Another
delayed blog post that’s too long, since too much is happening when I am about
to publish, some information is impossible to obtain, I can’t keep up, and it
must be put in context to avoid the confusion that will happen anyway. The
president continues as a most significant threat to the Ngorongoro Maasai, OBC’s
director has broken his media silence, harassment goes on, and then the Oakland
Institute published a report about the anomalous relocation plans. “Community recommendations”
on NCA and Loliondo/Sale have been handed over to PM Majaliwa to whose tune it’s
not advisable to dance, which everyone has understood long ago, I hope. The NCA
report is available and impressive. I must write more about it in another post.
In this blog post:
NCA:
The president
insulting the Maasai and her hosts
The
president’s Ngorongoro fixation
A reminder of
the efforts for “voluntary” evictions
Dangerous
dance with Majaliwa
Oakland
report on resettlement plans
Some of
NCAA’s “preparations” the past year
Transfer of
local NCAA workers
Ngorongoro
youths arrested by SENAPA rangers
Ngorongoro
Conservation Area brief background
Loliondo:
OBC’s
director Mollel breaks his long media silence
The confusion
OBC’s
“journalist” again
This year’s Loliondo
arrests
Brief
reminder about the efforts to rob the Maasai of 1,500 km2 in Loliondo
Since the
mix-up continues, I must still repeat:
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 has raged in media and in parliament. This is
about Ngorongoro Division of Ngorongoro District and the government’s aim is to
get rid of as many Maasai as possible.
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. This caused
illegal mass arson operations in 2009 and 2017. 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, even if
protests erupted when threats were renewed this year. This concerns Loliondo
and parts of Sale divisions of Ngorongoro District and the government’s aim is to
rob the Maasai of 1,500 km2.
The
president insulting the Maasai and her hosts
On 13th May, President
Samia Suluhu Hassan continued her habit of publicly attacking the Maasai of
Ngorongoro. She did this as guest of honour at the 10th anniversary
of Tanzania Human Rights Defenders’ Coalition (THRDC). This invitation may seem
like inviting the hyena to the biannual goat convention, and to me it’s terribly
unsettling. THRDC’s subsequent reporting from this anniversary was far from
reassuring.
THRDC have always stood firmly
on the side of the Maasai, and at times served as the only outlet covering
local protests. I was personally helped in 2015, when I was illegally arrested,
or kidnapped, and THRDC’s director sent lawyers. There could of course be some
strategic reason that I don’t understand (I tried to ask). THRDC’s bank
accounts were frozen by the government leading up to the 2020 “elections” and
not unfrozen until seven months later when Samia had come into office.
The president mentioned the
government’s efforts to protect the World Heritage Site while expressing her displeasure
with the human rights defenders’ insistence on instead defending the human
rights of those who (according to her rhetoric) are putting it in danger. “What
is most important between letting people continue endangering our world
heritage or supporting the preservation of the heritage and relocating those
people to a better place?”, Samia asked. She added that she left it to the human
rights defenders to sit down and discuss this, which sounds like a threat when
coming from the head of an authoritarian government.
On 16th May a group of Ngorongoro youths spoke with great seriousness on Sessan online media. No other outlets were interested.
Finally, on 27th
May, in connection with the handing over of community views to PM Majaliwa, THRDC’s
director Onesmo Olengurumwa described the president’s stance as if she had
recognised that human rights defenders defend the human rights of people, and that
she has given the organisations the opportunity to offer advice to the
government.
The
president’s Ngorongoro fixation
It shouldn’t be forgotten that
violence and repression were worse under Magufuli, and even Kikwete (against
pastoralists, particularly during his first term), but those presidents didn’t
personally engage in the rhetoric of the enemies of the Ngorongoro Maasai like
Samia does in an obsessive way. The terrible statements have been accompanied by
hurried “voluntary” relocation plans, blocking of new, already funded, public
services and illegal transfer of funds from NCA to Handeni, a feverish ethnic hate
campaign in the press and in parliament, staged spectacles featuring imposters
not from Ngorongoro, and repression of reporting (resembling that in Loliondo).
All this added to the continued restrictions that worsen each time that UNESCO and
IUCN express their “grave concerns”, openly wanting the Tanzanian government to
do something about the population figures (actually low even in the most inflated
versions) and the more discreet pressure from the tourist industry and some
diplomatic missions, with Germany as the most notable suspect. Samia’s fear is
that the value of the prime tourism real estate would decrease if deregistered
as a World Heritage Site. UNESCO should just remove this status from Ngorongoro
(as I said in the blog post from 7th April, under the heading, “UNESCO
denying responsibility for the genocidal Multiple Land Use Model review
proposal and everything else”). The genocidal proposal of the Multiple Land
Use Model review report, presented in September 2019, after UNESCO’s insistence
that it should be finalized, has still not been thrown into the rubbish bin
where it belongs.
