In this blog post:
What
has happened
The
period that the foreign workers were employed by OBC without permits
Reporting
in regular and gutter (Jamhuri/Tanzanite) press
Magufuli
issues a directive about those charged with economic sabotage
Statement
about implementation of the president’s January statement
Some
of the unanswered questions
Then the Ngorongoro Chief Conservator
made a marrow chilling announcement
Summary
of Osero developments of the past decades
I still don’t know why after all
these years while OBC have had almost all government officials in Loliondo
serving them with terror and slander against innocent people, the Prevention
and Combatting of Corruption Bureau didn’t until February this year act against
OBC’s director Isaack Mollel. I don’t know why this happened, what will happen
now, or who is doing what, but I know that the charges relevant to the years of
suffering in Loliondo were, in some way, dropped early on, and those remaining
are of the kind that any arrogant and unscrupulous company could have been
charged with, if unlucky.
I’d still like more people to read
the List of people in one way or other involved in the long-time slander,terror, and corruption syndicate in Loliondo, and I’m looking for further information.
Also this blog post has too many questions.
On
26th September the RAI newspaper reported about a terrible
announcement by the Ngorongoro Chief Conservator Freddy Manongi (see below, at the end, before the summary).
This reached me today on the 27th and made this all but ready to publish
blog post seem quite irrelevant. I will follow up on this - will write more
extensively - and am asking all defenders of the land to please come out of your
places of hiding as soon as possible.
What has happened
In
early February 2019, ten Pakistani nationals were arrested for having done
temporary work - as drivers, mechanics, cooks and painters - for OBC without
permits between November 2018 and January 2019. Arusha RC Gambo wanted Mollel
arrested as well, but the police were reluctant. Then Gambo complained to Minister
of Home Affairs Lugola, who was touring Arusha region, and Mollel was arrested,
charged, and released on bail only to then get caught by the Prevention and
Combatting of Corruption Bureau, TAKUKURU/PCCB, and charged on ten counts of
economic crimes, mostly concerning importation of vehicles from Dubai, and
forging documents to evade taxation. Mollel was locked up in Kisongo remand
prison, since economic sabotage is an unbailable crime. On 18th
March the ten charges about employing foreign nationals were dismissed, and
Mollel instead got 37 new charges concerning this case. 27 temporary workers
had already left the country when the ten, who have now had to
stay in Tanzania for many months, got caught. There are two cases involving
Mollel: the workers without permits, and the economic crimes evading vehicle
tax and forging documents.
I
was informed that “people in Arusha” (people described that way often have a
very hazy idea about Loliondo) interpreted the reasons for the arrests as
internal skirmishes inside the ruling party, since the CMM party elder Abdulraham
Kinana, who retired in May 2018, and since 1992 has been close to OBC, was
very much out of favour with the president. Some people in Loliondo also see
this as a probable explanation. Early on I was informed that Mollel’s lawyers
were saying that PM Majaliwa had written a letter requesting that Mollel must
not be disturbed. Later, someone else said that there had been two letters: one
from Majaliwa and one from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, both
saying that that the temporary OBC workers should be released. I’m not sure if
such letters really were sent, but if they were, they didn’t have any effect.
It
should be remembered that Minister Kigwangalla in early November 2017, after
having stopped the illegal mass arson of that year, made some big promises that
he then dropped, one after the other. He promised that OBC would have left the
country before January 2018 never to be given another hunting block, he promised
to clean up his ministry since the corruption syndicate at OBC’s service
reached all the way into it (only the director of wildlife was fired), and he said
that Mollel who had arrogantly boasted that he would bribe Kigwangalla more
cheaply than he had bribed is predecessors would be investigated by PCCB – but,
as seen, that didn’t happen until February 2019. I don’t know anything about
how Kigwangalla views what has since happened to Mollel, or if he’s involved in
any way. Indications are that that Kigwangalla - who likes to show off without any substance,
in a childish but dangerous manner, and has lately talked in more than creepy
way in defence of evictions (and other violence) - could have U-turned also regarding
Mollel.
