Rest in peace Anny Daniel
Laizer. My condolences to family and friends.
In the latest blog post, among several other issues, I mentioned that in addition to decades
of other restrictions and harassment, obviously meant to drive
the Maasai out of Ngorongoro Conservation Area, since 2021 the Ngorongoro
Conservation Area Authority (NCAA) has been blocking all new, already funded, public
service projects. While writing (now long ago), I was asking for more details
about what projects were being blocked, and since then such a list has been shared,
and later letters were made public in which schools in Ngorongoro Conservation
Area were being ordered to send Covid-19 funds already in their accounts to the
account of Handeni District Council. On 13th April, the Ngorongoro MP
Emmanuel Oleshangai, spoke up in the national assembly, and in a confident way
fought off several intervening ministers.
Update: on 6th May, Lendukai Kimaay, who was one of those writing the report on community views to be handed to PM Majaliwa, was arrested in Karatu and then taken to Arusha for interrogation. He was released on the 7th.
Update: 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.
Meanwhile,
I’m worried that not enough attention is given to protect the 1,500 km2
in Loliondo that this year has been seriously threatened by both the Arusha RC,
the PM and the former Minister of Natural Resources and Tourism, and as
reported in the latest blog post, in a new turn of the Loliondo police state
the councillor of Arash was arrested, or abducted, by his own CCM party for
speaking up. On Easter Eve the illegal arrests of councillors continued with
those from Malambo, Piyaya, and Maaloni. The councillors of Arash and Malambo
must keep reporting to the police. The latest I heard is that the Malambo
village chairman and a traditional leader are summoned to the Loliondo police tomorrow, 6th May.
In President
Samia’s own “documentary” The Royal Tour, the words about the Maasai were as if
preparing for evictions from Ngorongoro, and in a related interview she now
also mentioned Loliondo, trying to engage in the usual anti-Loliondo rhetoric by the MNRT and
investors, without getting even that right.
In this blog post:
Blocked
public services in Ngorongoro Division
Ngorongoro
Conservation Area brief background
NCA
developments since 2021
Public
services as weapon of war
Intimidation
continues, but Loliondo is not back to silence, I hope
Brief
reminder about the efforts to rob the Maasai of 1,500 km2 in
Loliondo
The Royal
Tour
First
remember that:
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. This is about
Ngorongoro Division of Ngorongoro District.
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. This concerns
Loliondo and parts of Sale divisions of Ngorongoro District.
The interest
in Ngorongoro has reached unprecedented levels nationally and internationally, which
is good indeed. Though most articles get at least something wrong, while some
old misleading articles are circulating again.
Blocked
public services in Ngorongoro Division
During the one-party
parliamentary debate on the budget estimates of the Prime Minister’s office, on
13th April, the MP for Ngorongoro brought up the issue of new, already
funded public service projects - all of them - being blocked in Ngorongoro
division and the money sent to Handeni to where the government want the Maasai
to relocate “voluntarily”. One after one, several ministers intervened to say
that there are indeed new public service projects in Ngorongoro District (or similar
interventions) and Shangai responded with confidence and great patience to
their not so innocent ignorance. Those intervening were Innocent Bachungwa, Minister
of State in the President’s Office Regional Administration and Local Government
(TAMISEMI), Juma Aweso, Minister of Water and Irrigation, Godwin Mollel, Deputy
Minister of Health, and Kundo Methew, Deputy Minister for Communication and Information
Technology.
There is a long list of public
services in water, education and health for which there are funds, but which
since last year are being blocked (not given permits) by NCAA. I was mostly in
vain asking for examples for my latest blog post, but now there is a list.
photo
On Easter Sunday, two frankly disgusting letters were revealed, one from DED Jumaa Mhina to the headteachers of Endulen, Misigyo, and Essere primary schools, and another one from the same to the Embarway, Nainokanoka, and Ngorongoro Girls secondary schools. These letters, dated 31st March, refer to a letter from the TAMISEMI permanent secretary, Riziki S Shemdoe, ordering Covid-19 funds already in the accounts of the Ngorongoro schools for the construction of classrooms and dormitories to instead be transferred to Handeni District Council! There were instructions with the account number of the Handeni District Council for transferring the money before 5th April.