Shortly after taking office in
March 2021, in a speech at the swearing in of newly appointed Permanent
Secretaries and heads of public institutions at State House in Dar es Salaam, Samia
said that the Maasai of Ngorongoro and their livestock had become too many, that
she didn’t know how or if people should be evicted, but concluded that
something had to be done, 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, also within 30 days, and 174 households were listed as
“illegal immigrants”. After big protests these demolition and eviction notices
were withdrawn until further notice.
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 with the presenter and producer Peter Greenberg. In December she came unofficially
to complete the filming but has still never met with local leaders or addressed
people in Ngorongoro.
On 17th October 2021,
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 from
Monduli, who pretended to represent the Ngorongoro Maasai while supporting
relocations. Several protest statements were issued by Ngorongoro Maasai against
this individual, which didn’t deter him from later showing up acting as an imposter
at spectacles together with PM Majaliwa and RC Mongella.
When The Royal Tour finally
premiered in April 2022, the Maasai featured prominently as a tourist
attraction, but almost every word seemed geared towards Samia’s bad wishes for
Ngorongoro. Greenberg mentions being fascinated by how “many villages” there
are, which is a strange thing to say. Compared to where? Then it’s mentioned
that, “it is not uncommon for a Maasai man to have 18-20 children”, obviously
to further drive home the population panic. The Maasai are described as
stubbornly clinging on to their ancient ways, but that they will be forced to
change. The president further calls the Maasai “newest arrivals”. Though Greenberg
isn’t as smooth delivering this product as would be expected, since he uses the
word “primitive” about the Maasai, which even anyone not at all familiar with
the threats against the Maasai will find racist and out of touch in 2022. Similarly
out of touch is a kind of joke about Maasai women being impressed by Greenberg
jumping. I have written about The Royal Tour in several blog posts but will
have to dedicate something exclusively to this authoritarian image management. In
a radio interview in connection with the premiere, Samia also made a confused,
but not so innocent comment about Loliondo.
And as mentioned, on 13th
May Samia had complaints about human rights defenders that defend the human
rights of those she wants out of Ngorongoro.
A
reminder of the efforts for “voluntary” evictions
2022 started with a leaked
plan for “voluntary” relocations of Ngorongoro Maasai to be finalized very
hurriedly before the end of February. Even if the documents aren’t signed, they
seem directed from the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority (NCAA) to Damas
Ndumbaro, then still Minister of Natural Resources and Tourism, on how to
implement President Samia’s instructions on evicting the Ngorongoro Maasai. In
the plan the Kitwai and Handeni Game Controlled Areas are named as the areas
for relocation and misleadingly described as protected areas that will be
declassified. Did the NCAA really believe this and were then when on the ground
in Msomera, Handeni, surprised to find a registered village with its land use
plan and bewildered villagers looking on as houses were speedily being built for
Ngorongoro Maasai? Allan Kijazi, (then) Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of
Natural Resources and Tourism (and head of TANAPA) was described as lacking the
right vision to oversee the project, and was shortly after transferred to the
ministry of lands. Arusha RC John Mongella was mentioned as the recommended
overseer. The plan recommends seeking permission to use COVID-19 money allocated
for the development projects to fund the eviction of Ngorongoro Maasai (and
then on 31st March the DED sent letters to Ngorongoro headteachers
ordering them to transfer COVID-19 funds to Handeni), and warns about “Kenyan” NGOs,
particularly PWC, in the style of the old Loliondo police state.
When Mongella visited Loliondo
on 10th January 2022, there was fear of what he would announce about
NCA, but instead he issued a threat against the 1,500 km2 in
Loliondo that led to protest by local people who had been silenced by intimidation
for years.
