After an escalated
attack (it escalated sharply but started decades ago) since Samia Suluhu Hassan
came into office in 2021 - with blocking of all permits for repairs, building
materials and motorbikes, strangulation of social services, transfer of funds to
Handeni district, harassment by rangers and a campaign of ethnic hatred against
Maasai in media and in parliament, all to make the Maasai “relocate” to other
people’s land - the Tanzanian government had to backtrack to some extent when
the Maasai of Ngorongoro Conservation Area blocked the Serengeti-Ngorongoro
road on 18th August, making tourism vehicles come to a standstill, and
then camped out in their thousands for five days waiting for a promised response
by the panicked government.
As reported
in the previous blog post (that mainly dealt with the lies surrounding GCAs in
the brutal land theft in Loliondo and how there’s a threat of repeating the
same in several areas of Tanzania) it had been found that all voters registration
update/polling stations had been removed from Ngorongoro division (the same as
Ngorongoro Conservation Area, NCA). Then, while waiting to hear from the
government it was found that a government notice (GN) signed by the president’s
son in law had delisted all villages in the division. The government, after
panicking when the passage of tourism vehicles was blocked, made some bizarre
and deeply worrying moves to backtrack from this. The villages are no longer
delisted and there have been promises to stop the strangulation of social
services (some limited implementation has been seen), and to stop the habitual harassment
committed by rangers.
Sadly, local
political leaders, instead of more strongly condemning the torture of the past
years and pushing for a speedier and more radical change in government policy, seem
to have lost the momentum by engaging in mindless praise of the president.
We now know
what can make the government backtrack: to directly target tourism. How can
this be used to regain the brutally and illegally stolen land that in 2022 was
alienated from Loliondo/Sale (do not confuse this with Ngorongoro
Division/NCA)?
In this blog
post:
The
disenfranchisement
The protests
The
government’s response – backtracking at last, but in a bizarre and dangerous
way
Limited implementation and local leaders losing the momentum
Remember the
2020 elections
The horrible
UNESCO and IUCN
Brief NCA
background
Loliondo
This blog post is very long, but still I forgot to add some important aspect that I was going to write about, and some I did not yet know about.
At the end I have added updates.
As reported in the previous
blog post, on 29th July, a 1,115-page pdf document from the
so-called Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC, formerly NEC) was
being shared on WhatsApp. This document lists all stations for updating the
Permanent Voters Register for the local elections in November and the general
elections in 2025. During the elections, the same premises serve as polling
stations. Not a single station in the 25 villages of Ngorongoro
Division/Ngorongoro Conservation Area of Ngorongoro District was found on the
list. The registration update/polling stations of Loliondo and Sale, however,
remained. Soon already registered voters dialled *152*00#
and found that they were registered at different stations in Msomera
village in Handeni, to where the government wants them to relocate
“voluntarily”. Even deceased relatives were found to be registered in this
village. Activists have compiled some 300 screenshots of this bizarre
government move that would get worse. To date there isn’t any explanation from
authorities. Upon questions from media, INEC referred to TAMISEMI that in its
turn referred to INEC. It’s of course INEC that handles these lists, but it was
then found that INEC was acting on an illegal GN by the head of TAMISEMI, the
president’s son in law, Mohamed Mchengerwa. According to the government’s own
figures, some 9,000 Ngorongoro residents have been made to relocate to other
people’s land, while over 100,000 remain in Ngorongoro division of Ngorongoro
District. Had all registered voters of a population of over 100,000 been
transferred to the polling stations of a village that before the unannounced Ngorongoro
invasion had a population of some 8,000?
On 3rd August,
several ward councillors and village leaders (all CCM) together with some
common villagers (not all CCM) issued a statement against the
disenfranchisement. Then, on 8th August Ngorongoro youths issued
their own protest statement. There was a worrying silence from MP Emmanuel
Oleshangay but on 13th August he responded to the Citizen newspaper that
even he had found himself registered at a polling station in Msomera! Though
when contacting INEC, the authority denied having changed any information
On 8th August, a
meeting at Endulen market to discuss how to end oppression and abuse was
invaded and disrupted by heavily armed NCA rangers.
On 11th August, NCA
rangers held meetings with hotels and lodges telling them:
1. To monitor if any Maasai
working in the hotels hold secret meetings. They were told that the Maasai are
now enemies of the state, and all their movements should be monitored.
2. That the hotels should
ensure that no tourist learns that the Maasai are excluded from voter’s
registration.
On 18th August, NCA
dawned with massive manifestations and blocking of the Ngorongoro-Serengeti
road. People from seven wards (Alaitole, Kakesio, Endulen, Misigiyo, Ngorongoro,
Ngoile and Olbalbal), estimated as 50,000, protested concentrating in Ngorongoro
ward, while those from Nainokanoka, Alailai and Naiyobi concentrated at Lemala
gate were estimated as 20,000. The protestors held leaves as a sign of peace,
sang and prayed, some holding neatly pre-printed banners, also in English so
that tourists would understand what this was about. Long snakes of tourist
vehicles came to a standstill and hundreds of video clips and pictures were
shared in social media. Some protesters who knew English engaged in explaining
the situation to the tourists.
16 people were arrested but
released after pressure from the protesters. Ward and village leaders held a
disappointingly low profile and weren’t wanted anyway, for being useless, or
worse. There were unconfirmed rumours that some councillors, and even the MP,
could have been compromised. Around 6pm, the Regional Administrative Secretary
and some other people sent by Arusha RC (and hardcore criminal) Paul Makonda
arrived. The regional representatives got five days to respond to the
protesters’ concerns. NCAA issued a statement saying that “some residents” were
holding a manifestation, but that tourism activities were proceeding
uninterrupted, and that the manifestation was evidence that there weren’t any
human rights violations in NCA.
The message was that if the
demands are not met, there will be non-stop peaceful demonstration by blocking
all tourist roads within NCA.
The demands (any
translation mistakes are my fault)
1. Cancelling
GN number 673, used to delist 11 wards, 25 villages and 96 sub-villages in
Ngorongoro Division (Blogger’s comment: added after this GN was revealed the
following day, I suppose)
2. Allowing
local government elections:
• Improving
the voter register.
• To return
all stations and names of voters who have not legally moved and whose names
have been arbitrarily moved without their consent
3. Restoring
the Ngorongoro Pastoral Council (NPC) based on:
• Restoring
Student Funding unlike now that NCAA through Ngorongoro District Council (NDC)
has refused to fund 155 students who applied to go to colleges and universities
for the financial year FY24.
• Returning
the employees of the Pastoral Council to this council.
• Pastoral Council guesthouse.
• Breaking
the MOU signed between NCAA, NDC and NPC as it has failed in its implementation
as a result the children who are educated by the Pastoral Council have dropped
out of school and wander the streets
4. To restore
development projects within the Ngorongoro Division
- Health,
water, education, livestock and entrepreneurship projects (VICOBA) as the
people of Ngorongoro Division have been deprived for 4 years.
5. Remove all
gate restrictions:
- The time to
enter the park should return to normal unlike now, which has been 4pm closing
time when it used to be 6pm.
- Local cars
should not pay any entry fee at the gate as they do now.
- Pay for
commercial vehicles per year as before
- Residents
should not be asked for their permits/ID.