The lawlessness of the Tanzanian government is apparently without boundaries. Though the good thing with these letters is that it’s unusually strong evidence, unlike when crimes are being committed while the rhetoric is saying the opposite.
On 19th April, MP Shangai
shared a picture together with the TAMISEMI permanent secretary, as “photo of
the day”. Though nothing transpired of what had been said.
The dirty war against the
Maasai is being fought at all levels. The Controller and Auditor General, Charles
Kichere, again, when presenting his report on 19th April, parroted
chief conservator Manongi’s anti-Maasai rhetoric about too many people and
livestock, permanent infrastructures and motorcycles – yes, motorcycles and not
the traffic jams formed by tourist vehicles – while throwing in claims about
violation of sections of the NCA Act, totally ignoring the blatant and brutal violation
of NCAA’s function, “to safeguard and promote the interests of Masai
citizens of the United Republic engaged in cattle ranching and dairy industry
within the Conservation Area;” These are issues about which the CAG can’t
possible have much knowledge or understanding, and the one-sided copying of the
anti-Maasai campaigners is more than obvious.
On 24th April, PM
Majaliwa was again visiting the hurried construction of houses in Msomera Village
in Handeni, while local villagers looked on agape, and nobody knows where the
money is coming from, except for what’s openly stolen from Ngorongoro.
Deputy Minister Mary Masanja was of course there talking about how dangerous it
is to live with wild animals, as if moving to an overpopulated district,
infamous for its clashes between pastoralists and cultivators, would be safer. Anti-Maasai
people online used to very frequently bring up such clashes, but I haven’t
heard them since the Handeni scam was made public, maybe since they’re so
enamoured with the idea of moving the Maasai. Masanja also said that the president
has provided funds for 400 more houses.
There has been some
international news coverage of Ngorongoro, often mixing things up with Loliondo,
and other misunderstandings. These articles make it sound like evictions are
imminent. I hope they are very wrong, even if the government seems determined
and united. Perhaps most important is that eight UN Special Rapporteurs wrote
to the Tanzanian government, and to the UNESCO World Heritage, IUCN, and
International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) already in February,
about their concern about the threats of evictions and further restrictions against
the Maasai of NCA. I didn’t see these letters until the Oakland Institute wrote
about them on 11th April.
While the anti-Maasai hate rhetoric
has this year been more virulent than ever, the solidarity expressed by
Tanzanians from all walks of life, at least online, has also reached levels
never previously seen, not even during the most brutal and illegal mass arson
operations. Thank you and please keep it up.
On 24th-25th
April the committee that’s collecting community views about the conflict
concerning the 1,500 km2 in Loliondo and the Ngorongoro Conservation
Area (to hand over to PM Majaliwa) held a press conference to say that they’re
finalizing this task. This committee of representatives from Ngorongoro and Loliondo
has by some been seen as dancing to the extremely dangerous and manipulative PM’s
tune. At the protest meeting in Arash on 19th March it was declared
that the report would instead be handed to the president, but in parliament on
13th April the Ngorongoro MP was again mentioning the PM, and so did
the committee members at their press conference.
The committee’s advice to the
government were the following:
1. "We
urge the government, through the Prime Minister, to condemn the arbitrary
arrests of leaders, including councillors, community members, leaders and human
rights defenders who stand up for human rights, as well as to prevent threats
against journalists who report information and community views concerning this
conflict.”
2. "We
urge the government to stop any propaganda against the people of Ngorongoro,
especially the Maasai community, and to suspend all ongoing processes to allow
for listening to the views of the community in order to provide a peaceful
solution to this conflict."
3. "The
government should return all development projects and social services that have
been blocked in Ngorongoro Division."
On 28th April, in
the social media app Clubhouse the government spokesperson Gerson Msigwa cried
crocodile tears about the Ngorongoro Maasai and wildlife, “crocodile” because
all problems are caused by the government itself. Then he said that
stakeholders had recommended blocking social services in NCA so that “the
problem isn’t increased”. He also said that the removal of the Maasai would be
done slowly and educating them about the necessity of doing this. He made it
clear that the interest of tourism is to be given precedence.
