Intro and the
sad state of “democracy”
Time passes
too quickly, while I don’t get much done. I’ve got into the habit of
complaining about delayed blog posts, but this is worse than ever, much worse. On
25th–27th January this already by then horrible year 2025, a German delegation headed
by Jochen Flasbarth, State Secretary of the Federal Ministry for Economic
Cooperation and Development (BMZ) visited Loliondo, as always conjoined with
Frankfurt Zoological Society and Tanzania National Park Authority. Sadly, it
seems like due to disorganization and soft-mindedness, the delegation may not
have received the kind of pushback that’s needed. I stopped writing on the “How
Not to Write about Loliondo”-blog post that should have been published long ago
and instead started writing on a regular post about this German visit, but I’ve
been frustrated and discouraged by a strange silence, reminiscing of the
horrible 2020 that like this year 2025 was an election year, and the weeks, and
months, almost a year, keep passing, and issues – important issues - to write
about accumulate while information remain incomplete. In 2020, at least the 1,502
km had not been stolen, but how can local leaders, several of whom in 2022 spent
over five months abducted, and now with the illegal beacons standing there
screaming out the crime - while in NCA strangulation to force relocation intensified
with President Samia - again play the CCM charade in this sham election?
Then, in
early October I saw that Frankfurt Zoological Society had employed the human
rights criminal and former director of wildlife, Maurus Msuha, as their country
director, at the same time as intensifying their denials of involvement in the
crime that they have at times openly and shamelessly participated in.
In NCA
rangers keep demolishing houses and there’s hardly any reporting! They have
blocked watering of livestock in Ndutu and seized livestock in other places,
claiming some kind of unknown protected area. There’s a fear that the government
is moving forward with zoning, but such horror will be stopped!
Surprisingly,
the sitting MP, Emmanuel Oleshangai was axed from the CCM list of candidates,
even when he’s still popular. Shangai has several times spoken up boldly in
parliament, before he in late 2023 became quite useless, constantly praising
the president (still it didn’t help him …) Both Shangai’s critics and fans seem
convinced that speaking up is what got him axed. Strangely, the
candidate chosen by the CCM delegates – and approved by the party centrally – Yannick
Ndoinyo, is a known land rights activist, even an NGO person (the Tanzanian
government has always been paranoid about such people), and as councillor for
Ololosokwan 2010-2020 was among the most outspoken and serious (but not so much
since 2018 …) This seems (or seemed …) too good to be true, and I had some
worries since the candidate has been silent for some time, even actively
avoiding me. Now with this “election” his social media is not a pretty sight
(I’m too sad to go into details about this). And on 3rd October in a
speech in Karatu in front of the blood-soaked president he didn’t touch the
land issues with one word. Terrible memories linger of how the two MPs before
Oleshangai turned into traitors in shocking ways, and the same happened to a
couple of local leaders that I had to some extent trusted. Two of them have
passed away at a far too young age. Let’s hope (and work) for the best …
 |
| Yannick with the blood-dripping, anti-pastoralist dictator. |
In
mid-February the government attempted to issue village certificates by force, based
on the German-funded and facilitated draft Ngorongoro District Land Use
Framework Plan 2023-2043 to legitimize the brutal and massive land theft of
1,502 km2 for a “Pololeti Game Reserve” of 2022 – a plan that has
twice been rejected by the councillors at Ngorongoro District Council.
On 4th
March the most full-blown traitor in Loliondo, who has kept a low profile for
some years, made a re-appearance. There were then several other blasts from the
past, some very painful.
While
Tanzanians since the massive land theft and human rights violations of 2022
have a somewhat better understanding and certainly more concern about
the crimes committed against the Maasai of the old Loliondo Game Controlled
Area (and Ngorongoro District as a whole, albeit constantly mixing up the issues)
it’s not easy to make them understand that the Germans are as vile and even
more dangerous than the hunters from Dubai, organized by OBC. People in
Loliondo, however, know this very well indeed, even if some leaders are
currently choosing to pretend that they don’t.
The
“commissions” resulting (a disappointing result) from the almost unreal mass
protests in NCA in August 2024 toured irrelevant people and Loliondo that was
to be included, then not included, was finally indeed included. Details have
not been shared. As the general bogus “elections” near, no resulting reports of
the commissions have been made public. On 2nd September, the new Arusha RC Makalla on a
visit to Ngorongoro said that the results of the president's commissions will
be presented after the general elections. Though the president has made
statements as if her same old evil plans for Ngorongoro are on (see below).
It’s been a year since the Maasai of Ngorongoro Division, in tens of thousands,
covered entire hills in red and blue, blocked tourist vehicles, and indeed managed
to rattle the government. In Ndutu rangers are blocking livestock from accessing
water, trying to establish a no-go zone, and in several places they have demolished
people’s houses! How could so little come out of this?
Violence and abductions of Tanzanian opposition politicians and activists continue and accelerating
– many are still forcedly disappeared, at unknown location, dead or alive. The
opposition leader, the steadfast friend of the Maasai, Tundu Lissu, is
detained, charged with demented “treason” accusations that carry capital
punishment, and even solidarity trial observers from Kenya and Uganda have been
sexually tortured before dumped at their respective borders. The hearings, in
the well-known malicious way, kept getting postponed for months, and the
judiciary is anything but independent. Tanzania's main opposition party CHADEMA has been disqualified from competing in the election and the presidential candidate of the second biggest party has been disqualified as well.
Besides
sadness and discouragement, my uselessness may have medical reasons. Hypothyroidism
could be causing it but is under treatment. I hope to soon be back to more
frequent blogging. The discouragement is never caused by nasty comments from
anti-Maasai elements (instead those motivate me), but by the silence by those
who should be speaking up and those who should be telling me what’s going on. Then
it’s hard to concentrate when the world watches on – and many countries, even
mine, are aiding and abetting – when Israel is committing genocide against the
Palestinians.
Now it’s
almost five years since Salula Ngorisiolo was killed when NCAA rangers and
police opened fire at unarmed voters who protested election fraud at Oloirobi
polling station, election day 2020.
In this blog
post:
Intro
and the sad state of “democracy”
Shomo
sere, Raila – remembering 2017
The now very
old German visit
Attempt at
forced German-funded village land use plans
Loliondo
removed from the presidential commissions, and then again included
Necessary
grazing on land that’s been stolen
Most
unpleasant blasts from the past
In court
Briefly about
the horrible Germans and the land
FZS recruits
human rights criminal as country director
In the Shadow
of the Serengeti film
A year after
epic protests in Ngorongoro division and what’s the result?
-President’s
continued threats
-NCAA
attempts at establishing a no-go zone in Ndutu
-UNESCO
-Leading to
the protests
-Almost no
fulfilment of promises
Carbon
credits NOT in Ngorongoro
-Game reserve
threat
-Best of “community-based”
-Blue Carbon
from Dubai disappeared?
