After years
of – like many others - painting a disappointing figure, Methew Siloma,
councillor of Arash (Loliondo division) spoke up, with unexpected bravery,
calling a spade a spade in a way I thought could no longer happen in Loliondo,
and subsequently he was arrested by his own CCM party. Several other local
leaders and NGO people suffer from increased police harassment.
There’s no
end to the ethnic hate campaign (allegedly funded by the Ngorongoro
Conservation Area Authority) against the Maasai in parts of media (and most of parliament).
PM Majaliwa and – now former - Minister of Natural Resources and Tourism
Ndumbaro have kept appearing in fake spectacles and telling outrageous lies
about NCA and Loliondo in a tempo that’s hard to keep up with. Before being
moved to the Ministry of Legal and Constitutional Affairs - Ndumbaro announced
that he would hold regular meetings with diplomatic missions to “inform” them
about NCA and Loliondo. It looks like the government has full support from the
German ambassador. Meanwhile, UNESCO say that they have never asked for the displacement of the Maasai of Ngorongoro. And it seems like the NCAA has finally
found some real traitors instead of only using actors.
The new minister,
Pindi Chana, was installed on 2nd April, met with the German
ambassador on the 5th, and made a militaristic visit to Ngorongoro
on the 6th.
Again, this
blog post is too long and delayed, since too much is happening, while some
important information is hard to obtain. It should be even longer, with more
detail to avoid misunderstandings, but then nobody would read it.
In this blog post:
The meeting
in Arash and the CCM arrest/abduction
Brief
reminder about the efforts to rob the Maasai of 1,500 km2 in
Loliondo
New “article”
by OBC’s “journalist”
The old trick
of public services as a weapon of war in Loliondo and NCA
Brief summary
of NCA, including latest news
UNESCO
denying responsibility for the genocidal Multiple Land Use Model review
proposal and everything else
Ndumbaro
meeting ambassadors and Germany is discreetly anti-Maasai as usual
Support by
Kenyan senator
Bye, bye
Ndumbaro
 |
| Pindi Chana in Ngorongoro on 6th April |
Remember:
In Loliondo
OBC, that organises hunting for Sheikh Mohammed of Dubai, have for years
lobbied to have 1,500 km2 of important grazing land, village land
belonging to the local Maasai, turned into a protected area. A local police
state had, until recently, silenced all local leaders and activists, and still
people from Loliondo are much more silent in the debate than those from NCA.
In NCA, an
8,292 km² multiple land use area, the Maasai live under the purposeful
poverty-inducing rule and restrictions of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area
Authority, and since 2019 there’s a genocidal eviction plan, that extends to
annexing some surrounding areas, the area under threat in Loliondo included.
Current government efforts focus on “voluntary” relocation and disinformation,
while an ethnic hate campaign rages in media and in parliament.
A question: How
can allies of the Maasai be stopped from mixing up NCA and Loliondo, from
claiming that OBC would have left in 2017, from saying that there were
evictions in Loliondo in 2013, and other misinformation that keep being repeated,
again and again?
The
meeting in Arash and the CCM arrest/abduction
In the previous blog post I
mentioned that despite the protests in January, after the years of panicked
silence and abysmal treason, Loliondo Maasai are still so much more silent than
those in Ngorongoro division, even when both Ndumbaro and Majaliwa have lied in
threatening ways about the 1,500 km2 of important grazing land
bordering Serengeti National Park, which OBC that organize hunting for Sheikh
Mohammed of Dubai, for years have lobbied the government to convert into a protected
area. Though on 19th March this silence was broken in an impressive
way, which lead to more repression.
On 19th March, a
huge gathering – some mention 3,000 attendants from 8 wards in Loliondo and
Sale divisions, and others from Ngorongoro divisions – was held in Arash in
Loliondo. The press was conspicuously absent, but some local youths had
prepared themselves to film the event
The message sent from this
meeting was:
-PM Majaliwa is a liar.
-The Maasai are not renouncing
one square inch of land.
-They request to meet with the
president, since Majaliwa can’t be trusted.
The fraudster and imposter Isaack
Lekisongo Meijo, an individual from Monduli district, near Arusha town, who
repeatedly and fraudulently has misrepresented the Ngorongoro Maasai was
finally condemned in a traditional way. In October 2021, Lekisongo at President
Samia’s meeting with the public at Sheikh Amri Abeid Memorial Stadium was
presented as the leader of the Tanzanian Maasai, while defending evictions from
Ngorongoro. A press conference was held by traditional leaders from Ngorongoro
to denounce this imposter, and then they held a meeting with him to sort things
out, but after the meeting Lekisongo told the press that the Ngorongoro
laigwanak had come to apologize to him! On 10th March 2022,
Lekisongo at a spectacle in Arusha repeated his misrepresentation of Ngorongoro
when PM Majaliwa announced a list of Ngorongoro people, none of whom were still
living in Ngorongoro, that were “volunteering” to relocate to Handeni. Only one
of the attendants to this fake spectacle, which Majaliwa then boasted about in
parliament, was originally from Ngorongoro. The Ngorongoro laigwanak once again
had to hold a press conference to denounce Lekisongo. On 18th March,
while celebrating one year of Samia Suluhu Hassan’s presidency and its many
successes, RC Mongella – whose threatening visit in January finally brought
Loliondo people out from where they were hiding, in a delusional style brought
up how he’s working with local people to strengthen conservation in Ngorongoro
and Loliondo. The indispensable imposter Lekisongo was of course present and
dressed up Mongella in a kind of Maasai outfit.
This is how a curse was placed
on Lekisongo in Arash on 19th March. I’ve asked why this treatment
hasn’t been given to so many other people who have been threatening the land through
the years. Apparently, it has, but without broadcasting.
