List of people in one way or other involved in the long-time slander, terror, and corruption syndicate in Loliondo

In this blog post:

Introduction

The List

Summary of Osero developments of the past decades

Since long before it became the condition of the whole of Tanzania, Loliondo division of Ngorongoro district has been a virtual police state. Everyone who has ever dared to speak up against plans to alienate 1,500 km2 of important grazing land from the local Maasai have at some point had their citizenship questioned, been threatened, slandered, illegally arrested, and even maliciously prosecuted. The same has happened to those who have just been suspected of being able to speak up … This is done by government officials, and others, that seem overly eager to please Otterlo Business Corporation, OBC, that since the early 1990s organize trophy hunting for Sheikh Mohammed, the current billionaire ruler of Dubai.

OBC has since 1992/1993 kept being granted the Loliondo hunting block (permit to hunt) that covers more than the whole of the division, and that was initially obtained through a corrupt and scandalous deal known as Loliondogate, first reported about by the late Stan Katabalo who sadly passed away under mysterious circumstances in 1993.

OBC in its entirety funded a draft land use plan that proposed turning into a “protected area” their 1,500 km2 core hunting area; this is the area that constitutes a very important dry season grazing area belonging to the local villages under the Village Land Act No.5 of 1999. Already before this land use plan, during the horrible drought of 2009 the Field Force Unit together with OBC rangers razed to the ground hundreds of bomas, in an extrajudicial operation. In that operation, they chased thousands of cattle into an extreme drought area, and 7-year old Nashipai Gume was lost in the chaos and has not been found, ever since. The purpose of the draft district land use plan was to repeat the same atrocities perhaps in a more legal way, but fortunately it was strongly rejected by Ngorongoro district council in early 2011. Though the threat did not go away, and nearly all Ministers appointed to head of Natural Resources and Tourism, tried in their own ways, to alienate the land. In 2013, Kagasheki made an outrageous and vociferous attempt, but fortunately at that time there was – relative – unity and seriousness among Loliondo leaders. Since then divide and rule tactics have worsened, and these past years the terror has increased so that resistance was much weakened when PM Majaliwa in late 2016 set out to “solve the conflict”.

In August 2017, while everyone was waiting for Majaliwa’s decision, unexpectedly an illegal operation officially was funded by TANAPA and implemented by Serengeti National Park rangers, and others, and just like in 2009 led to arson of hundreds of bomas, beatings, seizing of cattle, and rape. This illegal operation was stopped by Kigwangalla some weeks after he became minister, and amazingly he also promised that OBC would have left Tanzania by January 2018 – later on he made a U-turn. There was still some protest and action in 2017, but in 2018 the fear had spiralled out of all control to the degree that soldiers could in November and December chase away people and cattle from wide areas around OBC’s camp while absolutely nobody at all spoke up.

In February-March this year (2019) the Prevention and Combatting of Corruption Bureau (PCCB/TAKUKURU) in an unprecedented move took action against OBC, eventually charging the director, Isaack Mollel, with economic crimes. In a worrying way there has since been much silence and preliminary hearings of the case have kept being postponed. Of most relevance to terror in Loliondo was the fact that the former District Security Officer, Issa Ng’itu, was at the same time charged with having received over ten million TZShs and a vehicle from Mollel. Some are now saying that he’s got away and has even been promoted to Regional Security Officer in Ruvuma. I hope it isn’t true, but it seems confirmed.

There are so many officials who for so many years have caused so much suffering while working for investors against the people. If the aim were to stop the terror syndicate, many more should have been charged by now. They have hardly even tried to hide what they’ve been doing. It’s been done quite openly as if terrorizing Tanzanians for the benefit of foreign investors is the correct and natural thing to do, and this is something that is known by everyone in Loliondo. In 2017, Kigwangalla, even if not the most reliable witness, was shocked by Mollel’s arrogance and declared that OBC’s director wanted to bribe him cheaper than he had bribed his predecessors.

I will list some of those that should be investigated, and also include some that aren’t in positions in which working for OBC’s interests could legally (only morally) be called corruption, and some who maybe participate in the terror syndicate because of interests that converge with those of OBC. All past and current members of the Ngorongoro Security Committee should be included, but sadly local people usually don’t report, or even know, their names and exact titles, when abuse is committed. Why after all these years of flagrant crime did PCCB act now? The only theory - just a theory - I’ve heard is that it’s about internal skirmishes in CCM.

Many characters in the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism have a lot to answer for when it comes to terror in Loliondo. The ministry has several times through the years received splendid gifts from OBC, which is done openly and not even considered corruption (which it certainly is) but there is also the constant wish to alienate more and more land from the people who already lost a lot with the creation of Serengeti National Park, and this is much encouraged by international conservation (“Germans”). Besides this, an American tourism operator, Thomson Safaris, claim ownership of 12,617 acres, shares the same “friends” as OBC and slander land rights activists in the same way, and those speaking up against this land threat have been even more severely persecuted.

President Magufuli’s January 2019 statement against evictions of pastoralists and cultivators in the country if there were logic would have meant that the 1,500 km2 Osero (bushland) were left in peace. Still there is a huge overhanging threat while the frightful silence of 2018 continues even though OBC are lying low for now. Majaliwa’s decision that was announced on 6^th December 2017 was a huge disappointment though certainly celebrated by the most devoted OBC supporters (like the “journalist” Manyerere Jackton in the Jamhuri), but fortunately it has been delayed. It was vaguely described as preparing a legal bill to form a special authority to manage land in Loliondo, and later it was specified that this would be placed under the yoke of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority. Lately there have been indications that the way to implement Majaliwa’s decision could soon be announced. But I hope it will be further delayed, or – better – called off. The land is being defended in the East African Court of Justice where there’s an ongoing case filed by the villages of Ololosokwan, Kirtalo, Oloirien and Arash against the Tanzanian government (the Attorney General).

This introduction is too brief and very unsatisfactory indeed. Since searching through all my blog posts can be confusing, I hope to soon publish a longer one with a more detailed summary of what has been going on. It’s necessary to put the people of this list in context.

I’ve got Navaya ole Ndaskoi to thank for digging up almost all information from the early days, and many different people to thank for more recent times, though most of those are now sadly silenced. The list order is to some degree chronological more than in order of importance. It will be updated (the updates will be marked) and I’m grateful for any filling in of the many information gaps, or reminding me of anyone I’ve forgotten. I hadn’t expected it, but I’ve got old writing about Loliondo without seeing any improvement at all, but I hope to in the not too distant future be able to list all that have fought for justice. At this time, it would only cause complete panic … And a list of those who are disappointingly silent would just be too long.