Shomo
sere, Raila – remembering 2017
(first posted in social media)
On 15th October, Raila Odinga,
one of Kenya’s most influential political figures passed away. Raila was a
personal friend of the late President Magufuli, Samia’s terrible predecessor
whom she now has surpassed by far in terror, blood shedding, and particularly
in being a threat against Maasai land. In early October 2017, Raila expressed
his concern to Magufuli about the then ongoing mass arson, cattle seizing,
beating and raping operation in Loliondo and a few days later the then Minister
of Natural Resources and Tourism, Jumanne Maghembe, was removed. After two
weeks of confusion, the new minister Kigwangalla stopped the operation and made
some splendid promises about the removal of OBC that he then had to backtrack
on. The land threat soon returned and in 2022 the 1,500 km2 was brutally and
illegally alienated for a “game reserve”. It was Thomas Lekanayia from
Loitoktok in Kajiado, Kenya who first contacted his party leader after reacting
to social media cries by this blogger. A delegation from Ololosokwan, led by
the then councillor Yannick Ndoinyo and escorted by senator for Narok County
Ledama Olekina went to see Raila. This is some contrast to new MP (calling him
candidate is to falsely pretend that there are elections) Yannick’s current
praise for the worst enemy ever of the Maasai of Ngorongoro and silence about
the land. Though I expect him to have a plan for returning this grazing land to
the villages. Anything else is inconceivable. Thank you, Raila. Have a peaceful
journey wherever you’re going.
 |
| Foto shared in social media at the time by Ledama Olekina |
The now very old
German visit
The visit – in the way it was presented by the German Embassy in social media – started on 24th January when Philip Knill, Deputy Director General of BMZ visited TANAPA offices in Arusha, “highlighting our commitment to protecting Tanzania's rich biodiversity”. On X, thanking Deputy Commissioner Massana Mwishawa, for the warm hospitality. “Together [German and Tanzanian flag] we’re fostering sustainable conservation for ecosystems & communities alike!” As known, in 2017 TANAPA (precisely SENAPA, Serengeti National Park) was the main implementer of an illegal mass arson operation, mainly on village land in Loliondo, with beatings, rape and cattle seizures, and TANAPA has been involved in all other attacks on Loliondo, not least seizing cattle on village land and using every trick to take them inside the national park and have them auctioned in Mugumu and Musoma on the western boundary, besides that TANAPA rangers are involved in crime against rural people living next to national parks all over Tanzania.
In the embassy's post was also a photo with the deputy director general
together with Masegeri Tumbuya Rurai who represented FZS at the meetings to
impose the German-funded draft Ngorongoro District Land Use Framework Plan
2023-2043 in 2023. This individual was District Natural Resources Officer
during the mass arson in 2009. In social media in 2012, before blocking me, he
described the 2009 operation as a result of the Maasai rejecting a WMA. Before
that he had been giving me somewhat sincere information about how to visit
Loliondo safely (to be accompanied by someone from the district council and
prevented from getting to know anything at all). In 2013 Tumbuya Rurai was
described as the most dangerous person in the district who spent 70 % of his
time working for OBC as their official informer and contact person, who had
allegedly been rewarded with a Nissan Xtrail from their director Mollel.
Tumbuya Rurai was reportedly very helpful preparing the map for the OBC-funded
rejected and never implemented draft Ngorongoro District Land Use Framework
Plan 2010-2030. By now, Tumbuya Rurai has been working for FZS for many years
as their Serengeti Project Manager. In the photo is also FZS’s Dennis Rentsch
about whom I don’t know much more than that he’s the kind of person who says,
“I don’t want to vilify the Maasai, but …”
On 25th January,
the German delegation landed in Wasso to explore BMZ-funded projects benefiting
communities near Serengeti. They were welcomed by DC Wilson Sakulo. In Sukenya (in
the “investor-friendly” Oloipiri ward), Flasbarth, State Secretary of BMZ inaugurated
three classrooms, a teacher's office, and eight latrines, funded by BMZ. The
German ambassador, Thomas Terstgen, was present at the inauguration, as were of
course Germany’s main partners, TANAPA and FZS. There was the usual singing and
gifts for the Germans. I don’t see how the government will ever respect – or fear
(which is what they should do) - the Maasai while they keep receiving charity
from their main enemies. Flashbarth spoke about Germany supporting the
Tanzanian government in protecting the Serengeti-Ngorongoro ecosystem and how education
is important for a sustainable future. I do hope that some of the children used
as props will be those that finally chase the Germans out of the ecosystem.
On 27th January, or
therearound, the Germans met with some councillors and NGO people, of which at
least one was a known traitor that they’ve used before. I haven’t heard from
anyone who was there and got very limited reports from those that have talked
to them. Reportedly, the councillors’ “naïve” stance was, “the Germans are bad,
but their projects are good”. There was terrible disorganization, and no
written statement was prepared.
Attempt at
forced German-funded village land use plans
Perhaps emboldened by the weak
and disorganized treatment of the visiting Germans by the Maasai, the
government moved forward with a letter on behalf the District Executive Director
(DED) dated 12th February and directing village executive officers
of 31 villages in Loliondo and Sale to attend a function for handing over village
certificates based on the surveying followed by the twice rejected draft land
use plan! The VEOs were directed to attend accompanied the village
chairpersons. This insult was supposed to take place on 18th
February. Any chairpersons from a village affected by the “Pololeti Game
Reserve” attending such a function is of course a traitor of the worst sort,
but I have been unable to find out what happened. I was told the chairpersons were
going to refuse, on the 18th one person said they thought the
function had been postponed to the 20th. Fortunately, it seems
like still now in September, no such function has been held, reportedly since
the government knew that the targeted chairpersons would not attend.
See below for a summary of the
Germans and the stolen land.
Loliondo
removed from the presidential commissions, and then again included
As mentioned in the blog post
from New Years Eve …, at the end of 2024 there were some protests in Loliondo
after it was seen that – unlike what the government had previously pretended
- Loliondo was not going to be an issue dealt with by the president’s two
commissions resulting from the unprecedented protests in NCA in August 2024
that rattled the government to the extent of filing a fake court case suing
itself, re-registering shockingly delisted villages and promising a return of
social services that had been blocked since 2021 (still almost entirely
unfulfilled, see below). Women from Loliondo and Sale Divisions issued a statement urging the president to form a participatory commission – not
dominated by people from the government system – to deal with the “land conflict”
and an interview with former CCM district chairman Ndirango Laizer and the
deputy chairman of the traditional leaders of Ngorongoro, Kiaro Kubany, was aired
by Watetezi tv.
There were reports of
harassment of those that had protested and that some people had been summoned
for interrogation by the Ngorongoro Security Committee led by DC Wilson Sakulo.
This interrogation was held on 4th January and those interrogated
were some councillors, some NGO people, and the former CCM district chairman.
It was almost impossible to obtain any information on what transpired. When I
finally … heard from one of those interrogated, all he had to say was that it
was just a “normal” interrogation, whatever that means. I suppose nobody was
arrested or abducted.
The inclusion of the Loliondo
land grab in the presidential commissions was expected since, on 18th
September 2024, in Longido District (not to be confused with Loliondo
Division of Ngorongoro district) that’s been threatened with two game reserves,
accompanying TAMISEMI (PO-RALG) Minister/president’s son in law, Mohamed
Mchengerwa, hardcore criminal and (then) Arusha RC Paul Makonda (he has since been
replaced to focus on a parliamentary seat and was indeed chosen as the CCM
candidate for Arusha MP) 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 worried about the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism’s
extremely dangerous detailed recommendation (leaked in February 2024, see
earlier blog posts, and below) of creating game reserves in game controlled
areas in the northern zone, assuring everyone that this was indeed only a
recommendation and nothing had been implemented. Further, he said that he would
even take those from Loliondo, affected by the so-called “Pololeti GR” with him
to see the president. And in Loliondo the threat has been implemented in the
most brutal and lawless way since 2022. Makonda called on everyone to be calm
and have patience and everything would be peacefully solved. However, on 17th
November 2024, meeting the press, on the occasion of six months as RC, in
Arusha and with known imposters in the audience, Makonda, while talking about
Ngorongoro briefly but ominously mentioned that Loliondo has been a “GCA since
German colonial times”. It seems like he had learnt the government’s horrible
GCA lie that can be applied to any of the huge areas of village land that also
are GCAs.
