Topic: PETITION – President Jakaya Kikwete: Stop the Serengeti Sell-Off

To President Jakaya Kikwete:

As citizens from around the world, we call on you to oppose any attempt to evict Maasai from their traditional land or require them to relocate to make way for foreign hunters. We are counting on you to be a champion for your people and stop any attempt to change their land rights against their will.

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At any moment, a big-game hunting corporation could sign a deal which would force up to 48,000 members of Africa’s famous Maasai tribe from their land to make way for wealthy Middle Eastern kings and princes to hunt lions and leopards. Experts say the Tanzanian President’s approval of the deal may be imminent, but if we act now, we can stop this sell-off of the Serengeti.

The last time this same corporation pushed the Maasai off their land to make way for rich hunters, people were beaten by the police, their homes were burnt to a cinder and their livestock died of starvation. But when a press controversy followed, Tanzanian President Kikwete reversed course and returned the Maasai to their land. This time, there hasn’t been a big press controversy yet, but we can change that and force Kikwete to stop the deal if we join our voices now.

If 150,000 of us sign, media outlets in Tanzania and around the world will be blitzed so President Kikwete gets the message to rethink this deadly deal.

Sign the petition now and send to everyone: www.avaaz.org/en/save_the_maasai_a/?bXOjtbb&v=17057

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With hope and determination,

Sam, Meredith, Luis, Aldine, Diego, Ricken and the rest of the Avaaz team

By MmakondeChiNtu

Waokoe Wamasai naochomewa nyumba zao kwa jili ya muwekezaji wa kiarabu. Tumechoshwa na CCM....Sign Petition HERE

Source: wavuti - wavuti

By BAK

One million against eviction of Maasai for royal hunters

Posted Saturday, August 18 2012 at 20:34

By PAUL REDFERN Special Correspondent, London
THE EAST AFRICA

In Summary
•An international campaign by the pressure group Avaaz saw over 400,000 people sign up to their petition in only one day, criticising plans to allow traditional lands to be used for hunting. Since then thousands more have signed up each day.

•Although the Tanzanian government has denied the allegations saying that those who have signed the petition are being misled by an “unfounded and non-existent eviction claim,” Avaaz insisted in a statement that its information was correct.

•Avaaz maintains that a big-game hunting corporation is set to sign a deal that will force up to 48,000 Maasai from their land “to make way for wealthy Middle Eastern kings and princes from the United Arab Emirates to hunt
More than one million people are this week expected to have signed an international petition demanding that Tanzania’s government stop plans to force Maasai pastoralists off their traditional land, to allow game hunting by members of the UAE royal family.

An international campaign by the pressure group Avaaz saw over 400,000 people sign up to their petition in only one day, criticising plans to allow traditional lands to be used for hunting. Since then thousands more have signed up each day.

Although the Tanzanian government has denied the allegations saying that those who have signed the petition are being misled by an “unfounded and non-existent eviction claim,” Avaaz insisted in a statement that its information was correct.

“The Tanzanian government … plays cynical word games rather than addressing whether the government will commit to not evicting the Maasai from their land,” an Avaaz press statement said.

“Rather than address the substance of the Avaaz campaign and the concerns of the Maasai, the government has tried to distract attention from those concerns by parsing distinctions between the Maasai lands at risk (in the Loliondo district) and the borders of the Serengeti plain and the National Park.

"They ignore the fact that Tanzanian government officials themselves, along with international experts, refer to the Maasai lands as within the Serengeti ecosystem. However the issue is whether the government will respond to calls from hundreds of thousands of people around the world to protect the land and livelihoods of its people over the hunting interests of foreign corporations.”

Emma Ruby-Sachs, campaign director at Avaaz, said: “If the government does not believe there is any threat to the Maasai lands, it should be easy for it to commit to a policy of not forcibly evicting any of its people to make way for foreign interests.”

Avaaz maintains that a big-game hunting corporation is set to sign a deal that will force up to 48,000 Maasai from their land “to make way for wealthy Middle Eastern kings and princes from the United Arab Emirates to hunt lions and leopards.