The councillor of Arash, Methew
Siloma, refreshingly explained that the Maasai were not asking anyone for any
permit to hold this meeting. He said that (regarding both NCA and Loliondo) it had
been decided to form a committee of 25 representatives (the number has grown
since then) to collect the views of the public and take them to the president,
not any minister. He said they didn’t have any faith at all in PM Majaliwa,
since he’s a liar who claims that the Maasai would agree to the alienation of
the 1,500 km2 osero in Loliondo. Further, Siloma made it clear that
the Maasai would not cooperate with any person our authority trying to
demarcate the 1,500 km2 with beacons. Compared to Siloma’s
disappointing time as district chairman when he not only was a coward at a time
when everyone was a coward but set the discouraging mark already in 2017 accepting
German funds that the councillors, after Minister Maghembe had announced that
these funds carried the condition of implementing OBC’s land use plan (which
led to a manifestation by 600 women), had decided not to accept, this was a
very serious and impressive statement.
Siloma could of course not be
allowed to speak the truth. On 23rd March he and the councillor for
Malambo, Joel Clement Reson, who also has been speaking up in an admirable way,
were summoned to the ethics committee at the CCM office in Loliondo. Siloma was
summoned via a letter from CCM signed by the party secretary of Ngorongoro
District, Abubakar Chati. After the interrogation, police entered the CCM
office and arrested Siloma who was abducted and driven all the way to Arusha
accompanied by Security Officer Hassan. In Arusha family and lawyers weren’t
allowed to see Siloma. The Regional Commanding Officer said that it was a
political case, and the councillor was being interrogated outside the police by
TISS (Tanzania Intelligence and Security Service).
On 25th March, Siloma was finally released on bail, without charges,
but he must continue reporting to the police.
 |
| The trap. |
The Ngorongoro CCM chairman, Ndirango Laizer, spoke up for Siloma and is now having his citizenship questioned by Immigration. This is the most classic abuse by the Loliondo police state. I encountered it before I had even heard about this local police state (and before becoming a blogger) in 2008 when a friend of Thomson Safaris told me that their problem was a “Kenyan” Maasai woman (later I got to know that this referred to a very Tanzanian woman who has been very much harassed). Now even the very Tanzanian CCM district chairman since 2018 is being harassed, accused of being “Kenyan”.
The victims of this repression
(the CCM leaders) aren’t exactly innocent, but enablers of the system who were
targeted when they finally decided that enough was enough. In the past, the
party has often saved Loliondo leaders, and the land, from the government, but
now they are being arrested by CCM. It may be time to say goodbye to this party
once and for all (but it will hardly happen).
Since some time, there are two
local Loliondo NGO representatives, Robert Kamakia and Loserian Maoi, who are
being harassed about a “cybercrime” and are now being summoned to the Arusha
central police station almost daily. In a Loita group they called someone a “sell-out”
and this person confirmed it by running to the police. Maybe I should write a blog
post about all the things I’ve been called.
More disconcerting in Arash on
the 19th was the talk by the councillor of Ololosokwan, Moloimet
Saing’eu, who spoke up for the land as if he were an activist since forever.
This individual used to occasionally act as an activist until he in 2015 joined
OBC as their assistant director with the explanation, “If you can’t beat
them, join them”! So, he just spent the years of most silence, and abuse,
comfortably working for the enemy, fully aware of OBC’s long-time lobbying for
land alienation, which had led to so much fear and violence. He just continued
through the illegal mass arson invasion of village land in 2017, and in 2018 –
the year of worst terror, and after the anti-OBC talk by Minister Kigwangalla
was forgotten (at least by the minister himself), he reinforced OBC’s love
relation with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism handing over 15
vehicles on the company’s behalf in April 2018. This blogger was basically the
only person calling a spade a spade when speaking up about the unbelievable
treason, which made me unpopular among Moloimet’s fans, to put it mildly. After
the 2020 “elections” Moloimet became the councillor for Ololosokwan. In 2021 he
left OBC. Some say he was laid off, since they didn’t “trust” him, while others
(closer to him) say that he had to distance himself from OBC to fulfil his
political ambitions. And indeed, also at this meeting Moloimet complained about
how CCM are blocking the election (by councillors) of new district chairperson after
Oleshangay became MP for Ngorongoro. Apparently, being a traitor hasn’t cost Moloimet
anything at all.
Brief
reminder about the efforts to rob the Maasai of 1,500 km2 in
Loliondo
Since 1993 (first contract
signed in 1992) Otterlo Business Corporation, that organize hunting for Sheikh
Mohammed of Dubai, has the 4,000 km2 Loliondo hunting blocks (permit
to hunt), which they got in the Loliondogate scandal covered by Stan Katabalo
in 1993. This area includes two towns, district headquarters, and agricultural
areas, so OBC have lobbied to have it reduced to their core hunting area
bordering Serengeti National Park, and to make it a protected area, which would
signify a huge land loss to the local Maasai, leading to lost lives and
livelihoods.
In 2008, then DC Jowika
Kasunga coerced local leaders into signing a Memorandum of Understanding with
OBC. There were supposed to be talks to coordinate grazing and hunting, but
when the 2009 drought turned catastrophic, OBC went to the government to complain,
and village land in the 1,500 km2 osero was illegally invaded by the
Field Force Unit working with OBC’s rangers, with mass arson, dispersal of
cattle, and abuse of every kind.
The Maasai moved back, and
some leaders reconciled with OBC that went on to funding a draft district land
use plan that proposed turning the village land that had been invaded into a
protected area. The Maasai were united, and the draft land use plan was
rejected by Ngorongoro District Council in 2011.