Oloosek, 13th August 2017.

The List

Abubakar Mgumia, Minister for Tourism, Natural Resources and Environment who in a letter dated 11^th November 1992 granted the Loliondo hunting blocks to Mohammed Abdul Rahim Al Ali and advised him to form a company as required by law. Mgumia was on 17^th April 1993 removed from the ministry in connection with the Loliondogate scandal. According to some, Loliondogate was also the reason that Mgumia’s successor, Juma Ngasongwa, later had to leave the ministry.

Mohammed Abdul Rahim Al Ali, businessman from Dubai, hunter, Lt. General and Assistant Under-Secretary at the Ministry of Defence of UAE, in the 1990s described as “the Brigadier”.  Al Ali is the owner of OBC, “the Arab” in Loliondo, but the past quite a few years there has been basically nothing reported about what he’s said or done. Al Ali is said to live in a palace in Dadna village in the Fujairah emirate.

Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE, and ruler of Dubai. Sheikh Mohammed has been together with Al Ali from the start and is the hunting guest that OBC work for, “the king” that some people in Loliondo think doesn’t know what’s going on and is a good guy, which after all these years is quite improbable. Compared to Dubai, Tanzania is a wonder of democracy and human rights, and this person has even kidnapped and imprisoned two of his own daughters. Sheikh Mohammed is very responsible for OBC and is getting off far too lightly in basically all reporting about Loliondo.

Sheikh Mohammed at Oloipiri Primary School in March 2018.

Hamdan “Fazza” Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, crown prince of Dubai, has many expensive hobbies and hunting is one of them. He usually accompanies his father to Loliondo.

Sheikh Hamdan in the middle, in 2009. The kori bustard is not in the quota

Richard Koillah, former MP for Ngorongoro, no longer among us. According to Stan Katabalo’s reporting, Koillah toured the Loliondo villages trying in vain to convince them to sign the contract with Al Ali in November 1992, and then he signed it himself on their behalf.

Laban (or Leban) Makunenge, former Ngorongoro DC, toured the villages with the MP, and other government officials, and then signed the contract with Al Ali for the central government.

Abdulrahman Kinana, Mr. OBC. As Minister for Defence in 1993 he escorted Sheikh Mohammed as the Tanzanian government’s representative, and in 2018, as secretary-general of CCM he was filmed doing the same at the airport. While never making any public statements about OBC, Kinana is reportedly a frequent guest at a camp, and according to some he’s part of the management. Any herder will mention Kinana’s name when asked who OBC’s friends are. Kinana retired in May 2018, and is currently out of favour with President Magufuli who allegedly suspects him of plotting to challenge him. This is according to theory the reason that PCCB finally after all these years took some action against OBC.

Ahmed Saeed Abulrahman Alkhateeb (or Al-Khatib), was in 1993 reported by Stan Katabalo as the registered owner of OBC, together with one Suzan Reyes from Sweden about whom I haven’t been able to obtain any information. Alkhateeb was a Kenyan citizen and his “real” name was according to Katabalo “Said Makoko”. Katabalo reported that President Mwinyi personally intervened to give Alkhateeb preferential treatment when he got in trouble about his residence permit. Alkhateeb was OBC’s Tanzania director until 2004, and I don’t know much about those times.

Mary Ndosi, Senior State Attorney who, according to Katabalo’s, reporting initially represented OBC in Tanzania, and used the P.O. Box of the Attorney General. Mary Ndosi was back in the day mentioned in connection with other corruption practices in Tanzania as well, as when Prosper Victus testified that she would have been involved in the ITPL corruption scandal and attempted to corrupt him too.

Ali Hassan Mwinyi, former President of Tanzania 1985 – 1995, who in 1992 granted a presidential permit for Sheikh Mohammed to capture 10 gerenuk in Longido (not to be confused with Loliondo). Mwinyi was in the 1990s thought to have intervened to smooth the way for OBC.

Benjamin Mkapa, former President of Tanzania 1995 – 2005. OBC kept holding the Loliondo hunting block during his presidency, even if the first irregular 10-year contract was revoked at some point (1994 or 1995?) and replaced with normal 5-year periods.

Zakia Meghji, Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism 1997 - 2005. When in 2000 a delegation of traditional leaders from Loliondo issued a statement in protest of OBC’s increasingly entitled behaviour, Meghji’s reply was as if it would have been delivered directly by a spokesperson for OBC.

Juma Akida, OBC’s Tanzanian director 2004 – 2007. Apparently, Akida was increasingly more interested in managing village land and lobbying for evictions, but I have very little information about his time as OBC’s director.

Jowika Kasunga, District Commissioner for Ngorongoro since some time in 2006 or 2007 until some time the first half of 2009, before the extrajudicial evictions that year. Kasunga was extraordinary eager to please OBC, and a very aggressive person who kept issuing threats about the land and calling anyone speaking up to be interrogated by the Ngorongoro Security Committee. Together with OBC’s Mollel, Kasunga made slanderous accusations against any supposed activist as “Kenyan”, and governed by a fantasy number of corrupt NGOs (there used to be two NGOs speaking up for land rights before they were silenced) into an article of faith among government officials in Loliondo.

In 2011, two years after having left Ngorongoro, Kasunga told a journalist (The African, 29.07.2011) that the Loliondo NGO’s were financed by the Bomas of Kenya establishment, which is an open-air museum and auditorium in Nairobi …

Isaack Mollel, OBC’s Tanzanian director since 2007. The damage done by this individual, a Maasai from Arusha, can’t be overstated. He’s used the hate rhetoric against the Loliondo Maasai repeatedly in media where he also in late 2009 boasted about how OBC had gifted Arusha region with funds for land use planning that later resulted in the rejected draft district land use plan that proposed turning the 1,500 km2 Osero into a “protected area”.

In Mollel’s universe the Village Land Act No.5 of 1999 doesn’t exist, but the land belongs to the government that has placed OBC there, which for Mollel makes the hunters innocent victims of the Maasai, and of tour companies that have contracts with the villages. In a very unexpected development Mollel is currently in remand prison for tax evasion and fraud concerning imported vehicles.