6. The NCAA rangers
should stop the arbitrary arrest of local people and their livestock
7. All the
areas where we agreed that the livestock should have pasture, all obstacles
should be removed, especially the areas where the livestock are suffering are the
Marsh, Ndutu, Embakaai Crater, Ormoti Crater and Northern Highland Forest.
8. The
government should take strict action against all those involved in the fraud concerning
the Msomera exercise trying to convince the government that the remaining
people are few when it is not true
9. To make
sure that we have security in our homes, the action of rangers coming to our
homes and raiding without a search warrant is ignorance and slavery, we are not
under military rule.
Statements in support of the
Maasai were (as several times before) issued by Secretary General of Tanzania
Episcopal Conference, Charles Kitima and by the for some years useless
Tanganyika Law Society that’s been reformed under the leadership of Boniface
Mwabukusi.
In the usual manner, a video
of young Maasai imposters appeared with some bad acting pretending that they
were from Ngorongoro and that the protesters were all Kenyans, while they just
wanted peace and the government to take action against those “Kenyans”. They
did this in front of a baobab that’s never found at the altitude of Ngorongoro
and it was soon found that they were from Olmolog in Enduimet, Longido and the
video shot in Bweni in Dar es Salaaam region.
On the 19th, thousands
of people continued gathering – 40,000 have been estimated – mainly at a large gathering in Oloirobi village in Ngorongoro ward
- and issued statements that it’s their land, they aren’t going anywhere, and
they are waiting for the response promised by the regional authorities. Reports
said that NCAA had called for reinforcement by TAWA and TANAPA rangers from
Simanjiro and Monduli, and police not from Ngorongoro was already there. A
clear message was sent to Hamis Dambaya of the NCAA PR unit that wrote the
statement about “some residents”.
While gathering an masse and
waiting for the response from the government it was in the evening of 19th
August found that on 26th June, Mohamed Mchengerwa, President
Samia’s son in law and Ministers of State in the President’s Office for
Regional Administration and Local Government (TAMISEMI) had signed Government
Notice (GN) No.673 delisting all 11 wards, 25 villages and 96 sub-villages of
Ngorongoro division (and some other villages in the country) and that this had
been mentioned in the government Gazette on 2nd August, but the GN itself
had not been published.
Thousands of people continued
gathered, camping out at Oloirobi on the 20th. Both the CHADEMA and
ACT Wazalendo opposition parties issued statements in support of the Maasai of
Ngorongoro. Boniface Mwabukusi of TLS, in no uncertain terms, made it clear
that Minister Mchengerwa had not any provision of the law to do what he did.
The huge gathering in Oloirobi
continued on the 21st. This day, police in Karatu did not allow
vehicles going to Ngorongoro to carry any food, in an ugly effort to prevent it
from being taken to the protesters. Rangers had been deployed from several
regions and stationed at the old NCA headquarters and were reportedly to stay
until 8th September.
Yet another media spectacle
was made of 367 people "relocating" to Msomera before dawn on 22nd
August.
There was a heavy presence of
security forces and the huge gathering in Oloirobi continued. The Ngorongoro MP,
Emmanuel Oleshangai, joined for the first time. Overcome by emotion, he cried and
had to be held by those accompanying him. He promised that the government would
come with a response the following day. Former Simanjiro MP Millya was also
there, but not all protesters were impressed. Reportedly, Millya openly said
that “We came here to clear all obstacles to smooth the way for the government
officials”.
Some 40 human rights
organizations, which is a larger number than usual, issued a joint statement,
and so did Tanzania Land Alliance, TALA.
The government’s
response – backtracking at last, but in a bizarre and dangerous way
There had been some
non-promising behaviour from the government that was going to issue a response:
another Msomera spectacle, the cruel blocking of food for the protestors on the
21st, and the illegal and totally deranged GN that had appeared,
delisting every village in Ngorongoro Division. Though the government started
“responding” already on the 22nd, and in a quite bizarre (don’t know
how many times can that word be used in the same blog post) way.
In an indeed most bizarre turn
of events, it was in the afternoon of 22nd August announced
that an injunction had been issued by the court against the delisting of
villages. The case was filed the same day as the injunction was granted, which
is unheard of, and it was reported in media that would otherwise never
report good news for the Maasai (all mainstream media). This case was fraudulently filed
in the name of the activist and opposition supporter Isaya
Olepose who had been in Ngorongoro since 6th August and had not
filed any case or met the lawyer who was saying that he did so. Also the lawyer
- Ipilinga Panya - who according to court documents filed the application for
Olepose, denies any knowledge of the case. The high speed granted injunction
was reported to the speedily gathered government pleasing press by a lawyer
called Peter Njau who looked less confident than lawyer usually do on such
occasions. The bizarre case was mentioned on 26th September (see
below).
The District Executive Officer
(DED) then, the same afternoon, announced that the election would go on as
usual.
This has been described as
that the government vomited and used the judiciary to lick it up. The good part
was that the government was panicking and had to backtrack, but the use of both
the “Independent” National Electoral Commission and the judiciary to pass total
lawlessness and forgery is not encouraging.
 |
| Forgery |
On 23rd August it
caused some disquiet that photos were shared of Arusha RC Makonda, and the
Ministers Lukuvi and Kabudi on their way to Ngorongoro with the notorious
Police Commissioner for Operations and Training Awadhi Juma Haji who was in
charge of violent arrests of some 500 opposition supporters – including arrests
and beatings of senior leaders of the CHADEMA party - to prevent a youth rally
from taking place in Mbeya on 12th August.
 |
| Karatu |
 |
| Arrival of ministers and RC. |
Once in Oloirobi the visit by RC
Makonda and the ministers was peaceful. Minister of State at the Prime
Minister’s Office, Overseeing Policy, Parliament, and Coordination, William
Lukuvi, addressed the multitude with the message that the president will meet
with “representatives” (CCM leaders not responsible for the protests …) of the
Ngorongoro residents to present their grievances directly.
Lukuvi said that the president
had directed that all suspended services should be restored. This is good news
indeed but strange, since it’s all part of the president’s quite personal war
against Ngorongoro, which she declared days after coming into office and has
kept up in a horribly rabid way. The president would also send PM Majaliwa to
Arusha to meet “representatives”, and that’s never good news, but has since
before Samia’s presidency, at least since 2016, always led to increased
horrors. Further, the president had instructed the director of elections to
make sure that in preparation for the local elections in November all polling
stations are set up according to existing wards, villages and sub-villages. Lukuvi
also said that the NCAA chief conservator had been instructed to end harassment
at Lodoare gate.
The Minister for Constitutional
and Legal Affairs, Palamagamba Kabudi, said some lofty words about that all
Tanzanians are equal, and that all government authority derives from the people,
about the rule of law that is upheld by the president and must be enforced by
the government, and that it was the reason that the government accepted the
bizarre court forgery … RC Makonda did not want to stand before God and be
reminded of involvement of oppression and harming Ngorongoro residents, he said
that anyone delaying implementation of the president’s orders will liable to
consequences. Since Makonda, besides a hardcore criminal, also is a populist,
he looked quite comfortable among the multitude. When asked, “Are we moving or
are we staying”, he replied, “We will stay right here.”
When Kabudi shouted, “Samia
tobiko” (“Long live Samia”, in Maa), the reply from several of the protestors
was “twaa” (“may she die”).
