Update: On 1st November, Miscellaneous Cause No.09 of 2022 – a parallel case to the one filed in the EACJ to stop the fake and illegal Pololeti GCA - was mentioned in the high court and met with the information that the evil Samia Suluhu Hassan had on 14th October declared the land as a “Pololeti Game Reserve”.
On 22nd November the DPP dropped the bogus murder case, and the new blog post is basically finished, except for some terrible uncertainties.
More updates at the end of this blog post, and a new post will be ready as soon as possible.
On 30th September
2022 in Arusha, the East African Court of Justice delivered its ruling in
Reference No. 10 of 2017 Ololosokwan Village Council & 3 Others versus the
Attorney General of the United Republic of Tanzania. The case was so very clear
that it seemed impossible that the Maasai would not win, and the judges seemed
to have understood. Still, the ruling was “dismissed for lack of merits”. The
court argued that the applicant villages failed to prove that the mass arson
operation in 2017 was carried out on village land and not in Serengeti National
Park, as was the lie by the government (respondent) witnesses in 2018, after
the attorney general in the initial response from November 2017 had lied that the
1,500 km2 would have been declared a protected area, which is what
Minister Pindi Chana – illegally – did on 17th June this
year. The court seems not to have noticed this glaring discrepancy between
the attorney general (respondent) and the respondent’s witnesses.
 |
| TANAPA's map from the 2017 operation clearly shows that an overwhelming majority of bomas were illegally burned on village land. |
The lawyer Joseph Moses
Oleshangay tweeted, “The case has been dismissed. I believe the three
months’ time delay was meant to rewrite the decision. No other means can
explain more than 90 days delay.”
In this blog post:
The ruling
Reference No.
10 of 2017
Illegal
annexation to Ngorongoro Conservation Area and recent violence there
The ruling
The date was first scheduled
for 22nd June 2022, but twelve days before that, the Tanzanian
government, in brutal contempt of court, violated interim orders (issued by the
court on 25th September 2018), after - except for one who fled - abducting
all councillors from affected wards (they are still locked up on bogus
“murder” charges), sent in heavily armed security forces that in clouds of
teargas and shooting live bullets started to demarcate as a protected area the 1,500
km2 of vitally important grazing land, which is what Otterlo
Business Corporation (OBC), that organizes hunting for Sheikh Mohammed of Dubai,
for years has lobbied for. Then followed a violent hunt and arrests of those
suspected of sharing pictures of the attack. Thousands fled, many seeking
treatment for injuries, and many are still refugees across the border in Kenya.
Ministers and government officials kept landing in Loliondo, military style, to
pose with boundary beacons, tell lies, and issue threats. Mass arrests of
people deemed to be Kenyan followed. Houses were destroyed. Tanzania Wildlife
Authority (TAWA) rangers, while the dry season was deepening, started seizing
cattle on the illegally demarcated land, demanding extortionate “fines” from
the Maasai. In Ormanie on 27th June, TAWA rangers shot livestock to
death. The approximately 80 years old Oriais Oleng'iyo was last seen on 10th
June with bullet wounds and detained by the Field Force Unit. (See previous blog posts for more details about the current crime).
Meanwhile, as they had already
been doing for months, government representatives, notably Minister Damas
Ndumbaro, were lying to foreign diplomats that the 4,000 km2 hunting
block, the whole of Loliondo division and parts of Sale division of Ngorongoro
District, that’s legally registered village land and contains the district
headquarters, would somehow have been a protected area since the 1950s. They
lied that they are generously gifting the encroaching Maasai with 2,500km2,
and that the demarcation was “participatory”, which spineless diplomats
applauded, knowing that all ward councillors were illegally locked up in remand
prison. This violent and illegal demarcation is an even worse threat than the
mass arson of 2017, and the Tanzanian press is now more useless than ever.
On 28th September, the
day before the ruling was scheduled for the second time, at the inauguration of
the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority (NCAA) Board, Minister Pindi Chana
took her crime a step further and announced that the illegally demarcated
1,500km2 in Loliondo had been placed under the management of the NCAA. She also
stressed how important it is to boost tourism traffic to 5 million by 2025.
