Less than two weeks after President Kikwete returned from London, portraying Tanzania as a safe place for British Investment, British investors Stewart Middleton and Sarah Hermitage are once again placed under threat by the conduct of Benjamin Mengi and his wife Millie Mengi.
Few in Tanzania are unaware of the issues surrounding the conduct of Benjamin Mengi against the British couple and the continuing harassment and intimidation that they have faced on a daily basis for the last three years because of Benjamin Mengis attempt to re-gain the lease to Silverdale & Mbono Farms.
http://archive.wn.com/2006/10/11/1400/litigationuk/
http://www.onlypunjab.com/investments/fullstory-insight-investments+stocks-newsID-3988.html
The couple returned from a months holiday in January to face further abuse of law, violence and intimidation from Benjamin Mengi, his wife Millie Mengi, Mengis employee Anold Kimaro and members of Mengis staff conduct being openly facilitated by Police Inspector Janet of the Moshi Police the officer securing Mr. Middletons committal to Moshi prison in July 2006 on allegedly trumped up charges later withdrawn by the Republic.
Having failed to secure the investors departure from Tanzania by intimidation, and harassment together with, a vile campaign of alleged defamation by IPP Media, (
http://www.pressmethod.com/releasestorage/10987.htm) the chief executive officer of which is Reginald Mengi, Benjamin Mengis brother, attention and abuse is now focused against Mr. Middletons wife Sarah Hermitage and the destruction of commercial crops grown by Mr. Middletons company Silverdale Tanzania on Silverdale Farm for export to the U.K.
During the week commencing 17th January, Benjamin Mengi and Anold Kimaro opened four trumped up criminal charges against Mr. Middletons wife Sarah Hermitage. Once again, police Inspector Janet from the Moshi Police was placed in charge of the investigations.
On or around the 25th January, Inspector Janet telephoned an employee of Mr. Middletons in the presence of Mengi and stated that Mengis staff,
.would now carry a bow and arrow on the farm in order to protect himself against Ms. Hermitage and that she should be careful what she does. This was a very clear threat, from a senior Moshi police officer against Ms. Hermitage in that, not only was Inspector Janet not going apply the rule of law but that she was participating in its abuse. (
www.pressmethod.com/releasestorage/10939.htm)
Ms. Hermitage, an ex Metropolitan and Kent police officer and non practicing Solicitor admitted to the Supreme Court of England and Wales states, I have not been spoken to by any police officer, have no idea of the content of the allegations and cannot, comment on them.
This continued harassment and intimidation is facilitated by the fact that Mrs. Millie Mengi refuses to remove a herd of some sixty cattle and goats from Silverdale Farm, which constitutes a continuing act of Criminal Trespass upon which the police refuse to act. In June 2006, Mrs. Mengi opened civil and criminal cases against Mr. Middleton alleging that he was killing and stealing her cattle and accusing him of forging a quarantine order placed on her animals in May 2006 by Zonal Veterinary Officer, Dr. Swai. (
http://www.pressmethod.com/releasestorage/10937.htm).
Mrs. Mengi obtained, allegedly through abuse of due process, an ex-parte court order allowing her and her associates unfettered access to Silverdale Farm. The order has never been heard inte-partes and was issued prior to the actual hearing stated on the order. The High Court has so far failed to Review the order under an application filed under a Certificate of Urgency in November 2006 by Mr. Middletons lawyer. Seven other allegedly vexatious Plaints have been issued by Mr. Mengi and his wife against Mr. Middleton and his company Silverdale Farm. None of the Plaints discloses a cause of action; none have been dealt with by the courts in Moshi or dismissed. British M.P. for Thanet North, Mr. Roger Gale has placed a White paper before the British parliament asking for the suspension of aid to Tanzania until the Middletons land tenure is secured and Benjamin Mengi is brought to justice.
http://www.topix.net/content/prweb/2494816393037995317807769455903198687432
In early 2006, Mr. Middleton and his wife had to suffer the appalling sight of Mengis cattle dying from neglect and Foot & Foot Mouth disease where infected carcasses were, on the instructions of Mr. and Mrs. Mengi, deliberately left unburied around the area of the couples house. Mr. and Mrs. Mengi and their staff, continue to use the animals as a means of harassment and intimidation and as a means of destroying Mr. Middletons commercial interests in Tanzania.