However, in Nainokanoka,
Lukuvi insulted the protestors, warning them not to be deceived by those who
don’t have Tanzania’s best interests at heart, particularly in social media,
and telling them that they may otherwise lose their homes and social services
if the tourists, that he claimed are enabling everything, go away.
I haven’t seen any clip, but
sadly it seems like MP Oleshangai already on the 23rd started
excusing President Samia, by claiming that she had been “badly advised”.
Limited implementation and local leaders losing the momentum
On 25th August
there was a most horrible statement by MP Oleshangai thanking President
Samia.
Pindi Chana, human rights
criminal and recycled Minister of Natural Resources and Tourism (the president frequently
moves around the same sycophants among the ministries) said that the ministry
will ensure that the government's instructions regarding improving social
services are implemented. She particularly mentioned minister Lukuvi’s message
to the Maasai that the president had instructed issuance of permits for
improvements (blocked since 2021), to let the residents pass Lodoare gate until
6 pm instead of 4.30 pm and ensure their safety and better relations with NCAA.
On 26th August an
authentic – as opposed to the earlier government forgery - case against
TAMISEMI was filed by Julius Laitayok from Endulen, two other Ngorongoro
residents and two villagers affected by illegal evictions from land wanted by
Kilimanjaro International Airport (KIA). There was a court mention on 17th
September, in which the state attorney asked for more time to respond, which
was granted. The Ngorongoro part of the case has died a natural death, but the KIA
villages have not been relisted.
A team from the District
Executive Director’s office, already on 26th August, set up camp in
Ngorongoro division and started dealing with the for years wilfully paralyzed
water problem at Ngorongoro Girls Secondary School in Alaitole, while local
leaders engaged in totally brainless praise of the number one enemy of
Ngorongoro, President Samia, not least the councillor James Moringe who has
been among those speaking up with most seriousness (within the CCM limitations).
A water pump was installed and then the team passed through all schools and
health centres in Ngorongoro division. However, not enough solar panels were
brought (from Ngorongoro District Council, not bought new), so the teachers had
to remove a 120-watt panel from one of the classrooms to use for the water pump,
but the pump still had to be moved to Esere Primary School since it couldn’t
pump enough water.
The opposition CHADEMA was
again blocked from holding meetings in Ngorongoro on 27th August,
with the police alleging “safety” reasons.
When a Ngorongoro resident was
dialling *152*00# to find out at which polling station they were registered,
the message was no longer an unknown station in faraway Msomera. Now the
message was that the service was no longer available.
Reportedly, on 16th
September, Ndian Primary School received 150 bags of cement for repair of its
seriously cracked walls. A year ago, non-stop protest at Ndian Primary
School 1st - 8th August 2023, to demand a repair permit (all
such permits had been denied since 2021) resulted in mass arrests, abductions
and torture.
Contrary to the new presidential orders there has been harassment by rangers. On 3rd September NCA rangers blocked a group of goat and sheep from getting water from Lake Ndutu, and on the 4th the rangers refused to let Maasai pass Endamaghai gate in Olpiro with their cattle. On 16th September, vehicles belonging to Ngorongoro residents, that also serve as public transport, were blocked for one and a half hour at Lodoare gate.
On 5th September, a
group of Maasai delegates mostly CCM members from Ngorongoro Division, led by
MP Oleshangai met, PM Majaliwa in Dodoma. Their supposed main agenda was to
discuss the opportunity to restore the strangled social services in NCA, but the
perceived real effect was the sanitation of Majaliwa’s, and the president’s,
image. Meeting with Majaliwa has never led to anything good. Even when the
Maasai on 25th May 2022, had the opportunity to present no-nonsense
community recommendations in two reports – one for Loliondo/Sale and one for
NCA – this was in just a few days followed by the brutal military land theft
attack on Loliondo. Other examples abound, like the horribly intimidated Loliondo
“select committee” in 2016-2017. Regarding NCA, it was Majaliwa who in December
2016, ordered the prohibition (no legal ground) of taking livestock into
Ngorongoro crater (also Ormoti and Empakaai craters) for water and saltlicks. It
was Majaliwa who on 17th February 2022 came to NCA to in a totally
one-sided meeting, announce the Msomera setup and then went on to organize a
big meeting in Arusha with imposters – not from Ngorongoro - led by Lekisongo
Meijo who falsely call himself chief of all Maasai in Tanzania. The delegates claim
the meeting in Dodoma on 5th September as a success, since the PM’s
intention was to block the Ngorongoro representatives from meeting president
Samia – which is still in the plans. The impression by people in Ngorongoro is
that Majaliwa and Samia are using the CCM members, MP, councillors and local
traditional leaders for a campaign to sanitize their crimes of the past three
years.
On 6th September in
Karatu, MP Oleshangai was again praising the president in a very stupid way. In
closed meeting with Amos Makalla, the CCM Secretary for Ideology, Publicity and
Training, Ngorongoro leaders had been promised that Makalla would take all
their concerns to President Samia. The public meeting was held in Karatu, since
the police had denied a permit for Ngorongoro (not convincing …) Anyway, the
message from both the MP and Makalla was more or less that Ngorongoro loves CCM
and Samia.
I’ve been told that all
councillors from Ngorongoro division had been staying in Karatu since 23rd
August for meetings held by James Moringe, Alaitole councillor (one of the best
…) and two of president Samia’s advisors (one of them was Abdala Bulembu) who
in part funded this upscale stay. This and the strange “thanking” of the
president all over media has raised fears among Ngorongoro residents. From
August to 9th September, James Moringe was moving around in a
vehicle allegedly belonging to the president’s son. The councillors had planned
holding some kind of party in Ngorongoro to congratulate the president, but
there was resistance and it was done on a limited scale on 5th
September (same day as the meeting with Majaliwa) in Esere village with the
attendance of 20 traditional leaders and CCM people from Kakesio, Alaitole,
Endulen, Misigiyo, Ngorongoro, Ngoile and Olbalbal and the two old men who were
sent by Samia as her advisors.
In mid-September, in the High
Court in Tanga, eight Msomera villagers with land titles sued one Ngorongoro migrant
respectively that have invaded their farms. Among those sued are former MP Telele and the supposed
bishop Kivuyo. Besides the Ngorongoro migrant, each one of the eight Msomera
villagers has also sued the Msomera Village Council, the Handeni District
Council, and the Attorney General.
On 9th September, a
Ngorongoro Division community meeting was held at Mokilal village in Ngorongoro
ward. The aim of this meeting was purely for local leaders and MP to defend
themselves against accusations of hijacking the protests and siding with the
government. They gave feedback from Majaliwa's meeting at Dodoma and their
success in stopping the PM from preventing Ngorongoro representatives from
meeting the president.
On 12th and 13th
September, there were wards meetings to give feedback and select
representatives from Ngorongoro residents to meet president Samia. Educated
people complained that the selected people to 99% are CCM members, uneducated,
and from the MP’s political team. All educated CCM critics were refused by the MP
to be in the team despite that they got the blessing from the community.