On
29th March 2019 PCCB moved somewhat closer to the very real danger
of the government officials at OBC’s service in Loliondo when former (until
February) Ngorongoro District Security Officer (DSO, the chief spy in the district))
Issa Ng’itu was charged on fifteen counts of corruption, submitting false documents,
and forgery between 2017 and 2019. The charges concerned Ng’itu several times
receiving money – in total over 10 million Tanzanian shillings - from 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. It was reported that the
money transactions were found on a SIM-card. It should be remembered that
Ng’itu was working for OBC’s interests even before 2017, at least since 2015
during the attacks against Kirtalo village.
On 11th April Frida Wikesi,
the acting head of PCCB in Arusha told the press, “Huyu (Isaya*) Mollel amekuwa akiwahonga maofisa mbalimbali wa Serikali
kwa lengo la kuwafanya wawe watetezi
wake katika mgogoro wa matumizi mseto wa Pori Tengefu la Loliondo huku akiwa
ameisababishia Serikali hasara ya mabilioni ya fedha kwa kukwepa kulipa kodi,”.
(This (Isaya)* Mollel has
been bribing various government officials for the purpose of making them his
advocates in the conflict over mixed land use in Loliondo Game Controlled Area
and in this he has caused the government loss of billions of money through tax
evasion”)
Why was only one government
official - District Security Officer Ng’itu - investigated and charged? All of them, and not least the DC, have
- very openly and known by all - been acting as OBC’s advocates. So has PM
Majaliwa … And why did Ng’itu very silently get off the hook?
*Isaya seems to be Isaack
Lesion Mollel’s first name on official documents, since it’s used by PCCB, but
what I’ve observed is that the name Isaack (the spelling may vary) has always been
used by everyone everywhere.
Nothing more was heard
about Ng’itu’s case, and eventually I heard that he had been released, but
there wasn’t even one word about this in the press. To make matters worse,
someone who should know had heard from reliable sources that Ng’itu had been
promoted to Regional Security Officer (RSO) “somewhere south”. Others thought
that he had been demoted. Someone not from Loliondo, but with sources deep
inside the system confirmed that Ng’itu had been appointed RSO in Ruvuma, but
then someone else met with some people from Songea who said that Ng’itu wasn’t
their RSO … so I just don’t know. I’ve been told that Ng’itu’s release was
ordered “from above”.
Preliminary hearings kept
being postponed again and again. On 2nd September, the case was
dismissed – because of too many postponements – and the workers were released,
only to again be arrested and granted bail, there was yet another postponement,
and then a new date for preliminary hearings was set for 16th
September, when I couldn’t find anyone who knew what had happened, but after a
few days it was reported that the case was again postponed, since more time was
needed for investigation … until 2nd October. Now I don’t know if there will be a postponement again on
the 2nd, so I’ll just finish this blog post, and update it if necessary.
Mollel’s long stay in
remand prison has had a positive effect on the ground in Loliondo. Even if basically
everyone continues silent and fearful, there has – as far as I know – not been
any illegal arrests since January, herders haven’t been harassed and can even walk
right up to OBC’s camp. At the hearings in the East African Court of Justice in
June, the councillor for Ololosokwan, and others, again spoke to the press
about the land threat. On the other hand, this focus on lack of permits, tax
evasion and fraud, is very absurd indeed when OBC, and its director Mollel,
have for so many years, and so openly, been inciting massive human rights
crimes. For years, anyone reported for voicing criticism about OBC – and about
the American company Thomson Safaris that receive the same services from
government officials – has been interrogated by the security committee,
threatened, arbitrary detained, sometimes for a very prolonged time, in some
cases tortured, and even maliciously prosecuted. I’ve got some solid first-hand
experience of what’s been going on, and the terror has worsened considerably
under the current government, until it started to calm down early this year.
OBC funded a 2010-2030
draft district land use plan that proposed turning their huge core hunting area
that’s 1,500 km2 of important dry season grazing into a “protected area”.