On 21st June, the
day before the ruling was first scheduled, the court shockingly announced that
due to “unavoidable circumstances” it had been postponed to September.
Eventually, the new date was set for 29th September, but on the 28th,
there was yet another last-minute postponement, this time to the 30th.
The postponements created suspicions that something wasn’t right at all and
when the ruling finally was to be read, the court ordered journalists to be
stopped from recording. The recording of an immediately preceding Burundian case
had been permitted, so it very much looked like the court was to do something
shameful with the Loliondo case. The journalist Odero Odoro spoke up against
the order by the court, which was surprisingly brave for a Tanzanian journalist
in this year 2022.
The reading of the ruling had
a good start asserting that the court has jurisdiction over the matter and that
it wasn’t necessary to first exhaust Tanzanian courts. Even better is that the
ruling establishes that it’s common ground between the parties that the
applicants are registered and certified villages with titles to land adjoining
Serengeti National Park. This is what a cavalcade of government
representatives, during the current brutal and illegal demarcation, madly
lying, are denying.
The failure to deliver justice
is all based on that the court determines that the Maasai applicants failed to
prove that the 2017 evictions were carried out on village land and not in
Serengeti National Park, as testified by the respondent’s witnesses. The
testimonies are considered contradicting and insufficient – but nowhere does
the ruling mention that the attorney general in the response from November 2017
is, albeit in the misleading lingo of the Ministry of Natural Resources and
Tourism, quite clearly saying that the evictions took place outside the
boundaries of the national park. Even the court’s own interim orders aren’t
referred to in any way. Injuries and losses are not addressed in the ruling.
The court only considers the
testimonies of the Maasai witnesses that were cross-examined, while disregarding
several other witnesses who filed affidavits in court. The only thing the court
has to say about the Kenyan geospatial expert witness, Dr. Cesare Mbaria, is
that – without stating what law requires it – he did not possess a Tanzanian
work permit. This seems more like the style of a petty DC than of judges in the
EACJ.
For five years now I’ve been
screaming that the perpetrators’ own documents show that the mass arson was
committed on village land. The court mentions that some witnesses say one thing
or other about the then DC Rashid Mfaume Taka’s notice, without referring
directly to this very official document.
- The notice dated 5th August 2017 orders livestock and housing to be removed from “ndani na mpakani mwa Hifadhi ya Taifa Serengeti” (inside and bordering Serengeti National Park) or they will be removed by force by the Ngorongoro and Serengeti district security committees, and a special force from the national park and NCA. There is only national park and then there is village land, so this is very clearly an illegal order.
- On 17th August
2017, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism issued a press statement.
Quoting the DC, the statement says that the operation in Loliondo Game
Controlled Area is to take place on a 90 km stretch from north to south and
with a width of 5 km (obviously village land), “kwa upande wa mpaka wa Pori
Tengefu Loliondo zoezi litaanzia kaskazini hadi kusini urefu wa kilometa 90, na
upana wake utakuwa kilometa 5”.
- In the viciously anti-Loliondo Jamhuri
newspaper on 12th September 2017, the DC is quoted as saying that 89
bomas had been burned inside Serengeti National Park and 241 in the 5 km
“border area” (village land) and that GPS coordinates have been taken for all
of them.
- TANAPA’s map “Livestock and Bomas Evacuation Exercise August 2017” very clearly shows that an overwhelming majority of bomas were burned on village land. The minority inside the park were in a somewhat disputed area where some Maasai had been living for years under a special non-official arrangement with rangers. (See above).
- During the illegal mass arson operation in 2017, then Minister Maghembe was all over media with the map from OBC’s rejected draft district land use plan from 2010, lying that the 1,500 km2 had already been turned into a protected area – which is what was illegally demarcated and gazetted on 17th June 2022. Meanwhile, the DC was saying that PM Majaliwa was still to decide on the area, while in no way trying to hide the fact that the operation was taking place on village land. His version was to claim that people were entering the national park “too easily” and apparently this was seen as a valid reason for the invasion of village land and massive human rights crimes.