Still, at the closed meeting
with the president in Arusha on 1st December 2024, there were
representatives from Loliondo and they presented a statement calling for the
return of the stolen land, immediate grazing access, a stop to plans for a game
reserve at Lake Natron and others that are a threat to pastoralist areas all
over Tanzania, and forming a participatory presidential commission to investigate
the eviction process.
Then, the commissions were
formed – totally dominated by supposed “experts” close to the government with only
two representatives from Ngorongoro division in each commission and those
representatives are all CCM people and not “experts”. Loliondo/Sale was totally
erased as an issue and without any representation. On 20th February
the president inaugurated the commissions while the Maasai participants looked
like little lambs.
Then I did not hear of any
more protests against the exclusion of Loliondo/Sale or, in the case of NCA, nothing
was heard other than the useless commissions, after the government was
basically brought to its knees by the mass protests in a mass tourism area. Not
until I got the timetable of the commission that was indeed touring Loliondo 29th
March to 16th April, with visits to government figures and mostly
irrelevant people on the agenda. From Ngorongoro division (see below) there was
some limited reporting about people speaking up against the Msomera setup. Almost no information being shared while everyone just waits
for the commissions’ “findings” – that will be shared after the elections, as
if the government had anything to fear from that bogus spectacle - and will
hopefully be dealt with in a future blog post.
Necessary
grazing on land that’s been stolen
The grazing situation on the land
brutally stolen in 2022 for the so-called “Pololeti Game Reserve” was in 2024 somewhat
better than in the catastrophic 2022 and 2023, due to exceptionally wet
conditions that brought lots of grass and difficult conditions for ranger
patrols. There were also reports of lower, negotiated “fines” and of rangers
that stayed passive, not harassing herders in time of the local elections in
November. Reports from 2025 have been extremely scarce. Forced nighttime
grazing to avoid rangers has led to serious problems with large predators (early in the
year there were some troubling reports that are not within the scope of this
blog). We are now deep into the dry season and according to reports from
Oloipiri and Ololosokwan there is no grass outside the 1,502km2
that’s been illegally demarcated as a game reserve. From Oloipiri I heard that
nobody is allowed into the stolen land, so livestock will just die. Somewhat
more reassuringly, from Ololosokwan I heard that everyone is of course entering
the game reserve at night and that the rangers aren’t really patrolling. Though
you must carry cash in case you cross their path by accident.
One big case of cattle seizure
was to some extent talked about in social media, but exact details were not available. Reports were that over 300 cows were detained at Klein’s Gate. Then
it was detailed that it was over 600 cows (disputed number), belonging to OBC’s
long-time employee William Parmwat and his sidekick Cosmas Leitura. It wasn’t
the first time that these people were targeted. Reportedly, the owners were
extorted 10 million TSHs, which would have been well below the going extortion
rate that’s 100,000 per head of cattle. Someone even posted photos of this
seizure, but almost nobody was willing to share exact details. This was in
mid-January.
On 22nd March,
William Leitura had to pay 15 million. There are unconfirmed reports that 260
cows were seized. Then there were reports that the Ololosokwan councillor’s
cattle had been seized, without details, but confirmed by people who should
know.
A few days ago, again it was mentioned that sheep and goats had been seized, but I have not got any details ...
The radical impoverishment, accompanying the brutal land theft in 2022, has not stopped. Unhindered access to the land is a must (as is the return of the land and degazettement of the illegal game reserve). Where are the protests? Without the leverage of mass tourism found in Ngorongoro division it’s more difficult in Loliondo and Sale, but a lot could be done if leaders did not entertain split loyalties.
I expect the incoming
Ngorongoro MP to speak up very strongly about this.
In the Ndutu area NCAA are
working to impose a no-go zone for water and grazing, and there have been illegal seizures there as well (see below).
Most
unpleasant blasts from the past
On 4th March the
worst of traitors reappeared ... Gabriel Killel from the NGO Kidupo attended a “Mama
Samia Legal Aid” spectacle in Arusha, dressed as the catholic priest that he is
not (he was fired many years ago), and pleading with Minister Ndumbaro to help
him with a land issue (some plots that he reportedly has failed to pay for) since
he's such a patriot that he's been called a traitor. Killel received big
promises and was very happy. Clips of this were shared by unsuspecting (or not so
unsuspecting …) reporters.
In 2014, through investors’
and the government’s divide and rule tactics, after Minister Kagasheki’s
attempts at – via vociferous lies - grabbing the 1,500 km2 were
defeated by exemplary unity, an “investor friendly” group crystallized, led by the
at the time councillor for Oloipiri ward, William Alais, and by Gabriel Killel.
Killel lost his Norwegian Sami sponsor, that’s for and not against indigenous
land rights, when he and the gang went to Dodoma to speak in favour of OBC and
Thomson Safaris, and he became notoriously violent and insane. According to all
sources he has serious mental problems, which were also somewhat evident in the
clips from the Mama Samia Legal Aid. Unlike the other traitors (whose rhetoric
was that it’s the government that decides about the land and we must benefit
from these “innocent” and wonderful “investors”), Killel has expressly agreed
with the land alienation. I don’t know if he was involved with the president’s commission,
but some said so at the time. As far as my sources know, Killel did not get the help he was seeking from Mama Samia Legal Aid.
More painful than the
re-emergence of Killel was again seeing the old Sukenya village chairman,
Loserian Minis. Initially compromised by Thomson Safaris that claimed 12,617
acres (currently 10,000) as their private Enashiva Nature Refuge on land
belonging to Sukenya and Mondorosi villages. Minis reconsidered and from 2013
he showed seriousness concerning the land. Since November last year he’s back
as village chairman. On 11th March, clips were shared of Minis
praising Thomson Safaris that had donated hospital equipment to the Sukenya dispensary.
There’s a tight lid put on information from the ground. In April 2024, the
ruthless hypocrites Rick Thomson and Judi Wineland sold Wineland-Thomson, Inc to
Lindblad Expeditions Holdings, Inc, but I’m unable to find out if this has led
to any changes on the ground. Some sort of hearing in the land case coincided
with the donation of hospital equipment, so it seems like the new owner
continues with Thomson’s strategy of, under the protection of the authoritarian
Tanzanian government, engaging in charity as a weapon of war, instead of
returning the stolen land. As mentioned, Sukenya is also where the German
spectacle in January was held.
In court
Not much seems to be happening
neither in the Tanzanian high court nor in the East African Court of Justice –
or information is just not shared with me.
A hearing of Appeal No.2 of 2024 in the East African Court of Justice in Kigali was on 25th February 2025, postponed to give the Tanzanian Attorney General time to respond. What’s being appealed is the inexplicable dismissal in November 2023 of the contempt of court application filed by four Loliondo villages in January 2022. The applicants’ lawyers were not even given a chance to argue the application in court! Since in September 2018 the EACJ issued an injunction restraining the Tanzanian government from engaging in evictions, destruction and harassment in the 1,500 km2 in Loliondo, the crimes of 2022, besides violating every law and human right, were in blatant contempt of court. When I was to publish this blog post I discovered that there is a hearing scheduled for 6th November!
Unfortunately, it does not seem like there have been any sessions in the EACJ since February, perhaps again due to budget difficulties. This court is so extremely slow (and I’ve become intolerably slow myself) that when writing a brief update, it’s hard to get the year of latest developments right.
There’s nothing scheduled in the EACJ for the extremely
important Reference No.37 of 2022 Megweri Mako & 5 Others vs. Attorney
General of Tanzania concerning the brutal 2022 theft of the 1,502 km2
in Loliondo for a protected area.