Fortunately, this proposal was rejected by Ngorongoro District Council, but the
idea keeps being brought up in more or less – often more – threatening ways. In
2009 and 2017 totally illegal operations, ordered by the DC’s office, took
place in this area that OBC want emptied of people and cattle, and hundreds of
bomas were burned to the ground, people were beaten, raped and illegally
arrested, and cattle seized. The crimes Mollel has been charged with are just
so insignificant compared to the crimes committed against the Maasai of
Loliondo by Mollel, by just about every government official in the district and
beyond, by the FFU in 2009, by Serengeti rangers in 2017, and by many others
who seem allowed to get away with anything.
The period that the foreign workers were employed by OBC without permits
The unlucky temporary
workers, stuck in Tanzania, were working for OBC between November 2018 and
January 2019, which in some ways was the most terrifying time ever in Loliondo.
Many voices that had been speaking up were silenced through arbitrary arrests
with the aim to intimidate everyone in 2016, in 2017 the unexpected illegal
mass arson operation – like the one in 2009, the repeat of which earlier had
been seen as unthinkable – brought some shocking silences like that of the MP,
but far from everyone was muted, and a case was filed in the East African Court
of Justice – only 2018 brought almost complete terror and silence.
In March 2018, a military
camp was set up in Lopolun, near Wasso town, by the Tanzania People’s Defence
Force, but for months not much was heard about these soldiers. Towards the end
of May 2018, the at that time OCCID, Marwa Mwita, together with local police
conducted an intimidation campaign to derail the case in the East African Court
of Justice (EACJ), and unfortunately the intimidation part worked just too
well, since nobody spoke up, except for the villagers’ main counsel. Then from
late June 2018 to late August the JWTZ soldiers attacked and tortured several
groups of people, for somewhat varying and unclear reasons.
In mid-September
there was the most bizarre case of a prolonged arbitrary arrest of a Belgian
nurse accused of being me …
And on 25th September 2018, finally there
was some good news when the EACJ issued interim measures restraining the
Tanzanian government from evicting the applicants, destroying their homesteads,
or confiscating their cattle, and restraining the Inspector General of Police
from intimidating or harassing them in relation to the case.
Around 8th
November 2018 the soldier stationed at Lopolun started an exercise – in
flagrant violation of court orders – beating and chasing away people and cattle
from wide areas around OBC’s camp that reportedly was being prepared for
guests. I kept getting piecemeal information from a considerable number of
people on the ground, including several that I’d not earlier heard from. Then from
14th to 19th November the soldiers set fire to bomas in some
areas of Kirtalo and Ololosokwan where they had been attacking people. Those
whose duty it would have been to speak up confirmed what was happening, but
were terrified – thinking that the attacks were ordered by the president and
that very bad things could happen to them and their families – and refused to
speak up. (Currently, they no longer think that the attacks were ordered by the
president). Absolutely nobody at all was speaking up, not ward or village
leaders, not traditional leaders, not the NGOs, not any women’s groups, and
certainly not the MP who didn’t even say anything during the illegal operation
of 2017. Even some activists who’d gone to England to decolonise museum
artefacts refused to condemn, or even mention the ongoing atrocities. The
soldiers were reportedly telling their victims that they were beaten for having
sued the government, and that the land was a “corridor”. They seized cattle and
tried to hand them over to Serengeti rangers that refused, but later these
rangers joined in, torturing some herders.
Sporadic beatings
continued, and worsened the days leading up to Christmas 2018. The soldiers
again seized cattle that the Serengeti warden refused to accept. On 21st
December the soldiers set fire to 12 or 13 bomas in the Leken area of Kirtalo.