Vehicles as gifts seem to be an OBC/Mollel specialty and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism the biggest receiver. Mollel has been arrogant to the extent of in 2017, according to the minister himself, having boasted that he would bribe Kigwangalla more cheaply that he’d bribed his predecessors. The only explanation for that such an untouchable person has now been targeted by PCCB is OBC’s connection to Kinana who’s out of favour with the president, but I really don’t know.

Thomson Safaris, American tour operator that claims ownership of 12,617 acres as their own private nature refuge and have got the same “services” from government officials as OBC, and used the same rhetoric against land rights activists. Those speaking up against Thomson may even have been more harshly targeted by threats and intimidation, and currently it’s very difficult to get any information at all. Responsible are the American owners, Rick Thomson and Judi Wineland, the local manager, Daniel Yamat, the Arusha manager, John Bearcroft, and past and present project managers.

District Primary Education Officer, District Security Officer Ng’itu (see list), District Commissioner/human rights criminal/perjurer Mfaume Taka (see list), Judi Wineland, Rick Thomson, current FoTZC coordinator Elizabeth Mwakajila, Daniel Yamat   photo: Paul Dudui (see list), 2018

Shamsa Mwangunga, Minister of Natural Resources and Tourism 2008 – 2010. She was the minister during the illegal evictions and mass human rights crimes in 2009, and except for pretending to want to stop the operation upon meeting some leaders in Loliondo, she kept to different versions of OBC’s hate rhetoric, and in a statement after the crimes, concluded that many of the Maasai were “Kenyan”, and that the operation was necessary to protect the environment and the hunting business. She then warned that village land and GCA would be separated with the incoming Wildlife Conservation Act.

Isidori Shirima was the Arusha RC in 2009. While the order for the illegal operation in 2009 was issued by the DC’s office, it makes it clear that the decision was made at regional level, which was also confirmed by Shirima when talking to media and “justifying” the crimes. 

Job Ndugai, former chair of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Land, Natural Resources and Environment (currently Speaker of Parliament). Ndugai was tasked with preparing a report on OBC and the 2009 operation. When the report was presented to the CCM parliamentarians it caused such uproar for it’s outrageous siding with the hunters that it couldn’t be tabled in parliament.

Jakaya Kikwete, former President of Tanzania 2005 – 2015. Kikwete’s first term as president was marked by intense anti-pastoralism and several violent operations culminating with that in Loliondo 2009. The anti-pastoralism was tempered during his second term, but attempts at alienating the 1,500 km2 Osero from the Maasai kept emerging.

Elias Wawa Lali, DC for Ngorongoro mid-2009 – April 2015. Started his work by having to defend the illegal evictions. While Wawa Lali appeared as a less aggressive person than Kasunga, he continued firmly on the side of “investors” against the people with frequent calls to the security committee for anyone speaking up, and several illegal arrests. In 2010 this DC confiscated my passport, since I had when visiting Loliondo asked questions about if what was claimed on Thomson Safaris’ website corresponded with reality.

Masegeri Tumbuya Rurai, District Natural Resources Officer during the extrajudicial evictions in 2009. In an anonymous open letter to the PM in 2013 Tumbuya Rurai is described as the most dangerous person in the district who spent 70 % of his time working for OBC as their official informer and contact person, and had been rewarded with a Nissan Xtrail from Mollel. Tumbuya Rurai was reportedly very helpful preparing the map for OBC’s rejected district land use plan. In social media, before blocking me, he described the 2009 operation as a consequence of having rejected a WMA. By now, Tumbuya Rurai has been working for Frankfurt Zoological Society for many years.

John Chiligati, former Minister for Lands, Housing and Human Settlements Developments who in 2010 led the land alienation drive, which otherwise in Loliondo usually is done by the Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism. Chiligati showed up in media, and in Loliondo, several times, saying that the government had set aside TShs.157 million (the money announced by OBC’s Mollel) and that the way to “solve the conflict” was to separate the 1,500 km2 Osero from the village land.

Ezekiel Maige, Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism 2010 – 2012. Maige seemed like a more reasonable kind of minister, but then the terrible OBC-funded draft district land use plan 2010 – 2030 was revealed.

Amati, former Ward Executive Officer of Soitsambu who in 2010 when I was visiting and asked him if what was said on Thomson Safaris website corresponded with reality, phoned DC Wawa Lali who said he’d answer my questions the following day. Amati showed off his phone screen that said “manager Thomson”, and next day I was picked up by the police and taken to the security committee, my passport was confiscated, and I had to go to Immigration in Arusha where I was declared a “prohibited immigrant” and had to leave the country. Then I became a blogger.

I’ve been told that Amati would have offered the same service to OBC and so would almost any government official, so here he serves as an example that I happened to experience first-hand. This took place almost a decade ago, before repression got significantly worse …

Khamis Kagasheki, Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism 2012 – 2013. Extraordinary twisted, vociferous, and aggressive representative for OBC’s land alienation wish and rhetoric about Loliondo. Kagasheki pretended that the whole of Loliondo would somehow have become a protected area, that the Maasai were landless, and that taking away the 1,500 km2 meant making them a generous gift of the remaining land! Kagasheki made several insanely misleading and threatening statements, but fortunately there was some seriousness and unity among leaders in Loliondo at this time, and they managed to get support for both opposition and the ruling party.

Kaika Saning’o Telele, MP for Ngorongoro 2005 – 2015. During and after the illegal operation in 2009, Telele made a great job speaking up in parliament, but at the time of Kagasheki’s horrible threats in 2013 Telele had radically changed and become very silent, and then in parliament he thanked Kagasheki and the government for finding a “solution” … A year later he was telling a journalist such things as that DCs should have a military background (RAI, 18.12.2014). According to the anonymous open letter to PM Pinda in 2013 it was OBC’s owner, Simanjiro MP ole Sendeka, and a briefcase full of dollars that turned Telele

Christopher ole Sendeka, former MP for Simanjiro who in 2009 spoke up for the Loliondo Maasai, but in 2013 had made an ugly transformation. In August 2013 several ward councillors got phone calls from ole Sendeka instructing them to tell people to remove livestock from areas around OBC’s camp. He had allegedly earlier been seen at OBC’s camp and given a Landcruiser pickup, it was said in the open letter to the PM. Ole Sendeka was in 2016 appointed CCM publicity secretary, and then RC for Njombe.

Correction: Not only before, but also after that supposed incidence in 2013, has Olesendeka spoken up in defence of the land. I don't know if the information was false or misunderstood. 