Further, why would the
Ngorongoro DC order evictions from Serengeti National Park? The boundary
between the national park and village land is at the same time the boundary
between the Arusha and Mara regions, so why wasn’t it ordered by the DC of
Serengeti District or the RC of Mara Region?
The judges were Monica K.
Mugenyi (principal judge), Audace Ngiye, and Charles Nyachae. Kenyan Maasai
have alerted me that Nyachae's father grabbed 10,000 acres of strategic dry
season grazing land from Maasai in Kenya and was sued by a Maasai NGO. The feeling of the Kenyan Maasai is that
Nyachae was the wrong person to adjudicate the case because he has had a legal
battled with Maasai over land that was illegally acquired and must have used
the case to get even with the Maasai.
Justice Mugenyi was not present
at the reading of the ruling. It was presided by Nyachae, Ngiye, and the judges
Richard Muhumuza and Richard Wejuli, who didn’t mention their particulars. Wejuli
and Muhumuza never presided during the hearing of the case. Reportedly, there
was one more unknown judge.
 |
| The judges. Nyachae 2nd left. |
Since they could not risk being arrested, none of the village chairmen were present in court.
Anyway, the ruling can only be
described as stupid and cruel, and the strange postponements stink terribly. The
most lenient interpretation is that a second chance has been served on a
platter for making a better job and win the appeal. Though this is a quite
callous treatment indeed of the traumatized and terrified Maasai. Still, I haven’t
heard one word opposing the appeal that is certain to be filed - as Advocate Esther Mnaro explained outside the court after the ruling. A new case
against the Tanzanian government for the current brutal crime with lawless
demarcation was also filed on 16th August.
France 24, DW, BBC, The East
African, The Citizen, L’Osservatore Romano
and others quickly published news articles, obviously without reading the
ruling, painting an incorrect picture of that the court would have upheld the
land alienation, when the ruling was that the Maasai have not provided evidence
that it took place. Apparently, the misinformation comes from Agence
France-Presse. A statement by the Oakland Institute concluded that, “The court’s
failure to provide justice makes it imperative that the international community
exhausts every possible avenue to hold the Tanzanian government accountable.” Pan African Lawyers Union issued a press release and tomorrow a press conference by the Kenya Human Rights
Commission and the Loliondo community will be held in Nairobi.
Reference No.
10 of 2017 Ololosokwan
Village Council & 3 Others (Kirtalo, Oloirien and Arash Village Councils)
vs the Attorney General of the United Republic of Tanzania
was filed on 21st September 2017, during the illegal mass arson
operation on village land in Loliondo, officially ordered by then DC Rashid
Mfaume Taka. The applicants have been represented by a team of lawyers from Pan
African Lawyers Union (PALU), led by Don Deya and the human rights lawyers
Jebra Kambole and Yonas Masiaya Laiser.
A similar mass arson crime, in
which 7-year-old Nashipai Gume was lost and not found ever since, hundreds of
bomas burned, and livestock dispersed in a terrible drought, had been committed
in 2009, and for years it was thought that such an atrocity could never be repeated.
In 2011 the Maasai defeated a draft district land use plan, funded by OBC –
when it was strongly rejected by the Ngorongoro District Council since it had
proposed OBC’s wished for alienation for a protected area of their preferred
1,500 km2 hunting area that is vitally important grazing land to the Maasai.
The threat against the 1,500
km2 was in 2013 brought back by then Minister of Natural Resources
and Tourism Khamis Kagasheki via vociferous lies that the whole 4,000km2
hunting block (that includes two towns, district headquarters, hospitals,
forests, a private nature refuge fraudulently and violently claimed by Thomson Safaris, and agricultural areas) was a protected area that had been encroached,
but that the government out of love would give the Maasai 2,500 km2.