In 2013, Minister Kagasheki
lied to the world saying that the whole 4,000 km2 Loliondo Game
Controlled Area (Loliondo Division and part of Sale Division of Ngorongoro
District) was a protected area and that alienating the important 1,500 km2
meant generously giving the remaining land to the Maasai. This ugly trick did
not work, since the Maasai were more serious and united than ever, garnered
support from both the opposition CHADEMA and from CCM, and then PM Pinda
stopped Kagasheki (not that anyone thought that Kagasheki was doing this on his
own, but he did show enthusiasm).
Then the efforts to buy off
local leaders started creating serious divisions and weakening. Some found it
convenient to benefit from openly praising the “investors” and attacking the
people who they at the same time expected to take risks to defend the land.
Though nobody signed any MoU.
The investors (OBC and ThomsonSafaris) had for years used the local police state that through the successive
DCs, security committee, and most every government employee will threaten anyone
who could speak up about them, and engage in defamation and illegal arrests.
The repression and fear of this police state became worse with Magufuli in
office, and there were lengthy illegal arrests, torture, and malicious
prosecution, by 2016 it was so bad that Majaliwa could enter the stage with a
select non-participatory committee, set up by RC Gambo. Some of the members
were local leaders and other representatives that found themselves at the
opposite side of the people when marking “critical areas” under protests in each
village. The proposal handed over to Majaliwa was seen as a victory, even
though it was a sad compromise that had earlier been rejected for many years of
better unity and less fear.
Maybe since the Maasai showed
such weakness, the government went on with the unthinkable and while everyone
was still waiting to hear Majaliwa’s decision, on 13th August 2017
an illegal mass arson operation, like the one in 2009, was initiated and
continued, on and off, well into October. Hundreds of bomas were razed to the
ground by Serengeti rangers, assisted by NCA rangers and those from OBC, NCA,
TAWA/KDU, local police and others. People were beaten and raped, illegally
arrested, and cattle seized. Some leaders were frightfully silent while others
protested loudly. Minister Maghembe pretended that OBC’s land use plan would
have been implemented and the operation was taking place on some protected
land, while the DC, and Maghembe’s own ministry, said it was not about the
1,500 km2, since Majaliwa was to announce a decision about that, but
that village land was invaded because people were entering Serengeti National
Park “too easily”.
The illegal operation wasn’t
stopped until late October 2017, a couple of weeks after Kigwangalla came into
office. The new minister also made grand promises, like saying that OBC would
have left Tanzania before 2018, but it was very soon clear that OBC weren’t
going anywhere. On 6th December 2017, Majaliwa delivered his vague
but terrifying decision that was about creating a “special authority” to manage
the land. He also said that OBC were staying. The decision was celebrated in
the anti-Maasai press (the Jamhuri). Fortunately, implementation has been
delayed, and would of course be contempt of court.
In March 2018, Kigwangalla
welcomed OBC’s hunters to Tanzania (directing himself to a fake account of the
Dubai crown prince), and in April OBC - once again - gifted the Ministry of
Natural Resources of Tourism with 15 vehicles. In March 2018, a military camp
was set up in Lopolun, near Wasso in Loliondo, first temporary, but eventually
made permanent with donations from the NCAA.
In June 2018, the OCCID and
local police tried to derail the case in the East African Court of Justice
(EACJ) – filed during the illegal operation in 2017 - by summoning local
leaders and villagers. Nobody dared to speak up about this, except for the
applicants' main counsel. On 25th September 2018 – a year after the
illegal operation - the court finally issued an injunction restraining the
government from evictions, destruction and harassment of the applicants, but
this injunction was soon brutally violated. In November and December soldiers
from the camp in Olopolun tortured people, seized cattle, and burned bomas in
Kirtalo and Ololosokwan. This was the lowest point ever in the land rights
struggle and I have still not understood how it could happen without anyone at
all speaking up. Local leaders claimed to fear for their lives and thought that
the brutality was directly ordered by President Magufuli. When RC Gambo in
January 2019 condemned the crimes in a very vague way, they changed to thinking
that OBC’s director had contracted the soldiers.
There were finally some
promising developments in 2019 when OBC’s director Isaack Mollel was arrested
on economic sabotage charges and OBC toned down (they never left and Mollel was
never fired) their activities on the ground, but the local police state wasn’t
dealt with and after a lengthy stay in remand prison Mollel was out and back to
work, reportedly after plea bargaining. Speculations about Mollel’s misfortune
include his clashes of egos with Kigwangalla and Gambo, and Magufuli wanting to
send a message to OBC’s old friend Abdulrahman Kinana (and to Membe) that
nobody is untouchable.
In September 2019, a genocidal
zoning proposal for NCA, which included the proposal to annex most of the 1,500
km2 and turn it into a protected area allowing hunting was
presented. This Multiple Land Use Model review proposal has since been met with
countless protests from every kind of group of people from NCA, but near
silence from Loliondo.
2021 brought Jumaa Mhina as
new DED and he started working to kill the court cases against land grabbing
“investors”. Though the village chairmen have stood their ground and Reference
No. 10 of 2017, Ololosokwan, Kirtalo, Oloirien, and Arash versus the Attorney
General of the United Republic of Tanzania continues in the EACJ.
On 11th January
2022, Arusha RC John Mongella summoned village and ward leaders from villages
with land in the 1,500 km2 to inform them that the government would
make a painful decision for the broader interest of the nation. The leaders,
even those who for years had worked for OBC and against the people, refused to
accompany the RC for a tour of the 1,500 km2, or to sign the
attendance list, which could have been used to claim that they’d agreed to
something. On 13th-14th January in Oloirien there was a
public protest meeting and a statement by village, ward, and traditional
leaders.
On 14th February, Majaliwa
came and wasn’t much better than Mongella, but too well-received, since
something worse was expected, because of the crazy anti-Maasai hate campaign, and parliamentarians
calling for tanks to be sent to Ngorongoro.