The “Germans”, through Frankfurt Zoological Society and Bernhard Grzimek were very instrumental in the Maasai (and others’) loss of Serengeti lands. In somewhat more recent years the FZS pushed for a WMA in Loliondo, which in those days, before increased terror, was rejected.

FZS never made any statements about the illegal operation of 2009, or about the 1,500 km2 Osero grab plans, but at the time of Kagasheki’s horrible threats and lies, Markus Borner, FZS’s then recently retired long-term head of Africa programme, besides showing ignorance of just about everything, said in an interview (African Indaba, June 2013), “the present proposal seems a good way forward”.

In March 2017, the Serengeti chief park warden told the standing committee co-opted by Minister Maghembe that funds from the German development bank KfW were subject to turning the 1,500 km2 Osero into a protected area. The Germans didn’t comment in any way even though this information was in several newspapers (Daily News, 09.03.2017, RaiaMwema, 08.03.2017, Mtanzania 08.03.2017, and probably others), but during the massive human rights crimes in Loliondo the same year the German ambassador was seen all over media handing over office and residential buildings for park staff in Fort Ikoma, in Serengeti National Park, to Minister Maghembe, while commenting on the long and successful partnership between Germany and Tanzania in protecting the Serengeti. Almost two years later representatives of KFW, in an interview with Chris Lang of Conservation Watch, said that there was no such requirement for their funds.

Wasso, 15th March 2017, "Conservation is our tradition, OBC leave us our land" and ""District Council, don't receive money from the Germans, since it's death to us"

Minister Maghembe and German ambassador Detlef Wächter at Fort Ikoma on 22nd August 2017 while Loliondo was burning. 

Lazaro Nyalandu, Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism 2014 – 2015. Nyalandu was another minister at the service of OBC, and besides some pro-OBC publicity stunts with journalists he focused on trying to buy off the councillors in closed meetings, which even if nobody agreed with the land alienation plan, worsened divide and rule with three councillors excelling at praising OBC and attacking activists (while pretending not to have heard about the threat against the 1,500 km2 …), and to a climate in which nobody trusted anyone else. In 2017, Nyalandu joined the opposition party Chadema, but has apparently not repented his ugly behaviour towards Loliondo. In March 2019 when Mollel had been arrested and charged, Nyalandu shared in social media a photo together with Sheikh Mohammed of Dubai trying to pass it off as an image of international harmony and cooperation.

Nyalandu welcoming Sheikh Mohammed on 20th January 2015.

William Alais, councillor for Oloipiri since 2010. Initially seen as “good”, but very soon befriended by OBC and Thomson Safaris that both engaged in the divide and rule strategy of saying that Alais’ Laitayok section of the Maasai was Tanzanian while the Purko and Loita were “Kenyan”. The damage done by this individual to the land rights struggle can’t be overstated. Alais has never openly defended the alienation of the 1,500 km2, but has gone as far as collaborating with the Jamhuri newspaper that’s published over 50 articles campaigning for this land grab, for OBC, and against the Loliondo Maasai. His main contribution to OBC is slandering those fighting for the land (that’s his land as well, so he must expect them to do the work while he’s sabotaging with the enemy) as bad people who want to prevent him from working with “good investors”.

Mohammed Marekani Bayo: OBC’s community liaison and councillor for Oloirien-Magaiduru 2010 – 2015. Succeeded by Tipap who was thought to be against OBC, but soon proved otherwise.

Raphael Long’oi: Councillor for Loosoito-Maaloni 2010 – 2015, from the Loita section. This former councillor seems to have become “investor friendly” during Nyalandu’s time. Some of his thinking, or lack of it, was shown in a newspaper article (RAI, 18.12.2014) in which he claimed that activists are stirring things up for personal benefit since the land is protected by the Village Land Act No.5 of 1999 so that working with the investor isn’t any danger, while in the very same article OBC’s director is quoted saying that land in Loliondo isn’t village land, but “protected” land …

Gabriel Killel, Director of the NGO Kidupo who in October 2014 joined a delegation to Dodoma with William Alais and a couple of other people to support OBC and Thomson Safaris in a meeting with Mary Nagu, Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office for Investment and Empowerment. Killel first denied the Dodoma trip and then started threatening people he thought had revealed his treason. Many are the victims of Killel’s verbal and physical violence, and since the Dodoma trip he’s aggressive work for “investors” that threaten land rights has become increasingly dangerous. He’s the only Loliondo pastoralist who has openly supported the alienation of the 1,500 km2. Many people who’ve met him suspect some serious mental problem have caused him to act in this way. Together with William Alais, Killel has a background as a Catholic priest who was fired from the church.

Manyerere Jackton, unbelievably self-serving, odious, and unethical “journalist” who in well over 50 articles, mostly in the Jamhuri newspaper, has been spewing out unhinged hate rhetoric against the Maasai of Loliondo, and campaigned for taking the 1,500 km2 Osero away from them. This individual has claimed that 70 percent of the Loliondo Maasai would not be Tanzanian, and published lists of hundreds of private persons that his “sources” (not a hard guess who those are) consider to be “Kenyan”. Jacktons’s slandering of those speaking up for land rights, or those he thinks could speak up for land rights, has been vicious and insane. Besides this campaign, he’s capable of writing any lie for no particular reason at all. I’ve experienced first-hand how he likes to boast about being directly involved in arrests of innocent people, since I’ve several times got rude and triumphant one-liner emails when such a thing is about to happen, and he doesn’t hide it in the articles either. Jackton seems to have kept a lower profile since December 2018.

Manyerere, Maghembe and Matinyi in the Osero on 25th January 2017.

Masyaga Matinyi, “journalist” who has written a couple of articles in the same style as Manyerere Jackton, but in the Mtanzania newspaper that otherwise is a more “normal” kind of publication in which there also has been neutral reporting on Loliondo. Matinyi and Manyerere were together flanking Minister Maghembe when he in January 2017 declared that the 1,500 km2 Osero must be taken from the Maasai.

Jerry Muro, former reporter who in 2015 made two “documentaries” on Channel Ten with the same hate rhetoric as used by Manyerere Jackton, and with a heavy presence of OBC’s director Isaack Mollel. Jerry Muro has since been appointed DC for Arumeru.

Revocatus Parapara William, chairman of Wasso “town”, non-pastoralist immigrant, and a big admirer of OBC who will gladly defend the hunters in the media.