Neither is there anything scheduled in the EACJ for the case concerning the mass arson operation of 2017 (an earlier crime and not the same as the 2022 land theft for a game reserve). This case, Reference No.10 of 2017, is back in the trial court since, on 29th November 2023, the Appellate Division of the EACJ allowed Appeal No.13 of 2022. In the first ruling there was judicial hooliganism, with the judges (one of them was the son of a Kenyan grabber of Maasai land) behaving strangely with last minute postponements during the brutal military demarcation attack on Loliondo in 2022 that flagrantly violated temporary court orders, and the writing of the ruling indicated that they could not have understood anything of what the witnesses were saying (unable to even recognise the names of the appellant villages). The ruling was what the Tanzanian government wanted in 2018 when they for some time had left the horrible lie claiming that Loliondo GCA was a protected area, and instead were saying that that the 2017 operation took place in Serengeti National Park and not on village land, which their own documents show is not true, but the court found that the Maasai had not been able to prove.
Reference
No.29 of 2022 that challenges the coordinated and suffocating
policies in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area is also in the EACJ, but there’s
nothing scheduled.
The only good news from the EACJ is that the son of a grabber of Maasai land, Justice Charles Nyachae, who’s been involved in some strange and unjust rulings, has resigned due to the challenges of serving in a hardly operational court.
Compared to the EACJ, the High
Court of Tanzania operates with lightning speed, but has basically given up
any pretence of independence. On 19th September 2023, still
there was some hope when the court declared Minister Chana’s 1,502 km2
brutal land theft in June 2022 as a “Pololeti Game Controlled Area” (a
new kind of GCA, identical to a game reserve and introduced in 2009-2010 to
create confusion in which to steal land) was ruled null and void for lack
of consultation and for having been replaced by a “Pololeti Game Reserve”
declared by the president. Though 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 ruling, on 24th
October 2024, in the case concerning the president’s government notice
declaring the equally illegal “Pololeti Game Reserve” was based on big and
obvious lies about what Loliondo Game Controlled Area is and on obviously forged,
illogically backdated (presenting the game reserve plan before even the GCA had
been declared …) documents that even if genuine would not have signified
“consultation”, since the supposed consultation took place when all councillors
from affected wards were still abducted and locked up in remand prison. A
notice to appeal was swiftly filed, but then nothing more has happened.
Then there are two cases
concerning Ngorongoro Conservation Area (not Loliondo) about illegal transfer
of voters’ information and polling stations to Msomera – the madness that mass
protests in August 2024 made the government backtrack upon, and the crazy
deregistration and then re-registration of villages. Miscellaneous Civil Cause No.21386, Julius
and 4 Others V. Minister Mchengerwa and the Attorney General, which is a
case that also includes applicants affected by the same crime, but at
Kilimanjaro International Airport, and Miscellaneous Civil Cause No. 28736
of 2024, William Oleseki and 5 others versus INEC and the Attorney General.
The first case was filed after the protest, in September 2024 and the second
one was filed on 13th November 2024. The Julius case was first
mentioned on 15th November 2024 and then again on 22nd
November, before Judge Mwenda. On 4th December, the respondents filed a quite
preposterous preliminary objection claiming that the case had been overtaken by
events, which the court ruled was not possible with a judicial review. As
detailed in earlier blog posts, during the protests in August 2024, the
government even filed a fake case in the name of the unsuspecting Isaya
Olepose, suing itself. The advocates met with the National Electoral
Commission that first wanted the Oleseki case to be withdrawn, but after strong
argumentation by the advocates, conceded that transferring people's names like
that and deregistering villages was not legal and that an injunction would stop
it from being repeated.
The new Land Case (some number
…) of 2024 - 144 villagers versus Tanzania Conservation Ltd (Thomson Safaris),
Tanzania Breweries Ltd, the Commissioner for Land, Ngorongoro District Council,
and the Attorney General is in court, but managed by those least willing to
share any information. The American company claims 10,000 acres of Maasai
grazing land as a private nature refuge. At least there seems to have been a
hearing in March this year …
For the same reason as above
don’t I have any updates about the cases in the High Court in Tanga, filed by
eight Msomera villagers with land titles suing one Ngorongoro migrant
respectively that have invaded their farms, the Msomera Village Council, the
Handeni District Council, and the Attorney General.
Briefly
about the horrible Germans and the land
Before openly and shamelessly
funding the draft district land use plan to legitimize the massive crime of
2022, the Germans and Frankfurt Zoological Society used to lay low, without any
accessible (at least to me) writings about the since 2022 brutally stolen 1,502
km2. They were silent about the mass arson operations in 2009 and
2017.
However, in the early 2000s (and
they haven’t stopped) FZS and the Tanzanian government were pushing for a
Wildlife Management Area that´s a protected area that’s nominally village land while
management is heavily leaning towards control by investors, conservation
organizations, and central government. The Maasai managed to reject this plan.
Masegeri Tumbuya Rurai, District
Natural Resources Officer during the mass arson in 2009 and by some described
as the most dangerous person in Loliondo, has now for many years been employed
by FZS as their Serengeti Project Manager.
In 2013, in a newsletter for
hunters called African Indaba, FZS’s then recently retired head of Africa programme,
Markus Borner, described alienating the 1,500 km2 – that year
aggressively pushed for by the shamelessly lying Minister Kagasheki – as “the
present proposal seems a good way forward”. Borner indulged in the government’s
anti-Maasai rhetoric (or more likely the government has got its rhetoric from
FZS and the rest of the conservation-tourism industrial complex) adding some
apparently personal confusion, while he wanted FZS to be a “mediator” between
the government and the Maasai. Through unity the Maasai defeated Kagasheki
in 2013 (so please stop sharing incorrect information that there were evictions
that year).
In March 2017, then Minister
Maghembe and Serengeti chief park warden Mwakilema were telling a co-opted
standing parliamentary committee that German funds for the Serengeti Ecosystem
Development and Conservation Project were subject to the confirmation of the
land use plan to alienate the 1,500 km2 for conservation. In
Loliondo 600 women demonstrated against accepting the German money and the
district council decided to follow their advice.
The conditions for releasing
funds were not denied by the Germans until two years later, in 2019, by
representatives of the development bank in an interview with Chris Lang (REDD
Monitor).
Then while Loliondo was “unexpectedly”
attacked by mass arson implemented by Serengeti rangers – FZS’s partners - in
August 2017, a most revolting picture was published of the German ambassador at
that time, Detlef Wächter. The picture showed Wächter smilingly handing over
buildings for park staff in Fort Ikoma, in Serengeti National Park, to Minister
Maghembe, while commenting on the long and successful partnership between
Germany and Tanzania in protecting the Serengeti. There was never any kind of
statement from FZS about the 2017 operation.
In late October 2017, Minister
Kigwangalla became a hero in Loliondo when he stopped the arson operation in
the 1,500 km2. It should be remembered that the “reason” for this
operation varied within the government itself. Minister Maghembe had been lying
that the 1,500 km2 was a protected area, while the Ngorongoro DC and Maghembe’s
own ministry were saying that the operation was not about the 1,500 km2,
about which PM Majaliwa was to announce a decision, but a measure to prevent
people and livestock from a boundary area to enter Serengeti National Park “too
easily”.
Anyway, already on 13th
November 2017 Kigwangalla shockingly announced that he had received a
delegation headed by the German ambassador and that the Germans were going to
fund community development projects in Loliondo, “in our quest to save the
Serengeti”. Following this, the then MP and the District chairman toured
villages with the message that there wasn’t any risk with the funds since
they were for the whole 4,000 km2 Game Controlled Area, not
excluding the 1,500 km2. However, now we know that there haven’t
been any projects at all in the now brutally and illegally demarcated area,
while projects outside it have been heavily used in government rhetoric for
land alienation.
