contaminant media

This is an article written by Navaya ole Ndaskoi on October 08, 2008.  I am very interested in this story as it seems to highlight a problem of land rights and environmental concerns.

President Kikwete, Thomson Safaris, Rice and our dilemma…

I read with interest the rejoinder by Terri Rice published in Arusha Times of August 9, 2008 (1). From the outset, I must thank Terri for bring it up because I was just waiting. Terri writes, perhaps with pride, that she was a wife of the late Hugo van Lawick. Nobody begrudge her steep rice to the wife of a Baron, she deserve it even. But for the life of her, she should stop creating the impression that she is a dispassionate spokeswoman of Thomson Safaris. She is not! It is time she declared her interest.

Terri wrote that in ‘June 2006 Rick Thomson and his partner Judi Wineland bought, in a transparent bidding process, 12,000 acres at Sukenya in Loliondo.’ Was the land bought? Was it leased? How much, if not at a throwaway price? What is the exactly size of the land in question? Is it 12,000 acres only? Are they not 12,600 acres?

I asked some of these questions in a press conference called by the Arusha Region Peace and Security Committee and was told Thomson Safaris can answer. Implicitly, even the Ngorongoro District Commissioner who told me so did not know the details; so much then about the transparent bidding as well as ‘active support’ of the DC.

I was surprised to read that the Thomsons ‘bought’ the land ‘in order to provide the community with resources they need.’ Which resources is Terri talking about? To the best of my comprehension of the conflict, the Maasai want nothing but their land!

She also talks of ‘the long list of schools and local communities which have benefited from Thomson Safaris’ largesse.’ Assuming Thomson Safaris build schools, pay salaries of teachers, buy school uniforms and so on, what will the Government of the United Republic of Tanzania be doing? Will the said ‘investors’ also feed hungry pupils whose family land, the source of food and life, was allocated to Tanzania Breweries Limited which in turn ’sold’ it to the so-called ‘investor,’ Thomson Safaris? By the way, there is only one school, which is still under construction and like many other schools in Tanzania is in a pitiable state of affairs, in the gigantic Sukenya sub-Village of the Ngorongoro District. Thomson Safaris did not build that school.

Now let me hit on some sensitive issues you did not read in the article under fire: an unanswered deaths and injuries of people in connection to the disputed land.

On April 18, 2008 Lesingo ole Nanyoi was shot in the jaws (2).  Both the Government and Thomson Safaris denied strenuously being responsible for his shooting. To this day, and to the irritation of many, the mad sharp shooter remains unknown (3).

Trent Keegan, a New Zealand-born photo-journalist living in Ireland, flew into Tanzania to investigate the conflict between Thomson Safaris and villagers of Soit Sambu. On May 28, 2008 Trent was assassinate in Nairobi, Kenya (4).

Trent emailed his friend, Tim Gallagher, on May 16, 2008 telling him ‘he was writing a story about a tribe that was being kicked off its land to make way for a safari park.’  (5) Before his death, Trent Keegan was in Loliondo. He was to travel to Dar es Salaam to interview ole Nanyoi who was by then still fighting for his dear life in Muhimbili National Referral Hospital where he was admitted for over two long months.

Before the shooting of Lesingo ole Nanyoi and the brutal killing of Trent Keegan, Shangai ole Putaa, a Maasai traditional leader, died in the hands of the cruel Loliondo police. The Government claimed that Putaa was shot while attempting to escape.  Basilio Matei is the Arusha Regional Police Commander. He is the unyielding spokesman of the force. He asserted:  ‘The police officers said Putaa was understood to know where the guns were hidden and that, when they asked him to show them the spot in question, he tried to run away and that was when they shot him.’
‘The police should find a better excuse, Putaa was the most respected person in the whole Maasai community, being a spiritual advisor and was always with the council of elders in the community,’ said James Leimbikas the Soitsambu Village Chairman. (6)
The pained family of Putaa and other informed sources claim that the old man was tortured and beaten to death by the police. They add that available evidence indicates that the body of Putaa was shot after he died. They assert that Putaa was presiding over a Maasai ritual ceremony on November 6 when two police Land Rovers pulled up with full force and the officers in the vehicles asked to see the old man.  The deceased’s brother, Loserian Minis, said the police officers then ordered Putaa to accompany them on an emergency operation. He said, ‘The police explained that they would bring him back soon after and he asked them to allow me to go with him. But somewhere in the middle of the forest they ordered both of us out of the vehicle, told the Putaa to lie down on a rock and hit him with sticks, clubs and butts of guns.’ (7) Minis said that the police asked for his sword but, ‘fearing the worst, I refused and ran back to the village to seek help’. By the time he returned to the location accompanied by elders all they found was a blood-soaked club. It was not until the next day that Putaa’s body was identified at Wasso Hospital by a local resident who sported it.

It must be remembered that in March 2007 President Jakaya Kikwete of the United Republic of Tanzania toured the Ngorongoro District. It is said that the late Putaa, on behalf of his fellow villagers of Soit Sambu, made a brief presentation to the President, in a closed party meeting, telling Kikwete, in graphic terms, that he as the President should give the stolen land back to its rightful owners. Seven months later, on November 7, 2007 to be exact, Putaa was murdered by the police.

A letter from the villagers of Soit Sambu to the Ngorongoro Member of Parliament reads in part that the police in Loliondo have been banding together with the security guards of Thomson Safaris to arrest the Maasai and impound their livestock. It reads that over 100 people have been illegally arrested and ordered to pay fines to the tune of about US $ 500 each. This piracy, the letter states, has been a money generating project for the security guards of Thomson Safaris and the police.

The mass media have been asking who shot Lesingo ole Nanyoi. Did the police arrest the crazy shooter? Was he taken to court? Who killed Trent Keegan? Why did the police kill ole Putaa? What is the rationale of allocating pastureland to Tanzania Breweries Limited which in turn sells it to the third party, Thomson Safaris?

Now demanding answers to these questions is like questioning the institution of motherhood. Is Thomson Safaris a golden cow? Is anybody above the law?

I hope Saint Paul will not prevent me from joining the ancestors when my turn arrives because I seriously doubt a company whose directors, according to Terri Rice, ‘Rick Thomson and his wife, Judi Wineland, were invited last year to meet in New York City with President, Kikwete in thanks for their investment in tourism in Tanzania!’

References

1. See Arusha Times
2. See Arusha Times 2
   
3. On July 23, 2008 The Arusha Region Peace and Security Committee called a press conference which was chaired by Arusha Regional Commissioner. Government officials, one after another tried to distance the police force and Thomson Safaris from the shooting. They also said that the Tanzanian Government should not be held responsible about the mysterious death of Trent Keegan killed in Kenya on May 28, 2008. I have high definition footage of that press conference.
4. See Trent Keegan’s website
   
5. See New Zealand Herald
   
6. See Arusha Times 3
   
7. See The Guardian
8. Their photo opportunity with the President