This threat was stopped when the Maasai protests were joined by both opposition
and ruling party, and then PM Pinda declared the obvious, that the land was
undoubtedly village land and Kagasheki should stop his threats.
Divide and rule increased and
then repression in the ever-present local police state worsened. By 2016 local
leaders were so weakened through intimidation, including lengthy illegal
arrests, and malicious prosecution, that they sat in a select committee ordered
by PM Kassim Majaliwa via Arusha RC Mrisho Gambo, which agreed to a sad
compromise proposal that the Maasai had earlier been able to resist. While
waiting to hear from Majaliwa, the Maasai were attacked by the unexpected and
brutal illegal operation of 2017.
On 13th August
2017, Serengeti and Ngorongoro Conservation Area rangers, assisted by OBC
rangers, TAWA/KDU anti-poaching squads, local police, and others set fire to
five bomas in Oloosek, on village land and far from the national park. The
illegal operation would go on for over two months and hundreds of bomas were
razed from Ololosokwan to Piyaya 90 km further south – most intensely between
13th and 26th August, but with scattered arson attacks
well into October - there were beatings, rape, illegal seizing of cattle, and
herders were illegally arrested. Village centres became congested with people
and animals. Those returning after the arson were brutally beaten by the
rangers who also destroyed makeshift shelters and blocked access to water
sources.
The illegal operation of 2017
was stopped on 26th October, a few weeks after Maghembe, in a
cabinet reshuffle, was replaced by Kigwangalla who became an instant hero when
he not only stopped the crime but said that OBC would have to leave the country
before January 2018. However, OBC never showed any sign of leaving and on 6th
December 2017, PM Majaliwa declared that they were staying. He also announced
his decision which was terrifying, but so vague that nobody understood exactly
what it meant. The OBC-friendly press (the Jamhuri) was celebrating. A legal
bill was to be introduced to create a special authority to manage the land,
which was delayed, and a legal bill has still not been seen.
The Tanzanian government side
(Attorney General) had initially tried to stop the case in the East African
Court of Justice via a preliminary objection that the villages could not sue
the government, since they were part of this same government. This objection
was dismissed by the court on 25th January 2018.
On 9th November
2017, the government side responded by lying that the area affected by the 2017
operation would already be the kind of protected area that was proposed in the
rejected 2010-2030 land use plan, and that OBC (and others) have continued
lobbying for, but this didn’t prevent them from at the hearing on 7th
June 2018 change their lie to claiming that the 2017 operation would only have
taken place inside Serengeti National Park. Not even the fact that the DC’s
order, the statement from the ministry, and TANAPA’s map all clearly showed
that village land was invaded could stop them from making up this lie. The
court requested applicants and respondent to produce expert witnesses that
could testify about the boundary of the national park.
The last week of May 2018,
efforts to derail the case moved on to an intimidation campaign against leaders
and common villagers in the villages that had sued the government. There were
multiple arrests and summons to the police station, and these illegal efforts
terrified and silenced everyone. Nobody dared to speak up about this abuse,
except Don Deya, the lead counsel of the applicant villages.
The village chairmen were
summoned to the police station and questioned on why they sued the government,
on who gave them the authority to do so, and on whether they had the
unequivocal support of the villagers to sue. When they presented evidence in
the form of meeting minutes from the respective villages, they were accused of
having forged these. The chairmen of the villages of Ololosokwan, Kirtalo, and
Arash were arrested and released on the condition that they present themselves
at Loliondo police station every Friday, which effectively prevented them from
attending a hearing in Arusha on 7th June 2018.
On 25th September
2018, there was finally some good news when the court delivered its ruling on
Application No.15 of 2017, and issued interim orders restraining the respondent
from any evictions, burning of homesteads, or confiscating of cattle, and from
harassing or intimidating the applicants.
