A month ago,
the kangaroo High Court and Judge Nyigulila Mwaseba on every point by the
Maasai dismissed the case against the president’s Government Notice (GN)
declaring a “Pololeti Game Reserve” on 1,502 km2 of legally
registered village land that’s dry season grazing land for more than 14
Loliondo and Sale villages. This was done using the most malicious and deranged
terra nullius lies about game controlled areas (GCAs) and obviously forged
documents.
OBC, that
organize hunting for Sheikh Mohammed of Dubai, has for decades lobbied to have
this land taken from the Maasai. OBC has had the 4,000 km2 Loliondo
GCA hunting block (right to hunt) since 1992-1993. This covers the whole of
Loliondo Division of Ngorongoro District and part of Sale Division, including
two towns and agricultural areas, which is why OBC have wanted it reduced to
their 1,500 km2 core hunting area that’s important Maasai grazing
land. The Maasai have through years with
a local police state that’s harassed anyone criticising OBC and the American
operator Thomson Safaris (that claim a private nature refuge outside the 1,500
km2), and illegal mass arson operations in 2009 and 2017, managed to
keep the land until the advent of Tanzania’s most brutal and anti-pastoralist
president ever – Samia Suluhu Hassan.
In the
illegal demarcation operation by security forces that commenced on 10th
June 2022, more than 150 people were arrested and over 40 seriously injured,
over 2,000 fled across the border to Kenya. People were tortured and raped. The
security forces stole motorbikes and phones and destroyed houses and other
buildings. Orias Oleng’iyo, 84-year old, was injured by gunshot, taken by
security personnel and has not been seen ever since. The habeas corpus case filed
by his son was dismissed. All councillors from affected wards were abducted on
the eve of the attack and held for over 5 months, charged with murder for a
killing of a police officer that took place the day after they were
abducted. Random people initially accused of having shared pictures of the
violence were added to the murder charges that the government didn’t show any
interest in investigating and then just dropped after many postponements. All
cases against 132 people accused of being "Kenyans" were also dropped. The
government has boasted of tens of thousands of cattle seizures with
extortionate “fines” (ransom payments) of 100,000 TShs per head of cattle. The
loss of land, cattle, and the payment of “fines” has radically deepened
poverty.
On 17th
June 2022 Minister Pindi Chana declared the illegally demarcated land a new
kind of GCA (introduced in 2009-2010 to create confusion in which to steal
land) that’s the same as a game reserve. With an ongoing court case against the
minister’s new GCA, the president on 14th October 2022, declared the
same land a game reserve. The minister’s order was by the court declared null
and void for lack of the mandatory consultation. Temporary orders to stop the
operation of the game reserve until that case was determined were shamelessly
violated by the government and the contempt of court case was dismissed.
The kangaroo
court ruling signifies increased danger to areas all over Tanzania that are
under threat of being alienated as game reserves.
A notice of
appeal was swiftly filed.
The written
ruling was almost immediately available and shared, so I have no excuse for
being this slow, other than that new issues keep popping up with incomplete details
and information is sometimes very hard, or impossible, to get hold of. I fear I
can have missed a lot. Being sleepy and unfocused does not help but is not an
excuse.
This blog
post also has some updates about the implementation of government promises
after mass protests in Ngorongoro Conservation Area/Ngorongoro Division (not to
be confused with Loliondo), about other court cases, the distraction of a
supposed squabble between TAWA and NCAA, and a reminder of the game reserve
threat all over Tanzania.
In this blog post:
The kangaroo
court ruling
The Tanzanian
government’s changing stories about Loliondo GCA while attempting to steal all
dry season grazing land within it
Other court
cases
Currently
OBC’s
“friends” working to have the stolen village land managed by TAWA
The monstrous
game reserve threats
New protests
needed in Ngorongoro Conservation Area
 |
| In the court room. |