Allan Kijazi, director general of Tanzania National Parks Authority, TANAPA. Kijazi was, when PM Majaliwa set out to “solve the conflict” and tasked the Arusha RC with setting up a select committee, a strong supporter of land alienation as per OBC’s old rejected draft district land use plan, and it was TANAPA that – at least officially - funded the illegal invasion of village land with mass human rights crimes in 2017.

Moloimet Saing’eu, very local person who’s OBC assistant director. Son of the late and legendary long-time chairman of Ololosokwan, and believed by me to have been almost an activist until he in 2015 confirmed that he’d been employed by OBC with, “If you can't fight them, join them”. Moloimet informed me already in November 2017, when Kigwangalla was saying otherwise, that his employer wasn’t going anywhere and that I’d have a heart attack. There’s a collective responsibility for Moloimet’s treason, since educated youths, who under other circumstances would claim to be very much against joining up with OBC, find it acceptable to make an exception for when you can get a good job. Other reasons for tiptoeing around OBC’s assistant manager are that he knows everyone’s secrets, has a lot of money, and is both popular and feared. I wonder how much suffering could have been prevented if those with an education also had a backbone.

Hashim Mgandilwa, DC for Ngorongoro 2015 – 2016. Continued the work for “investors” against the people, in a very ignorant and chaotic way, ordering illegal arrests, engaging in an “anti-Kenyan” operation, and more or less waging war on the village of Kirtalo where OBC’s camp is. He made some councillors and other people assumed not to be “investor-friendly” walk barefoot from Wasso to Loliondo “town” in front of police vehicles, after corrupt policemen had been beaten by youths at Ololosokwan market. It was also Mgandilwa who in 2015 ordered my illegal arrest that lasted three nights while I wasn’t allowed to contact anyone. After two nights I was taken to Arusha and eventually to the Kenyan border where my fingerprints were registered so that I would not be able to enter Tanzania again. I was never charged with anything, and my hard drive was stolen while in custody with Immigration.

Wasso - Loliondo barefoot under armed police force 7th (?) May 2015.

Mgandilwa and Mollel, Easter 2016, when OBC donated bedding to Wasso Hospital.

Issa Ng’itu, former District Security Officer (chief spy in the district) who was involved already in Mgandilwa’s anti-Kirtalo activities in 2015. Ng’itu was in 2019 investigated by PCCB and on 29^th March charged on fifteen counts of corruption, submitting false documents, and forgery between 2017 and 2019 (so this doesn’t even include his earlier work for OBC). The charges concern Ng’itu several times receiving money – in total over 10 million Tanzanian shillings (and this is just what PCCB found on Ng’itu’s SIM-card) - from OBC’s Mollel while knowing that this is against the law, having bought (or otherwise obtained) a Landcruiser Prado from Mollel, and together with Mollel having forged different documents relating to this vehicle. I haven’t got any information about this case for months, and am getting reports not only that Ng’itu would be out, but also that he would have been promoted to Regional Security Officer in Ruvuma! I do hope this isn’t true - even if it seems confirmed - since his case was the most relevant to the many years of terror in Loliondo.

Kassim Majaliwa, current prime minister. In 2016 when everyone in Loliondo was terrified after a wave of illegal arrests, Majaliwa tasked the Arusha RC Gambo with setting up a select committee to come up with  a proposal for “solving the conflict”, which eventually resulted in a sad compromise. During the following wait for Majaliwa’s decision village land was unexpectedly and very illegally invaded, and massive human rights crimes committed by Serengeti rangers. The PM’s decision wasn’t announced until 6^th December 2017 and it was a terrifying disappointment, but certainly celebrated by OBC’s own “journalist”. Fortunately, its implementation has been delayed.

Fratela Mapunda, Regional Security Officer who while the Arusha RC’s committee was at work to reach a proposal, was a bad pro-OBC influence, according to some the most aggressive together with Allan Kijazi. Mapunda is currently RSO in Mara region.

Alexander Songorwa, former Director of Wildlife. During the work by the Arusha RC’s committee Songorwa spoke out for a “solution” as per the rejected land use plan, and using Kagasheki’s lies. In November 2017 Songorwa was fired by Kigwangalla for working for OBC, putting the minister in danger by reporting about a secret trip to Loliondo, and being involved in illegal issuance of hunting blocks, among other issues. 

Jumanne Maghembe, Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism 2015 – 2017. Maghembe very aggressively worked for the alienation of the 1,500 km2 as a “protected area”. While the RC’s committee was at work, he made statements that the land had to be taken, and he brought a parliamentary standing committee on a Loliondo trip so co-opted that several members complained about being used to rubber-stamp the minister’s wish to hand the land to OBC. During the illegal operation with mass arson and human rights crimes he lied that the land would already be a protected area, while his own ministry and the DC were trying to justify the attack on village land with that people were entering the national park too easily.

William Mwakilema, former Serengeti chief park warden who campaigned for the 1,500 km2 Osero grab, told Maghembe’s co-opted standing committee that German funds were subject to the alienation of the 1,500 km2, and was chief park warden when the illegal mass arson operation was implemented by Serengeti National Park whose rangers committed multiple human rights crimes. Mwakilema has since been appointed as TANAPA's Deputy Commissioner for Conservation and Business Development.

Fredy Manongi, Chief Conservator of Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority. Besides having caused much suffering in NCA, this individual was telling journalists (Citizen, 11.11.2017) already a few days after Kigwangalla had stopped the illegal 2017 operation that Loliondo GCA must be “upgraded” to protect wildlife.

Atashasta Nditiye, former chairman of the standing parliamentary committee on land, natural resources and tourism who in March 2017 went on an outrageously co-opted Loliondo trip arranged by Minister Maghembe, and then in parliament in May 2017, together with the minister, engaged in the most classic, stupid and malicious rhetoric used by OBC’s friends, advocating for the alienation of the 1,500 km2 Osero while saying that the “problem” would be “25 NGOs”  (sometimes it’s “37”, when the truth is that there used to be two NGOs speaking up for land rights and those have been silenced through terror).

Since then, this very unethical person has been appointed Deputy Minister for Works, Transport and Communication.

Edward M Kohi, researcher at TAWIRI who during the work of the Arusha RC’s select committee spoke up for taking the 1,500 km2 Osero away from the Maasai. He participated with Mwakilema and Maghembe when telling the co-opted standing parliamentary committee that German funds were subject to this land alienation.