The
injunction was soon brutally violated. In November
and December 2018 soldiers from a military camp that had been set up in
Olopolun in March the same year (and that was eventually made permanent) tortured
people, seized cattle and burned bomas in Kirtalo and Ololosokwan. This was, at
that time, 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. The applicants applied for a site
visit, which was dismissed by the court. When RC Gambo in January 2019
condemned the crimes in a very vague way, the leaders changed to thinking that OBC’s
director had directly contracted the soldiers.
In December 2018, the
witnesses from the government side – DC (at the time) Rashid Mfaume Taka, DED
Raphael Siumbu, park warden Julius Francis Musei, geographical information
system officer Alli Kassim Shakha, and sadly even wildlife officer Nganana
Mothi – swore affidavits claiming that the 2017 mass arson operation would only
have taken place in Serengeti National Park. This was quite outrageous perjury
when it was the DC himself who on 5th August 2017 issued the order
for the illegal invasion of village land and had been quoted about it both in a
statement from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism and in the
OBC-loyal press. As said, a map from TANAPA, used by the attackers during the
operation, also clearly shows that most bomas were burned on village land.
In the EACJ on 5th
March 2019, the applicants had to ask for an adjournment, since they hadn’t
been able to find an expert witness in time. There was a postponement until 5th
November the same year when two villagers from Oloirien were cross-examined by
the state attorney and then the hearing was again postponed.
2019 had started with more
illegal arrests for the sake of intimidation, but there were finally some
promising developments 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 Ngorongoro Conservation Area, which included the proposal
to annex most of the 1,500 km2 in Loliondo and turn it into a
protected area allowing hunting was presented. This Multiple Land Use Model
review proposal was met with countless protests from every kind of group of
people from NCA, but near silence from Loliondo.
On 28th January 2020
the case was up again for hearing. This time the court granted the applicants
an adjournment, since they had to find a new geo-spatial expert after the expert
they had earlier found, a Tanzanian from Ngorongoro, was no longer able to
continue as expert witness, due to safety issues for himself and his family. A
Kenyan was found.
On 10th July 2020, there
was a hearing for further cross examination via video conference, but it was
quickly adjourned, since the respondent’s counsel complained that they had not
been served the affidavit with annexures from the applicants’ geospatial
expert witness until the day before the hearing, and therefore wanted the court
to disregard this evidence. After much pleading by the applicants’ counsel the
court ruled that it would adjourn the matter to allow the respondent's counsel
time to go through the evidence and prepare for cross-examination.
In August 2020, the new
geospatial expert from Kenya was cross-examined by the attorney general’s
lawyers that only had stupid questions about permits and how he had entered
Tanzania.
In November 2020, cross-examination
of the DC, and the perjuring park warden and geographic systems officer went
well – for the applicant Maasai – since their counsel was reportedly able to
poke some serious holes in them, which on the other hand can’t have been
difficult with such huge liars. After this, applicants and respondent were to
file written submissions, which was delayed in the most terrible way until July
2021. There have been several near-death moments when I’ve feared that the case
would be dismissed, which didn’t happen until this stupid ruling.
On 21st January
2022, the chairmen of Ololosokwan, John Pyando, Kirtalo, Yohana Toroge,
Oloirien, Parmaari Merika, and Arash, Mepuki Lemberwa, filed an urgent
application requesting the court to intervene issuing a stop order against the
Arusha RC John Mongella’s contempt of court shown on 11th January
when he, alleging the broader interest of the nation, threatened that the
government would alienate the contested 1,500 km2 of village land
bordering Serengeti National Park. Local 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.
Also mentioned in the
application was the new DED Jumaa Mhina who in since September 2021 had been
threatening and intimidating the village chairmen into withdrawing the case
from the East African Court of Justice, and Damas Ndumbaro who then still was Minister
of Natural Resources and Tourism (now Minister of Constitutional and Legal
Affairs).
On 14th February, PM
Majaliwa visited Loliondo and wasn’t much better than Mongella, but too
well-received, since something worse was expected, because of an intense anti-Maasai
hate campaign in media, and parliamentarians calling for tanks to be sent to
Ngorongoro. This campaign was mostly directed Maasai in Ngorongoro Conservation
Area, which overshadowed the growing threat against Loliondo.