The latest destruction of crops by the Mengis took place on the 31st January 2007 when Mrs. Mengi's adult cattle herd was driven into a two-acre plot of commercial Baby Corn by Mengis employee Mr. Salem. Salem has been banned from entering the farm on four occasions due to his persistent acts of perjury against Mr. Middleton and his wife. When approached by Mr. Middletons staff Salem attacked Mr. Able Ngoja, Mr. Middleton's Technical Farm Manager with a Machete and threatened to kill him.
Commenting on the incident, Mr. Middleton states, on the 31st January 2007, an employee of Mr. Benjamin Mengi was found on my property having deliberately driven a herd of some forty adult cattle into a two acre Baby Corn plot grown for export to the U.K. The crop was destroyed. When approached by my staff the man threatened to kill my Technical manager Able Ngoja and came at him wielding a Machete. The man was apprehended and hand cuffed in full compliance with laws of Tanzania. The police were called but failed to attend for four hours. Mr. Salem was handed over to Inspector Janet from the Moshi Police who eventually attended the farm with Benjamin Mengi. She examined the damaged property and took Mr. Salem into custody. He was then released by Inspector Janet and allowed to go to the District Police Station and open criminal charges of assault against my staff. Mr. Benjamin Mengi was not present at the scene stated to reporters from IPP Media yesterday, one Jackson Kimambo that I had incited his staff to beat Mr. Salem. Once again IPP Media have reported the facts in a defamatory manner and have given me no right of reply.
Mr. Mengi, not present at any stage of the incident stated to police that evening that the Masungu foreigners should go back to South Africa where they belonged claiming that they were responsible for abusing Tanzanian Citizens. He further incited IPP journalist Jackson Kimambo to print defamatory material regarding the incident with the clear intention of inciting racial hatred against Mr. Middleton. Clearly, attempting to gain political capital from the events he did not witness, Benjamin Mengi and his wife Millie Mengi, ultimately responsible for the acts of their staff simply appear, to be above the law in Tanzania.
For the second time, IPP media, the Chief Executive Officer of which is Reginald Mengi, is for the second time engaging in a defamatory campaign against British Investors in Tanzania. Radio 1, IPP Radio Network, announced on the evening of 3 February 2007 that British Investor Stewart Middletons staff had beaten up an employee of Mr. Benjamin Mengi brother of IPP Medias CEO Reginald Mengi, on Silverdale Farm. The Radio did no site a case number, the issue of destruction of crops or, the fact that Mr. Salem was lawfully detained under the Penal Code of Tanzania or the fact that none of Mr. Middletons staff had been charged with any offence. Further IPP Medias newspapers The Guardia and The Nipashe, reported similar articles paying no regard to the laws of defamation and stating that Mr. Middleton stood by and watched and incited his staff beat up Mr. Habib. A clearly cowardly act on the part of Jackson Kimambo, the journalist, the Managing Editor of the Guardian and IPPs CEO Reginald Mengi who was placed on notice of the defamatory attack on Mr. Middleton by the former British High Commissioner to Tanzania Andrew Pocock in December 2005.
The question must surely be asked, why is there such reluctance on the part of the Tanzanian authorities to apply the rule of law to this situation and the continued abuse being vented against Mr. Middleton and his wife being, in the words of Dr. J. Ngasongwa, Minister for Investment and Empowerment in Tanzania, bona fide investors in all respects with the full support of the Ministry of Investment. The Commissioner of lands for Tanzania refuses to rectify the Land Register to reflect their lawful ownership of their equitable lease holding of the farms and refuses to address correspondence sent to him by both the investors and, their Moshi Lawyer My Lymambo.
Mr. Middleton and his wife are not the only investors facing serious difficulties in the Kilimanjaro Region of Tanzania. It has been revealed this week by Paul Bebbington, Managing Director of Mufindi Tea Company, one of the largest agricultural investors in Tanzania and, the largest in the Kilimanjaro region, that Mufundi are closing their operations in the Kilimanjaro region in March 2007. Mr. Bebbington states that the company is closing its operations due to the problems the company are facing with the Co-operative Societies, (head lessors of their six commercial coffee farms) by which their land tenure has been rendered insecure.
A further blow to investor confidence was the suspension last week of the operations of the TPC Sugar Estates in the Kilimanjaro area due to worker unrest and violence.
Janet Lever
1st February 2007.