"The last time this same corporation pushed the Maasai off their land to make way for rich hunters, people were beaten by the police, their homes were burnt to a cinder and their livestock died of starvation,” Avaaz said.

“But when a press controversy followed, Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete reversed course and returned the Maasai to their land.”

The Avaaz petition to the Tanzanian president reads: “As citizens from around the world, we call on you to oppose any attempt to evict Maasai from their traditional land or require them to relocate to make way for foreign hunters.

"We are counting on you to be a champion for your people and stop any attempt to change their land rights against their will.”

By Uswe

serkali yet sikivu sana, ila ni sikivu kwa wazungu, wakisema wazungu utaona mambo yanatokea fasta, sijui kwa nini serikali inajikomba sana kwa wazungu. . . unakumbuka meli za iran? email moja tu serikali ikawa busy sana, vingapi sie tunashauri lakini serikali yetu kimya

Hili lilikua dogo, sasa vipi hili la kutaka kuondoa kodi ya VAT katika mauzo ya migodi ya madini kwasababu BARRICK wanataka kuuza mgodi kwa china?

By Kiganyi

To President Jakaya Kikwete:

As citizens from around the world, we call on you to oppose any attempt to evict Maasai from their traditional land or require them to relocate to make way for foreign hunters. We are counting on you to be a champion for your people and stop any attempt to change their land rights against their will.

---

At any moment, a big-game hunting corporation could sign a deal which would force up to 48,000 members of Africa’s famous Maasai tribe from their land to make way for wealthy Middle Eastern kings and princes to hunt lions and leopards. Experts say the Tanzanian President’s approval of the deal may be imminent, but if we act now, we can stop this sell-off of the Serengeti.

The last time this same corporation pushed the Maasai off their land to make way for rich hunters, people were beaten by the police, their homes were burnt to a cinder and their livestock died of starvation. But when a press controversy followed, Tanzanian President Kikwete reversed course and returned the Maasai to their land. This time, there hasn’t been a big press controversy yet, but we can change that and force Kikwete to stop the deal if we join our voices now.

If 150,000 of us sign, media outlets in Tanzania and around the world will be blitzed so President Kikwete gets the message to rethink this deadly deal.

Sign the petition now and send to everyone: www.avaaz.org/en/save_the_maasai_a/?bXOjtbb&v=17057

---
With hope and determination,

Sam, Meredith, Luis, Aldine, Diego, Ricken and the rest of the Avaaz team

Source: wavuti - wavuti

dEAR PRESIDENT
please disregard the comment that this communist minded guys have been made. They thoughlessly condemn the sellout of serengeti Mbuga and ignored the superabundants favors that the whole deal could come out from serengeti selloutg.WE have been locally running our game reserve. As aresult, the reserves do not produce the revenue gain and an employment opponuties that decade long we were agry for.

The buyer wanna groundbreaking the mordern airport,swinng clubs and attractive roads.To top it off, he wanna build more Hotel that could bring dymic change on the ground! The serengeti will have name among the game reserve around the world. The maasai who inhabits that area, live basic lives, consequently distracts tourists

The only deal we can strike with the buyer, is to make sure that, all tourists who would be visiting his show from his homeland, should be shipped out by our air Tanzania. All of his employee should tanzanians regardless of language barrier. That is how investors could create dymic change and help us out with creating jobs stigma.

someone from somewhere need to wise up and grow up!

By Tango73

dEAR PRESIDENT
please disregard the comment that this communist minded guys have been made. They thoughlessly condemn the sellout of serengeti Mbuga and ignored the superabundants favors that the whole deal could come out from serengeti selloutg.WE have been locally running our game reserve. As aresult, the reserves do not produce the revenue gain and an employment opponuties that decade long we were agry for.