A crazed anti-Maasai hate campaign
had raged in media for over a month when in parliament on 9th February
MPs competed in being wilfully ignorant, hateful, and calling for evictions
from Ngorongoro, and Loliondo, the Mtwara MP screamed that tanks were needed, there
was much laughter and table banging, while only three MPs (all Maasai) spoke up
for the Maasai. The arguments, besides the old population panic, ranged from
dehumanizing colonial fantasies to crocodile tears about poverty and backwardness,
to lies that rich people not from Ngorongoro, but from town or the neighbouring
country, would own the livestock in NCA, to blaming Kenya for being behind the anti-eviction
resistance with the aim of sabotaging tourism in Tanzania. 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 to its Instagram
account some of the worst clips of MPs, not with any comment of distancing or warning,
but obviously to show off the support from parliamentarians in the war against the
Maasai. On 12th February a one-sided “seminar” about Ngorongoro was
held for the MPs who continued their hateful and defamatory incitement against
the Maasai. At this seminar, one non-Maasai MP supported the Ngorongoro Maasai:
Professor Kitila Mkumbo, MP for Ubungo.
In NCA many people stopped
sleeping and started praying incessantly at combined prayer and protest
meetings.
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. The
local people who were locked out stayed outside the hall singing.
On 5th March,
Deputy Minister Mary Masanja 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 were 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 journalists
didn’t want to cover it after having been advised otherwise by Majaliwa.
 |
| Imposters |
On 13th March,
Majaliwa made a much-publicised visit to Msomera Village in Handeni where
houses were hurriedly being built to relocate Maasai from Ngorongoro, without
consulting them, and without consulting people from Msomera that’s a legally
registered village. Majaliwa was to visit Ngorongoro on the 15th,
but it was postponed.
 |
| Does not look empty. |
On 25th March Damas
Ndumbaro, then still Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, met with
ambassadors to tell them the “truth” about Ngorongoro and Loliondo, and his
ministry reported that the German ambassador supported the government’s efforts
in Ngorongoro, which has still not been publicly denied by any German
representative.
On 31st March, President
Samia replaced Ndumbaro with Pindi Chana who within a few days was off to visit
Ngorongoro and Loliondo, without meeting with residents. This was quickly
followed by a visit to Msomera where Chana heaped praise on the relocation project.
On 3rd April, the
NCAA had found some real traitors to show off, unlike the previous imposters
from other places than Ngorongoro, even if long-gone people were 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.
These few, and very dubious, people keep being paraded in media, and the star
is a special seats councillor, Foibe Lukumay, whose by Ngorongoro standards
luxurious house was up for demolition without compensation and at her own cost
in the halted orders from April 2021. Now she’ll get compensation and could get
a house in Handeni, where she will hardly live, since her family reportedly owns real
estate in Arusha.
Evidence emerged about how
blocked funds for social services in Ngorongoro division are being transferred
to Handeni and on 13th April the Ngorongoro MP denounced this in
parliament. Then letters were made public in which schools in NCA were being
ordered to send Covid-19 funds already in their accounts to the account of
Handeni District Council.
On 24th April, PM
Majaliwa was again visiting the hurried construction of houses in Msomera
Village in Handeni. Deputy Minister MaryMasanja talked about how dangerous it is to live with wild animals, which has
become quite popular in the anti-Maasai rhetoric that earlier used to bring up
clashes between pastoralists and cultivators in Handeni, of all places … Masanja
also said that the president has provided funds for 400 more houses.
On 6th May, the
United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues called on the government of
Tanzania to immediately cease efforts to evict the Maasai people from the
Ngorongoro Conservation Area.
Then the president, at Tanzania
Human Rights Defenders Coalition’s own 10-year anniversary, expressed her
displeasure with human rights defenders defending Ngorongoro Maasai and not her
genocidal plans, and was covered with praise …
As mentioned, a 60-member
committee, dressed in matching clothes, on 25th May finally (the PM
kept postponing this meeting) handed over a report on community recommendations
to PM Majaliwa, who perhaps is the most dangerous person in Tanzania. Knowing Majaliwa, he won’t read the report,
but use it to further pretend to be working with the Maasai and even if the
main recommendation would be to roll him in tar and feather, Majaliwa will interpret
it as support.
The NCA part of the report isn’t shy to tell the truth and over-ambitious considering the time restraint. Its dedication says,
Further, the report identifies the main environmental threats as being caused by tourism investment.
Though I have big worries,
hopefully totally unfounded, about the Loliondo/Sale part.
I’ve been told that Majaliwa just
spoke “as usual” (and that isn’t good) but said he will work on recommendations.
According to the press, the PM told the committee members to keep believing in
the government, and ignore nonsense by irrelevant people, since it can’t have
bad plans for its citizens, as if those present didn’t have first-hand
knowledge of both the government’s bad plans and its bad actions. Unsurprisingly,
Majaliwa spoke about Msomera where 103 houses are being built and 400 more are
on the way, and he mentioned how the government is strengthening the livestock
sector. Apparently, Majaliwa didn’t say anything about Loliondo where he
earlier that year (when in NCA) ordered beacons to be erected to demarcate the
1,500 km2 that the government want to alienate from the Maasai. Though it seems
like he didn’t really say anything about what’s happening in NCA either.