In June 2022, FZS, that was
being called out by Survival International, expressed “shock” about the
violence in Loliondo and distanced itself from any involvement in the land
demarcation, but incorrectly described the land status as “uncertain”. Earlier
(in March the same year) reporting from a meeting in which the Tanzanian
government was lying to diplomats about Loliondo and NCA, the Ministry of
Natural Resources and Tourism had written that the then German ambassador
Regine Hess, supported the government’s “efforts” in Ngorongoro, which was
never publicly denied by the ambassador.
On 6th July 2022,
during the attack by multiple security forces on Loliondo, Ambassador Hess met
with Arusha RC John Mongella, the main implementer of the brutal and illegal land
demarcation and talked about the “cooperation” between the two countries. The Germans
kept showering the criminal Tanzanian government with money.
Towards the end of October
2022, while all councillors from affected wards were still locked up on
demented bogus charges and village chairpersons were hiding, German-funded land
use planning descended on Loliondo with some 40 state security personnel and
surveyors on the ground. There were reports of a notice issued by the DC about
redrawing of village boundaries with new village land use plans. Through
intimidation and government installed traitors, it was said that the land use
plan had been passed, which would not be legal in any way. In Ololosokwan signs
for zoning (as if preparing for a WMA on the insufficient remaining land) were
put up, but those were removed after the village chairman returned from exile.
On 20th December
2022, in a ceremony with PM Kassim Majaliwa and Minister of Natural Resources
and Tourism Pindi Chana, the German Ambassador to Tanzania Regina Hess handed
over 51 vehicles, part of 20 million euros committed funds by Germany for
emergency funding and recovery for biodiversity in response of COVID19
facilitated by the German development bank, KfW, and Frankfurt Zoological
Society, FZS. The vehicles were to be distributed into Serengeti and Nyerere
National Parks and Selous Game Reserve to support “operations”. In the ceremony
Majaliwa mentioned poachers and “encroaching livestock” as the objectives of
those “operations”.
Completely openly and
shamelessly funded and facilitated by the Germans via FZS, on 29th
February and 30th March 2023 meetings meant to legitimize the 1,502
km2 land theft (and threaten with the same at Lake Natron) via a Ngorongoro
District Land Use Framework Plan 2023–2043 were held at the Ngorongoro District
Council Hall in Wasso. The DC openly threatened the councillors for being
obstacles to the exercise. The plan for a crime already committed, and still not
stopped, was resoundingly rejected by the councillors – twice (19th
May and 10th September 2023) since authorities pretended that a
Swahili version of the draft land use plan (more opportunity for intimidation)
would make a change.
 |
| FZS's representative (Tumbuya Rurai) sitting with the other authorities/criminals at meeting to impose the draft district land use plan. |
 |
| The German-funded attempt at legitimizing the massive Loliondo land theft and of committing the same crime at Lake Natron, Ngorongoro side. It doesn't detail much about NCA, but the green colour without villages does not look good. |
In a closed meeting (date?) with councillors and NGO people, German representatives said that they had stopped funding Ngorongoro District Land Use Framework Plan 2023-2043, which besides being an empty gesture when the evil plan was already finished, aggressively presented, and resoundingly rejected – while the crime it was meant to legitimize continues - isn’t documented anywhere at all and has never been mentioned in public. Though once some NGO people were even led to believe that FZS would get rid of Masegeri Tumbuya Rurai ...
And the Germans just carried
on in the same way as always, cosily smothering the Ministry of Natural
Resources and Tourism with money. As seen, their charity as a weapon of war
spectacle in Sukenya in January was followed by an intent by the DED to hand
over village land use plans based on the surveying for the rejected Ngorongoro
District Land Use Framework Plan 2023-2043. Fortunately, the village
chairpersons refused to attend.
True to character, recently FZS employed a government figure and human rights criminal, deeply involved in the Loliondo crimes, as their Tanzania country director (see below).
As known, FZS has been working
against Maasai land rights since the 1950s and are in Tanzania indistinguishable
from the federal republic of Germany. The embassy is very proud of being the
biggest bilateral donor to the sector, with much assistance to the Tanzanian
government’s war against rural people via ranger patrols. As reported in
several blog posts, besides participating in illegal eviction operations, FZS’s
partners, the Serengeti rangers (TANAPA/SENAPA), have repeatedly invaded
village land in Loliondo to seize livestock and drive them into the national
park, to be auctioned in Mugumu on the western side. This does not only concern
Loliondo, but FZS are involved in expanding Serengeti to the west as well,
where ranger induced disappearances are too common, and are in the Selous
GR/Nyerere NP, and Mahale where they work to expand protected areas. They must
be stopped!
That said,
Otterlo Business Corporation, OBC, are almost as bad as the Germans. This
outfit arranges hunting trips for Sheikh Mohammed of Dubai and has held the
Loliondo hunting block since 1993 (first contract signed in 1992), funded the
rejected and not implemented Ngorongoro District Land Use Framework Plan 2010–2030
that proposed taking 1,500km2 of Maasai grazing land/village land as a game
reserve (or more exactly the new kind of GCA that’s identical to a GR), has had
a local police state created to repress critics, and assisted the Tanzanian government
in mass arson operations in 2009 and 2017. With the brutal crime of 2022 OBC
got what they wanted. While nobody shares information about OBC’s current
activities on the ground, many say that they aren’t happy that NCAA and not
TAWA (Tanzania Wildlife Authority) are managing the stolen land. In their own
writings, OBC claim to have good relations with everyone, but the discontent with
NCAA is, as reported in earlier blog posts, also something that their own
“journalist” has written about.
 |
| TAWA award to OBC |
FZS recruits
human rights criminal as country director
On 2nd October it
came to my knowledge that FZS had employed former Director of Wildlife Maurus
Msuha as their country director. The German embassy posted on X that Deputy
Head of Mission Maximilian Müller and Head of Development Cooperation Julia
Kronberg met the new FZS Country Director, Dr. Maurus Msuha.
As Director of Wildlife Msuha
was heavily involved in the brutal demarcation operation to alienate the 1,502
km2 in Loliondo as a game reserve. He repeatedly stood in front of diplomats
and press to tell the government’s lies about the attack by security forces on
the Maasai of Loliondo. Msuha was also part of the team that came up with the Multiple
Land Use Model review proposal that in 2019 proposed making the land a
protected area (evicting the Maasai) under the management of NCAA. This
proposal is mostly known for a genocidal zoning proposal for NCA, in which the
Maasai would be evicted for almost the entire area, but evictions from and
annexation of areas of Loliondo were also included.
 |
| Msuha lying during ongoing brutal land theft attack on Loliondo. |
 |
| List of members of the MLUM review team that produced the genocidal proposal. |
At the same time as employing this criminal, FZS on their website increased the attempts at whitewashing their involvement in the continued crime in Loliondo called “Pololeti Game Reserve”. Besides the usual claptrap about “partnering with communities for people and nature” (here in the words of a figure from the brutal and authoritarian government), in a FAQ sections they respond to “criticism about Loliondo and Pololeti”, they refer to their statement from June 2022 denying involvement in the gazettement (or for some reason they write re-gazettement) of the game reserve, without mentioning that they then went on to fund and facilitate the efforts to legitimize this crime. Against all evidence they continue denying any involvement in the crime and keep boasting about their “support” for a WMA that was “not ultimately adopted by the community authorities”. They do not mention the violent attacks and cattle rustling by their close partners TANAPA.
It seems very probable indeed
that the Germans have been major instigators of the Tanzanian government’s
crimes in Loliondo. It can almost be described as certain.
