Kagasheki announced that the
Government would be grabbing the corridor of important grazing land, but in the
usual style he said that the government was “keeping” 1,500sq km and the people
of Loliondo would be “given” 2,500sq km where they would be “helped” to
establish Wildlife Management Areas. He added that, “There will be no
compromise with regard to any attempt to infringe the newly established
borders”. The Minister did also warn NGOs and so-called “Kenyans” about
inciting the Maasai. The government strategy of branding the Maasai of Loliondo
as Kenyan is a way of seeking public sympathy.
On Good Friday the Loliondo councillors
met with those from Ngorongoro Conservation Area to see if they would join
their decision to resign. While declaring their full support for the fight for
the land the NCA councillors were not prepared to resign. Meanwhile the MP was
engaged in unknown activities in Dar
es Salaam.
On 1st April there was a
declaration from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism that the land
grab was legal, carried out for conservation and opposed by NGOs led by
foreigners whose “secret agendas” had already been exposed.
I wrote
this guest post on East African Notes and Records.
The
conflict finally started getting some serious coverage in international media
and organisations like Survival International and Minority Rights Group are
lending important support. Avaaz helped by renewing their campaign.
Before the
big meeting planned for 2nd
April the CCM apparatus – and maybe someone else – had made sure that most
councillors and the MP had abandoned the resignation promises of the Oloipiri
declaration. The only ones remaining were the councillors for Ololosokwan,
Soitsambu and Arash wards, plus two special women’s seats. Even then these leaders
did not make a declaration since the meeting had not got a permit. CCM party
cards were left littering the ground.
In the
midst of this serious crisis the MP for Ngorongoro, Saning'o Kaika
Telele, left for China as a member of an investor
wooing delegation - led by the Director of Tourism of the Ministry of Natural
Resources and Tourism.
The
following day several meetings were held in Wasso and elsewhere. On 4th April in a meeting in
Mairowa for villagers from Ololosokwan and Soitsambu wards it was decided that
a court case would be opened the following week, which has not yet happened
since a political solution is being sought first.
Also on 4th April several Tanzanian
land and human rights organisations issued a joint press statement.
On 6th April a CCM mission led by the
deputy secretary general of the party, Mwigulu Nchemba, met with people - particularly
women - who had camped out and gathered in Oloirien. The CCM representatives
were told in no uncertain terms that the community would fight to the last
person for their land and Nchemba’s conclusion was that the government’s
decision was contrary to the laws of the land and would adversely affect the
local community, and that he would refer the issue to the Prime Minister. A reporter
for BBC covering the meeting was detained without charges for two hours and
released after intervention by activists and politicians.
At the same
time the opposition party Chadema was holding a meeting in Soitsambu.
On 7th April there was another
announcement from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, this time
claiming that the people of Loliondo were living there illegally and that the
government had let them do this due to “compassion”. With this reasoning every
Tanzanian citizen must be prepared to be declared an “illegal invader” by the
government.
On 8th April a delegation from Loliondo
headed for Dar es Salaam
where they managed to meet the press. Later they continued on to Dodoma to engage the
legislators.
On 13th April some twenty students
from Loliondo enrolled at colleges and universities in Arusha Region returned
home for the weekend to assist their people in this time of extreme danger.
On 15th April Legal and Human
Rights Centre sent a letter to the Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism
warning him that his announcements are a contempt of court in the ongoing
constitutional case mentioned above and that they will have to “institute an
application” against him personally.
On 18th April the delegation of
representatives from Loliondo had a meeting with Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda
who had earlier been in a long meeting with the CCM team that visited Loliondo
and, judging from their public statements, sided with the people. The Prime
Minister agreed that the land does indeed belong to the Maasai and he said that
the announcements made by the Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism will
not be implemented. Though nothing of this was put in any written document and
Pinda also “advised” the delegates to establish a WMA. He asked them to wait
until he had talked with the President.