A press conference by the
committee members the following day, confirmed that there hadn’t been any time to
present their findings in a power point, so as suspected, there was one-way
communication from Majaliwa. They were however very thankful that he received the
report, and brought up some problems, like the transferral of local Maasai NCAA
staff (see below)
I don’t think anyone has
forgotten Majaliwa’s glowing reports on Magufuli’s health when the president
hadn’t been seen for weeks and was dying, or already dead. Even more
unforgettable are his catastrophic interventions in both NCA and Loliondo in
2016-2017.
As mentioned in the previous
blog post, one of the committee members, Lendukai Kimaay, was arrested on 6th
May, taken to Arusha for interrogation, and is supposed to continue reporting
to the police.
 |
| The NCA report |
Oakland
report on resettlement plans
On 24th May a report
by the Oakland Institute was released. It, “examines resettlement plans for
Maasai from NCA and identifies serious flaws with the resettlement process,
feasibility of selection sites, and major discrepancies between government
promises and the actual situation on the ground.”
Anonymous people have conducted
a fact-finding mission to Msomera village where – as reported frantically, and unquestioning,
for months now – houses for relocation are being built, and Kitwai A and B that’s
the other hurriedly planned for areas, but where construction has not yet begun.
The researchers were told that only after construction had already commenced,
the government allegedly informed the Handeni District Council that the houses would
be for NCA residents who have “volunteered” for resettlement. In Kitwai B, the
village, ward and district leaders had no knowledge that their village had been
chosen as a resettlement site. No social or environmental impact assessments
appear to have been conducted prior to choosing the relocation areas – but how
would anyone even have had the time for that? As late as in December, NCAA didn’t
know that there were villages in Handeni and Kitwai GCAs, at least judging from
their leaked documents. One traditional leader is quoted, “We didn’t agree
with the government plan to give our land to Ngorongoro people but we have no
objection on that, as the government authority is too big, we can’t fight
[against them].”
The anonymous researchers also
found serious problems with access to water and grazing in Msomera and Kitwai,
and requests for information about a dam project (much celebrated in the press)
in Msomera from Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency (RUWASA) have not received
a reply. Further, promises for social services in Msomera do not seem to have
materialized on time. The risk for conflict is obvious.
Some
of NCAA’s “preparations” the past year
The NCAA chief conservator,
Fredy Manongi, has for years organized fancy workshops for editors and senior
journalists, domestic tourism included in the package, and they have uncritically
reported his views that the Maasai and their livestock are “too many” and
something must be done. This is just an incomplete listing of the increased
effort this past year:
In May 2021, the NCAA
headquarters were abruptly relocated to Karatu. Then, the first days of June, Manongi
and other NCAA representatives 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 Masanja
complains about having seen livestock on the way to Oldupai together with parliamentarians
– as if it would have been something terrible and unexpected … - and Manongi
says that conservation is a war, that the pastoralists have many “conspiracies”
and sadly are winning, adding that now conservationists must “start” (when did
they stop?) developing conspiracies.
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.
Towards late January 2022, Habib
Mchange’s Jamvi la Habari newspaper, 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 – who soon appeared in Ngorongoro, in a
NCAA vehicle, with Kitenge screaming in horror about everything he saw, basically
including his own shadow. The old anti-Maasai Jamhuri paper with Deusdatus
Balile and Manyerere Jackton who in over 60 articles has incited against the
Maasai of Loliondo, soon joined in, and the “journalists” started an
organization with its sole focus on evicting the Maasai from Ngorongoro - and
were treated as serious actors by other media. Though many Tanzanians in social
media who had earlier not paid much attention to Ngorongoro saw what was going
on, were appalled, and started speaking up.
On 3rd February,
six journalists (obviously not from the anti-Maasai group) were detained and harassed after having attended a community rally in Nainokanoka.
As mentioned, on 9th
February, the anti-Maasai hate feast spread to parliament, and following days
to a seminar for MPs, in some extreme way, and mostly hidden from a world that
doesn’t speak Swahili.