In
the Shadow of the Serengeti film
In February – this blog
silence has indeed been long and totally inexcusable … a 25-minute documentary –
In the Shadow of the Serengeti by Ben Moran - was several times shown on
Aljazeera. This film consists of glimpses from the life of Joseph Oleshangay,
human rights lawyer from Endulen in Ngorongoro division, who defends Maasai
land in Loliondo and Ngorongoro. The film shows some specific moments in September
2023 when there were temporary orders, violated by the government, against the
operation of the protected area on the stolen 1,502 km2 in Loliondo, and mass
arrests following protests demanding building permits in Endulen, which even
included the arrest – or abduction since his whereabouts were unknown for two
nights – of the Ngorongoro MP. This gives a nicer picture of the MP who has now
for some time engaged in most unfortunate and quite brainless praise of the
blood-soaked president but still was dropped as CCM’s candidate this year. People
very faraway, like myself, get to see Joseph’s family, including his youngest
daughter and a visit to Serengeti with his father, who was evicted as a child
in 1959, makes the name of the film almost literal.
An article by Joseph was published
by The Chanzo on 18th August and is perhaps the best ever written
about Ngorongoro.
A year after
epic protests in Ngorongoro division and what’s the result?
President’s
continued threats
At a swearing in ceremony in
Dodoma for new RCs and heads of institutions, President Samia Suluhu Hassen expressed her expectations of the officials ahead of the elections in October. Directing
herself to the new Ngorongoro chief conservator, Abdul-Razak Badru, referring
to Ngorongoro as a "headache" and that chief conservators are
frequently changed. She described Ngorongoro as “business and conservation”,
directed the new conservator to increase tourism number and deal with the
population pressure, claiming that she earlier saw giraffes and now livestock
in Ngorongoro. She told Badru to remove any "thorns" that he saw, and
everyone understood a “thorn” to be anyone speaking up for the Maasai, against
evil government plans. This happened while everyone was waiting for the
“findings” of two, totally government dominated, commissions ordered by the
president as an answer to the epic 5-day mass manifestations in Ngorongoro, now
over a year ago.
Apparently, the president’s terrible
speech was followed by increased ranger violence, destruction of renovated
houses and of a small church in Oldupai, but I only heard of this later and
have been unable to obtain further details.
The new Chief Conservator
(this is the established title in English, but now everyone, including NCAA,
has started using “conservation commissioner” which is a translation of the
Swahili “kamishma wa uhifadhi”), Abdul-Razak Badru, began inspecting completed
houses in Msomera before showing any kind of interest in getting to know the
villages and sub-villages of Ngorongoro. So the Msomera setup continues, and
the government shows no sign of assisting those that would like to return to
Ngorongoro after the promised unblocking of social services funding and permits,
or those women who have lost their homes and livestock when the husbands have
moved to Msomera.
 |
| Badru in Msomera |
NCAA attempts
at establishing a no-go zone in Ndutu, rangers demolishing houses and
seizing cattle
On 12th September,
NCA rangers deprived livestock of water and attacked people in Masek area of
Ndutu. Fortunately, the victims spoke up and recorded the rangers, some of whom
with sinister confidence asked them to send the photos to the president. These
rangers were identified as Aron, moved from Selela NCA zone office, accused of shooting
and killing a person on a motorbike and Shosha Magina who is in special patrol
and Msomera relocation team. Following these attacks, there were meetings with
NCAA, about which I haven’t got much other detail than that the problem with
the rangers persists. Another meeting was to be held on 29th
September but was postponed. NCAA, through the divisional officer, is forcing
the community to agree to NCAA building a dam so that livestock will no longer access
water in any areas of Oldupai, especially lakes Masek and Ndutu. The community
does not want this, but the division secretary is forcing it and threatening
that if there isn’t any participation, the NCAA will decide for itself. The
impression is that NCAA want to create a silent no-go zone around the dry
season grazing in the Ndutu area, so they want to evict livestock from all areas
from Naibataat Hill to Ndutu. Since 2021 they had a plan to establish a rhino
project in Esinoni area.
On 29th September
NCAA extended an invitation to existing and prospective stakeholders for an
orientation session for investors on a new online platform for “existing and
new Seasonal Campsites in the Ndutu areas and all others within the NCA”.
On 30th September,
NCAA demolished Edward Neremit’s house at Madukani sub-village Endulen village.
Rangers in a vehicle from Kakesio Zone office took pictures of the house and
shared them with NCA administration high up that called the head of NCA Endulen
zonal office who removed all iron sheets and destroyed timber by using a
chainsaw. Edward was summoned at Endulen police and intimidated about sharing
photos and videos.
The same day former Ngorongoro
ward councillor Simon Saitoti’s (who led the testing of contaminated government
provide salt and was locked up for over five months together with Loliondo councillors
charged with killing a policeman who was killed the day after they were
abducted on the eve of the military attack on Loliondo) cattle were seized near
the old NCAA headquarters at Makao Mapya and released by fine. The rangers
allege a non-existent “restricted zone”. The following day, cattle belonging to
Olelenkere, Midiki, Maiko, and Lenkomom Lolenana Osidai were seized and fined.
On 6th October, NCA
rangers at Olbalbal demolished a house that belongs to CCM youth wing Pakasi
Olemuna. The same day they tried to destroy a house at Alaitole belonging to a
new Women’s Special Seat representative, known as Naayai, but people gathered
and stopped them. At night they returned for the house that they failed to
demolish at daytime, but people again gathered and stopped them. Not even being
a CCM figure offers much safety. Though at least people are fighting back.
Also rangers from Serengeti National
Park have been involved in harassment. On 19th October they crossed
the Golini border, entered NCA, and arrested four people from the Olengipai and
Olenalari bomas, including one young boy, at Endepesi grazing area two
kilometres inside NCA. The SENAPA rangers claimed that the herders had been
grazing cattle inside the park but found them inside their seasonal bomas. The
boy was terribly beaten, and four of them were taken to Nabi gate, held for two
days, and later taken to the Golini area.
On 9th October,
Ngorongoro District Council announced in social media that Endulen, Alaetoli
and Kakesio will benefit from a water project. This may seem like good news and
part of fulfilment of promises but is in fact by everyone recognised as a
threat, part of plans to impose zoning, since the post mentions that this will
help people refrain from taking their livestock to “restricted areas” in Ndutu, which do not exist in the NCA Act. This method for alienating grazing land has been seen before (see above).
UNESCO and IUCN
The 47th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee on 10th July a Maasai representative, Nailejileji Tipap, spoke about the importance of the Multiple Land Use Model (MLUM) and against the so-called “voluntary relocations”, criticized the UNESCO mission of February 2024 that as usual failed to consult local communities (see earlier blog posts), and expressed concerns about how the General Management Plan is being developed without community consultation. Though, according to the Maasai International Solidarity Alliance, indigenous people’s participation again in this 47th session was tightly restricted and censored.
The decision at this 47th
session continues with the change in tone introduced in 2023 when the committee
recognised having received multiple letters concerning alleged violations. The
decision maintains the preference for maintaining the MLUM and now even
mentions that also “those opposed to relocation” should be involved in the
development of the General Management Plan.
In its response to the earlier
2024 decision the Tanzanian government, or the “State Party” in UNESCO lingo,
insists that maintaining the MLUM has more negative impacts, so there is a
difference. However, it should be remembered that UNESCO for decades has
engaged in a population panic and recommended “voluntary relocations”, very
much instigating the government. When the MLUM 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 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”. The
result was the genocidal (see below) MLUM review proposal that caused horror to
every sane person in 2019, but for some reason was not shared with UNESCO until
2024 and then in a 2020 version that was basically the same as the original.
