Tanzania: Tundu Lissu arrested….

“The Arusha Regional Police Force is holding the Vice Chairman of the Democratic Party and Mandeleo Hon. Tundu Lissu along with three colleagues of the Party for an interview related to allegations of holding illegal gatherings and preventing Police Officers from carrying out their duties. After the interview and the completion of other formalities, other legal steps will follow.

PROVIDED BY:

JUSTINE MASEJO – ACP

COMMANDER OF POLICE

ARUSHA REGION” (KAMANDA WA POLISI – MKOA WA ARUSHA, 10.09.2023).

Yet again, the opposition leader and the CHADEMA Vice Chairman Lissu was arrested as he planned to hold a rally. This is now thwarted and silenced. His detained together with three others today. The Police informs the public of that much, but we know they made the gathering or the rally as “illegal”.

Tundu Lissu was on his way to visit and hold a rally in Ngorongoro, which is in Maasai territories where the state has plans to evict the Maasai for a foreign business venture there. That is done without consultation with the Maasai and only done so in favour of the elites in the CCM government.

That’s why the state is targeting Lissu and others who sheds a light on the land grabbing in favour of a foreign investors. These will use the land for hunting and a new “tourist” site. Therefore, the state is willing to sell prime assets and land for a quick buck. Which is done without concern or the livelihoods of the Maasai.

The CCM doesn’t want the truth out in Loliondo or in Ngorongoro for that matter. The bitter truth of the foreign investors and what they take from Tanzania. This is the reality and the CCM government have to carry the blame for all of it. They are allowing to be bought and sold for easy money. Instead of serving these communities and even allow the opposition to hold rally there.

CHADEMA Lissu is a villain in the eyes of the CCM. We all know that and they tried to assassinate him at one point. They have arrested him before and do so again. That just shows what the state is willing to do to their enemies. Peace.

Tanzania: Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism – Tanzania is Safe for Tourists (09.04.2023)

Tanzania: Loliondo land-grab – Hon. Masauni claims it is Kenyan migrants fault…

“Engineer Masauni challenged immigration officers at all exit and entry points, to be extra vigilant in curbing such illegal entries into Tanzania. “The immigration department should come up with effective strategies to control such an increasing trend, which is likely to jeopardise our peace and security,” directed Masauni, shortly before inspecting the ongoing exercise of demarcating the 1,500 square kilometers of the Loliondo Game Controlled Area (LGCA)” (…) “The Minister’s directive comes in the wake of reports of immigrants from neighboring countries who take advantage of long porous borders to enter and operate illegally in Tanzania. Engineer Masauni said that there have been reports of illegal immigrants entering the country, singling out the Loliondo area as a worst case scenario, where hundreds herds of cattle have been found grazing within the LGCA, threatening the Serengeti-Ngorongoro ecosystem” (Edward Qorro – ‘Tanzania: Immigration Tasked to Intensify Border Security’ 15.06.2022, Tanzania Daily News).

Let’s be perfectly clear… this is excuses. The main culprit is the Tanzanian state and the authorities who has sold land to a foreign company, which wants to use that for trophy hunting and game-drives. That is the Tanzanian government trading away ancestral territories for a Middle Eastern Company. This is what is happening to the Masaai land and the Loliondo areas.

Where the state has brutally displaced people and used violent means to do so. People are arrested and taken away for defending their rights to live on the land. Now, the authorities and the Minister blaming immigration and making up a false problem. Where the Tanzanian government claims the Kenyan government is allowing illegal migration and undocumented people from their bordering territories. That is really saying something…

The Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) should self-reflect on their own actions and what they are really doing. It is their interests over a historical and indigenous land, which is their responsibility to protect. Instead they are serving the interests of the tourism industry and one company. That is really compelling and telling. The interest is the common good, but a quick buck on selling out traditions and exploiting that.

The Tanzanian government cannot come with excuses like this. That should get pushback from Nairobi and the Jubilee Party. There is a need for President Uhuru Kenyatta to call President Samia Suluhu. Especially, when the Hon. Hamad Masauni, the Minister of Home Office has been saying this to the media. He is coming with allegations, which is blaming Kenya for the trouble in the border region of Tanzania.