On 13th February,
the new anti-Maasai organisation, formed by “journalists”, held a loathsome
press conference, adding to their many crazed and dehumanizing “theories” one
saying that there were no graves in Ngorongoro, which had earlier been heard in
parliament. The Darmpya online news, asked questions, like how come the
“allowances” for attending the press conference were so extraordinary heavy,
who funded it, and for what purpose.
Then, as mentioned, PM
Majaliwa made his non-listening visit to Ngorongoro, organised non-Ngorongoro imposters
in Arusha to show off support for planned relocations to Handeni, to where he
also made a much-publicised visit, and boasted about it all in parliament.
On 25th March 2022,
Damas Ndumbaro, then Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, met with
ambassadors to tell them the “truth” about Ngorongoro and Loliondo, and his
ministry reported that the German ambassador supported the government’s efforts
in Ngorongoro, which has still not been publicly denied by any German
representative. In September 2021, the Germans had – once again – showered Tanzania
with money for “sustainable natural resource and ecological sustainability
development in the Serengeti ecosystem”, and Stefan Oswald, Head of the Africa
Department at Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development of
Germany had a nice time in Serengeti with the notorious deputy minister Mary
Masanja.
On 31st March,
President Samia replaced Ndumbaro with Pindi Chana who within a few days was
off to visit Ngorongoro and Loliondo, without meeting with residents, followed
by a visit to Msomera.
NCAA had since 2021, by not
issuing permits, been blocking already funded new social services in Ngorongoro
division. On 31st March headteachers received letter from DED Mhina instructing
them to send COVID-19 funds already in the school accounts to the bank accounts
of Handeni District Council.
I’ve mentioned how the NCAA
have impacted on President Samia, and it can’t be overstated.
The genocidal MLUM review proposal
has still not been scrapped.
Transfer
of local NCAA workers
The latest NCAA activity that
has been reported is that at least ten local Maasai NCAA employees in early May
have received letters of transferral to other parastatals within the Ministry
of Natural Resources and Tourism, like TTB, TAWA, BASATA, TARURA, and TANAPA. I
would have thought that they’d like to use these employees for divide and rule,
but it’s been explained to me that the NCAA leadership just hates the Maasai
and wants to get rid of them.
Ngorongoro
youths arrested by SENAPA rangers
Saturday evening 21st
May, five young men were arrested by TANAPA/SENAPA rangers in the Imbarbali or Lemuta
area in NCA when they were looking for lost sheep and had entered Serengeti National
Park. The following day they were taken to Mugumu in Serengeti District at the
other (west) side of the national park, while 62 sheep were seized and kept at
the site. The youths were fined 200,000 TShs each (the police first accepted
100,000, but senior officers insisted on 200,000), the sheep 20,000 TShs each, and
100,000 TShs for the person holding the sheep during the arrest, and they were not
released until 25th May (some say 26th or 27th),
and then returned home on the 27th, since they were looking for
fares.
The rangers could have issued
tickets without taking the youths all the way to Mugumu, or better, not issued
any fines at all. This is part of the general pattern of harassment and disrespect,
and in Loliondo many people have suffered the same, often illegally without
even having entered the National Park, and not only during the brutal and
illegal operation in 2017 of which SENAPA was the main implementor.
Ngorongoro
Conservation Area brief background
Remember that the Maasai
already lost access to over 14,000 km2 when evicted from Serengeti
in 1959 by the colonial government, and 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, and in case of conflict the interest of the
Maasai would take precedence. This promise was not kept, and tourism revenue
has turned into the paramount interest.
Ngorongoro has become Tanzania
top source of tourism revenue and many wildlife numbers have increased, with the
Maasai living there, in their home.
For decades the Maasai have
suffered restrictions, more and more purposefully designed to impoverish them
and force them out of Ngorongoro Conservation Area. In 1975, after a change in
the NCA Act in 1974, they were brutally evicted from residing in Ngorongoro
crater and all cultivation was prohibited. The cultivation ban was lifted in
1992, but brought back in 2009, after many “grave concerns” by UNESCO and IUCN.
Now not even the smallest kitchen garden is allowed, which together with loss
of access to grazing areas has led to malnutrition. They are not allowed to
build permanent houses and suffer all kinds of harassment by NCA rangers, that
want to restrict motorbikes, building materials, or demanding permits for just
anything.