The same 2019 MLUM review
proposal detailed the brutal 1,500 km2 Loliondo land theft that then
was committed in 2022, and the stolen land was placed under the management of
NCAA. Still, any mention of this is avoided by UNESCO, since it falls outside
the World Heritage Site. Instead, in a report about Serengeti, REPORT ON THE
JOINT WORLD HERITAGE CENTRE/IUCN REACTIVE MONITORING MISSION TO SERENGETI
NATIONAL PARK, UNITED REPUBLIC OF TANZANIA, by a UNESCO and an IUCN expert from
January 2024 (described in previous blog posts) the authors – with the
Tanzanian government and FZS as their main sources - had swallowed every
malicious lie about Loliondo, adding some of their own “misunderstandings” to
rationalize the governments violations.
On 12th October
IUCN uploaded a 2025 Conservation Outlook Assessment for Serengeti National
Park in which they basically recommended adding the ongoing crime called
Pololeti Game Reserve to the World Heritage List.
Leading to
the protests
The situation in Ngorongoro Conservation
Area (the same as Ngorongoro division of Ngorongoro district, and not to be
confused with Loliondo) before the protests a year ago was: decades long
restrictions, much instigated by UNESCO (details about this in several blog
posts) radically worsened after Samia Suluhu Hassan came into office in 2021,
are used by the government to make the Maasai relocate. 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, were since 2021 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. Further, the Msomera villagers – whose legally registered
village that already had its own land use plan has been turned into a
propaganda showcase for the government’s anti-Maasai drive - were “informed” at
gunpoint and accused of having invaded a “protected area” (the much-used lie
about game controlled areas). The entrance of construction material into NCA had
been blocked, herders regularly assaulted by rangers, residents harassed at Loduare
gate, ID demanded, usually voter’s registration, and in August/September 2023
there were mass arrests, or abductions, including torture, and a police state
similar to that of Loliondo had almost developed.
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. Since 2017, 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 in 2021 found to be
substandard, adulterated, and lead to the death of many cows. 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.
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.
 |
| The MLUM review proposal |
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.
Adding to the assault, Flying
Medical Service the only 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, as far as I know, 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 (no longer online, it seems, but I have the whole debate downloaded) 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
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, which he later stopped) as the worst example.
On 29th July 2024,
a 1,115-page pdf document from the so-called Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC, formerly NEC) was being shared on WhatsApp. This document
listed all stations for updating the Permanent Voters Register for the local
elections on 27th November 2024 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. Already registered voters dialled
*152*00# and found that they were registered at different stations in Msomera.
So were already deceased people, including the late former MP. To date there
isn’t any explanation from authorities. On 19th August 2024, the
second day of the protests, found that INEC was acting on an illegal Government
Notice (GN) by the head of TAMISEMI, the president’s son in law, Mohamed
Mchengerwa, that had delisted every single village in Ngorongoro division.
Almost no
fulfilment of promises
After mass protests blocking
tourist vehicles on 18th August 2024 and continued multitudinous gatherings
until the seriously rattled government on 23rd August 2024– via
Ministers Lukuvi and Kabudi and RC Makonda - after with extraordinary speed having
filed a fake case suing itself, returned with big backtracking promises of
restoration of social services, an end to harassment, and relisting of the 25
villages of Ngorongoro division that had very recently and shockingly been
delisted by Minister Mchengerwa. The fast-approaching local elections were to
proceed without any disturbance.
On 16th September
2024, Minister/son in law Mchengerwa announced the boundaries of villages and
sub-villages that were to participate in the 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 2024. 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.
There was some limited lifting
on the malicious blocking of permits and defunding of social services. A water
pump was quickly after the government promises were issued installed at Esere
Primary School (after installing it at Ngorongoro Girls Secondary had failed).
Ndian Primary School – where protests demanding a repair permit a year earlier
led to a manhunt, home invasions, abductions and torture – received sacks of
cement. The DC announced more school repairs for the Christmas holidays, which
did not happen. However, it seems like there were some repairs at the time of
the visit by the president’s commission in late March and early April. Private
residents are not given building permits, and some have been arrested for
building without a permit.
Reportedly, there hasn’t been
any improvements in health centres and Flying Medical Services are still
grounded, which is said to have cost many lives, especially since there’s still
harassment at Loduare gate of those that go to Karatu for treatment and here
Ngorongoro residents are being unlawfully required to present voter
identification cards. According to Tanzanian law, the primary legal identity
document is the National ID (NIDA). However, in Ngorongoro residents are
instead forced to present voter IDs issued by the National Electoral
Commission. Legally, the Commission has never required that a voter card must
show one’s place of birth; a citizen can register and vote in any part of
Tanzania. Yet Ngorongoro residents who obtained voter IDs in Mwanza or other
regions of Tanzania are denied entry and told they are not rightful residents
of Ngorongoro. At the same time, outsiders are allowed to register within
Ngorongoro and are recognised as residents, including even those employed in
tourist hotels. One example is Isaya Olepose who on 3rd August after
returning from medical treatment abroad in South Africa, was denied entry into
Ngorongoro and forced to return to Karatu for the night. His health condition
at the time was still fragile due to the operation, yet despite security
officers being aware that he was a patient, they compelled him to turn back. At
the time, he was carrying his passport, which clearly indicates his place of
birth. On a previous occasion, when Olepose was on his way to present his views
before the Commission established by President Samia to address the Ngorongoro
crisis, he was detained for over three hours by rangers until lawyer Joseph
Oleshangay, who was in the same vehicle, intervened.
Rangers are still not allowing
grazing, watering or salt licking in the craters and Highland Forest. In other
areas, like Oldupai, rangers have started grass fires to block grazing. As seen
above, in the Masek area of Ndutu rangers have blocked livestock from water,
and they seized and fined livestock and demolished houses in several places.
It’s time to
return to the spirit of August 2024 when tens of thousands of Maasai covered
entire hills in red and blue. Nothing else has ever stopped the Tanzanian
government’s efforts to rid Ngorongoro of the Maasai.
I expect the
incoming MP, who is from Loliondo, to have studied the NCA predicament and to
speak up strongly for the government to back off from all evil plans.
Carbon
credits NOT in Ngorongoro
Following (and preceding) a
most excellent report by the Maasai International Solidarity Alliance (MISA) in
March, there have been some confused articles claiming that people are being
evicted in Ngorongoro because of carbon credit deals. There aren’t any publicly
known such projects on Maasai land in Ngorongoro, and I haven’t heard any
informed rumours of companies working silently on this (which does not
mean that it isn’t happening in any form). MISA’s report examines The
Longido and Monduli Rangelands Carbon Project (LMRCP) by Soils for the Future
Tanzania Ltd (SftFTZ) funded by Volkswagen ClimatePartners and The
Resilient Tarangire Ecosystem Project (RTEP) by The Nature Conservancy (TNC)
- targeting Longido, Monduli, and Simanjiro districts. These projects are in
rushed competition to secure signatures for project approval.
Carbon credits in general have
for years been much questioned and found harmful or suspect in many ways. The
basic principle is that rich polluters in western countries instead of changing
their own behaviour pay for people in developing countries, with an already
much smaller carbon footprint, to change their behaviour. Stories abound of carbon cowboys, scams, and threats
to land rights and human rights. The version for Maasai rangelands is called
soil carbons, based on the assumption that the Maasai are degrading the land
and that more carbon will be kept in the soil if “experts” manage how they
graze their animals. Then some business can pay to offset its own carbon
emission against the idea on a paper that this practise has avoided greenhouse
gases into the atmosphere.