Three days later, on 17th
February in NCA, not Loliondo, Majaliwa ordered the disputed land to be
marked by beacons, so that we may know the boundaries – while claiming that
this is NOT a trick!
Then Ndumbaro on 8th
March re-introduced Kagasheki’s lies in an interview with Deutsche Welle
Kiswahili, and on the 11th Majaliwa again mentioned beacons and
water projects when informing parliamentarians about a fake spectacle that he
had set up in Arusha, without people from Ngorongoro, the previous day.
Placing beacons to mark the
1,500 km2 osero would be a serious invasion of village land, contempt
of court, and only serves the interests of those who want to rob the Maasai of
this land. Any attempt must be dealt with without delay!
On 31st March
Abdulrahman Kinana was brought in from the cold, after having fallen out with
Magufuli, and is now set to be the Vice-Chairman of CCM mainland. Kinana is one
of OBC’s and Sheikh Mohammed’s best and oldest friends since at least 1993.
Abdulrahman
Kinana and Sheikh Mohammed of Dubai on 24th March 2018
Yesterday, 6th April
the new minister Pindi Chana visited Loliondo, but I haven’t got any details about this part of the visit.
New “article”
by OBC’s “journalist”
On 5th April, the frontpage of
the Jamhuri weekly “newspaper” carried the images of several ministers for
natural resources and tourism and poses misleadingly the question about what
had them removed from that Ministry. Tanzanians like to comment on why no minister
lasts long at the head of this ministry, it’s an issue that raises some
interest. Though reading the article, it’s obvious that Manyerere is just urging
the new minister Pindi Chana to destroy the Maasai of Ngorongoro district,
particularly (and unsurprisingly) those in Loliondo.
The “journalist” is once again
singling out the ministers that came after those most aggressive and
anti-Maasai, as if those would have been more corrupt than others: Maige who
replaced Mwangunga under whom the illegal mass arson operation of 2009 was
committed, Nyalandu who replaced Kagasheki who in an aggressive way was trying
to via vociferous lies have the 1,500 km2 osero, according to OBC’s wishes,
stolen from the Loliondo Maasai, and Kigwangalla who replaced Maghembe under
whom the illegal mass arson operation of 2017 was committed, and who even spoke
up against OBC for a few days until he U-turned. Kigwangalla openly complained
that OBC’s director had tried to bribe him more cheaply than he bribed is
predecessors. Further, Manyerere paints Khamis Suedi Kagasheki as an
anti-corruption example … innocent of Operation Tokomeza (he even became
internationally popular for calling for extrajudicial executions before this
blood-soaked operation) and claims that unnamed MPs with cattle in Serengeti
National Park wanted him removed. OBC’s “journalist” complains that PM Pinda
putting stop to Kagasheki’s terrible threats against the Maasai made the
conflict last …
Manyerere has told every lie
imaginable, and unimaginable, about Loliondo, and in this “article” he repeats
Kagasheki’s lie that the Loliondo Maasai are landless and that robbing them of
the 1,500 km2 means giving them 2,500 km2. Besides
reaching the target of 5 million tourists by 2025, the “journalist”, says that
Pindi Chana must deal with “saving” NCA and Loliondo, for which she has the
blessing of President Samia.
Manyerere Jackton, in well
over 50 articles has been spewing out unhinged hate rhetoric against the Maasai
of Loliondo, and campaigned for taking the 1,500 km2 away from them.
He has claimed that 70 percent of the Loliondo Maasai would not be Tanzanian,
and published lists of hundreds of private persons that his “sources” consider
to be “Kenyan”. His slandering of those speaking up for land rights, or those
he thinks could speak up for land rights, has been vicious and insane. This
year, the Jamhuri joined Habib Mchange and Maulid Kitenge is their hate
campaign against the Maasai, and Manyerere’s colleague, Balile, introduced
lurid colonial fantasies about Maasai burial practises. Even worse is that I’ve
experienced first-hand how Manyerere likes to boast about being directly
involved in arrests of innocent people.
The
old trick of public services as a weapon of war in Loliondo and NCA
Public services such as water
projects, classrooms, and dispensaries have been used against the land
rights of the Loliondo Maasai. In the form of charitable projects by the
investors that want to alienate and manage land, notably OBC and Thomson Safaris, such projects have always been used as a dirty weapon of war, to be
able to say, “look they accept us and our plans, since they accept our
projects”. It would have been a relief, that as it should be, the government is
doing something, if it weren’t because now the government is using the same
ugly weapon. For non-Tanzanians, I may need to clarify that the word “government”,
and not “state”, is always used, clad in green as the CCM ruling party, and
inspections and inaugurations of development projects are invariably
accompanied by embarrassingly stupid shouting and answering in chorus so that
nobody will miss that its Mama Samia Suluhu Hassan who should be thanked for
the good use of taxpayer or donor money.
At his meeting in NCA on 17th
February, as mentioned in several previous blog posts, PM Majaliwa winded up by
talking about Loliondo in a way that he hadn’t done when in Loliondo three days
earlier, ordering the of placing beacons to demarcate the disputed 1,500 km2
“so that we know what land we are talking about(!)”. He also mentioned water
projects outside this area as solving problems when he very clearly, on the 14th,
had been told about this land’s importance for grazing. Unsurprisingly, on 1st-2nd
March, the Minister for Water and Irrigation, Jumaa Aweso, visited Loliondo to
announce water project, which was filmed in action mode. This was brought up at
the RC’s one-year celebration of President Samia, in which he claimed to be
strengthening conservation in Loliondo and Ngorongoro, and then was dressed up
by the multiple-times condemned and exposed imposter Lekisongo.
