The role of the Olsen family in the proposed Haydom Diaconical Foundation

Published 30.10.10, last edited 02.11.10

Some time ago we received a declaration from Knut E. Olsen regarding the role of the Olsen family in the proposed Haydom Diaconical Foundation. The background is that the constitution clearly states that one of the three Founder Trustees shall be from the Olsen family and another one from Friends of Haydom in Norway, both on permanent basis.  The third one is the Bishop who is serving in periods of five years, - and his “life time” status as founder member seems not very real.  The constitution, as it reads, gives these two Norwegians unlimited power to exclude any other member permanently from the Board. 

On this website you will find the full text of the constitution of the proposed Haydom Diaconical Foundation, as we received it.  The parts of the constitution that has caused Knut E. Olsen to declare that that Olsen family had not “approved any proposal to become permanent Trustees of a possible Foundation” is as follows:

"3.2 COMPOSITION OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES

The Board of Registered Trustees of Haydom Diaconical Foundation, shall be constituted as herein below appearing:

For the present unless or otherwise provided by this constitution, establishing the Haydom Diaconical Foundation, the Registered Trustees shall be:

a. The Mbulu Diocese Bishop-Who shall serve on permanent basis as a Founder Trustee establishing Haydom Diaconical Foundation.

b. One member from Dr Ole Halgrim Evjen Olsen Family - Who shall serve on permanent basis as a Founder Trustee establishing Haydom Diaconical Foundation.

c. Two other distinguished Members from the Foundation Friends of Haydom - One who shall serve on permanent basis as a Founder Trustee establishing Haydom Diaconical Foundation and the other as an Institutional Trustee establishing the foundation."

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"4.4 CLASSES OF TRUSTEES

There shall be three classes of Trustees of the Haydom Diaconical Foundation.

(a)    Founder trustees shall be trustees of the Haydom Diaconical Foundation who are not Institutional trustees or emeritus trustees as well as those who, at the time of or immediately prior to the adoption of this constitution, shall have been a trustee of the Haydom Diaconical Foundation."

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"4.6 ELECTION OF TRUSTEES

(a) Founder Trustee: Founder Trustee shall not be eligible for voting process as provided by this constitution but shall serve the Haydom Diaconical Foundation on lifetime basis. Institutional Founders (The office of the Bishop and office Foundation Friends of Haydom) shall appoint any other person of their choice (he/she) to execute part or all other corporate duties as appointed by its Board of Trustees or other appropriate governing body. The Individual Founder shall appoint a successor upon reaching old age (at least 75 years old) but without affecting the provisions clause, the Founder Trustee shall cease to be a Founder due to death. Any successor in title of the Individual Founder may be appointed by the surviving Trustee family or by appointment through the will of the deceased, to take over corporate powers of the deceased in accordance with the laws of Tanzania."

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4.12 REMOVAL

Prior to the completion of his or her term of service as a Trustee, any other person may be permanently excluded from membership on the Board by a two-third's (2/3) vote of all of the Founder Trustees whenever in its judgment is for the best interests of the Haydom Diaconical Foundation would be served thereby. This action may take place at any regular business meeting, …"

We have tried, without success so far, to get documentation about who is responsible for the proposed 2009 version of the Constitution of Haydom Diaconical Foundation (HDF).  If neither the Medical Director Øystein Evjen Olsen nor anybody from ELCT Mbulu Diocese are responsible for the proposed text, who then?

On page 27 in the Annual Report 2009 from HLH, published on the HLH/FoH website, the following is written in connection with the proposed Haydom Diaconical Foundation: "A joint workshop was held in November 2009 between the hospital board and the Executive Council discussing the objectives and content of a foundation further."

So far no one has claimed that the November 2009 version of the proposed Constitution of HDF, published in full text on this website, is a fake. Actually it’s natural to interpret the statement made by rev. Rohho as a confirmation of the existence of the November 2009 version of the proposed Constitution of HDF as published on this website. Neither Knut E. Olsen nor rev. Lazaro Marseli Rohho mentions the role of the Norwegian Foundation Friends of Haydom (FoH) in the process of establishing HDF. Together with the Olsen- family the FoH would be able to control HLH if the November 2009 version of the proposed Constitution had been implemented. 

In HDC we think the declaration from Knut E. Olsen raises more questions than it answers. Therefore we would like to get answers from whom it may concern. We promise to publish any serious answers on this website. The questions are:

An e- mail with the following text was sent 31.10.2010 to Knut E. Olsen:

"Knut E. Olsen
The e- mail from you that HDC received 11.10.2010 is now published on HDCs website here. In HDC we think your declaration raises more questions than it answers. If you can help to answer some of the questions, I promise to publish your answers on HDC's website. I think your brother Øystein can provide most of the answers if you ask him. The questions are:" (see the ten questions above.)

"Regards Kjetil Tednes"

Knut E. Olsen answered the same day, and you can read his answer here.

The main questions remain unanswered by the Olsen family. Regarding the protests from the Olsen family in connection with the role as Founding Trustee Knut E. Olsen refers to, have the following in mind:

1. The full text of the constitution of the proposed Haydom Diaconical Foundation was published 15.03.2010 two months before the May 2010 protest Knut. E. Olsen mentions.

2. The announcement of the position as Managing Medical Director "at Haydom Lutheran Hospital (HLH) for a new 5 - year period, was published in the beginning of May 2010, and had application deadline 21th.of May 2010. The announcement from the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania (ELCT) required among other things that the new director had to be a  Medical Doctor (MD) with a specialist qualification in any field of medicine. Øystein E. Olsen doesn't have a specialist qualification, and was therefore not qualified to apply for 5 new years as Managing Medical Director.

HDC challenges Øystein E. Olsen to give comprehensive answers to all the ten questions. We promise to publish the answers in full text  with no censorship on this website.

HDC also challenges the board of the Foundation Friends of Haydom (FoH) to reveal their role in connection with the process of establishing Haydom Diaconical Foundation (HDF) and especially in connection with November 2009 version of the proposed Constitution of HDF