On 16th September
Minister/son in law Mchengerwa announced the boundaries of villages and
sub-villages that will participate in the upcoming local government elections
scheduled for 27th November. This was detailed in GN No. 796 of
2024, which reinstated the villages in Ngorongoro that had been delisted in GN
No. 673 of 2nd August 2024 (publicly online on 19th
August). According to Mchengerwa, this was done, “to ensure proper
administrative representation and access to social and economic services that
meet the needs of residents,”. He did not explain why he illegally
delisted the villages in the first place. Accompanied by Arusha RC Makonda,
Mchengerwa urged residents to register to the voters’ list and to prepare to
contest for political office. This was a victory indeed.
On 17th September,
the anti-Maasai rag the Jamhuri ran an article - Jicho la UNESCO na hatima ya Ngorongoro -with usual government incitement
against the Maasai of Ngorongoro Conservation Area. It was formatted as an
advertorial from NCAA with its logo as a header, but probably written by
Manyerere Jackton who since 2010 in over 60 articles has, like OBC, campaigned
for evictions from the dry season grazing areas of Loliondo-Sale (not NCA),
using all kinds of fabrications, slander of any individual he’s suspected of
being able to speak up for land rights, and accused long lists of named private
(and very Tanzanian) individuals of being “Kenyan”, and boasted of being
directly involved in arrests of innocent people. This “reporter” keeps to more
mainstream government propaganda when writing about NCA (as he also did on 3rd September), which surely is
demented enough … The main message of this article or advertorial was about UNESCO’s support
for the relocation of the Maasai.
On 22nd September there
was a thanksgiving mass at Endulen Catholic Parish for God’s protection during the
protests. Sadly, the NCA chief conservator … and president Samia’s advisors
also attended - for the president’s sanitation campaign, as usual. The
representative of their worst tormentor, Presidential Advisor on Political and
Community Relations, Rajab Luhwavi, praised the Maasai for their peacefulness,
which is the same as insulting them in other words. The MP continued praising
the president. Not covered in news reports (that were written by the NCAA PR unit), but in his defence, someone told me
that the MP also reiterated the demands for the government to act swiftly in
accordance with President Samia Suluhu Hasans directives that all denied social
services be restored promptly (the bare minimum for him to do, I’d say) and the
Alaitole councillor, James Moringe, re-nailed the worry that the government
must not have a hidden agenda to force the Maasai out of the NCA after the 2025
elections.
On 26th September the bizarre court
case (see above) was mentioned. Advocate Njau appeared in Court and said
Olepose was not able to attend but that they are not interested to continue
with the case as the villages have been restored. Olepose – who was present in
the courtroom - raised his hand and the judge asked, “Who are you?”
Olepose said he’s the person named as Applicant, but that he does not know
Advocate Njau. He has another lawyer who will appear next time. Njau said, “this
is not Olepose my client, my client is a different person”. So the judge
asked Olepose how he knew he’s the Applicant if he never instructed the lawyer
to file the case? Olepose said because the name in the case is his, the Ward
mentioned Endulen, village Nasipooriong and sub village Ormekeke mentioned is
where he resides. So, the judge asked Olepose to produce his ID’s which he did.
Then Njau said his client is from Nasipooriong village, Ormekeke sub village, Eyasi
Ward (of course no such village there).
Both Njau and Government
lawyers kept insisting the case must be withdrawn, and more so because Olepose
said the case was filed without his consent. Thereafter the judge directed that
the case be rescheduled to 10th October and Njau bring the real
Olepose and this Olepose who appeared in court must also come so the court can
ascertain who is saying the truth. (Everybody involved knows that there’s only
one Isaya Olepose in Ngorongoro Division).
The stupidity continued 26th
September with a meeting to strengthen relations between NCAA, the MP, councillors
from the 11 wards and traditional leaders. The district chairman and long-time
OBC employee Marekani Bayo was there as well, and apparently even went as far as
mentioning good relations with the illegal so-called “Pololeti Game Reserve”. This
is becoming repetitive, and I only have the report written by NCAA, but
reportedly the MP emphasized the importance of the government continuing to
provide services to citizens who have “not yet” (bado) made the decision to relocate.
I don’t think he meant what the NCAA PR unit implied, but I can’t be sure.
So, what been achieved is that
harassment of Ngorongoro residents at Lodoare gate has mostly stopped, Esere Primary
School has got a water pump and Ndian Primary School has got 150 bags of
cement. When will funds illegally diverted to Handeni be returned? When will Flying
Medical Service be allowed to fly? Is access to the craters and northern
highland forest undisturbed? When and how can those that have relocated due to
the strangulation of social services return? Where is the government’s apology
for the over three years of illegal restrictions, defunding and harassment?
While it’s very good news that
the government is, at least in part, finally backtracking from its mistreatment
of the Maasai of Ngorongoro Division to make them “relocate”, the totally open
and shameless way of ordering about both the Independent National Electoral
Commission and the judiciary, making them engage in hardly even hidden
lawlessness and forgery, is cause for concern. This is at a time when abductions,
torture and murder of opposition politicians by the state apparatus (same as
the CCM party) is getting worse each day.
On 28th October it will
be four years since police and NCAA rangers opened fire at unarmed voters at
Oloirobi polling station in Ngorongoro ward, killing not yet 22-year-old Salula
Ngorisiolo.
On this day of shame in the
history of Tanzania, similar to what was what happening all over the country, and
particularly where a CCM loss was feared, opposition polling agents weren’t
allowed in at the Oloirobi polling station, and around 10am a vehicle belonging
to a CCM cadre called Sammi arrived with this Sammi, a CCM polling agent named
Oltunyo Oloitai and boxes full of pre-marked ballots. Opposition polling agents
and voters refused to let this happen, and Sammi and Oltunyo were taken away by
the police. No action was however taken against them, and they were soon seen
out and about again. Such boxes, bags and baskets were intercepted all over
Tanzania, and reportedly they occurred in other areas of Ngorongoro as well,
but it seems like, in the district, only in Oloirobi were the polling agents
and voters brave enough to try to stop it. Though in Endulen, the night before
the election, the opposition managed to stop CCM’s plan for three fake polling
stations.
Around noon there was a second
attempt at rigging. Then it was “discovered” that the polling agents didn’t
have identification from the returning officer, then DED Siumbu. Initially, no
party had their agents identified. Only in the middle of the confrontation, the
assistant returning officer availed identification letters to CCM polling
agents alone.
When the opposition polling
agents and the voters resisted the removal of the polling agents, the police
and the NCAA rangers task force fired teargas and live bullets at the innocent,
unarmed civilians. Salula Ngorisiolo was killed. Leepalai Kashiro, who was shot
in the stomach, was taken to hospital, while the injured Meshuko Lesitik,
Neepai Olorru, and Kone Leyan were taken into police custody.
After the murder, the voting
was suspended, and then followed hunting and arrests of opposition candidates
and cadres. CHADEMA councillor candidate for Ngorongoro ward Tubulu Nebasi, who
hadn’t even been at the polling station in Oloirobi, former CCM councillor
Daniel Orkery, and the three injured men not in hospital, were detained by the
police.
For several days nobody seemed
sure where the illegally arrested defenders of democracy had been taken, but on
4th November 2020, they were taken to court in Loliondo and released
on bail. The charges were of rioting at the polling station, assaulting an
assistant returning officer and a guard, and damaging ballot boxes and ballot
papers.