Lately Edward Kohi from TAWIRI (this case is unsurprising) and Ngorongoro livestock officer Chobi Chubwa (also not surprising) have lent themselves to the campaign to rob the Maasai of the 1,500 km2 osero. The current reasons listed by the proponents of this old land grab proposal that would cause massive destruction to lives and livelihoods are: Saving corridors and breeding grounds for wildebeests. Protecting the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem. Biodiversity and saving water sources for Serengeti. The area’s value for tourism. The areas importance for national borders. And - public services via the government and investors.
Does this mean that there are
land alienation conditions for public services? Last time I heard about that
was in relation to German funds that Maghembe and Mwakilema (current head of TANAPA) in March 2017 told a
parliamentary committee (and very much the press) would only be released on
condition of turning the 1,500 km2 into a protected area, which
wasn’t denied by the Germans until two years later by representatives of the
development bank in an interview with Chris Lang. When Kigwangalla in November
2017 revealed that the funds had been accepted despite of a decision by all
councillors to reject them in March the same year (after big protests) then MP
Olenasha said there wasn’t any danger, since the 1,500 km2 would not
be excluded from the development projects, but as far as I’ve been able to find
out, nothing has been done there the past five years.
It should be remembered that
we are talking about is the same as extending the boundaries of Serengeti
National Park, but allowing hunting (the reason for OBC’s lobbying), which in
land grab lingo is called a “buffer zone” and not a “corridor” or anything else.
If the land were taken away from the Maasai, these people would continue
wanting more “buffer zone”. It should also be remembered that the main breeding
grounds for wildebeest are found further south in Ndutu. The logic behind
evicting people in this area to guard the national border escapes me, but I
suppose the answer would be some paranoia about “Kenyans”, even if this north-south stretching area of Loliondo is a tiny part of the border with their scary republic.
As known, one main point by the current anti-Maasai campaign (and the old Loliondo
police state) is that all protests are caused by “Kenyan” organisations that
want to destroy Ngorongoro to benefit their own tourism industry.
Being a government authority,
the NCAA used to weaponize development projects in the same way as unethical
investors do, like when the chairman of the Pastoral Council in 2019, shortly
after having spoken up about the MLUM review proposal, was touring Olbalbal
ward together with NCA chief conservator Manongi, the main promoter of the
genocidal proposal, promising development projects. This makes any person look
compromised. However, since 2021 the NCAA are blocking any construction of
public services. Schools and dispensaries are not getting permits. Classrooms
have been built with COVID-19 funds in Loliondo and Sale divisions, but not in
Ngorongoro. In the short-term plan for “voluntary” relocations to Handeni and Kitwai,
which was leaked in January, it’s said that permission will be sought to use
COVID-19 funds allocated for the development of projects to instead relocate
Ngorongoro Maasai. I still haven’t found out where the funds for the building
of houses in Handeni come from.
Much of the rhetoric about
Handeni concerns public services, when it’s the NCAA itself that’s blocking
those in Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Regarding Handeni, Majaliwa has said that
– unlike in Ngorongoro – the Maasai would have electricity in Msomera. Is that
impossible in Ngorongoro? Ndumbaro, when meeting with foreign diplomats on 25th
March was saying that in Msomera the Maasai would be given land with title
deeds, which is not possible in Ngorongoro. This is the same minister who
during the anti-Maasai hate session in parliament said that all land in
Tanzania is owned by the president and had to be corrected by the speaker. Ndumbaro
has also gravely lied about the land status in Loliondo, and now he’s Minister
of Legal and Constitutional Affairs.
The message from the NCAA and
MNRT is that Msomera is so much better than Ngorongoro for the Maasai, but the
only thing that’s better is that NCAA isn’t there with its restrictions, harassment,
and blocking of public services. Ngorongoro is home, it has a better climate,
and a bigger, less densely populated area. Those moving to Msomera will live
together with villagers they don’t know and who have not been consulted about
getting thousands of new neighbours, and it seems like they aren’t organized
enough to question what’s going on. What could go wrong? It can’t even be said
that NCAA isn’t there, since it’s a NCAA project, led by well-known malicious
liars.
Brief
summary of NCA, including latest news
When the Maasai were evicted
from Serengeti in 1959 by the colonial government, losing access to over 14,000
km2, as a compromise deal, they were guaranteed the right to continue occupying
the 8,292 km² Ngorongoro Conservation Area as a multiple land-use area
administered by the government, in which natural resources would be conserved
primarily for their interest, but with due regard for wildlife. This promise
was not kept, and tourism revenue has turned into the paramount interest.
The Maasai in the 25 villages
in NCA live under restrictions not found in Loliondo, are not allowed to grow
crops, or build permanent houses, have the past years been losing access to one
grazing area after the other, and as a result are suffering from high levels of
child malnutrition, while throughout the years they have been shaken by rumours
and threats of eviction. In 1975 those residing in Ngorongoro Crater were
brutally evicted (the NCA Act was changed in 1974), and in 2017 – by order and
after a visit by Majaliwa in December 2016 - the Maasai lost access to the
three craters (see below).The current threat was announced in September 2019,
when chief conservator Freddy Manongi made public the Multiple Land Use Model
review report’s proposal, which is so destructive that it would lead to the end
of Maasai livelihoods and culture in Ngorongoro District.
There have been uncountable
protests and delegations against the MLUM review proposal, and several promises
from the government to do the exercise afresh in a “participatory” manner, but
then the same genocidal proposal has been repeated.
Shortly after taking office in
March 2021, in a speech on 6th April President Samia said that
something had to be done about too many people and livestock, or it was “bye,
bye Ngorongoro”. Little more than a week later, demolition notices were made
public, ordering the demolition within 30 days of over a hundred buildings,
private houses, but also those built by the government, like schools,
dispensaries, and the Endulen police station. Two churches and a mosque were
included. Further, 45 people accused of having returned from Jema to where they
were relocated in 2006, were ordered to leave, and so were 174 families deemed
to be “illegal immigrants”. After big protests these demolition and eviction
notices were withdrawn until further notice.