MISA found a lack of free
prior and informed consent, limited community participation and non-transparent
contracts. Few of those targeted understand what carbon markets are or what the
implications could be. To this I’d add that carbon markets are by design difficult
to understand (or maybe it’s I who have a problem understanding). A cynic could
say that this is how all kinds of projects are always presented in the Maasai
rangelands. MISA found that the “expert” rotational grazing – that’s already
scientifically questioned - will disrupt the pastoralism and mobility that’s a
cornerstone to Maasai culture and rangeland sustainability. They found
regulatory gaps in Tanzanian legislation and corruption such as pre-payments,
locally called “dowry money”. To name this as corruption speaks of MISA’s
seriousness. I suspect that many commentators that I’ve found through the years instead would say, “they’re so good that they pay even before there’s a contract”. MISA
found the contracts abusive. For example, the SftF contract involves the
district legal officer as witness and facilitator (anyone familiar with
Loliondo will know that such a figure’s job description has is to be an avid
defender of central government and investors/conservation organisations against
the people, and in the TNC letter of intent the mediation process is in the
hands of the DED and ultimately the DC! The DC! MISA calls for a five-year
moratorium. Though as far as I can see and hear, this northern Tanzanian carbon
race continues (but not in Ngorongoro).
Then there’s the big land
alienation threat inherent in handing over land management to outsiders,
particularly supposed conservationists. The Tanzanian government is by now
infamous for calling the Maasai (and other rural people) invaders of their own
land, in its preparation of illegal evictions.
MISA is an international
alliance standing in solidarity with the Maasai of Northern Tanzania. They “bring
together international faith-based organisations, human rights organisations,
international aid and development organisations, as well as grassroots
organisations, individual activists, researchers and lawyers representing the
Maasai in several land cases”. “Interestingly” (or I don’t know what the
correct word would be) one Tanzanian organisation, UCRT, is playing both sides
as member of MISA and working with TNC. I was alarmed by this partnership with
neoliberal conservation (involved in various land grabs already then) when I heard
about it well over a decade ago and such alarm increased my “unpopularity”. UCRT’s
work with TNC includes preparing Communal Certificates of Customary Rights of Occupancy
(CCROs) that technically should increase land tenure security but also pave the
way for carbon projects that increase the threat. As known, Village Land Act No.5
of 1999 already protects land tenure, but there’s no protection when the
government is lawless. I noted that UCRT’s sister (or wife) organization PWC (since
many years I have no communication with them, and they are sadly eager to tell
anyone not to have any relation with me) distanced themselves from carbon
projects through an article before the MISA report was presented. In the same
(somewhat confused) article it was good to see a mention of the land grab by
the horrible Thomson Safaris, since due to massive silence, I feared that the PWC
coordinator, who used to take this land grab seriously, had been compromised.
Soil carbon related abuse has
been thoroughly reported concerning Kenya’s Northern Rangelands Trust and there
have been protests by “Generation Z” in Kajiado against a Soils for the Future
project. As mentioned earlier in this blog, Dutch reporters have written
critically of Carbon Tanzania and TNC’s project on Hadza land in the YaedaValley. In late 2023 Carbon Tanzania also announced a project with Tanzania
National parks Authority, TANAPA, to make carbon credits out of national parks.
I haven’t found any updates about this.
Game Reserve
threat
Remember that these parts of northern Tanzania are under the threat of more radical land alienation in the form of having massive grazing land taken away as game reserves - just as the crime committed in Loliondo in 2022. In Minister Chana’s 2022-2023 budget speech it was announced that the government expected to upgrade twelve GCAs and two forests to game reserves (Loliondo was among them). The threat is also in the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism’s Strategic Plan 2021/2022 – 2025/2026 that says, “The Ministry shall ensure Fifteen (15) Game Controlled Areas are upgraded to Game Reserves by June,2026;”
In February 2024, a detailed evaluation of game controlled areas in the northern zone was leaked. The recommendation was to create no less than four new game reserves in this zone, which would signify an extreme alienation of grazing land making pastoralist lives and livelihoods inviable. The areas recommended for alienation and evictions of people and livestock are a proposed 747 km2 “Lolkisale-Simanjiro Game Reserve”, a 1,501 km2 “Mto Wa Mbu Game Reserve”, a 448 km2 “Longido Game Reserve”, and a 3,918 km2 “Lake Natron Game Reserve”. Several protest statements were issued by Maasai representatives and on 3rd June the same year the MP for Simanjiro, Christopher Olesendeka, brought up the leaked document in parliament asking for the government’s position on it. (Then) Minister Kairuki said she did not have such a document on her desk, that it wasn’t official and that Olesendeka was only causing disquiet by mentioning it. The minister also said that the laws for “declaring GCAs” are known, and that in such case, those will be followed. Everyone had already seen the document, and it had already caused disquiet, but the parliamentary confusion was not straightened out, at all. Nothing more has been heard from the government. Olesendeka, despite being the sitting MP and still popular, just as Oleshangai in Ngorongoro, was removed from the list of CCM MP candidates.
The best of
“community based”
Carbon credits, even if nobody
is currently proposing evictions, has some similarities with Wildlife
Management Areas that’s supposed community-based natural resources management,
but almost always de facto land alienation. An example always brought up as
evidence that there are good WMAs as well is Enduimet in Longido district where
the Maasai have not been evicted and continue grazing their animals. It has
been mentioned in this blog that last year the Enduimet WMA management sent
demolition orders to nine boma owners. This conflict led to the WMA office in Ngereyani
village being destroyed by warriors in February this year. The warriors and the
village chairman were arrested, but it’s been difficult to get updates. I heard
that the conflict was being solved locally, but it was published online by the Community
Wildlife Management Areas Consortium (umbrella organization for WMAs) that they
had held a meeting with the Longido DC that recommended removing illegal
structures and enforcing regulations. While villages generally agree to WMAs to
avoid total land alienation in the form of game reserves, the government also
uses existing WMAs as an argument to violently impose game reserves, which is
what happened with Wami Mbiki and Igombe (ISAWIMA WMA).
Blue Carbon
from Dubai disappeared?
When talking about the carbon
business, I remember how in 2023, the Tanzanian government rolled out the red
carpet and signed a MoU with the member of the Dubai royal family
and newcomer to this business, Sheikh Ahmed Dalmook al-Maktoum and his company
Blue Carbon. The MoU covered a staggering 8% of Tanzania’s total land mass to
which, if I’ve understood correctly, Blue Carbon would get the exclusive right
to the sale of forest carbon credits. There was a lot of reporting about this,
about similar massive deals with Blue Carbon and several African countries and
about how a company adviser was an Italian fugitive (who later died under
mysterious circumstances). However, apparently (and fortunately) there hasn’t
been any kind of implementation at all. According to Redd Monitor, Blue Carbon
has gone silent, and the website has disappeared.
So,
The worst enemy ever of the
Maasai of Ngorongoro and Loliondo, Samia Suluhu Hassan, looks set to “win” the
election, with not only her biggest opposition competitor locked up on ridiculous
“treason” charges, but also the candidate for the second biggest opposition
party disqualified. Even when this isn’t needed when you have total control of
the so-called “Independent” National Election Commission (INEC) that can
produce any desired result, as was shamelessly done in 2020. Every few days is
another opposition politician abducted or disappeared. Under this blood-soaked
ogress, the 1,502 km2 in Loliondo was brutally demarcated as an
illegal game reserve and in NCA the government went all in to torture the Maasai
to make them leave their land. The only light was the demonstrations a year ago
in NCA. Keep it up or is a virus the only hope in this case too?
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, not even CIA, and hasn’t earned a shilling from her
Loliondo work. She can be reached at
sannasus@hotmail.com
@SusannaN2 on X
@susanna-nordlund.bsky.social
on Bluesky
WhatsApp: +46739068102
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.
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