However, everyone with some common sense. It is the land-grabbing and the internal conflicts, which is the reason. If the Tanzanian government had respected the indigenous land and not sold it. That’s the reason for the aftermath and all the pushback. This is very easy, but the CCM is making it very hard.

Hon. Masauni is speaking out of line. Since their actions is actually causing migrations from Tanzania to Maasai territory on the other side of border into Kenya. Therefore, it would be fair for Kenya to speak of the refugees and fleeing Maasai brothers who fled the brutal eviction in the Loliondo area. That’s saying something and the Tanzanian government isn’t the victim.

The Maasai people of the Loliondo area are the victims and the hurt ones here. The CCM is the one who profits on the misery of the Maasai people. Just so a Middle Eastern company can get territories to show the beauty of Tanzania. A beauty that was destroyed for the ones who actually resided there… Peace.

Tanzania: Loliondo land-grab – When tourism beats the ownership of indigenous land…

“The Tanzanian government is intending to resume the eviction of about 70,000 Maasai community in Loliondo to make room for trophy hunting and elite tourism. The move, which will involve dispossessing over 70,000 Maasai pastoralists of 1500sq km of their ancestral land. This is aimed at creating room for Ortello Business Company, a hunting firm owned by the United Arab Emirates’ royal family, as part of investment for the government” (Western Nyota TV, 13.06.2022).

The Chama Cha Mapundzi (CCM) don’t care and isn’t concerned with the rule of law. As the commercial interests of the tourism industry and a foreign investors involvement matters more. That’s why Maasai territories are now possibly evicted for the sole purpose of an investor making a game-drive. So, that the animals can be seen by foreigners visiting and ensuring profits to the state coffers.

That’s done without the consent of the Masaai people or their ancestral rights to territories in question. This is why they have been demonstrating, because the state is violently and brutally evicting them from their homeland. Just so one investor can have a safari company and game-drive in the area. That’s really not developing, but ceasing territory for man’s pleasure and his company.

“According to reliable information received by IWGIA, the Tanzanian state is currently moving ahead to grab 1,500 km2 of ancestral and legally registered village land belonging to the Maasai Indigenous people in the Loliondo division of Ngorongoro District in northern Tanzania. This land grab will forcefully evict the Maasai from their land. This is happening despite the fact that the East African Court of Justice is expected to issue a ruling on this matter on 22 June 2022. On 7 June 2022, a paramilitary group of around 700 people (mainly police, park rangers, military and other security forces) arrived in Loliondo to demarcate the 1,500 km2 area of land as a Game Reserve1. This land is the ancestral land of the Maasai people who have formalized land tenure rights to this land as per the Village Land Act No.5 of 1999. The demarcation of this land as a Game Reserve will effectively dispossess the Maasai people of their ancestral land since people and livestock will not be allowed to live in a Game Reserve” (International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA) – ‘Urgent Alert: New serious threats towards the Maasai people of Loliondo in Tanzania’ 13.06.2022).

“Over 100,000 Maasai are facing a forcefully eviction from their ancestral land in Loliondo and Ngorongoro, Tanzania Maasai have been living in Lolondo and Ngorongoro before Tanzania gained independence. The eviction is purely to making way for Trophy Hunting” (Tanzania Leaks, 13.06.2022).

This here shouldn’t be accepted and people should speak out on the matter. It isn’t righteous and fair. Clearly it is injustice, pure and simple. Tanzanian authorities and state is doing practically a land-grab and with violent means to get their way. This eviction isn’t done with measures of fairness or compensation. No, these are people who is violently removed and evicted from their territories, which have been theirs for generations.

That the Tanzanian authorities are doing this and using all sorts of violent ways. Just shows the world how unjust this is. The CCM and the President knows this as they are just serving a Middle Eastern company “prime-real-estate” for safari and a game-drive. That’s why they are doing this and showing the lack of care or concern for the people who belongs in this territory.

If CCM and the President wanted a favourable look. This wasn’t it. They are just displaying brutality and what they do for some cheap coins. Peace.