On 21st November
2018 the district CCM chairman together with the district council chairman and
some village chairmen had approached DC Rashid Mfaume Taka to ask about the
violence, but the DC denied any knowledge about the ongoing crimes. The day
after the mass arson in Leken, 22nd December 2018, the DC however
issued a statement shared in social media, saying that he was sorry about the
atrocities, as if it would have been a natural disaster, without mentioning the
soldiers, adding that he had commissioned a team to check on the villagers and
their state of affair. The DC clarified that there wasn’t any kind of operation
and that the villagers should stay in their areas and continue with their
economic activities – and this is how the people of Leken spent Christmas under
polyethylene sheets.
Later it was mentioned
that Mohammed VI, the King of Morocco – who at least once before had visited
Loliondo - had been expected in Loliondo the days before Christmas, but
postponed his trip. One or more cargo planes from the Royal Moroccan Air Force
had already landed in Loliondo and OBC’s community liaison, uploaded a photo of
one of them.
On 7th January
2019, when the Arusha RC Mrisho Gambo was soon to visit Ngorongoro district, Ngorongoro
DC Rashid Mfaume Taka once again ordered some very arbitrary arrests. Two
secondary school teachers who habitually get arrested when the DC thinks
someone should get arrested were kept locked up until the 13th, and
the only thing they were questioned about was having met with me at Olpusimoru market
in Kenya on 6th January, which besides not being a crime in any way,
was impossible since I was far away in Sweden, and the teachers themselves had
not been to the market.
On his visit, RC Gambo finally
spoke up condemning the burning of bomas, but in strange and vague way, not
mentioning the soldiers, as if pretending that they would have been some
wasiojulikana (the in Tanzania much feared unknown people who really aren’t that
unknown). He said people’s bomas had been burned, and the process doing this
wasn’t very pleasing to see. He warned leaders – without specifying which
leaders - against being used for private interests by someone controlling
things in Ngorongoro via remote control. Sheikh Mohammed? Al Ali? Kinana? I don’t
know. The RC said that measures must be taken through the district and regional
security committees, following the law, and showing an element of humanity, and
he praised the MP/deputy minister for being wise, diplomatic and great at lobbying.
In a clip I haven’t seen, also the MP condemns the arson without mentioning the
soldiers.
Did the RC mean that
Mollel contracted the soldiers and that the DC – or some other leader –
approved it? Does that make sense? Why did everyone at the time think that the beatings
and arson were ordered by the president?
Then on 15th
January Magufuli issued his statement about not being happy seeing pastoralists
and cultivators being evicted all over the country, and therefore he had
ordered the suspension of operations to remove villages situated in protected
areas, and set one month for the concerned ministers to make amendments to the
law and establish which wildlife and forest protected areas do not have any
wildlife or forests, and to divide those among pastoralists and cultivators
that now have problems finding land for their livelihoods. He didn’t mention Loliondo
and Loliondo isn’t in a protected area, but just a couple of days later there
was over the top praise for the president read by the district council chairman
in a statement. On 17th February, a team of seven cabinet secretaries
from different ministries arrived – in the usual interminable snake of big
fossil fuel guzzling vehicles - to inspect the 1,500km2 Osero and report back to the
ministers, and their attitude was reportedly not that promising.
Then, as said, the first
week of February OBC’s ten unlucky temporary workers that were still in
Tanzania were arrested for not having permits.
Between November and January OBC
employed 37 foreign temporary workers, and were apparently too busy, too much
in a hurry, or whatever, to get them proper permits. Why?
Reporting in regular and gutter (Jamhuri/Tanzanite) press
Various Tanzanian news
outlets have covered the case – or cases – reporting what’s been said in court,
or in PCCB’s press statements, but without showing any interest whatsoever in
the situation on the ground in Loliondo, and without any analysis. And, as
said, they just stopped mentioning anything about former DSO Ng’itu’s case.