In 2017 – by order (not a
change in the NCA Act) and after a visit by PM Majaliwa in December 2016 - the
Maasai lost access to the three craters Ngorongoro, Olmoti, and Empakaai, which
has led the loss of 90% of grazing and water for Nainokanoka, Ngorongoro,
Misigiyo wards, and a 100% loss of natural saltlicks for livestock in these
wards. Supplementary artificial saltlicks were provided by the NCAA, but these
were found to be adulterated, and reportedly causing cattle deaths.
pic
The UNESCO World Heritage
Centre, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and
International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) once again visited
Ngorongoro in March 2019 and in their report repeated that they wanted the
Multiple Land Use Model 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 within the
property to outside by 2028”.
In September 2019, chief
conservator Freddy Manongi made public a Multiple Land Use Model review report
proposal, which is 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, 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 the expanded NCA would remain for
people and livestock.
Uncountable protest meetings
and statements against the MLUM review proposal followed in 2019 and 2020.
Several promises were issued by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism
to do the exercise afresh in a “participatory” manner, but then the same
genocidal proposal kept being brought back.
OBC’s
director Mollel breaks his long media silence
On 17th May, the
website Toward Freedom published an article about Loliondo by the Kenyan reporter
Charles Wachira. This article contains some confusion that I’ll have to straighten
out - since I’m writing about it - but most interesting, the reporter had got
some words from OBC’s director Isaack Mollel, which if I remember correctly,
hasn’t happened since 2017, but somewhat regularly before that, including starring
in two “documentaries” by then reporter, later DC (Arumeru and then Ikungi) Jerry
Muro. In 2017 Mollel apparently sat back to watch the horror unfold, in 2018 OBC’s
love relation with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism was publicly reaffirmed
after the fallout with Minister Kigwangalla in October/November 2017, but with
Mollel keeping a low profile, and in 2019/2020 Mollel had a very long stay in
remand prison for economic sabotage.
In the article, Mollel is
presented and OBC’s “spokesperson” and under his other names, “Isaya Lesion”.
He keeps to his old rhetoric that the government, not the Maasai, owns the land,
and has placed OBC there, but now he’s gained some sophistication telling the
reporter that, “all the land in Tanzania belong to the public and the
president holds the land in trust of the citizens and may intermittently change
its usage for the benefit of the country”.
To further drive home his
point, and perhaps to be more threatening, he reminds of some evictions known
for their massive human rights crimes, “It has happened before in Ihefu
Basin, Mtwara and Kilombero, just to name a few places where evictions by the
government have happened to pave the way for development on behalf of the
nation.” “The wider interest of the nation” was indeed what RC Mongella claimed
to be defending when he in January this year renewed the threat against the 1,500
km2 of important grazing land that OBC lobby the government to have
converted into a protected area.
Then Mollel lashes out against
CSOs that are opposed to the eviction plans saying that they, “turned the
Maasais into their milking cows, using them to secure funding from external
donors. It’s a lucrative business and the key players, who disproportionately
live in urban centers, live large as the Maasais continue languishing in
poverty.” This time he doesn’t call these NGOs (that in Loliondo were
silenced through intimidation years ago) “Kenyan”. Maybe because he was talking
to a Kenyan reporter. Such is the talk of the Loliondo police state, and it’s
been copied in NCA.
Mollel is OBC’s director since
2007 and has through the years been a driving force behind the land threats, extreme
violence, divide and rule, and the local police state that for some time silenced
absolutely everyone. Though he hasn’t succeeded in having OBC’s 1,500 km2
core hunting area turned into a “protected area” and in 2019 he ran into
serious misfortune when he was arrested for economic sabotage.
One theory about why Mollel in
2019 was no longer untouchable says that he was used to send a message from
Magufuli to OBC’s old friend Abdulrahman Kinana and by extension to Bernard
Membe. Though Mollel also had serious clashes of egos with RC Gambo and with
Kigwangalla.
Initially, the Prevention and
Combatting of Corruption Bureau seemed intent on dealing with the Loliondo
police state at the service of investors and its enormous corruption, but were
soon stopped and Mollel, while truly evil and far from innocent, became a
scapegoat. PCCB arrested District Security Officer Issa Ng’itu to whose SIM
card Mollel ha sent money, but Ng’itu was quickly released and promoted to RSO
in Rukwa. Some Pakistani OBC workers after losing a lot of time waiting for
court hearings were finally fined for having worked without permits and
deported. Then Mollel’s case, mostly related to the importation of vehicles, was
just drawn out while he languished in remand prison and sought plea bargaining.
Mollel was released on 2nd October 2020 and, reportedly after some
time in Dubai, he was back to work.