Rashid Mfaume Taka, DC for Ngorongoro was first seen as a new kind of more “civilized” DC, but has proven to be the worst of the worst. Taka has ordered many lengthy illegal arrests for “reasons” that under other circumstances would be comical indeed, and it was he who officially ordered the illegal evictions from village land in 2017, which lead to Serengeti rangers committing multiple crimes like mass arson, beatings, seizing (in Arash even shooting) of cattle, and rape. In a statement from the MNRT and in media Taka talked about evictions 5 km into village land, which Tanapa’s map from the illegal operation also show, but this didn’t prevent him from committing outrageous perjury in the East African Court of Justice testifying that the operation would only have taken place inside the national park!

Paul Dudui, very ambitious and boundaryless young man in Wasso town. First, Dudui concentrated at being a fanatical and loud CCM supporter, and then he discovered OBC and became a “conservationist”. Since he isn’t a pastoralist, Dudui doesn’t have anything to lose with campaigning for the 1,500 km2 land alienation wanted by OBC, or so he must think, even though less land means more land conflict. When Minister Lugola visited Wasso in February 2019, Dudui spoke praising OBC in the most embarrassingly glowing terms, to the extent that the mostly non-pastoralist attendants reacted negatively. In social media Dudui often celebrates illegal arrests and slanders me in insane and dangerous ways saying things like that I would be a poacher or even introduce weapons of war into Loliondo, and then he can send private messages pretending that we are friends with some “differences of opinion”. It’s widely thought that Dudui reports his fantasies to the DC. Dudui has been given a vehicle by OBC, but some claim that it was as compensation for being injured in an accident with an OBC vehicle.

Akina Dudui, unfortunately there are many people in Loliondo who like Dudui will do anything to impress billionaire hunters. Not only agriculturalist Sonjo, or semi-urban immigrants from other parts of the country who don’t need the grazing land, but also many Maasai. This is so bad that some say that there are “spies” everywhere, and they don’t trust anyone except their mother. What these people do is to phone the DC when they hear someone who speaks up against the “investors” or when they have dreamt about me, like in September 2018 when a Belgian woman was arrested for several days accused of being me, or in January 2019 when some people where illegally arrested, questioned about (not charged with) having met me at Olpusimoru in Kenya (which obviously isn’t a crime in any way) while I was far away in Sweden.

Patrick Girigo, local Sonjo who reportedly works for the government (TASAF) in Singida region, and who contested for Ngorongoro MP in 2015. Girigo is very much on the “investor friendly” side when it comes to the land, in social media he has celebrated illegal arrests, and insulted me in the classic “investor friendly” way. Though some say that he’s just rabidly anti-Maasai, and will support any injustice committed against the Maasai of Loliondo or NCA, but hasn’t got any money from OBC. He should be on this list, since he has high political ambitions.

Hamisi Kigwangalla, current Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism. Unlike other people on this list, Kigwangalla became an instant hero in Loliondo when he some weeks after being appointed minister stopped the illegal 2017 operation, fired Director of Wildlife Songorwa, promised that OBC would have left the country by January 2018, and complained that Mollel had wanted to bribe him cheaply and would be investigated by PCCB. However, OBC never left, and terror returned in 2018. Eventually Kigwangalla declared that OBC wasn’t a problem, that more (!) such investors were needed with the “new structure” (Majaliwa’s decision), and that only Mollel was troublesome (though Mollel wasn’t investigated by PCCB until over a year later). When questioned in social media Kigwangalla resorted to the worst kind of anti-Loliondo hate speech. Later he has expressed that he has “solved the conflict” and that everyone loves him.

Nebbo Mwina, acting Director of Wildlife when OBC’s assistant director handed over 15 Landcruisers to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism on 19^th April 2018 and then she declared that the government recognised the continued important contributions by OBC, wanted them to continue developing the long-time relationship, and not despair because of underground talk (Lukwangule, 20.04.2018).

James Wakibara, director of TAWA who when OBC’s assistant director handed over 15 vehicles to the MNRT on 19^th April 2018 profusely thanked OBC, and especially mentioned the company’s director who couldn’t attend (supposedly because Minister Kigwangalla, who also was elsewhere, had accused him of wanting to bribe him cheaply) (Lukwangule, 20.04.2018).

MNRT 19th April 2018.

MNRT 19th April 2018.

Marwa W. Mwita, former Officer Commanding Criminal Investigation Department at Ngorongoro District who in May-June 2018 led an intimidation drive against leaders and common villager with the aim of derailing the case in the East African Court of Justice.

Julius Francis Musei, Serengeti park warden who’s committed perjury in the East African Court of Justice lying that the 2017 operation only took place in the national park.

Village Executive Officers, the VEOs of Oloirien and Kirtalo, Leni Emil Saingo and Kayamba Burhani Luena, and the acting VEO of Ololosokwan, Godfrey K. Augustino, in June 2018 swore affidavits assisting the government in the case in the East African Court of Justice, saying that they didn’t know anything about the meetings to decide to sue the government, that they didn’t attend, and that there was forgery. Their presence was however not required for such meetings, and anyone will understand that it’s a bad idea to invite government employees when planning to sue the Tanzanian government.

Charles Marik Maganga, legal officer involved in the May-June 2018 attempts to derail the case in the East African Court of Justice.

JWTZ, the Tanzania People’s Defence Force that set up a camp in Lopolun near Wasso in late March 2018. The presence of these soldiers contributed significantly to silencing everyone in 2018. From late June to late August 2018 the soldiers attacked and tortured several groups of people, including a former Soitsambu councillor, mentioning “Kenyans” and claiming to defend protected areas. In November 2018 the soldiers started beating and chasing away people and livestock from wide areas around OBC’s camp that was being prepared for guests, and then they burned down several bomas in areas of Kirtalo and Ololosokwan, while all leaders stayed silent. Then, on 21^st December the soldiers burned 13 bomas in the Leken area of Kirtalo. Unrelated to the land, these soldiers have also acted violently in Wasso town where they tortured 26-year old Yohana “Babuche” Saidea who passed away on 2^nd April 2019. The soldiers were later transferred, and new ones were brought to Lopolun.

Mohammed VI, King of Morocco who at least once has visited Loliondo. When I’ve asked if he was the guest of Tanzania, of OBC, or of Sheikh Mohammed of Dubai, I’ve been told, “all of those”. His influence in Loliondo, if any, is unclear, but it later transpired that the king had been expected the days before Christmas 2018. At least one cargo plane from the Royal Moroccan Air Force had already landed, and OBC’s community liaison posted a picture of this. It should be noted that Tanzania seems to have switched from solidarity with the people of West Sahara to economic cooperation with Morocco.