The Minister of Information,
Communication and Information Technology, Nape Nnauye, on 30th April,
in the same social media app, defended the refusal to deliver postcode services
to Ngorongoro Division with that it’s for where the government has agreed that
there are formal residences, and not where there is conflict. Then he went on
to complain about false propaganda about Ngorongoro and blocking of services, asking
Tanzanians not to let neighbouring countries stir things up … Nape continued
saying that nobody is being prevented from talking to journalists, that there
are rules and regulations in Ngorongoro that journalists must follow, and then
they will be allowed to do their job, but what’s not acceptable is to engage in
activism. He claimed that the government is treating Ngorongoro issues very
well, assisting those who want to relocate. Then he said that under the
presidency of Samia there is press freedom, but your freedom ends where another
person freedom begins.
Unfortunately, any Tanzanian
minister will say stupid things like this, or worse.
On 2nd May, the eve
of World Press Freedom Day, Nape forced the Darmpya online news outlet to
apologise for not getting the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority’s view
before accurately reporting sudden rises in mobile data prices.
The Royal Tour film premiered
and among the words about the Maasai by President Samia and the reporter Peter
Greenberg “primitive tribes” wasn’t the worst (see below for more about The
Royal Tour).
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 he
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.
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 the previous blog post I
wrote my reply to UNESCO’s claim that they have never at any time asked
for the displacement of the Maasai.
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.
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, also within 30
days, and 174 families were listed as “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, Chief
Conservator 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
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.
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 Stefan
Oswald, Head of the Africa Department at Federal Ministry for Economic
Cooperation and Development of Germany was having a nice time in Serengeti with
deputy minister Mary Masanja and the Germans were – again - giving away
millions for sustainable natural resource and ecological sustainability
development in the Serengeti ecosystem. Grzimek and Nyerere were “present” in
spirit and as cut out figures.
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 from Monduli, who pretended to represent the Ngorongoro Maasai while
supporting relocations. Several protest statements were issued by Ngorongoro
Maasai against this individual.
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, but contrary
what had been feared, he didn’t make any announcement about NCA.
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 then 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.
On 3rd February,
six journalists were detained and harassed after having attended a community
rally in Nainokanoka.
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 (all Maasai) 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 to its Instagram
account 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 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.
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 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 (I hope to soon have more information
about Msomera, which some people are working at). Majaliwa was to visit
Ngorongoro on the 15th, but it was postponed.
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 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.
On the 31st
President Samia replaced Ndumbaro with Pindi Chana who within a few days was
off to visit Ngorongoro and Loliondo, without meeting with residents.
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 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.
These few, and very dubious, people keep being paraded in media.
Some 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.
And as mentioned, a committee
will hand over community views to PM Majaliwa, as if he would care.
Public services
as weapon of war
In the previous blog post I
wrote about how development projects, often basic social services have always
been used as a weapon, but I forgot one way in which it has been done.
The projects are always used as
a CCM party event, and the president is personally thanked in the most
embarrassing way. In Loliondo people have been humiliated and forced to receive
social services as charity from the violent anti-land rights investors – OBC and
Thomson Safaris – who use it in their propaganda. Because of this, Mondorosi Village
was refusing charity from Thomson for years, and the chairman was severely
harassed, arrest included, until he “changed”. Similar used to happen earlier in
NCA where chief conservator Manongi could compromise anyone with development
money. In 2017, Minister Jumanne Maghembe said that German development funds
would only be released on condition of turning the 1,500 km2 into a
protected area, which led to protests against receiving this money, but then it
was revealed that the district council chairman had done so anyway. After two years of German silence,
representatives of the development bank denied any such conditions. The funds,
or any other, have still not been used in the 1,500 km2 though. Lately
PM Majaliwa has used water projects in other areas of Loliondo as an argument
for alienating the 1,500 km2, while pretending not to know that
people live there or that it’s essential grazing land.
Social services were one of
the weapons strategically used to – with 100 % success - bring back opposition
councillors to CCM in 2017-2018, including removing planned for projects in
opposition wards.
Now, as seen, social services 600
kilometres away in Handeni are much trumpeted as a benefit for Ngorongoro
Maasai, while the same in Ngorongoro Division is not only being blocked, but
the funds are, in some cases openly, redirected to Handeni.