Three days later, on 17th
February in NCA, not Loliondo, Majaliwa ordered the 1,500km2
to be marked by beacons, “so that we may know the boundaries” – while claiming
that this was NOT a trick!
Minister Ndumbaro and PM
Majaliwa continued issuing threats.
At a huge protest meeting in
Arash on 19th March, several leaders spoke up in defence of the
land, among them the Arash ward councillor Methew Siloma spoke up very clearly
and strongly. The message from this meeting was:
- PM Majaliwa is a liar.
- The Maasai are not renouncing one square inch of land.
- They request to meet with the president, since Majaliwa can’t be trusted.
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.
CCM ruling party councillors
that had spoken up against plans of robbing the Maasai of the 1,500 km2
were being intimidated, arrested, and summoned to be “interrogated” in Arusha.
The councillors of Arash and Malambo had to keep reporting to the police.
On 25th May a
committee handed over their reports of “community views” on both NCA and the
1,500 km2 in Loliondo to PM Majaliwa who said that he’s work on the
recommendations. Majaliwa wasn’t trusted at all, but at least this would give
the local leaders the opportunity to in print make clear that the land is
village land and under no circumstances will the Maasai participate in
demarcating any “protected area”. Further recommendations concerned the removal
of OBC.
On 3rd June,
Minister Pindi Chana in her budget speech announced that her ministry expected
to upgrade Loliondo to a Game Reserve, but she did this while listing huge
areas of Tanzania for the same expectation, which didn’t make it sound
believable or realistic in any way, and there was hardly any reaction, except
for an intervention by Ngorongoro MP Emmanuel Oleshangai.
Then on 8th June
Wasso town was overflowing with security forces that went on to set up camps on
the 90km stretch from Ololosokwan to Piyaya, and in Malambo. The Maasai held
prayers and deliberations, and a coordinated threat with vicious propaganda was
communicated primarily by RC Mongella and PM Majaliwa. All councillors from
affected wards were abducted and illegal land demarcation began in a rain of
teargas and live bullets. Many were injured and thousands fled across the
border where many continue as refugees, also cattle, while the Kenyan spirit of
solidarity is diminishing. There was a hunt for anyone who could have shared
pictures of the crimes, and many were illegally arrested, eventually, together
with the councillors, charged with a bogus “murder”, and hearings keep being
postponed. The flow of information was almost completely cut. Government
representatives made military style visits. Minster Pindi Chana without
following any law or procedure gazetted the illegally demarcated land as
“Pololeti Game Controlled Area”. Diplomats applauded Minister Ndumbaro’s lies
about what was happening. Many international organisations condemned the government’s
actions. The much-expected court ruling was the last minute shockingly
postponed to September. Houses were demolished or razed. TAWA illegally seized
livestock and demanded extortionate “fines”. The dry season deepened without
access to the most important grazing area.
On 10th August an
affidavit was added to the contempt of court application from January, and on
16th August a new case in the East African Court of Justice was filed. The ruling in Reference No. 10 of 2017 will be appealed.
Illegal
annexation to Ngorongoro Conservation Area and recent violence there
On 28th September,
at the inauguration of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority (NCAA) board,
Minister Pindi Chana announced that the illegally demarcated 1,500km2
had been placed under the management of the NCAA. Chana tasked the board to
come up with new tourism products for the area and stressed how important it is
to boost tourism traffic to 5 million by 2025.
There have been rumours about
this kind of annexation since at least January 2018, and in September 2019
there was a concrete threat in the genocidal Multiple Land Use Model review
proposal. There were reports that on 6th August, a convoy of the
Arusha RC, TAWA, NCAA and deputy minister Mary Masanja were in Loliondo to hand
over the management of the fake and illegal protected area to the Ngorongoro
Conservation Area Authority. Though nothing at all was publicly mentioned by
the MNRT or NCAA. The reason for the relative silence has been explained with
that not everyone in the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism is pleased
with the annexation. Information is so scarce that it’s hard to say what’s
going on.