On 26th April a
meeting was held in Arash where the councillors informed the community of the meeting
with the Prime Minister. At night after the meeting several journalists were
arrested and their equipment confiscated. They were later released and their
equipment returned to them.
I have received reports that OBC were happy
with the Government’s decisions on the 'corridor' and had directly contacted
people that they feared would “stir up conflict”. On 2nd April the
general manager Isaack Mollel’s total support of the Minister for Natural
Resources and Tourism was also reported by the press, at least in one article
by a government friendly journalist of the crazier kind. Mollel repeated one of
the favourite Government/”investor” theories – that “Kenyans” are the main
problem in Loliondo. Later in a BBC article Mollel pointed fingers at NGOs,
talked about OBC’s charitable projects, stressing that their hunting area will
actually be reduced and that the land will be protected.
In parliament on 30th April opposition parliamentarian Peter Msigwa made a
presentation on Loliondo that was dismissed by one CCM legislator after the
other. The MP for Ngorongoro, Saning'o Kaika Telele, who at
Oloipiri had pretended to even be prepared to resign, stood up and thanked the Minister for Natural
Resources and Tourism and the Government for finding a “solution” to the Loliondo
land conflict. The MP has chosen the government instead of his people. He also
complained that Ngorongoro District is too large for him to represent. I’d say
that this problem has been solved…
The constitutional case is ongoing. OBC have
presented preliminary objections that have been responded to. There seems to be
problems getting three judges to sit down at the same time.
On 16th May various traditional leaders
from Loliondo gathered in Dar es Salaam
demanding a meeting with the President. Almost a month has passed since the
meeting in Dodoma
with the Prime Minister who expressed his support and said he would refer the
issue to the president, but still nothing has been heard from the President and
the serious threat of the government grabbing 1,500sq km is still hanging over
the people of Loliondo. The leaders are tired of, in their role as
peacekeepers, trying to calm angry people. They are also tired of being called
“Kenyans” by each new Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism.
New delegations to Dar es
Salaam and Dodoma
are under preparation.
The
corridor must be stopped!
Thomson Safaris the Movie
Keeping to
their habitual ruthless hypocrisy and crazy lies – and closely resembling the
Ministry for Natural Resources and Tourism - Thomson Safaris have a film
promoting their land grab – “Enashiva Nature Refuge” – that has been made for
them by a marketing company called Green Living Project.
In this
commercial Thomson’s Arusha manager, John Bearcroft, unbelievably utters the
worn words, “we borrow the land from our children and our children’s children”
– when the company is involved in a court case to protect the ownership of its
violent land grab. Did he mean the grandchildren of Rick Thomson and Judi
Wineland? Very misleadingly the Maasai, the victims of Thomson Safaris’
occupation, are referred to as Thomson’s “neighbours”. Any basic knowledge of
geography and history would tell the safari company that the land they claim to
own is Maasai grazing land and not just some farm that was owned by a brewery
for 20 years. The parastatal Tanzania Breweries took the land in 1984 and
cultivated a smaller part of it while the Maasai continued using the rest and
then after a few years the brewery left – and if there had been just a glimmer
of respect for pastoralist land rights – this would have been it. Rick Thomson
says something cryptic about “several clans surround the farm and some people
felt they had hierarchy over others” as the only mention of conflict in the
commercial. And a family of four from Boston
that claim ownership and control of 12,617 acres of Maasailand do not feel they
have hierarchy over others? Judi Wineland’s utterances – like everything else
said in this commercial - are not very coherent clichés, but she actually says
that the Maasai themselves have to control the land! Then, for crying out loud,
just return it to its legitimate owners and don’t continue harassing them as
“trespassers”. Happiness Mwamasika the coordinator of Friends of Tanzanian
Communities, FoTZC – Thomson’s aggressive propaganda branch that’s also
involved in charity with money fundraised by former Thomson guests - claims to
“cooperate” with Thomson and communities to “empower the communities”.