Intimidation
continues, but Loliondo is not back to silence, I hope
Even if in large part caused
by outspoken threats by national leaders – the Arusha RC, PM Majaliwa, and
former Minister of Natural Resources and Tourism, Ndumbaro - against the 1,500
km2 that the government so many times have tried to rob the Maasai
of, this year has in many ways seen a remarkable change for the better with big
protests in January and then again in March. As reported in the previous blog
post, on 19th March, the since 2017 painfully disappointing councillor
of Arash, who was district council chair 2015-2020, spoke up with great
seriousness describing PM Majaliwa as a liar (which is well-known by most
Tanzanians) and declaring that the Maasai would never cooperate with anyone who
wants to demarcate the 1,500 km2 with beacons, which is what the PM
had ordered.
On 23rd March Methew
Siloma 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. 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.
The silence achieved by the
Loliondo police state continues and there’s a very noticeable difference between
how Maasai from Loliondo and NCA are speaking up in social media, but I’m happy
to say that the councillors from Arash and Malambo reportedly appear to be in
high spirits and even participated online with NCA people, sharing what they
were interrogated about (somewhat old school Loliondo police state, but now done
in Arusha). All focus was apparently 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”.
I doubt it’s by chance that the
latest article by OBC’s “journalist” Manyerere Jackton had a focus on “Kenyans”,
in a re-hash of some of his over 60 articles viciously inciting against the Loliondo
Maasai, and that he’s active again with his anti-Loliondo hate campaign after
lying low since OBC’s director had a long stay in remand prison accused of “economic
sabotage” in 2019.
These recent arrests differ
from the illegal arrests of 2015-2019 in that CCM councillors are targeted and
not so much NGO staff (now silenced, but still two of them have been arrested
this year and must keep reporting to the police) or real or assumed activists (they
now apparently only exist in NCA). Councillors and village chairs have been targeted
before, but not as those worst hit, and have been somewhat protected by the
party. Siloma and Reson were lured to the CCM ethical committee. It’s suspected
that the recent arrests have been ordered by the Arusha RC, John Mongella, and
another change is that those arrested are taken to Arusha for interrogation
instead of being held in Loliondo. The recent illegal arrests are not as prolonged
as the earlier ones that used to last for over a week.
The Loliondo local police
state never ends, and after years of almost complete silence following the
terror of 2018 when extreme abuse was taking place and not one single leader
spoke up, I fear silence and can never assume that it means that nothing is
happening. It’s painful to know that anyone can be silenced, and that too many
can be compromised. That’s why just a few confident words by those harassed
mean so much.
Then in an interview with
Peter Greenberg of The Royal Tour (see below), published on 30th
April, President Samia when asked to define “sustainable tourism” tried to repeat
the anti-Loliondo rhetoric, but mixing it up with the Mara River.
The Malambo
village chairman Moitiko Risanda and the traditional leader Simon Ndare are summoned
to Loliondo police station on 6th May.
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 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, reportedly due to 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 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.
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 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 27th
April when visiting Arusha, Kinana was dress up in a kind of Maasai outfit. This
is something that the enemies of the Maasai have been doing since forever, but
it appears to have become a trend that’s irresistible to all the worst of the
worst.
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, and a laigwanani together with the village chairman of Malambo have been summoned to the Loliondo police.
The committee has maybe already
handed over their compilation of “community views” on both NCA and the 1,500 km2
osero in Loliondo to PM Majaliwa. I do hope - and expect - that they’ve learnt not to dance to
Majaliwa’s tune. In 2017, the results of doing so were catastrophic.
President Samia travelled to
the USA for 10 days for the premier of The Royal Tour, the “documentary” in
which reporter Peter Greenberg travels a country with the head of state as his
tour guide, and even better -it seems - if this is an authoritarian leader with
no regard for human rights. The researcher Alex Dukalskis in his book Making
the World Safe for Dictatorship describes President Kagame of Rwanda’s use
of The Royal Tour as “authoritarian image management”, recommended by
consultants who specialize in this. Who recommended Samia to do the same? How
was it funded? Who are the Tanzania Forward Foundation? What has been
established is that Tanzania paid for it, allegedly via the private sector, and
that Peter Greenberg has the copyright (since he’s used it against at least one
Youtube account that uploaded it), but that’s not what this blog is about.