The ruling was delivered on 10th
June 2021. Paulo Neepai Olorru and Gabriel Kone Leyan were convicted on one
count of riot and one count of damaging ballot boxes and sentenced to a TShs
100,000 fine each for each count, or 1 year imprisonment, in total TShs
400,000, or 200,000 each. If there were any justice, they would have been
awarded medals, not convicted. The other three accused were acquitted. The
murderers continue walking free.
Salula Ngorisiolo wasn’t
involved in politics. He was in Kenya looking for watchman jobs and came back
for the election. When fake ballots were brought and opposition polling agent
were not allowed into the polling station, he was one of many youths who
opposed the unacceptable behaviour – and then the criminal police and NCAA
rangers opened fire, ending his life. Salula’s parents and younger siblings
depended on his watchman work from which he used to bring home goats and money,
and on him helping his father when home.
To date, local leaders have
not spoken up about the election murder.
The
horrible UNESCO
and IUCN
Only reported to me later, via a newsletter from the Maasai International Solidarity Alliance, on 23rd July, a representative from PINGOs Forum attended the World Heritage Committee 46th session in Delhi, and had prepared a statement with some points regarding the advisory mission to NCA by UNESCO, ICOMOS and IUCN in February (reported about in an earlier blog post), in which no Maasai resident of NCA was informed or consulted. In its usual style, the mission listened to the state party and conservation organizations. The points included the Maasai demand that a new mission should be organized and follow international guidelines on how to engage with indigenous people, and that the report from the February mission should not be published, as it wasn’t legitimate. In an act of censorship, the PINGOs representative was told to delete the point about the report, or he would not be allowed to read the statement. MISA wrote a letter of complaint, and in early September the Maasai representative, lawyer and activist, Joseph Oleshangay, met with UNESCO in Paris. Everybody – except one of the UNESCO people - was kind and agreed that the advisory mission in February had been controlled by the Tanzanian government. There will be another mission. The exception was UNESCO’s Chief of Section, Local and Indigenous Knowledge Systems, Nigel Crawhall. This person was quite stupid, aggressive and arrogant, insisting on that the Tanzanian government was saving the Maasai from their own backwardness, and that they were very selfish who weren’t advocating for other tribal people.
The Tanzanian government, this
time represented by the Zanzibar Minister for Tourism and Heritage, Mudrik
Ramadhan Soraga, repeated the usual lies about overpopulation, human-wildlife
conflict, environmental degradation, and a transparent and participatory
voluntary process, while denying any human rights violations, and the existence
of indigenous peoples in Tanzania. Indigeneity, however, is a double-edged
sword when the government is violating every human right and all its own laws,
regardless of if the victims are classified as indigenous, or not, which the
Maasai are by al serious international organizations.
Further, on 22nd-
26th July, UNESCO experts came to assess and revalidate the
Ngorongoro-Lengai UNESCO Global Geopark. The Maasai only learned about this
mission through media, which was basically also what happened when the geopark
was established in 2018. MISA again wrote a letter of complaint, including the
concerns:
“1) the fact
that Geopark promotes tourism, which is already reaching unsustainable levels
in
Ngorongoro
and is not benefiting local communities;
2) the fact
that some of the key featuring attractions of the Geopark are sites with highly
significant spiritual and cultural value for the Maasai, such as Ngorongoro
Crater and Ormoti, which are places used for rites of passage; this is totally
disregarded by the Tanzanian Government, which is promoting tourism and now
planning to develop canoeing;
3) the fact
that the Ngorongoro Lengai Geopark is benefiting from Chinese investment for
the construction of museums and additional infrastructure without consent of
the local people;
4) that Geopark
bodies are completely ignoring the human rights violations reported in the
property and failing to engage with affected communities.”
In its decision 46 COM 7B.48 from the 46th session, the UNESCO World Heritage Committee continues with the change of tone introduced in the 2023 decision and talks about a “human rights based approach”. For the first time (see below), UNESCO has seen the genocidal Multiple Land Use review proposal, publicly presented by former chief conservator Freddy Manongi in September 2019, and seen by everyone else five years ago.
As mentioned earlier, also
for the first time in its State of conservation of properties
inscribed on the of World Heritage List (Extended forty-fifth session Riyadh,
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 10-25 September 2023) UNESCO is addressing the
“alleged” violations – that it claims to have received numerous letters about
in 2021 and 2022 - urging the State Party to demonstrate, ensure and rebut,
while stubbornly denying any own responsibility and putting a lot of faith in a
not yet released report by the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights
that in January 2023 made government commandeered visit to NCA, Msomera and
Loliondo.
UNESCO has earlier claimed to
“never at any time asked for the displacement of the Maasai people.” This was
not and is not true. In September 2023, the UNESCO claim was instead never to
have endorsed or requested forced displacement. The Tanzanian government has
through the years used UNESCO’s threats of delisting Ngorongoro Conservation
Area as a World Heritage Site, its repeated population panic, and distaste for
agriculture of any kind, or “modern” buildings, as an excuse to worsen the
human rights situation. The most rabidly anti-Maasai press – as shown again
recently in an advertorial by NCAA (see above) - enjoy reporting about UNESCO’s support for eviction
plans, and the government has referred to it in its response to being sued in
the East African Court of Justice (Reference No.29 of 2022, which, like all
cases in the EACJ, is paralyzed for lack of funds). UNESCO’s general secretary
in Tanzania, Hamisi M. Malebo, not only supports relocation of the Maasai out
of Ngorongoro Conservation Area but has in a shameless and loud way voiced
support for the extremely violent and illegal demarcation of 1,500 km2
of essential grazing land in Loliondo and Sale for a “game reserve”. He is
repeatedly used as the Tanzanian government’s “expert” in front of
international organizations, and I have not seen any kind of indication that
UNESCO would distance themselves from this unhinged and malicious idiot. I’ve
been informed that, while UNESCO is obviously a criminal organisation it has no
legal relationship with the national UNESCO commission of Tanzania. Malebo
though is having a great time using the name UNESCO and indeed the organization
has never objected.
When the genocidal Multiple
Land Use Model review proposal was presented in September 2019, the UNESCO
World Heritage Centre, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature
(IUCN) and International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) had once again
visited Ngorongoro in March the same year and in their report repeated that
they wanted the MLUM review completed to see the results and offer advice,
while again complaining about the visual impact of settlements with “modern”
houses, and so on. They also recommended the State Party (how they refer to the
big green snake) 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”. As known, unlike recommendations about too
many vehicles (the presence of which instead is loudly celebrated), the MNRT
loves this kind of recommendation, and the resulting MLUM review proposal was
so destructive that it would lead to the end of Maasai livelihoods and culture
in Ngorongoro District, and as seen, the genocidal plan for Loliondo, including
the annexation to NCA of the illegally demarcated land, has been brutally and
lawlessly implemented.
The MLUM review report
proposed to divide Ngorongoro into four zones, with an extensive “core
conservation zone” that is to be a no-go zone for livestock and herders. In NCA
this includes the Ngorongoro Highland Forest, with the three craters
Ngorongoro, Olmoti and Empakaai where grazing these past few years has been
banned through order by PM Kassim Majaliwa, not law. This has led to losing 90%
of grazing and water for Nainokanoka, Ngorongoro, Misigiyo wards, and a 100%
loss of natural saltlicks for livestock in these wards. The proposal is to do
the same with Oldupai Gorge, Laitoli footprints, and the Lake Ndutu and Lake
Masek basins. In the rest of Ngorongoro District, the proposal was 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 will have disastrous
knock-on effects on lives and livelihoods elsewhere. The most recent proposal
presented by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism is to have them
converted into “game reserves” (total land alienation, for tourism hunting).