Happiness is married to Thomson’s own “journalist”/project manager, Jeremy
O’Kasick Swanson who writes their PR material, offers it to media, writes award
applications and contacts journalists that could write something Thomson do not
like. Then some of the best people Thomson have bought – of course including
Loserian Minis and other employees – talk about the benefits of coming in
contact with tourists that can sponsor their studies so that they can become
more modern. I’m quite sure that if the makers of the commercial had asked
these bought people they would have been told that even they would prefer to
move into the future with this land in their own hands instead of under the
control of a “philanthropic” safari company. It’s sad that Thomson still think
that they can get away with this kind of thing.
Five Herders Accused of Trespassing on their
own Land
As I’ve
written about before, the later half of 2012 was marked by - as a move from
beatings, arrests, fines or release on bail with no follow up – to intense
judicial harassment of people that the land grabber, Thomson Safaris, label as
”trespassers”. Five young herders from Mondorosi and Sukenya – Kikanai (15),
Sambao Soit (25), Shashon Kirtany (18), Somito Migini (14) and King’otore Nanyoi
(25). - were found on the disputed land on 27th July, beaten by the
police that, as an extra humiliation, also cut the braids they as warrior were
wearing, and brought to Loliondo police station. The young men, and boys, were
given bail next day and then they were called to the District Commissioner’s
Office where the DC ordered the police to arrest them again and warned them to
stop grazing on “Thomson’s land”. The herders were jailed for four more days
and then again granted bail and a court hearing was scheduled for 15th August
and then adjourned until 5th September so that Thomson could “gather more
evidence”. Thomson did not show up on 5th September and the hearing was again
adjourned until 5th October when it was adjourned until 8th November. There was
a preliminary hearing on 9th November and the main hearing was set for 14th
December. Thomson said that the manager and a policeman would be their
witnesses. This is of course costing time and resources that I wish could instead be spent on suing the harasser – Thomson
plus local authorities. On 14th December the case was again
postponed, this time not because of Thomson’s wishes, but because the harassed
herders could not get a lawyer due to miscommunication and lack of resources. On
28th January the lawyer’s vehicle broke down on his 400 kilometres
Loliondo trip on partly atrocious roads. On 26th February there was
a hearing and the policeman who was Thomson’s witness contradicted his own
evidence. The five herders were due back in court on 2nd and 3rd
May to present their defence, and a lawyer paid for by MRG was present – but
Thomson Safaris did not show up, the hearing was delayed and there’s
considerable risk that the herders will have to present their defence without
counsel at the next date. It should be noted that two of these herders that are
being dragged through court are children.
A case
against three youths that on 16th August were beaten at Thomson’s
camp and arrested for trespassing was dismissed on 19th September
since the prosecution did not show up and there was no supporting evidence, and
in June something similar happened to two men who were accused of cutting tree
branches for their boma.
For a
couple of months Thomson Safaris were limiting their harassment to chasing
cattle with vehicles, but on 9th December 2012
Odupoi Ndekerei from Sukenya – one of those who were arrested and beaten
in August – was again arrested by Thomson guards for “trespassing” and grazing
cattle. On the 11th Odupoi’s release was negotiated by the chairman
of Sukenya who is a Thomson employee and allegedly totally corrupted.
Meanwhile Focus on Tanzanian Communities, FoTZC, have the building of a
girls’ dormitory at Soitsambu
Secondary School as their
priority project and former Thomson guests have worked hard on fundraising.
Thomson Safaris’ “journalist”/project manager Jeremy Swanson O’Kasick
who at least since 2007 has written Thomson’s press releases, planted them in
media, talked with journalists to dissuade them from writing some inconvenient
truth about the company and so on, has been on a fellowship with The Nature
Conservancy in Loliondo doing “research” for a master’s thesis at Cornell University.