OBC’s own “journalist” Manyerere
Jackton, who in well over 50 articles, mostly in the Jamhuri newspaper, has
been spewing out hate rhetoric against the Maasai of Loliondo, campaigned for taking
the 1,500 km2 Osero away from them, slandered anyone he’s suspected of being able
to speak up, and made up stories without any concern for facts, has been quiet
since December 2018 and not written anything about Mollel’s arrest. Not until 24th
September – when Magufuli had made a statement about feeling sorry about those
locked up in remand prison for economic sabotage, and saying that they should
get the opportunity to pay their way out, was anything written in the Jamhuri. Someone
who’s asked Jackton told me that he didn’t think that there was anything to
write about when Mollel was just charged, and not convicted of anything. However,
Masyaga Matinyi, who has written a couple of articles in the same unhinged
style as Jackton, reportedly like Jackton is Mollel’s esteemed guest when in
Loliondo, and together with Jackton flanked Minister Maghembe when he during ongoing
talks in January 2017 declared that the land must be taken, early on wrote an
article about the troubles that have befallen Mollel. This was when he had been
questioned by PCCB for several days without yet being charged. Surprisingly,
this article appeared somewhat factual.
OBC got a new friend in
the press when on 5th August 2019 the Tanzanite newspaper - whose
owner/writer, Cyprian Musiba, focuses on character assassination and, often with
some delirious sexual twist, slanders anyone he thinks could possibly challenge
President Magufuli - published an article in defence of the hunters. The
picture I’ve got of the article wasn’t clear and I don’t understand the argument
for Mollel’s innocence, but “msamaha wa kodi” are mentioned, which would mean
some kind of tax exemptions. The main points in the article seem to be the loss
of revenue for Tanzania, and long-term diplomatic ties with the UAE. Sheikh
Mohammed is presented as the owner of OBC, with no mention of Al Ali, and the
ruthless ruler of Dubai is said the be willing to pay 8.4 billion TShs in tax for
the imported vehicles that Mollel has been charged with having evaded. The Tanzanite
claims to be in contact with an anonymous member of the Dubai royal family. The
writer explains the cause of OBC’s troubles as unnamed European companies and
Arusha RC Mrisho Gambo who’s working for their interest. On 10th
September the Tanzanite reported that Sheikh Mohammed was ready to pay 12.5
million TShs (the evaded taxes mentioned in a statement by PCCB), and that the
bad guys were various unnamed hunting companies from western countries using
unnamed politicians and human rights organisations against OBC. That kind of
storyline isn’t new and has often been used by a special kind of OBC-friendly
person who - unlike the rotten government officials and boundaryless opportunists
in Loliondo - doesn’t know anything at all about what’s going on. Though
sometimes those people mention the name of the “European” company, and that’s &Beyond,
which is South African and not involved in hunting. The Tanzanite does in no
way whatsoever mention OBC’s campaign to alienate 1,500 km2 of important grazing
land for the Maasai, the massive human rights crimes, or the terror imposed by
government officials upon anyone who dares to oppose the hunters. Maasai, cows,
and grass do not seem to exist in the world of the Tanzanite.
Opinions differ on who
really is behind the Tanzanite. Some say that it’s the government, or TISS (theTanzania
Intelligence and Security Service), while others say that Musiba is an outsider
looking to get in using over the top praise of the government and slander
against any perceived threat. The paper (or papers, since Musiba also runs the
Fahari Yetu and the Tanzania Perspective) is supported by government ads, and
those who have acted against Musiba’a slander have got into trouble. Though on
the other hand, on 13th September, Minister of Home Affairs Lugola warned
Musiba against making the public believe that he was being directed by the government,
or the president, and added that the police would take severe action against
Musiba for threatening the public (though no action as been taken by the police
so far).
Why did the Tanzanite take
up the defence of OBC when Abdulraham Kinana has for decades been a close friend,
or more than that, of the hunters? Kinana is one of the main targets of Musiba’s
slander campaigns. Has he just not been informed about Kinana’s relation to OBC?