Raphael Siumbu, District Executive Director who in a basically identical affidavit to that of the DC has committed outrageous perjury in the East African Court of Justice lying that the 2017 mass arson operation with serious human rights crimes only took place in Serengeti National Park.

Alli Kassim Shakha, a geographical information system officer, is another outrageous perjurer in the East African Court of Justice. TANAPA already had their map for the illegal operation of 2017 and that one shows that the overwhelming majority of burned bomas were on village land, so this individual just made another map for the court …

Nganana Mothi, district wildlife officer. A Maasai from NCA who years ago seemed like a somewhat serious person, but has proven to be a terrible traitor swearing another copy of the DC’s lies in the East African Court of Justice.

Emmanuel Sukums, education officer for secondary school who upon Minister Lugola’s visit to Wasso in February 2019 was made into acting District Executive Director (DED) and put on a podium to describe the generosity of OBC and their great help to the district council and to the villages. Supposedly, DED Siumbu preferred to lie low, since Mollel was being investigated.

Cyprian Musiba, owner/writer of the Tanzanite newspaper that focuses on lies and character assassination of anyone who could possibly challenge President Magufuli, using the lowest slander and bad photo shopping. For some yet unknown reason, on 5^th August 2019, this paper published an article – of which I’ve got a not very clear photo - defending OBC’s “innocence”, presenting Sheikh Mohammed of Dubai as the investor, talking about the loss of revenue for Tanzania, and the long-time diplomatic ties with the UAE, blaming the Arusha RC and unnamed “European” companies for what was happening. There wasn’t any mention at all of the land conflict or of the human rights crimes. Not even the usual “NGOs” or “Kenyans” nonsense was used. Since Kinana – OBC very long-time friend - is one of the Tanzanite’s targets, this was somewhat surprising. Maybe the article was planted by OBC to an ignorant Musiba, or maybe there’s an attempt – by whoever - to show this as the way to follow for the fanatics of the regime. I just don’t know and would appreciate some help. The style was to some degree reminiscent of that used by Manyerere Jackton, but lacking much of his typical hate rhetoric.

Under the current government, terror and silence have markedly increased in Loliondo. Multiple illegal arrests with the aim to intimidate everyone into silence started in 2016, and when everyone was silenced the PM set out to “solve the conflict”. In 2017 the unthinkable happened when Serengeti rangers, and others, after the formal order by the DC illegally invaded village land committing mass arson, beatings, seizing of cattle, blocking of water sources, and rape. This was unthinkable after all the work to avoid a repeat of the illegal invasion of 2009, but with this new kind if government it stopped being unthinkable. In 2018 soldiers tortured people and then set fire to bomas in November and December. Everyone, not only in Loliondo, fear “wasiojulikana” (unknown assailants) who in this case were JWTZ soldiers.

On the other hand, in January 2019 the president made a statement against evictions of pastoralist and cultivators, but it’s not yet known what this means for Loliondo. PCCB have investigated OBC for corruption, and Mollel has been arrested and charged. Nobody seems to know why this happened now, after all these years …, but some believe it’s because of internal skirmishes in CCM.

Summary of Osero developments of the past decades

All land in Loliondo is village land per the Village Land Act No.5 of 1999, and more than the whole of Loliondo is also a Game Controlled Area (of the old kind that doesn’t affect human activities and can overlap with village land) where OBC, that organises hunting for Sheikh Mohammed of Dubai, has the hunting block. Stan Katabalo – maybe Tanzania’s last investigative journalist - reported about how this hunting block was acquired in the early 1990s. By 2019 there does no longer seem to be journalists of any kind, when it comes to Loliondo.

In 2007-2008 the affected villages were threatened by the DC at the time, Jowika Kasunga, into signing a Memorandum of Understanding with OBC.

In the drought year 2009 the Field Force Unit and OBC extrajudicially evicted people and cattle from some 1,500 km2 of dry season grazing land that serve as the core hunting area next to Serengeti National Park. Hundreds of houses were burned, and thousands of cattle were chased into an extreme drought area which did not have enough grass or water to sustain them. 7-year old Nashipai Gume was lost in the chaos and has not been found, ever since.

People eventually moved back, and some leaders started participating in reconciliation ceremonies with OBC.

Soon enough, in 2010-2011, OBC totally funded a draft district land use plan that proposed turning the 1,500 km2 into the new kind of Game Controlled Area that’s a “protected” (not from hunting) area and can’t overlap with village land. This plan, that would have allowed a more “legal” repeat of 2009, was strongly rejected by Ngorongoro District Council.

In 2013, then Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, Khamis Kagasheki, made bizarre statements as if all village land in Loliondo would have disappeared through magic, and the people of Loliondo would be generously “gifted” with the land outside the 1,500 km2. This was nothing but a horribly twisted way of again trying to evict the Maasai landowners from OBC’s core hunting area. There’s of course no way a Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism would have the mandate for such a trick of magic. After many mass meetings – where there was agreement to never again enter any MoU with OBC - and protest delegations to Dar es Salaam and Dodoma, the then Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda in a speech on 23^rd September the same year revoked Kagasheki’s threat and told the Maasai to continue their lives as before this threat that through the loss of dry season grazing land would have led to the destruction of livelihoods, environmental degradation and increased conflict with neighbours.

Parts of the press – foremost Manyerere Jackton in the Jamhuri newspaper – increased their incitement against the Maasai of Loliondo as destructive, “Kenyan” and governed by corrupt NGOs. OBC’s “friends” in Loliondo became more active in the harassment of those speaking up against the “investors”, even though they themselves didn’t want the new GCA that would be protected area, and rely on others, the same people they persecute, to stop it… With Lazaro Nyalandu as minister the focus was on holding closed meeting trying to buy off local leaders, and there was sadly some success in this.

Speaking up against OBC (and against Thomson Safaris, the American tour operator claiming ownership of 12,617 acres, and that shares the same friends as OBC) had always been risky, but the witch-hunt intensified with mass arrests in July 2016. Four people were charged with a truly demented “espionage and sabotage” case. Manyerere Jackton has openly boasted about his direct involvement in the illegal arrests of innocent people for the sake of intimidation.