To my frustration, it’s
basically impossible to stop people from mixing up Loliondo and NCA. It’s
particularly popular to claim that Maasai from Loliondo are being relocated to
Handeni.
Loliondo:
a local police state at the service of OBC and the American Thomson Safaris. A
constant threat – since June this year worse than ever – of robbing the Maasai
of 1,500km2 of vitally important grazing land, expecting them and
their livestock to squeeze into the remaining land. Major illegal and extremely
violent eviction operations in 2009, 2017 and 2022. Vicious hate campaign by
the reporter Manyerere Jackton since around 2010.
NCA:
harsh restrictions on every aspect of life under the rule of the Ngorongoro
Conservation Area Authority and its chief conservator Freddy Manongi. Blocking
of funds for social services since 2021. Illegal transfer of COVID-19 funds to
Msomera in Handeni to where the Maasai are supposed to relocate “voluntarily”.
This year a vicious hate campaign in media and in parliament.
Since the atrocities in
Loliondo began in June, I’ve haven’t been able to keep up well with
developments in NCA. Several groups of not really local Maasai, traitors and
naïve people have been relocated to Handeni and there have been reports of
ranger violence in NCA:
In the evening of 18th
September in Irbalbal, Letee Ormunderei was tortured by NCAA rangers who broke
his leg. The rangers dropped Letee at the Lutheran Hospital in Karatu, and he
was then referred to Mt. Meru, to where he didn’t have to means to go. There was
fundraising for him and Letee is now receiving treatment at Selian Hospital in
Arusha, has undergone one operation and is doing well. Next in the process is
to prosecute the criminal ranger Abraham Akyoo who brutalized Letee. The Maasai
demand his arrest.
On 19th September
in the Alayenai area, NCAA rangers attacked Nakedo Simango, Laambaashini
Orkitok, Lebatiri Kimaay, two Barabaig from Nainokanoka who had bought
livestock and one other person. Laambaashini Orkitok was injured by the
rangers. It’s reported that the rangers asked their victims if they had
registered to relocate to Handeni. Lebatiri Kimaay was ordered to crawl on his
stomach and jump like a frog.
There are also reports that in
mid-September seasonal homes were arsoned in the Orbo area.
On 13th June,
Reference No 29 of 2022 was filed in the East African Court of Justice suing
the government for all the abuse and eviction threats. The government responded
claiming to be acting on the wishes by UNESCO, but I have not yet got hold of
this response. It’s a well-documented fact that UNESCO for decades has
instigated the Tanzanian government to move the Maasai out of NCA and to worsen
living conditions, but this was denied by the organisation on 21st
March this year. In a blog post from 7th April, my recommendation to
UNESCO was: delist Ngorongoro as a World Heritage Site as soon as possible and
then shut forever up about Maasai land. Nothing has been heard from UNESCO
about Loliondo, but with this illegal annexation, they are very much involved.
I hope the hurry, limited
processing skills, sadness, and wish to keep this post about the frankly stupid
and stinking ruling in the EACJ as brief as clear as possible, hasn’t made me
omit any of the most important aspects.
Mapambano yanaendelea.
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
25 calves were illegally seized in Malambo and 2.500.000 TShs were extorted, reportedly still by TAWA that will soon move to be replaced by NCAA.
11th October
With the general cruelty and lawlessness, Thomson
Safaris (as I wrote about in the blog post from 31st August) are joining the
crimes. They have planted beacons demarcating their fraudulently and violently
claimed "nature refuge" and are now invading people’s farms and
lokeri with road construction. In Sukenya ole Musa is being invaded by this
ugly land grabber, and in Mondorosi, ole Nanyoi (Irmasiling) and ole Orgeso
(Enadooshoke) are under attack.
A genocidal meeting was held between the government
and Endulen Hospital in Ngorongoro Conservation Area (owned by the Catholic Archdiocese of Arusha).