Does he not want to work with facts even when they suit his purposes, but only with
slanderous lies? Was he approached by OBC with a nice offer? Though in that
case he would have been “informed” that the hunters are great conservationists and
that the Maasai are destructive “Kenyan” people who say that the land is theirs,
and are governed by corrupt NGOs …
Magufuli issues a directive about those charged
with economic sabotage
At a public function on
22nd September the president issued a directive to allow those in
remand prison charged with unbailable economic sabotage to negotiate their
freedom with the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP). Magufuli said (as
translated by the Guardian), “Now that
the DPP and Solicitor General are here let me request you and others who are
working on criminal justice that there are people who are in remand for economic
sabotage for years. They are suffering – I watch them on television being taken
to court. If they are ready to confess and commit themselves to return the
money, let them be released and the negotiation process should start tomorrow
to next Saturday”. To me this sounds like letting big crooks get away with
paying bribes, while those who are innocent will be extorted. A better idea
would be to speed up the judicial process, and to stop the use of trumped up
charges and malicious prosecution with the aim of installing fear and silencing
people.
On 24th September,
the Jamhuri finally wrote about Mollel’s case in an article mentioning various
people who have been charged with economic sabotage in Tanzania. Since there
wasn’t any incitement against the Maasai added, I’m not sure if it was written
by Manyerere Jackton. The Jamhuri claims to have been in contact with a
relative of Mollel who complains about that the charges mention 2.8 billion Tshs,
then there was talk about 8.6 billion TShs, and then in a press statement PCCB
mentioned 12.6 billion TShs. The relative says that Mollel is innocent suffering
in remand prison, that they aren’t getting any explanations or answers, not even
when saying that they are ready to pay 8.6 billion without “justification”, and
that the imported vehicles had all tax exemptions and documents in order.
I don’t even know if
Mollel is guilty, but with such a crooked and arrogant personality he’s capable
of anything. What I do know for a fact is his deep involvement in much, much
worse crimes than tax evasion. Maybe in remand prison Mollel has got time to think
about those who’ve been innocently locked up at Loliondo police station for
daring – or before even daring - to speak up against the planned destruction of
lives and livelihoods that he’s spent years working for, maybe he’s thought
about those who’ve slept in makeshift shelters with their children after their
houses have been burned to the ground, maybe he’s thought about those that have
been mercilessly beaten and raped, but I doubt it.
Statement about implementation of the
president’s January statement
On 23rd September
the government issued a statement about the implementation of the president’s
statement of 15th January, and it was read by PM Majaliwa. The
message was that 12 game controlled areas and 7 forest reserves would be
revoked and given to villagers for residence, agriculture, and livestock. Maybe
some of the forest reserves have some relevance (I don’t know), but as is very
well known, not only Loliondo GCA, but most, if not all, GCAs are already village
land per the Village Land Act No. 5 of 1999, and have never been protected
areas regulating anything else than hunting. This means that the statement contains
a big portion of nonsense, and revoking old GCAs, redrawing boundaries, and so
on, is more of a risk than an opportunity. However, it does not seem like
Loliondo GCA is on the not yet released list, and I’ll return to this issue.
What we need is assurance
that any plans of alienating the 1,500 km2 Osero, or placing Loliondo under Ngorongoro
Conservation Area Authority, have been scrapped.
What made PCCB finally
act against OBC’s director?
What happened to former Ngorongoro
DSO Issa Ng’itu’s case? And where is he now?
Who ordered the soldier attacks
in November and December 2018?
At least the cases filed
by the villages of Ololoskwan, Kirtalo, Oloirien and Arash in the East African
Court of Justice is ongoing, but when will the hearing be resumed? There hasn’t
even been a court session since June.
Then the Ngorongoro Chief Conservator made a marrow chilling
announcement
On 26th September
the RAI newspaper reported about a terrible announcement made by the Ngorongoro
Chief Conservator Freddy Manongi talking about dividing Ngorongoro into four
zones. I didn’t see this article until today 27th, and apparently leaders
in Loliondo had not heard about Manongi’s statement before yesterday 26th.