The in June 2022 implemented alienation and annexation of the 1,500 km2 in
Loliondo caters almost perfectly to the wishes of OBC. Only 18% of NCA would
remain for people and livestock in the 2019 MLUM review proposal. Is there any
sincere person who would dare to say that this can be achieved through “voluntary”
relocations? While in Loliondo extreme violence was used, in NCA the brutality
of restrictions and harassment has kept worsening - until August 2024, but a significant
improvement is yet to be seen - to make the Maasai leave “voluntarily”. UNESCO has
not expressed any concern, deep or otherwise, about this genocidal MLUM review proposal,
and has claimed not to have seen it, since “the State Party has not appended
this review in their responses”, when everyone else saw it in 2019.
Though, in early 2024, a state party report with a 2020 version of the same MLUM
review attached was uploaded to UNESCO’s website. And in its recent decision
from the 46th session, UNESCO WHC,
“Notes that the State Party’s Review of the Multiple Land Use Model
(MLUM) management system, undertaken in 2020 and made available only in 2024,
states that maintaining a multiple land use model has “more advantages
economically, socially, culturally, politically and internally than the one
that advocates for changing NCA to other protected area category”;
Considers
that the continued implementation of a multiple land use model, that is
developed in consultation with stakeholders and rightsholders, and ensures a
clear human rights based approach, is appropriate in principle, and further
considers that it is essential that there is full engagement, including
effective and adequate consultation with all relevant stakeholders and
rightsholders, including those who oppose relocation, in relation to the
development of the General Management Plan (GMP) and the implementation
strategy going forward following the review of the MLUM;”
So, finally UNESCO is feeling
the heat.
Another example of the
instigation that UNESCO has been engaging in is the decision about Ngorongoro
in the 4th session of the “Convention Concerning the Protection
of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage World Heritage Committee” from
July 2021, UNESCO is there still requesting the State Party to provide
information about “the status of agricultural activities in the property” when
even the smallest kitchen garden had been banned since 2009, because of
UNESCO’s repeated “deep concern” which has led to malnourishment, and they
continued being concerned with, “challenges resulting from the significant
increase in the number of people residing in the property since its
inscription”.
How come that UNESCO is so totally unconcerned about the people of Ngorongoro and their culture that they have kept encouraging relocations as long as they’re “voluntary”, and not until 2023 asked questions about the “allegations” of abuse by the government that’s been going on for decades (before taking a sharp turn for the worse under Samia Suluhu Hassan’s presidency) until petitions and letters became “numerous”? What kind of dehumanizing forces make them share the concerns by the tourist-conservation industrial complex? When you keep inciting an authoritarian government that values tourism revenue above human rights, is prone to violence and lawlessness, and full of pathological liars, to do something about too many people, you’re complicit to crime, however much you keep mentioning consultations with stakeholders and rightsholders, and international norms – and now urging the so-called State Party to demonstrate, ensure and rebut, and finally even talking about a "human rights based approach".
I remember how a Maasai
activist already around 2012 told me about having met UNESCO and that the
organization would now start considering the Maasai and their living culture. They did not, and everything
just got worse, but maybe now activists are louder and better organized.
I’ve noticed
that UNESCO and IUCN representatives in expert teams have shallow knowledge, no
discernment, and no moral compass. Their engagement with
indigenous representatives – which IUCN and to some extent also UNESCO boast
about – carry no weight in their general work. As an example, unlike UNESCO,
IUCN did in June 2022 issue a quite serious statement on the brutal and illegal
land demarcation in Loliondo (not a world heritage site, but since August 2022
all dry season grazing land is managed by NCAA and illegally out of reach for
the Maasai), urging the Tanzania government to immediately stop all human
rights violations, to provide remedy and security to those harmed, and to
ensure appropriate peaceful measures are undertaken towards recognizing,
respecting and protecting the rights of the Maasai communities, even calling on
the government to adhere to the 2018 East African Court of Justice injunction
on the ongoing land dispute. Maybe they were pressured by indigenous advisers, rattled
by footage, and wanting to do damage control for the trophy hunting industry,
but this was totally forgotten in a report about Serengeti by a UNESCO
and an IUCN expert from January 2024 that I happened to come across and wrote
about in the previous blog post. In the stinking report the authors had
swallowed every malicious government lie about Loliondo, but adding some
bizarre own misunderstanding (or deliberate lie?), baselessly claiming that a
change in the Wildlife Conservation Act in 2022 would have turned Loliondo into
a protected area, which is a new version of the government lie that I had not
earlier seen … The government in its deranged and malicious lies has used
2009/2010, more recently 1951, and sometimes 1891 in its terra nullius efforts.
In a footnote, the authors say, “This change of status led to the
eviction of Maasai families using the area of the Pololeti GR which was
criticized by the UN Rapporteur on Indigenous People and NGO defending the
Maasai interests. This issue is not included in the ToR of this mission and
outside the scope of this report.” Advisors may want to reconsider the
value of their indigenous-washing for IUCN.
The authors of the stinking REPORT
ON THE JOINT WORLD HERITAGE CENTRE/IUCN REACTIVE MONITORING MISSION TO
SERENGETI NATIONAL PARK, UNITED REPUBLIC OF TANZANIA), FROM 15 TO 19 JANUARY
2024 were Guy Debonnet, currently Chief of the Natural Heritage Unit at UNESCO
World Heritage Centre and Daniel Marnewick, the Area-based Conservation
Coordinator for the IUCN Eastern and Southern Regional Office. They met with
representatives for the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, particularly
TANAPA (SENAPA), and government officials, but of course also the terrible Frankfurt
Zoological Society. Further, and
obviously repeated from previous reports – they encourage the of expansion
Serengeti National Park into the Speke Gulf area. This is a serious land rights
struggle for the residents of three villages in Nyatwali ward, who are less
organized than the Maasai of Ngorongoro.
Delisting Ngorongoro
Conservation Area as a World Heritage is long, long overdue.
All permits for construction
or renovation of schools or health facilities in the 25 villages of NCA, even
those already with government funds in their accounts, or third-party
donations, have since 2021 been denied by the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority,
some of the funds transferred to Handeni, and since 2022 there’s a drive to
manipulate the in every way suffocated Maasai to relocate to other people’s
land, that in no way can accommodate pastoralism, almost 600 kilometres away.
The entrance of construction material into NCA ihas been blocked, herders regularly assaulted by rangers, residents harassed at Lodoare gate, ID is
demanded, usually voter’s registration, and in August/September last year 2023
there were mass arrests, or abductions, including torture, and a police state
similar to that of Loliondo has developed, even if there isn’t the kind of
silence that too often falls over Loliondo like a stinking, damp cloth.
Remember that these are not the first restrictions or eviction efforts, but the
onslaught has sharply accelerated since President Samia came into office. In
1975, the Maasai were evicted from the crater floor and all cultivation in NCA
was prohibited, lifted in 1992 and brought back in 2008/2009. Since 2017, the
Maasai no longer even have access to water and saltlicks for their cattle in
the crater. Replacement salt provided by NCA was found toxic, leading to cattle
deaths. There’s a population panic – used as an excuse for any human rights
violations - on part of the government and some international organizations,
notably UNESCO, even when Ngorongoro is less densely populated than most areas
of Tanzania and has become a huge tourism money-maker for government coffers
and deep pockets, with the Maasai living there, in their land.
