Report from the director of HDC

The villagers bordering Mulbadaw farm want to discuss their concerns with the Minister of Agriculture – as soon as possible.

Background:

Haydom Development Company Ltd bought Mulbadaw Farm and CMSC in 2005.  The Liquidator, Joseph Tadayo, handed over both properties officially to HDC Ltd on 6^th December 2005. On 12^th August 2006, “Friends of Haydom” in Norway took the farm by using physical force, without any court order and without any written authority from Tanzanian Governmental institutions.  I am the Managing Director of HDC Ltd.

The villagers bordering Mulbadaw farm want to discuss their concerns regarding the relationship and problems with the present occupiers of the former NAFCO farms with the Minister of Agriculture – as soon as possible.

They asked for my assistance in bringing the matter to the attention of the Minister for Agriculture.  Being a visitor to Tanzania for a few weeks, I told them that the proper way would be to go through local leaders and district and regional offices. They had tried, they said, in vain.

When I mentioned that I might be able to let the Member of Parliament for Kigoma know about their request, they asked me to do that. 

Problems:

1. Present Ownership – Mulbadaw and CMSC

HLH Farm and Development Limited (HLHDF) is 91 % Norwegian, owned by individuals associated to, or members of, Friends of Haydom in Norway (FoH)

I have been told that TRA once had dialogue with the management about the organization of the owner company and the company managing Mulbadaw Farm.  The outcome of this discussion did not change anything about who in reality owns and run the company/companies.

2. Relationships with neighbours and political and administrative leaders

I have been in touch with friends and former colleagues from Haydom Development Company Ltd (HDC) during the last 10 years. HDC bought Mulbadaw Farm on 11^th February 2005.

On Friday 29^th January 2016, I had an opportunity to visit some of my friends in Hanang, including the neighbours of Mulbadaw who HDC worked with in 2005 and 2006. (“jirani wema” HDC policy)

Olav Myklatun is the chairperson of the Board of the Norwegian owned company managing Mulbadaw now.  He is the one “calling the shots”, using Dr Malleyeck from Haydom Lutheran Hospital and the managers at Mulbadaw, Toralf Rugland and Mr Munyaw as his “soldiers”. In January 2016, Martin Haugland and Kjell Gustav Sørlie were representing Toralf Rugland at Mulbadaw.

My impression from what I heard in Dajamaeda is that the relationship between the management at Mulbadaw and their neighbours is bad.  However, the present management at Mulbadaw has been good at establishing and maintaining a good relationship with elected political leaders and with senior officers at District and Regional level.

3. Concerns and complaints Mulbadaw neighbours want to discuss with the Minister of Agriculture

The people I met from villages bordering Mulbadaw expressed concern about the way they were met by the present management at Mulbadaw – and the management at neighbouring farms. They had raised their concern several times with local leaders, but felt that there was “a stop” at local level; their complaints were not taken seriously. Now they want to see the Minister for Agriculture.

Some of their concerns are:

1. Lack of respect; being treated as “sheep, goats and monkeys”, no good neighbourhood

They had lost all the important benefits from the farms that they used to have during the time of NAFCO and Haydom Development Company Ltd.  They mentioned:

- Health services (NAFCO time)

- Economic benefits and food security from participating in crop production on Mulbadaw Farm; -the “jirani wema” HDC policy provided each family with the yield from up to one hectare (2,5acre).

-  Access road to the main road at Galangal (CMSC) over Mulbadaw. This road has been ploughed and planted with wheat; - villagers are” chased as goats”. The road around the farm is much longer than the shortcut they have been using during the last 40 years or more.

2. Pollution of soil and water from spraying the fields with herbicides (glyphosate) and pesticides

The run-off from the sprayed fields is polluting the water for domestic use and the water that the livestock is drinking. The management of the farms have been using aeroplanes for spraying herbicide in previous years, causing crop damage in the villages. This year tractors have sprayed fields. There is just as much run-off from fields sprayed by tractors as there is from air-sprayed fields.

There is a water tank close to the village serving the farms, but the villagers have no piped water. Participants voiced a fear of poisoning livestock and people from the surface water they are using.

3. No access to fertile land

The lack of opportunities for the youth is, according to one speaker, a main reason for youngsters running away to “become criminals in towns”. They feel that they are squeezed between big commercial farms with fertile land, poor and shallow land only is left for the local population. The land left provides no future for a family.

The competition for land, the quest for much more land, might to a certain extent also be related to the conflict between pastoralists in need of good pastures and agriculturists needing land for more intensive crop production.

Another issue that was brought up was the Central Maintenance and Service Centre that has been idle or grossly underutilised after 12^th August 2006. CMSC was a service and training centre for efficient mechanised food production.  Haydom Development Company started repair and rehabilitation of the machinery there early 2006.  The present management has locked off the centre for public use. It does not contribute anything to development, neither farming nor anything else. 