In May 2021, the NCAA
headquarters were abruptly relocated to Karatu. Then, the first days of June,
Manongi and NCAA held a promotional event on parliament grounds in Dodoma, handing
out goodie bags with t-shirts, leaflets, and whatever. On 30th June,
deputy minister Mary Masanja flew to Ngorongoro with 35 MPs for domestic
tourism.
On 3rd September
2021, the Ministry of Natural Resources and tourism uploaded a video in which
Deputy Minister Mary Masanja complains about having seen livestock, and chief
conservator Manongi says that conservation is a war, that the pastoralists have
many “conspiracies” and sadly are winning, adding that now conservationists
must “start” developing conspiracies.
On 6th September,
under heavy police deployment and with several arrests to prevent any kind of
protest, President Samia came to Ngorongoro to film the documentary The Royal
Tour. She has still not met with Ngorongoro people. There is a petition against
this documentary.
In August and September 2021,
NCAA rangers assaulted several young herders and killed four sheep with a
vehicle, which led to protests on 23rd September, which lasted for
several days. An uprising seemed to be on the way, but then everything was put
on hold when MP Olenasha sadly passed away on 27th September.
Also in September 2021, the
Germans were having a nice time with deputy minister Masanja and – again -
giving away millions for sustainable natural resource and ecological
sustainability development in the Serengeti ecosystem
 |
Stefan
Oswald, Head of the Africa Department at Federal Ministry for Economic
Cooperation and Development, and Deputy Minister Mary Masanja. Grzimek and
Nyerere were “present” |
On 17th October
President Samia held a speech in Arusha talking about how important Ngorongoro
is for tourism and that “we” can’t continue considering people’s interests
while destroying it. She was accompanied and supported by the imposter
Lekisongo.
2022 started with a leaked
plan – apparently written on New Year’s Eve - for “voluntary” evictions from
Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA) to be fully prepared to begin in February.
Then, as mentioned above, on
11th January RC Mongella visited Loliondo and issued a land
alienation threat that made even the biggest traitors speak up.
Habib Mchange’s Jamvi la
Habari paper, that focuses on fabrications and slander of opposition
politicians, initiated a hate campaign against the Maasai of NCA that spread
all over regular and social media, was joined by crazed sports presenters, Maulid
Kitenge and friends, and later (or from the start?) the old anti-Maasai Jamhuri
paper with Deusdatus Balile and Manyerere Jackton. These “journalists” started
an organization with its sole focus on evicting the Maasai from Ngorongoro and
were treated as serious actors by other media. Though Tanzanians in social media
who had earlier not paid much attention to Ngorongoro saw what was going on,
were appalled, and started speaking up.
In parliament on 9th
February MPs competed in being wilfully ignorant, hateful, and calling for
evictions from Ngorongoro, and Loliondo, there was much laughter and table
banging, while only three MPs spoke up for the Maasai. Majaliwa said that the
Ngorongoro Conservation Area Act would be reviewed, but first there was to be a
seminar for the MPs and he would meet with people in Ngorongoro and Loliondo. The
Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism uploaded some of the worst clips of
MPs. On 12th February a one-sided “seminar” about Ngorongoro was
held for the MPs who continued their hateful and defamatory incitement against
the Maasai.
On the 13th the new
anti-Maasai organisation held a loathsome press conference, adding to their
many crazed and dehumanizing “theories” one saying that there were no graves in
Ngorongoro. The Darmpya online news, are asking questions, like how come the “allowances”
for attending the press conference were so extraordinary heavy, who funded it,
and for what purpose.
In NCA people many people
stopped sleeping and started praying incessantly.
On 17th February
Majaliwa held a brief agenda-driven meeting at the NCA hall, for leaders and
closed to the public. There was confusion and thorough registering of the
attendants. Two journalists were arrested and released later the same day. Those
who were locked out stayed outside the hall singing.
On 5th March,
Deputy Minister Mary Masanja, who’s very much involved in the war against the
Maasai, brought a caravan of 600 women in diesel guzzling vehicles to Ngorongoro,
to celebrate tourism, CCM, or supposedly International Women’s Day. Meanwhile
Maasai women climbed Mount Makarot to pray for their land.
On 10th March in
Arusha, Majaliwa held a meeting with Maasai from other areas, without any
connection to Ngorongoro, led by the denounced fraudster Lekisongo. The PM was
handed a list of 86 households or 453 persons “willing” to relocate from
Ngorongoro. All had already left the district years ago and are apparently now
looking for compensation money. The following day the PM boasted about this
meeting in parliament, and on the 12th real traditional leaders from
Ngorongoro held a press conference to denounce the fraud, but journalist didn’t
want to cover it after having been advised otherwise by Majaliwa.
On 13th March,
Majaliwa made a much-publicised visit to Msomera village in Handeni where
houses are hurriedly being built to relocate Maasai from Ngorongoro, without
consulting them, and apparently without consulting people from Msomera that’s a
legally registered village, with its land use plan. Majaliwa was to visit
Ngorongoro on the 15th, but it was postponed.
On 29th March it
was reported that NCAA vehicles with armed rangers were driving around in
Alailelai ward in an intimidating way, and later did the same in Endulen. The
following day the behaviour was reported from Olbalbal, and it has continued in
other areas.
NCAA informers are reportedly
moving around trying to convince people to register to be relocated. Most (all
in the first list that was made public) who are doing so have already left and
are now looking for compensation money.
On 25th March
Ndumbaro met with ambassadors to tell them the “truth” about Ngorongoro and
Loliondo, and on the 31st President Samia replaced him with Pinda
Hazara Chana.