After the arrest, OBC’s
activities on the ground were for some time down to a minimum, while their
staff and supporters kept saying that the case was about Mollel personally, not
OBC, and that Sheikh Mohammed would soon visit. In 2021, OBC laid off a lot of
staff and new people were hired. Among those laid off was the local traitor who
since 2015 had been OBC’s assistant director, and since 2020 councillor for
Ololosokwan. Some say he was let go because OBC didn’t trust him, and others
say that he left on his own accord since being employed by OBC hindered his
political ambitions. Anyway, it seems like his enormous treason during the
years of worst repression hasn’t cost him anything at all.
I hope the reason that Mollel
is now talking to media again is not that he’s feeling more confident about
his lobbying for land alienation from the Maasai.
As said, the article in Toward
Freedom contain some confusion, which is something it has in common with almost
all articles about Loliondo. This is a failure for this blog that exists to
combat such confusion, misinformation and not least disinformation, but there
isn’t any way that I can force people to read.
Part of the confusion is
mixing up Loliondo with NCA, which is something that this year has spiralled
out of all control, and is found in many articles. The article is about
Loliondo, but suddenly, out of nowhere, the reporter starts writing about NCA (and
UNESCO etc.) as if it were the same thing. In this case it seems like those
interviewed have been talking about both issues and the reporter has mixed it
up. He writes, “The government plans to lease to OBC the NCA, which encompasses
the Loliondo division, among others.” No, OBC has since 1993 had the
hunting block (permit to hunt) that encompasses Loliondo and part of Sale division
of Ngorongoro district. NCA is the same as Ngorongoro Division of Ngorongoro District,
and hunting is not allowed there. The threat is about reducing the 4,000 km2
hunting block to OBC’s 1,500 km2 core hunting area and making this
into a protected area. Confusion is also caused by the fact that the MLUM
review proposal for NCA includes the proposal to annex the 1,500 km2
in Loliondo to NCA which would require a change in the NCA Act, and that
without Maasai, NCA could be turned into a National Park or a Game Reserve, and
the latter alternative allows, or almost requires, hunting. Reportedly, there
is also hunting in Kakesio where NCA is being encroached by Mwiba Holding that
has hunting block in the neighbouring Meatu district. I wrote about this a decade
ago, and apparently it continues.
Some misinformation that’s
very unnecessary is writing that there were evictions in Loliondo in “2009, 2013,
and 2017”. No, there were most definitely not any evictions in
Loliondo in 2013. This is something that an otherwise most serious
international organisation started writing this year, and other are copying.
The article claims that OBC is
owned by “a group of Dubai royal families” and attributes this information to
those behind a petition earlier this year. Since 1992, the named owner has been
the businessman Major General (or Lt. General) Mohammed Abdul Rahim Al Ali (he
used to be called “brigadier”), and Dubai has only one royal family, the Maktoums.
The reporter quotes the
article from 2017 that has misled so many people into believing that the government
ended a deal with OBC in November 2017 and was then never followed up. As known,
it was Kigwangalla who said that OBC would leave before January 2018, but they
didn’t go anywhere (Mollel’s brother and the assistant director were
quite rude about this) and on 6th December 2017 PM Majaliwa declared
that OBC would stay. This is salvaged by further down quoting an article by
Chris Lang of Redd Monitor who quite uniquely made corrections.
There’s a mention of a hunting
ban that was lifted in November 2018, but that ban restricted resident hunters,
and not trophy hunting tourists.
I really should write like
this about all articles, this one was far from the worst, but I neither have
the time, especially now when there are so many articles, nor can I afford the unpopularity
that it sometimes leads to.
OBC’s
“journalist” again
On 17th May the
Jamhuri newspaper published yet another article in which Manyerere Jackton calls
for evicting the Maasai from OBC’s 1,500 km2 core hunting area in
Loliondo, “Kwa nini kigugumizi Ngorongoro, Loliondo?” He’s been
conducting his dirty campaign in over 60 articles, but laid low when Mollel was
arrested in 2019 and until this year 2022.
Except for a worry that The
Royal Tour missed the wildebeest migration, which could lead to the neighbouring
country appropriating it in their own Royal Tour, and a confused wish for more
patriotism in palaeoanthropology, Jackton was full of praise for President Samia’s
noble intention for reaching five million tourists by 2025, and her understanding
that the way is through “conservation” (eviction of Maasai). The journalist
wanted it speeded up in Ngorongoro, and of course in Loliondo. He mentioned
that for Ngorongoro this needed time and money for efforts like that in Handeni,
but he couldn’t understand why beacons hadn’t been erected in Loliondo already.