Extra:

For the readers of the above it might be relevant to know the following:

1. A short while after meeting a vehicle with people from “HLH Mulbadaw Farm” on the road to Dajameaeda on Friday 29^th January 2016, I received an anonymous telephone call.  The caller said that he had an order from the Central Police Station in Arusha to arrest me.  I interpreted it as a threat from the present (Norwegian dominated) management at Mulbadaw intending to prevent me from meeting the people who had invited me in Dajaemaeda. The telephone register revealed that the telephone is registered on a “Haydom name”[1]. That confirmed my suspicion. I submitted the telephone number and the name of the owner to the police in Manyara. They confirmed that neither the person nor the number had anything to do with the police force.  They tried to call the number, but in vain. The SIM card had been removed from the phone or it was turned off.

2. Local MP (s) called on some of the leaders Sunday morning 31^st January 2016. The message I received from one of the leaders after the meeting can be interpreted as if they don’t want the villagers to get in direct touch with the Minister of Agriculture, - and/or that they don’t want any other (Zitto Kabwe) to interfere.  I might be wrong on this point, - or I do hope that I am wrong!

3. The local agent for ITV (Babati) showed an interest in reporting from the meeting in Dajamaeda.  He sent a reporter to the village. He recorded everything of importance from the meeting.  He told me that he was reporting in newspapers also. Apparently, somebody or something has so far managed to stop the journalists from publishing[2].  That “somebody” is most likely the same person(s) threating me by phone calls, wanting to stop me from visiting my former neighbours and partners in production.

I checked with the reporter on Monday 8^th. He confirmed that nothing had been reported anywhere, no attempt had been done so far in publishing anything.  He might still be in possession of the recordings, but it is more likely that “somebody” has paid the reporter to get rid of the material.

4. “Olav Myklatuns soldiers”; Dr Malleyeck (Haydom Lutheran Hospital) and Mr Munyaw (Mulbadaw Farm), travelled to Babati on Monday 1^st February, the same day as the Minister of Agriculture was there.  I do not know if they managed to meet with the Minister or with the ITV journalist, - or both. What I know is that they managed to see the District Commissioner in Hanang and got his assurance that they are safe at Mulbadaw.

I have reason to believe that they also pleaded with him to prevent people in Dajamaeda complaining to the Minister for Agriculture. If so, it confirms what the leaders in Dajamaeda said about a “stop” in Hanang every time they wanted to see higher authorities. The present management at Mulbadaw has as part of their strategy allocated land to senior district administrative officers in Hanang. With the new policy of the Magufuli Government, they have not done so in 2016, - as far as I know.

5. I talked by telephone with one person at present employed by HLH Mulbadaw Farm on Saturday night.  Through a common friend, he told me that some people at Mulbadaw knew what we had talked about. Neither he nor I had talked to anybody about it.  He was accused of telling me “business secrets”, - whatever that might be! Talking with me, revealing business secrets, would be reason enough for sacking (!) him, according the management at Mulbadaw.

6. The two Norwegians at present representing the Norwegian Management there, called a management meeting with Mr Munyaw and the (Kenyan) administrative officer. The main reason for the meeting was my presence in the area, according to sources at Mulbadaw (!).  

I had met with Joel Borra on Friday 29^th January. He is a former employee of NAFCO, HDC and HLH Mulbadaw Farm.  After the meeting on 29^th January, he was evicted from the house that he has been living in at Mulbadaw. He was told that he would be removed, using physical force, if he had not moved out within two weeks. He has taken the management to court (Toralf Rugland) in order to challenge the legality of the termination of his contract. The case has been scheduled for hearing 8 times, but the HLH Farm Management (?) has managed to prevent a ruling in the court as many times. (How?)

7. On Monday 1^st. of February, I parked the HDC vehicle outside a stationary shop with an internet café in Babati. After about half an hour, a person with a rather “professional” camera came into the shop and wanted to take pictures of me. He gave no reason.  Did the people who threatened me by phone calls send him?

8. I think that it is necessary to state that the sole purpose of my visit to Hanang was to meet my friends from the time that I was working there.

I had no idea that my presence would cause so much “havoc” and panic.  What do the present management at Mulbadaw think?  That I am planning to do what they did on 12^th August 2006, using migambo armed with rungu to take Mulbadaw Farm and CMSC?

I have no such intentions.

The behaviour of the management at Mulbadaw due to my brief presence in the area is telling a story: They are scared, and for good reasons.  They are afraid of their mischiefs, including crimes. The President in Tanzania might decide to look for the truth, perhaps he should.

Halvdan Jakobsen, 8^th February 2016.