In July 2016, Manyerere Jackton wrote an “article” calling for PM Majaliwa to return the Kagasheki-style threat. In November 2016 OBC sent out a “report” to the press calling for the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism to intervene against the destructive Maasai. In mid-December 2016, the Arusha RC Mrisho Gambo was tasked by the PM with setting up a committee to “solve the conflict”, and on 25^th January 2017 the Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, Maghembe, in the middle of the drought-stricken Osero, flanked by the most OBC-devoted journalists, and ignoring the ongoing talks, made a declaration that the land had to be taken before the end of March. In March 2017 Minister Maghembe co-opted a Parliamentary Standing Committee, and then Loliondo leaders’ “only ally”, RC Gambo’s, committee started marking “critical areas” while being met with protests in every village. German development money that the standing committee had been told was subject to the alienation of the 1,500 km2 was – after protests by 600 women – not signed by the district chairman. On 21^st March 2017 a compromise proposal for a WMA (that had been rejected in Loliondo for a decade and a half) was reached through voting by the RC’s committee, then handed over to PM Majaliwa on 20^th April, and a long wait to hear the PM’s decision started.

While still waiting, on 13^th August 2017 an unexpected illegal eviction and arson operation was initiated in the Oloosek area of Ololosokwan and then continued all the way to Piyaya. Beatings, arrests of the victims, illegal seizing of cows, and blocking of water sources followed. Women were raped by the rangers. Many, but not all, leaders stayed strangely and disappointingly silent.

The DC and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism explained the illegal operation with that people and cattle were entering Serengeti National Park too easily, while Minister Maghembe lied that the land was already the “protected area” wanted by OBC and others.

There was an interim stop order by the government organ Commission for Human Rights and Good Governance (CHRAGG), but the crimes continued unabated.

A case was filed by four villages in the East African Court of Justice on 21^st September 2017.

When in Arusha on 23^rd September, President Magufuli collected protest placards against Maghembe, OBC and abuse, to read them later.

On 5^th October 2017 the Kenyan opposition leader, Raila Odinga, (who had met with people from Loliondo) told supporters that his friend Magufuli had promised him that all involved in the illegal operation in Loliondo would be fired.

In a cabinet reshuffle on 7^th October 2017 Maghembe was removed and Hamisi Kigwangalla appointed as new minister of Natural Resources and Tourism.

Kigwangalla stopped the operation on 26^th October 2017, and then made it clear that OBC’s hunting block would not be renewed, which he had already mentioned in Dodoma on the 22^nd.  On 5^th November, he fired the Director of Wildlife and announced that rangers at Klein’s gate that had been colluding with the investor would be transferred. Kigwangalla emphasized that OBC would have left before January. He talked about the corruption syndicate at their service, reaching into his own ministry, and claimed that OBC’s director, Mollel, wanted to bribe him, and would be investigated for corruption. However, OBC never showed any signs of leaving.

Kigwangalla announced in social media that he on 13^th November 2017 received a delegation headed by the German ambassador and that the Germans were going to fund community development projects in Loliondo, “in our quest to save the Serengeti”. Alarm was raised in Loliondo that the district chairman would have signed secretly, which some already had suspected.

On 6^th December 2017, PM Majaliwa announced a vague, but terrifying decision to form a “special authority” to manage the 1,500 km2 Osero. He also said that OBC would stay. Manyerere Jackton celebrated the decision in the Jamhuri newspaper. Further information and implementation of this “special authority” has fortunately been delayed, even if it was mentioned in Kigwangalla’s budget speech on 21^st May 2018. The only additional information that has been shared is that the whole of Loliondo, per Majaliwa’s plan, is to be put under the Ngorongoro Conservation Area.

Sheikh Mohammed, his crown prince, and other royal guests visited Loliondo in March 2018, and Kigwangalla welcomed them on Twitter. Earlier, in restricted access social media, Kigwangalla had been saying that OBC weren’t a problem, but only the director, Mollel, and that Loliondo, with the “new structure” needed more investors of the kind.

Around 24^th March 2018 a military camp was set up in Lopolun, near Wasso town, by the Tanzania People’s Defence Force (JWTZ). Some were from the start worried that the aim was to further intimidate those speaking up against the land alienation plans, non-alarmists were saying that it was there for the Kenya border and for normal soldier issues.

An ambitious report about Loliondo and NCA, with massive media coverage (and some unnecessary mistakes) was released by the Oakland Institute on 10^th May 2018, and Kigwangalla responded by denying that any abuse had ever taken place, and threatening anyone involved with the report. He went as far as in social media denying the existence of people in Loliondo GCA.

In May-June 2018 there was an intimidation campaign against the applicants in the case in the East African Court of Justice, and silence became worse than ever.

From late June to late August 2018 there were several incidents of soldiers from the military camp set up in Olopolun attacking and torturing people.

On 25^th September 2018 the East African Court of Justice ordered interim measures restraining the government from any evictions, burning of homesteads, or confiscating of cattle, and from harassing or intimidating the applicants.

In November 2018 while OBC were preparing their camp, reports started coming in that soldiers were attacking people in wide areas around the camp, while all leaders stayed silent. Information was piecemeal, and after a couple of days many people were telling that bomas had been burned in areas of Kirtalo and Ololosokwan.

Beatings and seizing of cattle continued in some areas, and on 21^st December the soldiers descended upon Leken in Kirtalo and burned 13 bomas to the ground, while the silence continued.

It was later revealed that a visit by Mohammed VI of Morocco had been planned for the days before Christmas 2018, but that it was postponed.

In January 2019 innocent people were again illegally arrested for the sole sake of intimidation.

Then RC Gambo on a Ngorongoro visit spoke up about the burning of bomas, but in a very vague way, without even mentioning the soldiers.

On 15^th January the president issued a somewhat promising statement against evictions of pastoralists and cultivators.

In February 2019 OBC’s director Isaack Mollel was surprisingly, on the initiative of the RC, reluctance by the police, and order by Minister Lugola, arrested for employing foreign workers without permits, released on bail, and then caught by the Prevention and Combatting of Corruption Bureau, and on 4^th March charged with economic crimes. On 29th March, the former District Security Officer Issa Ng’itu was added to the charges accused of having received over ten million shillings and a Landcruiser Prado from Mollel. Preliminary hearings in the criminal cases against Mollel keep being postponed, while some say that Ng’itu has been released and even promoted, which I hope isn’t true.

Now Majaliwa’s decision must be declared as not to be implemented, and the Osero must be left in peace, as should already have been announced if the president’s statement is to be taken seriously in any way, and the case in the East African Court of Justice must be won.

Further information is much appreciated.

Susanna Nordlund

sannasus@hotmail.com