The buyer wanna groundbreaking the mordern airport,swinng clubs and attractive roads.To top it off, he wanna build more Hotel that could bring dymic change on the ground! The serengeti will have name among the game reserve around the world. The maasai who inhabits that area, live basic lives, consequently distracts tourists

The only deal we can strike with the buyer, is to make sure that, all tourists who would be visiting his show from his homeland, should be shipped out by our air Tanzania. All of his employee should tanzanians regardless of language barrier. That is how investors could create dymic change and help us out with creating jobs stigma.

someone from somewhere need to wise up and grow up!

Hardly any of the great thinkers will buy this cheap suggestion! Or else I suggest Gossip forum be established for users liker you, friend!

please leave masai land alone. Arabs you are ******

Unfortunately the wording of the Avaaz campaign was poor, bordering on misleading, which left it open for the ministry of natural resources and tourism to have a laugh instead of addressing the issues that they are very well aware of. This is what it’s about. View from the Termite Mound: The Corridor - and the Story of OBC in Loliondo

A film from early 2011 about the Land Use Plan. Voices of Loliondo eng 7mn.m4v on Vimeo

Hivi usikishawauzia watu kuwinda simba na chui kupeleka kwao, baadae tutapata watalii tena??? Mambo kama haya hayaamuliwi bungeni??? Mimi naamini hata ile Loliondo itakuja kurudishwa kwa watz. Iweje wanyama wetu wakateseke kwenye jangwa la waarabu? walitushika utumwa wa kutosha, hivi leo wanyama wetu wakawe watumwa uarabuni??????? God forbids, TUANDAMANE NCHI NZIMA, INATIA UCHUNGU SANAAA

By Sijali

Yaelekea unawajua. Waogopa nini kuwataja hapa?

Ukimtaja festi man 'ban' inakunyemelea!.. Ila wale wadogo hata wao wanawataja. Ni wazi hili dili wakicheza walioko site lazima waumie, lakini wazee wa upepo wa bahari kila mmoja anaishia kusema, 'ni mambo ya wakubwa!'.

Mwl Nyerere aliwahi kusema, ''uchi wa akili ni mbaya kuliko uchi wa nyama'' Walio uchi kichwani, walafi na wenye kila dalili kuwa walikwisha uasi ubinadamu siku nyingi, ndio wametufikisha hapa. Kila anayewashabikia au kuwaunga mkono mafisadi hawa hata tu kwa asilimia ndogo kuliko zote anathibitisha kuwa ni Mtanzania hatari wa kuogopwa. Mpaka leo sielewi ina kigugumizi gani na suala la rada, twiga wetu walioporwa, achilia mbali hili la kuwatosa Watanzania wa kimasai kwa vipande vya 30 vya fedha. Kama kuna Mungu basi lazima aonekane sasa kuliko wakati mwingine wowote ule ktk historia ya nchi yetu. Kama kuna hitaji la mabadiliko basi watanzania wajue wasipoleta mabadiliko wasishangae kujikuta wameuzwa ndani ya ardhi yao.

If you want to follow on the link of avaaz you can check it here and see by yourself the signed votes so far
Avaaz - Stop the Serengeti Sell-off

By King of Kings

kusema kweli hii kitu sijapenda ukituma unapata hii message
ambaya ina jina la jangiri mdogo (fisadi mdogo ) kusema kweli nimejuta kutuma
Kiganyi mbona umetuingiza choo cha kike??


Thanks for taking action to help the Masaai fight to keep their land.

The best way to ensure President Kikwete hears our voice immediately is to get the attention of one of his closest associates, whom he trusts on controversial matters like this: Mr. January Makamba MP.

Email Mr. January Makamba MP here. And tweet him @jmakamba. Let's make sure Kikwete's inner-circle join our cause!

Below are some suggested talking points for tweeting or emailing Mr. Makamba.. Please remember to be polite.

I am asking Hon Makamba; Do we have to be told what rights our people deserve???????? If that is the case;then we don't have leaders.......
“If the government does not believe there is any threat to the Maasai lands, it should be easy for it to commit to a policy of not forcibly evicting any of its people to make way for foreign interests.”

Hii Petition inaendelea?