The Maasai already lost access
to over 14,000 km2 when evicted from Serengeti in 1959 by the colonial
government – accompanied by Bernhard Grzimek’s rallying cry, “Serengeti Shall
Not Die” (this Nazi-party member also wanted the Maasai out of Ngorongoro and
is still revered by the German embassy in Tanzania) - 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,
as seen again and again, has turned into the paramount interest, with
restrictions for the Ngorongoro Maasai.
In 1975, after a change in the
NCA Act in 1974, the Maasai 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 (or 2008), to the whole of NCA, after many
“grave concerns” in the recommendations 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. The Maasai are not allowed to build
permanent houses and suffer all kinds of harassment by NCA rangers that want to
restrict motorbikes, building materials, and demanding permits for just
anything, including demanding ID for the Maasai to pass Lodoare gate.
Ngorongoro was inscribed as a
UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979, for its natural significance and under a
cultural criterium in 2010, but this cultural criterium is paleo-archaeological
and not the living Maasai culture, obviously.
In 2006, there were
relocations to Jema in Oldonyosambu ward of Maasai deemed not to be original
inhabitants of NCA. It’s said that most of these people have returned - and in
April 2021 they were threatened with eviction.
After a visit by PM Majaliwa
in December 2016, the Maasai lost access to the three craters Ngorongoro,
Olmoti, and Empakaai – by Majaliwa’s order and not by any change to the NCA Act
- 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. Replacement salt donated by the NCAA was found to be substandard,
adulterated, and lead to the death of many cows.
In September 2019, the
notorious former chief conservator Freddy Manongi made public a Multiple Land
Use Model review proposal, with a zoning proposal that was so destructive that
it would lead to the end of Maasai livelihoods and culture in Ngorongoro District.
The proposal included the Loliondo 1,500 km2 land theft with
annexation to NCA, which was committed in 2022, and has led to widespread
impoverishment.
Shortly after having come into
office in 2021, Samia Suluhu Hassan started bringing up the need to “save”
Ngorongoro from the Maasai, in an explicit and repeated way not used by any
previous president. A week after her first of several speeches of this kind
there was on 12th April 2021 demolition orders for private houses,
and government buildings like primary schools, dispensaries, Endulen police
station, also churches, and a mosque, which after protests was stopped until
further notice. The government switched to the tactic of denying permits for
already funded constructions and repairs, defunding social services, and
blocking any new projects.
Also in 2021, in May, the NCAA
headquarters were hastily relocated to Karatu, promotional spectacles headed by
the infamous chief conservator Freddy Manongi were held on parliamentary
grounds, and in September 2021 a clip was uploaded in which then Deputy
Minister Mary Masanja complains about having seen cattle on a trip with MPs and
Manongi talks about a war, that pastoralists “have many conspiracies” and that
conservationists must start cooking their own conspiracies.
In September 2021, major
protests were brewing following repeated violent assault by NCA rangers on
young herders, harassment of women collecting firewood, exclusion from several
grazing areas and blocking of livestock passage at Endamaghai gate. The protests
sizzled out with the unexpected and untimely passing of MP William Olenasha.
2022 started with a leaked
fast-tracked plan for “voluntary” relocations of Ngorongoro Maasai. In the plan
the Kitwai and Handeni GCAs are named as the areas for relocation and
misleadingly described as protected areas that will be declassified. On the ground
in Msomera, Handeni, there was of course a registered village with its land use
plan and bewildered villagers looking on as houses were speedily being built
for Ngorongoro Maasai. Eventually some Msomera villagers started speaking up
about dispossession and abuse. Arusha RC John Mongella was the recommended
overseer of the project, and that’s what he became for the whole of the war
against the Maasai in both NCA and Loliondo/Sale. The plan recommended seeking
permission to use COVID-19 money allocated for the development projects to fund
the eviction of Ngorongoro Maasai - and then on 31st March 2022 then
DED Mhina sent letters to Ngorongoro headteachers ordering them to transfer
COVID-19 funds for Ngorongoro schools to Handeni District council.
Adding to the assault, Flying
Medical Service the only non-profit air ambulance service in Tanzania, was
grounded for 16 months by the Ministry of health and the Tanzania Civil
Aviation Authority, from April 2022 to August 2023 when they were temporarily
allowed to operate again, but only for emergencies. This temporary clearance
ended in November 2023, and they continue grounded.
A hate campaign against the
Ngorongoro Maasai was sharply escalated in media, led by the editor/owner of
the Jamvi la Habari newspaper, Habib Mchange, the stupidly screaming sports
presenter turned frontpage reviewer turned inciter of ethnic hatred, Maulid
Kitenge, and the old anti-Maasai Jamhuri paper with Manyerere Jackton and
Deusdatus Balile. While in the one-party parliament on 9th February
2022, parliamentarians competed in being wilfully or genuinely ignorant,
hateful, and calling for evictions from NCA. 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. Then meetings about Ngorongoro were held
with Maasai imposters from other parts of Tanzania. Minister Ndumbaro held
lying sessions with diplomats to tell them the “truth” about Ngorongoro and
Loliondo. Then some in-authentic, compromised, or naïve Maasai registered to be
relocated to Msomera and much paraded in media, with former MP Kaika Saning’o
Telele (who in 2023 started complaining) as the worst example.
A meeting was held on 12th
October 2022 between government representatives and Endulen Hospital. The
government plan was announced as to further suffocate key life serving services
downgrading the hospital to a clinic, which has not been implemented. This was
adding to the harsh defunding of clinics and dispensaries and the unexplained
grounding of Flying Medical Service for 16 months, and then again.
On 29th March 2023, the
Controller and Auditor General (CAG), Charles Kichere, announced that 2.5% of
Ngorongoro households had been “relocated” at a cost of TShs 24.7 billion. In a
threatening way, he said that the cost for “relocating” the remaining 22,000
households would be TShs 988 billion. The CAG did not disclose where the money
is coming from.
In his budget speech of early
June 2023, the then still Minister of Natural Resources and Tourism, (and the
president’s son in law) Mohamed Mchengerwa, in a militaristic way promised that
there will be no turning back, no surrender, in completing the relocation
exercise to Msomera.
On 13th July 2023,
15-year old Joshua Olepatorro from Nainokanoka was attacked by NCAA rangers
when returning from having grazed cows in Olmoti crater. The ranger identified
as Elibariki Israel Namungu - beat him with the butt of his gun, so that three
of his upper front teeth were smashed out, and then they left him there in the
bush, until he was picked up by his friends. The artist Sifa Bujune was
arrested for incitement and then charged with specifically the lines about
Joshua Olepatorro as “false, deceptive, misleading, or inaccurate”, violating
the Cybercrimes Act. This case was eventually dismissed.
In August 2023, there were
weeklong protests against blocked repair permits for Ndian Primary School,
which was followed by a crazy manhunt in which over 30 people were abducted and
tortured for up to a week. Even the Ngorongoro MP was “arrested” and his
whereabouts were unknown for two nights.