On 3rd April, the
NCAA had found some real traitors to show off, unlike the previous
imposters/actors from other places than Ngorongoro, even if long-gone or
unknown people are still looking for a compensation deal. And they are of
course not traitors for wanting to relocate, but for lending themselves to the
dirty war against their own people, thanking President Samia Suluhu Hassan. I
will return to these people, but their argument for being “thankful” for the
dubious Handeni project is all about the problems that NCAA are causing in
Ngorongoro, and then they lend themselves to NCAA’s propaganda, some to the
latest addition to the false government narrative that in this recent form says
that land rights defenders would be denying people the human right of moving to
Handeni … The worst one, part of the richest NCA 1%, had her 300-million TShs house
on last year’s list for demolition without compensation and was supposed to
demolish at her own expense (the order that was stopped until further notice).
Now she’s registered for compensation, but I doubt she’ll live in Handeni, but rather in the Kwa Iddi area of Arusha.
A committee of representatives
from Ngorongoro are writing a report with community views. This has been
criticized as dancing to Majaliwa’s tune. Even if the main point would be that
the PM is a dangerous liar who should be fired, he will in some way present it
as if people support him. Though at the meeting in Arash, councillor Siloma
said that this report would be taken to the president and not any minister. On
4th April, the committee that apparently has grown to about 60
members issued a press statement urging Minister Pindi Chana to start working
on Ngorongoro land disputes by doing the following: “to stop smear campaigns
and vile propaganda against the people of Ngorongoro especially those from the
Maasai ethnic group, secondly to stop all on-going activities and give the
opportunity for member of the society to be heard, third to ban intimidation
and arbitrary arrests of innocent members of the society, community leaders, and
human rights defenders who are working tirelessly to defend the rights of the
society, to stop harassment against independent journalists who are doing a
noble job to inform the public about the situation in Ngorongoro, four, to ban
any malicious utterance against members of the Ngorongoro society branding them
non-Tanzanians, five to order provision of basic services to the people of
Ngorongoro division, six to meet with members of this committee and to start to
collectively strategize on the way forward.”
On 21st March,
UNESCO issued a statement regarding Ngorongoro saying, “UNESCO has never at
any time asked for the displacement of the Maasai people.” This is said by
the main instigator for evictions and worsened living conditions. While there
are other actors operating in the shadows, like tourism industry, other
international organizations, and “Germans”, the Tanzania government has through
the years used UNESCO’s threats of delisting Ngorongoro Conservation Area as a
World Heritage Site, its repeated population panic, and distaste for
agriculture of any kind, or “modern” buildings, as an excuse to worsen the
human rights situation. As late as 15th March, Tanzania’s worst
long-term anti-Maasai “newspaper”, the Jamhuri, wrote about how UNESCO support
the government’s eviction plans. Not that this is a credible source in any way,
very much the contrary, but other evidence is overwhelming.
When the Multiple Land Use
Model review proposal was presented in September 2019, the UNESCO World
Heritage Centre, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
and International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) had once again
visited Ngorongoro in March the same year and in their report repeated that
they wanted the MLUM review completed to see the results and offer advice,
while again complaining about the visual impact of settlements with “modern”
houses, and so on. They did also recommend the State Party to continue to, “promote
and encourage voluntary resettlement by communities, consistent with the
policies of the Convention and relevant international norms, from withing the
property to outside by 2028”. As
known, unlike recommendations about vehicles, the MNRT loves this kind of
recommendation, and the resulting MLUM review proposal was so destructive that
it would lead to the end of Maasai livelihoods and culture in Ngorongoro
District.
The MLUM review report
proposes to divide Ngorongoro into four zones, with an extensive “core
conservation zone” that is to be a no-go zone for livestock and herders. In NCA
this includes the Ngorongoro Highland Forest, with the three craters
Ngorongoro, Olmoti and Empakaai where grazing these past few years has been
banned through order (residents in Ngorongoro Crater were violently evicted in
1975 after a change in the Act in 1974). This has led to losing 90% of grazing
and water for Nainokanoka, Ngorongoro, Misigiyo wards, and a 100% loss of
natural saltlicks for livestock in these wards. The proposal is to do the same
with Oldupai Gorge, Laitoli footprints, and the Lake Ndutu and Lake Masek
basins. In the rest of Ngorongoro District, the proposal is for NCAA to annex
the Lake Natron basin (including areas of Longido and Monduli districts, like
Selela forest and Engaruka historical site) and the 1,500 km2 in
Loliondo and Sale Divisions and designate most of these areas to be no-go zones
for pastoralists and livestock. These huge areas include many villages and are
important grazing areas, the loss of which would have disastrous knock-on
effects on lives and livelihoods elsewhere. The annexation of the Osero in
Loliondo caters almost perfectly to the wishes of OBC. Only 18% of NCA would
remain for people and livestock. Is there any sincere person who would dare to
say that this can be achieved through “voluntary” relocations?
I should plough through all
UNESCO’s writing about Ngorongoro, and will do so when I get the time, but I’ve
had a look at their decision about Ngorongoro in the 44th session of
the “Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage
World Heritage Committee” from July 2021. Still in this decision UNESCO are
requesting the State Party to provide information about “the status of
agricultural activities in the property” when even the smallest kitchen
garden has been banned since 2009, because of UNESCO’s repeated “deep
concern” which has led to malnourishment. They continue being concerned
with, “challenges resulting from the significant increase in the number of
people residing in the property since its inscription”
UNESCO has never expressed any
concern, deep or otherwise, about that the MLUM review proposes a cultural
genocide. When you keep inciting an authoritarian government that values
tourism revenue above human rights, is prone to violence and lawlessness, and
full of pathological liars, to do something about too many people, you’re
complicit to crime, however much you keep mentioning consultations with
stakeholders and rightsholders, and international norms.