For 18th October the Standing Committee for Lands, Natural Resources
and Environment – when under the chairmanship of Job Ndugai known for a highly
misleading “report” never presented in parliament about the 2009 evictions for
the benefit of OBC - had a meeting scheduled in Dar es Salaam with Thomson’s manager,
probably Arusha manager John Bearcroft. The manager was going to inform the
committee about “the challenges faced by private companies in the tourism
industry”. This information was found on the Committee’s schedule that was
published online.
There is
some good news as well, like the launch on 14th August 2012 of the
website Stop Thomson Safaris by a group of people who have seen first hand the
effect of Thomson's occupation on the residents of Loliondo and decided to
raise awareness about the situation .
It’s the
kind of initiative I’ve spent years hoping for. Thomson Safaris’ apparent
reaction to the launch of this website was to get themselves articles in
Tanzanian press about how thanks to them women are making amazing money out of
selling beadwork and a piece about this was also shown on Star TV the last
weekend of September 2012. I do hope that the unfortunately far too busy people
behind Stop Thomson Safaris will keep it up until Thomson are off the land they
are occupying.
And in
August 2012 Carla Clarke of Minority Rights Group International visited the
land occupied by Thomson.
MRG are
offering support for the land case and have also attempted a negotiated
solution to the conflict, which I wrote a blog post about.
In Orkiu
where Thomson Safaris started some activities after having corrupted the ward
councillor for Enguserosambu it seems like the councillor and the company are
lying low after people who know what’s happening in Sukenya and Mondorosi have
spoken out. The reports I’ve got are that Thomson are no longer active in
Orkiu, but I’m having serious problems getting updates from this village.
On 10th
October there was an injunction hearing for the land case. The judgement could
have been delivered there and then, but it had to wait until 17th
January 2013. It’s believed that this was the wish of Thomson Safaris. On the
17th the High Court upheld the objection and ruled that Soitsambu Village
lacks necessary legal status since it in 2010 was split up into four villages.
The main
land case continued.
Thomson’s Kenya Trip
I’ve also
got reports that Thomson Safaris the last days of November/first of December
2012 took some people – the Enashiva manager, Thomson’s “journalist”/project
manager, another employee, three men from Sukenya, one from Mondorosi (Olepolos
sub-village), two from Orkiu and two from Soitsambu (among them the chairman of
Soitsambu sub-village that Thomson are trying to pass off as chairman of Soitsambu
village) (edit: my error, Lotha Nyaru HAD become village chairman earlier the same year) - to north central Kenya to “learn community-based conservation”. This
trip was supported by The Nature Conservancy that by this association with
Thomson Safaris has lost all credibility. Though it’s not their first attack
against pastoralist land rights: together with AWF TNC has funded a major
violent land grab in Laikipia that Survival International and Cultural Survival
have reported about. More information in SI's letter to UN CERD and in a testimonial by a Samburu woman.
Also very
telling is The Nature Conservancy’s list of “corporate partners” that reads
like a veritable horror cabinet of corporations that commit crimes against
human rights and the environment – BP, Shell, Monsanto, Rio Tinto among others.
Upon return
to Arusha the people sent on the Kenya tour met with representatives from The
Nature Conservancy, The Honeyguide Foundation (a wolf organisation dressed in
sheep’s clothes), Frankfurt Zoological Society (Thomson’s former manager Daniel
Yamat), Jeremy O’Kasick’s wife in the form of a “development practitioner and community
development consultant”, Thomson’s general manager and a Ngorongoro District
Game and Tourism Officer. The talk was about how some of the most easily bought
people in Loliondo would bring back the teachings received in Kenya to their
communities with the aim of establishing conservancies in different areas of
Loliondo. For this the delegates wrote a letter asking for support from TNC,
FZS and Thomson Safaris, all present at the same meeting. One important point
on the agenda of this meeting with Jeremy O’Kasick as its secretary and
coordinator was to make the community rebuke those who are “dirtying the name
of Loliondo” on the internet since this frightens off investors and
conservation stakeholders. Other challenges were the boundaries of newly established
villages, stopping communities with relatives in Kenya from letting those bring
their cattle in the dry season and people that will stir up opposition for
political reasons. Thomson’s trip report was distributed in the District Council.