The cost of complaints by some people was well worth it for the wider interest
of the nation, he wrote. The message from this “journalist” is that beacons
must immediately be erected to “save” what’s OBC’s core hunting area and to
attract guests. Otherwise, it will serve as an example for any Tanzanian to oppose
anything beneficial for the nation … He’s seen those opposing the plan in
social media saying that they have support inside the government. I hope that’s
true …
This article was restrained by
Jackton’s standards. In over 60 articles
he 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. Besides
this, he’s capable of fabricating any story for apparently no reason at all. This
year, the Jamhuri joined Habib Mchange and Maulid Kitenge in their hate
campaign against the Ngorongoro Maasai.
Even worse is that I’ve
experienced first-hand how Jackton likes to boast about being directly involved
in arrests of innocent people. He’s been boasting quite publicly, published
photos of the phones of those illegally arrested, and used to email me rude
one-liners when someone was about to be arrested. This appeared to be
continuing when Manyerere Jackton’s article from mid-March engaged in the same wild
“theories”, as the arrested councillors had been interrogated about.
As mentioned in earlier blog
posts, following a protest meeting 19th March, on the 23rd
Methew Siloma councillor of Arash and the councillor of Malambo, Joel Clement
Reson, were summoned to the CCM ethics committee at the party’s office in
Loliondo, after which the police entered and Siloma was arrested – or abducted
– and taken 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), which TISS do
not have a mandate to do. On 25th March, Siloma was released on
bail, without charges, but he must continue reporting to the police, which has reportedly
lately calmed down. Later Siloma has in social media said that he was locked
up, interrogated and threatened in an unknown building, not at the police
station.
On Easter Eve, 16th
April, the councillor of Malambo was arrested and so were the councillors of
Piyaya and Maaloni. They were released the following day, but Joel Reson from
Malambo was told to report to the police in Arusha, which he did on 22nd
April and then he was locked up at Arusha central police station, interrogated,
released on bail the following day, and told to continue reporting to the
police.
As mentioned by Siloma and Reson
themselves in social media, all focus of the “interrogations” was laid on
making them stop defending the land and “confess” to having received millions
from the Kenyan Senator for Narok County, Ledama Olekina and that this would be
the reason that they were speaking up against any plans of turning the 1,500 km2
of vitally important grazing land into a “protected area”.
While these arrests have been “mild”
compared to what was happening in 2016 (or even 2015) to 2019, I worry that the
affected councillors then didn’t speak up about anything in media, which could
be because the focus was on delivering a report to PM Majaliwa, which was done
on 25th May, even though Siloma at the protest meeting said that nothing
would be handed to the liar Majaliwa, but to the president directly. On the
other hand, reporters have allegedly also been receiving “instructions” from the
PM.
At a press conference the day
after handing over community recommendations from NCA and Loliondo/Sale to Majaliwa,
Joel Clement Reson said that the conflict in Loliondo was caused by OBC, and
that the company had insisted on placing beacons on people’s land. He reminded
the government of that the Maasai don’t eat wildlife and said that if the
government love OBC they can come to do business, but not force people to
relocate. The councillor also engaged in some praise of Majaliwa …
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 the reporter 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 Ngorongoro 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’s threats.
After the unity, 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 Thomson Safaris) 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 after
a while back to work. 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 Bernard 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. The case
against Thomson Safaris in the Tanzanian court of appeal, however, was in 2022
killed using a law that was introduced after the case was filed.
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. 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 DW 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 Vice-Chairman of CCM mainland. Kinana is one of OBC’s and
Sheikh Mohammed’s best and oldest friends since at least 1993.
On 6th April, the
new minister Pindi Chana visited Loliondo.
Then as mentioned, CCM
councillors that have spoken up against plans of robbing the Maasai of the
1,500 km2 osero are, after a protest meeting in Arash on 19th
March being intimidated, arrested, and summoned to be “interrogated” in Arusha.
Currently the councillors of Arash and Malambo must keep reporting to the
police, even if this seems to have calmed down, and a laigwanani together with
the village chairman of Malambo have been summoned to the Loliondo police and
are to return when the OCD is there.
On 25th May a committee
handed over their report of “community views” on both NCA and the 1,500 km2
osero in Loliondo to PM Majaliwa, which Siloma had said they would not do. I
hope the Loliondo/Sale part is as good as that for NCA, but I’ve had some
worries. In 2017, the results of dancing to Majaliwa’s tune were catastrophic.
The case in the East African
Court of Justice is in its very final stages. A win should be certain, but I have
some hopefully unfounded worries.
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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