UNESCO’s general secretary in
Tanzania, Dr Hamisi M. Malebo, on 28th February in a zoom meeting
about developments in the tourism sector with one year of Samia Suluhu Hassan
as president, explained that children in Ngorongoro can’t go to school and mothers
can’t fetch firewood safely for the risk of being snatched by wild animals like
lions, leopards and hyenas (in the original version he mentioned cheetahs as
well ..), so UNESCO’s recommendation to the government is to find the Maasai
other places to live to avoid these challenges. He didn’t say anything about
that NCAA should stop blocking the construction of schools.
It's good that UNESCO have
been rattled to the extent of writing that statement, or are they just trying
to wash their image because they know that a crime that they support, and even
have instigated, could be committed?
My recommendation to UNESCO is
to delist Ngorongoro as soon as possible and then shut forever up about Maasai
land.
Ndumbaro
meeting ambassadors and Germany is discreetly anti-Maasai as usual
On 25th March in
Dar es Salaam, Minister Ndumbaro met with ambassadors, heads of international
organisations, and development stakeholders to tell them the “truth” about
Ngorongoro and Loliondo. Very little of what he said has been shared online,
but what’s available is all about the construction of houses in Handeni to where
people will be “voluntarily” moved. Ndumbaro insisted on that it’s against
human rights to prevent anyone from leaving Ngorongoro. Who has prevented
anyone from leaving Ngorongoro? The threat is, obviously, very much the other
way. I’m worried about what Ndumbaro
could have said about Loliondo, since he has earlier engaged in very dangerous
lies about the status of the land that OBC lobby to have alienated from the
Maasai. It was reported that the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs and International Co-operation, Liberata Mulamula, insisted on how
important it was to give the ambassadors correct information, since there were
fabrications by people inside and outside the country (which is sadly true, but
the fabrications by the government side are both wilder and more dangerous, and
the government’s main worry is about those telling the truth).
Also reported was that the German ambassador, Regina Hess, supported the government's efforts to protect conservation and the environment in the Ngorongoro area to address the impacts of climate change. Several people, this blogger included, have since 26th March sought confirmation in social media if it’s true that the ambassador, and Germany, support the government’s eviction plan, but there still hasn’t been any kind of reply. Germany does have a long history of working against Maasai land rights, through Frankfurt Zoological Society, and of staying silent when Tanzanian government officials claim to have German support against the Maasai, like in the case of development fund subject to the condition of alienating the 1,500 km2 in Loliondo (see above). The German Embassy doesn’t say anything, but on 5th April, the MNRT published a picture of the new minister Pindi Chana handing over a gift to Ambassador Hess who was visiting her office in Dodoma to discuss cooperation to improve the tourism sector.
The Germans must be stopped!
The Kenyan senator Ledama Olekina
of Narok County on 22rd March, in senate proceedings warned that if
evicted, Maasai from Loliondo and Ngorongoro are likely to seek refuge in Narok
and Kajiado counties, and that they will be very welcome, but straining the
counties' economy. The senator has also tweeted calling on the government of
Samia Suluhu Hassan to stop any eviction plans, and participated he in a
Twitter Space about Ngorongoro. In 2017 Ledama Olekina, during the illegal mass
arson invasion of village land, took a delegation from Ololosokwan to meet with
the then leader of Kenyan opposition, Raila Odinga, a close friend of President
Magufuli, and Raila phoned his friend, which was followed by, maybe causing,
the replacing of Maghembe with Kigwangalla.
Someday I must write a blog
post about how incomprehensible cross-border solidarity is to many Tanzanians,
notably government supporters. One sorry anti-Maasai example, with good command
of English, interpreted the senator’s word as “proof” that Ngorongoro was full
of Kenyans. He just couldn’t understand that the senator was talking about
Tanzanians.
The removal of Ndumbaro as
Minister of Natural Resources and Tourism is good news. He was a shameless
liar, an anti-pastoralist, and maybe also authentically stupid. However, his
deputy Mary Masanja isn’t any better at all, and she stays. Then, obviously,
the biggest threats are apparent psychopath (non-professional diagnosis) PM
Majaliwa, and President Samia herself. From what I’ve so far heard about Pindi
Chana, she seems to be a CCM careerist.
On 2nd April at the
installation of new ministers, the despicable Majaliwa told Chana, after
talking about tourism and learning from different countries, “We have
conservation work. And you start with Ngorongoro”, and then he laughed.
The PM said, “It’s going well. We are educating the pastoralist and they understand.
The exercise registering themselves for voluntary relocation is going well.” President
Samia commented on Chana’s diplomatic experience as useful in her new function.
Some interpret this as that she will be better than Ndumbaro at listening to all
sides, while others interpret it as that she will be better at lying to foreign
missions and organisations. The former appear to already have been overrun by
reality.
As mentioned, on 5th
April Chana met with the German ambassador. Yesterday, 6th April,
there were reports that she would be in Loliondo, and later in the evening the
MNRT quoted her, "I have visited Ngorogoro Conservation Area and
Loliondo to see the great work being done to preserve, protect the wildlife,
develop tourism activities and rehabilitate the infrastructure that the
government has been providing funding for. I thank the
NCAA leadership for managing so well and I have seen the great work going on.” She added
that the government will continue to ensure that the Ngorongoro Conservation
Area is protected by all means as one of the most important World Heritage
Sites and the source of government revenue from tourism activities. Then Chana
of course thanked president Samia for The Royal Tour.
Leave Ngorongoro in peace!
Susanna
Nordlund is a working-class person based in Sweden who since 2010 has been
blogging about Loliondo (now increasingly also about NCA) and has her
fingerprints thoroughly registered with Immigration so that she will not be
able to enter Tanzania through any border crossing, ever again. She has never
worked for any NGO or intelligence service and hasn’t earned a shilling from
her Loliondo work. She can be reached at sannasus@hotmail.com
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