In the area
visited in Kenya
there are vast ranches owned by the descendants of European settlers who were
given the land in the early 20th century after the Maasai were
evicted for this purpose. Many of these descendants have now turned the ranches
into conservation and tourism and are “helping” their neighbours to form their
own conservancies. I’ve also got reports that some of those landowners are
working for further alienation of pastoralist land while the always uncritical
international conservation and tourism audience keep heaping praises on them.
The attraction of this kind of system to Thomson Safaris is evident and they
obviously think that they can get away with the colonial land grab a century
too late. Sadly the Tanzanian government seems to think so too; local people
could be more organised and internal division and selfish individuals are being
played out by the grabber, but people are just not stupid enough to go along
with the plan; it remains to be seen what stuff the judicial system is made of.
I’ve been
told that in early December Thomson’s Arusha manager, John Bearcroft, had a
meeting with the Ward Development Committee where there were representatives
from Oloipiri, Sukenya and Soitsambu. The manager told the meeting about the Kenya
trip and explained how desperate Thomson were for community support. He asked
for the official minutes to say that what’s written on the Stop Thomson Safaris
website is lies, but was told to go and resolve the conflict with the community
instead.
After
returning from Kenya Thomson Safaris’ “Enashiva” manager, Josiah Severe, had
meetings with Sukenya Village Council where Thomson unfortunately using divide
and rule tactics have “befriended” a number of Laitayok members. Thomson wanted
the Council to form a committee – the kind of committee that they since 2008
claim to have been working with - to “regulate grazing” and solve conflict
between the company and the community. They also wanted the Council to write
minutes saying that the Stop Thomson Safaris website – that was introduced as
“raising a lot of money for their own benefit” - is lying about beatings.
Reportedly the manager was reminded that what’s written on the website is true
and that people need their land and not a “committee”. He was also told to talk
with Mondorosi Village which he said he would do.
Though the manager first requested a big meeting with the Sukenya community to
educate people about how bad the NGO Pastoral Women’s Council is and that
Thomson Safaris, apart from building more classrooms and a dispensary, also are
going to support the construction of a road from Sukenya to Oloipiri – and to
ask the community to refuse the court case and the website that’s damaging the
company’s reputation. Later the manager together with the “journalist”/ project
manager showed up at other meetings.
Thomson’s
argument seems to be that their “ownership” is supported by the government and
the law and that’s it’s better to just “enjoy” their charitable projects. Then
they are engaged in very heavy slander of the people fighting against their
land grab accusing them of making big money off the court case.
It’s
interesting that Thomson now seem to be getting questions from clients about
the Stop Thomson Safaris website. I do hope – but am far from sure – that it’s making
people reconsider their travel plans, which was the impact I wished for my
blog. Since Thomson seem worried about their “reputation”, my advice to the
safari company is: just end the occupation of Maasai land!
In January
a teachers’ house built by FoTZC was inaugurated in Nainokanoka in Ngorongoro
Conservation Area and Thomson Safaris made sure to get national press coverage
of how top district leaders were praising them. The MP, who could no longer claim
ignorance, lent himself to this spectacle, and had frankly by this time already
made himself irrelevant.
I’ve got
reports that the “journalist”/project manager and FoTZC coordinator couple were
working hard at promising people in Sukenya “anything” for not supporting the
court case, and for the last third of January Rick Thomson and Judi Wineland
also showed up at the disputed land. On the 23rd I’ve been told that
they held a meeting with a few Sukenya leaders saying that they had practically
won the court case and proposing a partnership excluding Mondorosi and Soitsambu.