On 28th April, The
Royal Tour was shown in Arusha in an exaggeratedly spruced up venue.
When the president in September
2021 was to film the part showing Ngorongoro, there was heavy police
deployment, and nobody was allowed near, while in other areas, like Moshi and
Karatu, Samia addressed the public from atop her vehicle. Three staff members of
the NGO Pastoral Women’s Council, together with the ward councillor and special
sets councillor of Piyaya, and two people who were being given a lift, were
detained until the evening, suspected of having planned to make protest signs
out of a flip chart, and then they had present themselves to the police for further
investigation.
During the president’s US
visit some members of the Tanzanian diaspora held a manifestation outside the
Tanzanian embassy to demand constitutional reform. This is safe to do in the
USA, but still they were very few. One of them was the woman who for years, together
with her American husband, was employed by Thomson Safaris as their very
aggressive PR person for their neo-colonial land grab, a participant in the
local police state, in charge of Thomson’s charitable branch and of compromising
councillors. Years after having left Thomson, she appeared in social media as a
moderate fence sitter and friend of the most crazed Magufuli supporters. Then
she got another account and reinvented herself as a freedom fighter, which is a
commendable thing to do. However, she and other participants in the manifestation
were wearing t-shirt against Maasai eviction from Ngorongoro, which is taking hypocrisy
too far, when she’s still excusing Thomson with that there was conflict since Tanzania
Breweries used the land (and then almost two decades later fraudulently got a
right of occupancy that they sold to Thomson), and that they would have wanted
to switch it for another area, as if there were empty land lying around for a “private
nature refuge”. Thomson Safaris worsened the situation a thousand times or
more, and copied OBC’s use of the local police state, with even worse
repression of their critics.
The Maasai, who in Ngorongoro
are threatened by cultural genocide by Samia´s government, are shown off in The
Royal Tour as a tourist attraction for four minutes. No other tribe or group of
people are shown this interest. The president says that the Maasai are the “newest
arrivals” in Tanzania, migrating from the “Nile valley” in the 1700s. Greenberg
says, “At lower attitude it was fascinating to see this primitive tribes
still holding on to their traditional values. But at higher attitude, a
different perspective, it was fascinating to see how many villages they were”.
“Many” compared to where? Dar es Salaam, Zanzibar, or any rural area? The first
sentence is to attract tourists, even if most will cringe at exactly that racist
sounding choice of word, and the second one to attract support for evictions. The
use of the word “primitive” has led to somewhat widespread negative reactions online.
Later Greenberg mentions that “it is not uncommon for a Maasai man to have
18-20 children”. Anyone who’s spent some time online encountering
discussions about any kind of African issue will have encountered non-Africans
whose final argument or response to everything is that “they” have too many children,
so we’re doomed. Greenberg says that the government has tried to turn the
Maasai into farmers or ranchers, but that they have clinged on to their “ancient
ways”. Now they may be forced to change, he adds, without explaining that he’s
making a propaganda film about the person who wants to force them, not to
change, which they have always done, but to extinguish their culture via mass
evictions. President Samia uses the word “genocide” earlier in the film, but then
she’s referring to elephants …
On 30th April,
Greenberg published a radio interview with President Samia. Greenberg mentions “overtourism”
and asks the president for her definition of “sustainable tourism”. The only
thing she can think of is to try to repeat the anti-Loliondo rhetoric of
the worst of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism and investors. Samia
says that we must come up with strategies to protect the whole ecosystem, so
that tourist attractions last for a longer time, and gives the example of
Loliondo that’s bordering Serengeti, claiming that Loliondo is close to the
Mara River (it’s not) and that we can’t allow the river to dry up, since there
will not be the migration and Serengeti will not be the same.
Then,
The claim by the Ministry of
Natural Resources and Tourism, that the German ambassador supports the government’s
efforts in Ngorongoro, has still not been publicly denied by any German
representative.
A brightly shining rising defender
of Ngorongoro is lost forever.
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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