Zone one is to be
exclusively for conservation and tourism. The RAI doesn’t detail which areas
are under this threat, but it’s supposed to be various areas around Ngorongoro
Conservation Area where people have regularly through the years been startled
by rumours of evictions. The people of NCA are worse off than those in
Loliondo, living under the colonial rule of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area
Authority, not allowed to practise subsistence agriculture or build modern houses,
have the past years been losing access to one grazing area after the other, and
suffering from high levels of child malnutrition. The Lake Natron basin and escarpment,
including Oldoinyo Lengai, are apparently under this same “zone one” threat, and it’s not
the first time the people of this area are threatened with evictions.
Zone two is – according to
the RAI quoting Manongi - to be exclusively for tourism hunting and consists of
the 1,500 km2 Osero of very important dry season grazing in Loliondo where OBC
have their core hunting area, and from where they, as known .., want the Maasai
landowners to be evicted, which fortunately has been stopped, even if there
have been acute threats, and extremely violent illegal operations. As
mentioned, Loliondo is under the threat of being placed under the NCA, which
would mean trophy hunting in a world heritage site and man and biosphere
reserve. It should be remembered that there’s an ongoing case in the East African
Court of Justice about this land, and the court has issued injunction orders
preventing any evictions.
Zone three is supposed to
be of mixed use, but not allowing buildings, while the remaining zone four is the
only zone to continue as village land per Village Land Act No. 5 of 1999.
Manongi didn’t hide that this
idea will lead to widespread evictions, claimed that people will get a small
compensation, and that Tanzania is a big country with enough land outside protected
areas! In that case Manongi should show those areas on a map! He knows very
well that unless the Maasai are to take other people’s land causing violent
conflict, the only land available is Serengeti National Park. It’s more than
obvious that the aim is to squeeze people into impossible and unsustainable
situations. Manongi also said that he expected a lot of noise from human rights
defenders, but that people would be educated about the benefits of conservation
for all Tanzanians, and he thought that they would understand. I certainly hope
that there will be more than just noise to stop this atrocity, and that very
soon.
Reportedly, this meeting at
NCAA was attended by Minister Kigwangalla, MP Olenasha, NCAA staff, and people
of the kind that weren’t able to challenge what was being said. In a clip
shared in Whatsapp Kigwangalla makes the creepiest possible defence of violent
evictions presenting it as “love”. He says it will be participatory, and that
the government would of course not use force – but it could hardly have escaped
anyone present exactly what kind of government they have, some must have experienced
the violence on their own bodies – and to add to the creepiness Kigwangalla warns
that meetings will be recorded so that nobody can say that they weren’t
participatory.
MP Olenasha is one of the
biggest disappointments of my life, and I’ve experienced many disappointments.
First in the article the
plan is described as a decision by the government, and then as suggestions
presented to the government now in connection the World Tourism Day, which adds
confusion. But how fitting that a celebration of the minority of people consuming
this planet out of all proportion, contains a threat of further dispossession
and squeezing of those who live with the greatest natural wonders … Let’s hope
that it all is just a suggestion that nobody will follow.
It’s time for all defenders
of the land to come out of your places of hiding and speak up!
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 23rd 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 meetings 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
25th 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 21st
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 20th April, and a long wait to hear the PM’s
decision started.
While still waiting, on
13th 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 21st September 2017.
When in Arusha on 23rd
September, President Magufuli collected protest placards against Maghembe, OBC
and abuse, to read them later.
On 5th 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
7th October 2017 Maghembe was removed and Hamisi Kigwangalla appointed as new
minister of Natural Resources and Tourism.
Kigwangalla stopped the
operation on 26th 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
22nd. On 5th 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 13th 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 6th 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 21st 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
Authority.
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 24th 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 10th 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 25th 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 21st 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 15th 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 4th 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.
One or two days before 26th
September 2019, the Ngorongoro Chief Conservator announced a terrifying eviction
plan that included the alienation of the 1,500 km2 Osero.
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. Manongi’s four zones must be declared a crazy suggestion that the government
will not even consider.
As you can see, there are many information gaps that must be filled in. Please help if you can. And please help stopping any eviction ideas, even if it's just encouraging those n Loliondo that may be ready to act.
Susanna Nordlund
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