On 9th September
2023, Tundu Lissu was blocked from visiting NCA, and then arrested and charged
with illegal assembly for having held two meetings in Loliondo the previous
day. This led to protests by women in Ngorongoro division, heavy presence, and
harassment by the Field Force Unit, including arrests and beating of women
perceived as leaders.
On 25th September
2023, Chief Conservator Manongi signed a MoU with the army, or more exactly the
national service, Jeshi la Kujenga Taifa (JKT), about building 5,000 houses in
Msomera, Kitwai and Saunyi villages, half of them in Msomera. The construction
was initiated in a very militaristic way on 6th October 2023.
On 12th October
2023, it was announced that the notorious NCA Chief Conservator Freddy Manongi
has been replaced, two years after he was supposed to retire. Then, on 15th
March 2024, his successor, Richard Kiiza, was removed. Kiiza spent his five
months paying 1,250 US dollars per night, staying at Ngorongoro Lodge Meliá
(formerly Wildlife Lodge), while payments of university fees for Ngorongoro
youths have been stopped and even sick rhinos and elephants aren't treated and
samples collected to establish cause of death are lost for lack of transport –
as was denounced in a statement by several Ngorongoro leaders on 26th
March 2024.
On 5th January
2024, then government spokesperson Matinyi made a confession of crime, saying
that the government can't improve social services in Ngorongoro, since it's
moving people. In Msomera, on 17th January 2024, spokesperson
Matinyi made a most terrible announcement about changing the NCA Act to exclude
people from the area. Nothing more has been heard about such a government plan.
A joint UNESCO, IUCN and
ICOMOS mission made a totally government commandeered visit to Ngorongoro
Conservation Area and Msomera 3rd – 9th February 2024
In mid-March 2024, the
government/NCAA went crazy trying to stop the installation of the lawyer and
activist Joseph Oleshangay as a traditional leader, via threats and harassment.
And in early March even such an installation of the Ngorongoro MP was a government
worry, with blocking of high-profile guest like the Simanjiro MP Olesendeka.
A letter dated 15th
March 2024 from the acting District Executive Officer Emmanuel Sukums
(otherwise known as educational officer) informed headteachers in Ngorongoro
Division that children to parents that have relocated out of Ngorongoro are not
allowed to attend boarding schools in the division, without a permit from the
chief conservator, claiming that this could be a strategy for people to return
to Ngorongoro, which interferes with government strategy.
On 10th April 2024, 135
Ngorongoro migrants to Msomera issued a statement about forgotten promises,
warning others from relocating, and saying that they will return to Ngorongoro.
On 27th May women who had been forced to relocate to Msomera by the
policy targeting “heads of family” and then returned after mistreatment, and
those who had refused and become homeless in Ngorongoro spoke to Kusaga TV
(online media). And on 29th June, several Msomera villagers again
spoke up about being overrun and “informed” at gunpoint that their land now was
for Ngorongoro migrants, while they as residents of a registered village were
“invaders” of a game controlled area.
After the brief and corruption
laden conservatorship of Richard Kiiza, on 6th May 2024 President Samia
appointed Elirehema Joshua Doriye as Ngorongoro Chief Conservator.
On 7th June 2024,
it was announced that Tanzania has been removed from the EU's NatureAfrica
scheme for which the European Commission had allocated 18 million euros, and
only Kenya is now targeted. There were also new conditions that indigenous and
local people's rights must be respected.
Loliondo
In Loliondo and Sale Divisions
(Loliondo GCA/hunting block) the government continues its brutal theft of all
dry-season grazing land, in complete contempt of the high court that has
suspended the operation of the illegal “Pololeti Game Reserve” until the
determination of Miscellaneous Civil Cause No.178 of 2022. The ruling of this
case is set for 22nd October, and for an independent court it’s a
clearcut case, since the president’s GN declaring the illegal “game reserve”,
just like the minister’s earlier declaration of a GCA that was declared null
and void, so obviously totally lacked mandatory consultation. All councillors
from affected wards were even abducted at the time it was declared … The
government’s lawyers have included some amateurish forgeries in their
affidavits, which should not fool any judge with a minimum of independence.
The dry season is getting bad
indeed, later than in 2022 and 2023, since this year has been exceptionally
wet. Obtaining information from the ground is once again unreasonably
difficult, but there are reports that the “Pololeti” (NCAA) rangers are engaging
in controlled grass burns in an uncontrolled way, with aims of intimation to
keep people and livestock away, all over the stolen land, and making wildlife
move outside the “game reserve”. In Malambo there were protests on 18th
September and reportedly the DC asked NCAA to stop the burning, but I can’t get
much detail about this.
Interestingly, on Minister
Mchengerwa’s list of villages and sub-villages where the local elections will
proceed as usual are the Malambo sub-villages of Sanjan and Ndinyika from where
people have been evicted and the polling station are found inside the illegal
game reserve, if they have not been demolished.
The Germans and Frankfurt Zoological
Society - that are a bigger threat to Maasai land rights than even OBC that
organize hunting for Sheikh Mohammed of Dubai and for years lobbied for the brutal
land theft that was committed in 2022. The Germans continue as active as always,
seeking to strengthen their malicious influence on land management. These
criminals funded and facilitated twice rejected Draft Ngorongoro District Land
Use Framework Plan 2023-2043, drafted to legitimize the brutal and illegal land
theft of 2022. Now they are announcing sponsorships for students from several villages
of Loliondo and Sale divisions
In Longido District (not to be
confused with Loliondo division of Ngorongoro district) on 18th
September, hardcore criminal and Arusha RC Makonda spoke big words to lessen
fears about land alienation, and mentioned that not only the Maasai of
Ngorongoro will meet the president, but also those from Loliondo, affected by
the so-called “Pololeti Game Reserve”? He made it seem like they could get the
land back. Makonda can of course say anything, regardless of if it’s true or
not, but can this be used in any way?
How can the victory in
Ngorongoro Conservation Area be used to get back the stolen land in Loliondo? There
isn’t mass tourism to block, but decisive action is needed. How can even the extreme
strangulation of the Maasai of Ngorongoro division for over three years be
reversed, when instead of making the most of the government’s panic reaction to
the protests, local leaders are working on strengthening their relations with authorities?
Susanna
Nordlund is a working-class person based in Sweden who since 2010 has been
blogging about Loliondo (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
Please
contact me with any questions about Loliondo. Never guess and never copy
hurriedly written newspaper articles, or even reports by serious organizations,
without double checking. Also, please contact me with any information you may
have. Don’t assume that I’m getting it automatically. I must chase people 24-7
for information. While anyone with good intentions is allowed to use anything
written in my blog, and I’ve long ago understood that many fear being
associated with me, I appreciate being given credit or at least having my blog
linked to
3rd October,
Isaya Moses and Ndaayi Tuke from Endulen were arrested
and locked up at Ngorongoro Police Station. They are charged with building and
repairing houses and bomas without permits and bringing building materials
without permits. They were bailed out on 7th October.
Then (on 8th October) I was informed that on 13th September, Rorian Lendumu was detained for grazing in the Northern Highland Forest, taken to Karatu Police Station where he was first denied police station, but it was granted the following day. On 2nd October he was taken to court, first denied court bail and then granted on the 3rd. Then most confused charge sheet was shared.
Hearings on 10th October.
10th October
2 comments:
Brilliant blog👏🏾
Ashe oleng'.
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