Dar es Salaam. Good morning! The Chanzo is here with a rundown of major news stories reported in Tanzania over the weekend.
Maasai set to appeal the judgment by the EACJ
The Maasai will appeal the recent pedestrian judgment by a bench of three judges at the first entrance division of the Arusha-based East African Court of Justice (EACJ), a statement released over the weekend stated.
On Friday, the EACJ ruled in favour of the government after a five-year legal battle between evicted Maasai communities and the state. According to the court, evidence to plead the communities’ case was insufficient and contradictory.
The ruling comes as a blow to Indigenous, environmental and human rights organizations who have advocated for the return of evicted farmers to their land and the withdrawal of the planned wildlife game reserve.
Don Deya, the counsel for the applicants, said for the sake of records, “Positively, the Court asserts that it has jurisdiction over the matter; that the case is admissible.”
Deya, who doubles as the director of the Pan-African Lawyers Union, added, for good measure and for the entire world to hear, “Also positively, the Court accepts the principle that there is village land separate from Serengeti National Park.”
The court said that the applicants have not proven that the 2017 evictions took place on village land. It added that the alleged human rights violations were hearsay.
“The judgment referred solely to the witnesses of the applicants who testified in court,” the statement said, quoting Deya. “It makes no mention of the several other witnesses whose affidavits were filed in court and were not cross-examined. This did not take away the totality of the affidavit evidence on record.”
Deya also said that there are other grounds for which the appeal will take place.
“The court contends that the witnesses of the applicants contradicted each and that their testimonies were generally insufficient,” he said. “However, the court treats the multitude of affidavits, and also the oral testimony of the applicants in a very shallow and callous manner.”
Tanzanian doctor dies of Ebola in Uganda
The Association of Surgeons of Uganda announced on Saturday the passing of a 37-year-old Tanzanian doctor after he contracted the deadly disease of Ebola.
Dr Mohammed Ali was in Uganda pursuing a Master of Medicine in Surgery course at Kampala International University.
His death came hours after the Ugandan Ministry of Health on Friday announced that the death toll from the Ebola outbreak in the country had risen to seven.
“It is with great sorrow that we have received the news of the passing of Dr Mohammed Ali, a 37-year-old Tanzania national who has been pursuing a Master of Medicine in Surgery at Kampala International University,” the association said in a Twitter post. “Dr Ali lost the battle to the Ebola Virus Disease.”
Ugandan Minister of Health Dr Jane Ruth Aceng said Dr Ali tested positive for Ebola on September 26, 2022, and died while receiving treatment at Fort Portal Regional Referral Hospital isolation facility. He died at 3 AM on Saturday.
According to Dr Aceng, Ali was the first doctor and second health worker to have succumbed to Ebola.
“The first was a midwife from St Florence Clinic, a probable case because she died before testing,” Dr Aceng said on Twitter.
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