Earlier, in 2012, even the DC had told the Sukenya village council that Thomson
had won the case. Thomson wanted minutes from Sukenya rejecting the court case.
Later on, for the first time, Rick Thomson
and Judi Wineland also visited Mondorosi. I was told that they were visibly
shocked by the total lack of support. I don’t know what they had expected. Rick
Thomson stayed on into February meeting his employee chairman Minis every day
and Minis kept telling the village council that Thomson were ready to “negotiate”.
At the
meeting with the Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism Thomson Safaris
were represented by Rick Thomson, John
Bearcroft, Jeremy O’Kasick Swanson and “maybe someone more”. I’ve been told
that Rick Thomson did not look particularly happy. I can just, without much
faith, hope that the Minister had not made him look happier during the
exclusive meeting for “investors”.
On 14 February 2013 two young men, Mbekure Olemeeki (21) and Oloimaoja
Ndekerei (18) and one young woman, Narikungishu Olemeeki (19), were caught by
police and “Enashiva” guards when tending cattle near the land occupied by
Thomson and taken to one place where they were kicked and
punched and told to jump up and down. One of Thomson’s drivers, Daniel
Olelekurtu, also beat them with a stick. Narikungishu was told to kneel down in front of the others and when she
would not do this she was beaten with Olelekurtu’s stick. They informed the
chairman of Sukenya who did not take any action.
On 3rd May chairman Minis was leading his own "out of
court settlement" talks with Thomson. Sukenya aren't currently "in
court" since Minis hasn’t signed
any minutes supporting the court case and therefore have no leverage for
any kind of settlement, and Minis doesn't represent the majority and is completely
in conflict by his position as both chairman and Thomson employee.
During the crisis of the announcement of the 1,500sq km land grab by the
Government, Thomson Safaris have published crazy statements misrepresenting
their detractors – that would include myself, I suppose - as accusing the
safari company of “evicting 40,000 people” among other things. They say the
conflict is “manufactured” to get donor funds and has “collected over $360,000
in donations from just one organization”. Thomson are without doubt
referring to
their pet obsession, Pastoral Women’s Council, or more exactly it’s founder and
coordinator Maanda Ngoitiko whom I heard Thomson’s definition of long before
I’d even heard her name - “a local Kenyan Maasai woman that encouraged all
locals to squat on the land and use it for their benefit” (Maanda
is born and bred in Soitsambu and her parents born in Serengeti). The only
donations for this important cause come from Minority Rights Group, are nowhere
near Thomson’s crazy made-up figure and go to paying lawyers while PWC staff
and community members document abuse at their own cost.
On 17th May
the land case was struck out by the judge. Allegedly this judge is retiring and
is striking out all cases that look like dragging on, and she’s also a personal
friend of the DC. A couple of months ago the judge had in a written decision
allowed amendments of the plaint to include the newly formed villages and the
latest decision was given without any legal explanation and was irregular. Discussions
are already taking place regarding filing a new suit
Things are
happening and I hope to post an update – soon.
By the way,
one way of avoiding court cases is by not grabbing people’s land, and there is
no way that an American tour operator will be allowed to “own” 12,617 acres of
Maasai land.
I don’t
want to give ideas to “investors” with bad intentions, but people, and
especially leaders, in Loliondo have to be reminded that something has to been
done now about the anomaly of 20,638 acres of land, mostly in Soitsambu, in the
name of the late John Aitkenhead. This is a disaster in waiting.
My very belated wish for 2013 is that it
will be the year that the tide turns and all “philanthropic” landgrabbers – and
a central government with its aim set on pastoralist land - in Loliondo and
beyond will have to start retreating, but so far the situation seems to be
going from bad to worse. There are some promising signs though, like the
decision of university students from Loliondo to very actively seek out what
role they can play in the fight. As one of them told me, “the Maasai of 2013
are not the Maasai of 1959”.
Susanna
Nordlund
(Do contact
me with information or questions)
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