1 Suspending important health services from the
hospital and downgrading the hospital to a a simple clinic.
2 The downgraded Clinic should not be allowed to
provide services related to Xray radiation and ultrasound services.
3 Government
employees previously attached to Endulen Hospital by agreement should be
relocated to other health outside NCA include nurses, doctors, therapists and Xray radiation personnel
4 The downgraded Endulen Clinic is not allowed to have employees with
above nurse assistant and medical attendant qualifications. All other employees
to be relocated out of NCA.
5. Ambulance services should suspended. This should go
along suspended delivery services that include Mother and child care in
the downgraded Clinic.
6. Medical attendant should not exceed two persons.
7. Emergency facilities should be suspended.
Some 200 cattle (probably 230) were seized on
illegally demarcated land in Malambo by TAWA rangers that demanded 23 million TShs as
their extortionate ransom fee. The money was found, but it's a bank holiday.
When will TAWA leave?
22nd October
At the 73rd session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights in Banjul, the Tanzanian representative, deputy minister of constitutional and legal affairs Geophrey Mizengo Pinda, lied about Loliondo and Ngorongoro. Besides repeating the current lies, instead of the British and the 1950s, the government is now justifying its crime with that the Germans would have found Loliondo empty in 1891. The Maasai were also described as newcomers in NCA.
23rd October
DC/criminal Raymond Mwangwala praised Thomson Safaris and their charitable/propaganda branch Focus on Tanzanian Communities for funding extensions to Sukenya dispensary with 331 million TZShs.
25th October
Hearings in the bogus murder case were AGAIN postponed. Now to 8th November.
28th October
Various reports of a notice issued by the DC about
redrawing of village boundaries, and some 40 state security and surveyors on
the ground.
1st November
Miscellaneous Cause No.09 of 2022 – a parallel case to
the one filed in the EACJ to stop the fake and illegal Pololeti GCA - was
mentioned in the high court and met with the information that the evil, evil
Samia Suluhu Hassan had on 14th October declared the land as a “Pololeti
Game Reserve”.
In the extreme anti-Maasai newspaper the Jamhuri, a conservator for the fake and illegal game reserve – Pius Rwiza - spoke of how calm and wonderful everything is after the demarcation, with the big five and rain. This individual also announced further land alienation threats - via WMAs.
4th November
The Memorandum of Appeal was filed in the East African Court of Justice.
8th November
The bogus murder case was postponed to 22nd November.
There was a hearing in Miscellaneous Cause No.09 of
2022. Apparently, Chana and the attorney general have responded, and I need to
get hold of their responses. The ruling on whether the applicants will be granted leave to go on with he judicial review is to be issued on the 15th.
I finally got hold of the government response to Reference No.37 of 2022, filed by Fidelis Kapalata from the MNRT on 28th
September. I’m not so happy about this delay. As expected, Kapalata is lying
from start to finish.
In Malambo the head of the NCAA camp announced that TAWA had left and the boundaries were being guarded by the Field Force Unit.
11th November
There was a hearing in Kampala on the contempt of court Application No.2 of 2022. The government has some stupid preliminary objections.
12th November
The chairman of Malambo village, Moitiko Risando was lured to a meeting, by someone from the DC's office. and arrested, falsely accused of being in possession of arms without a permit.
The councillor is abducted since 5 months and the
chairman has been hiding in the bush. The government has installed the CCM ward
chairman, Mapema Koima, and secretary, Thobico John Kulinja, as some kind of
leaders above councillor to impose a criminal LUP on terrified villagers. The chairman was released a few dys later. Unclear why,
Between 14th - 17th November the immigration cases, malicious prosecution, against 62 people were dismissed for lack of prosecution.
22nd November
The Director of Public Prosecution dropped the bogus murder case and the falsely accused are freed after over five months.
Then I got a message
from Ololosokwan:
"Demarcation
starts today, there is a police car written FFU TANGA overseeing the process
Being done as we
speak
Cosmas is the
perpetrator."
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