Kesi ya Mwakezaji inapokuwa ngumu....

WELCOME TO 'INVESTOR FRIENDLY' TANZANIA

In 2004, Benjamin and Millie Mengi sold though their company Fiona Tanzania, the lease to Silverdale & Mbono Farms in the Hai District of the Kilimanjaro region of Tanzania to Silverdale Tanzania Ltd a company in which British investor Stewart Middleton ownes a controlling interest.

One year later, after being paid in full and signing a receipt Benjamin Mengi began negotiating with another British investor Konrad Legg, of Tudeley Estates, to sell the lease to him a second time.

Mengi demanded that the British investors handed the lease back to him stating that he had not been paid in full and that $7,000 was still owing to him.

When the investors refused a four year campaign of terror, legal abuse and harassment was unleashed against them which was and continues to be facilitated by the Tanzanian police force, judiciary, State institutions and government Ministers.

The police have persistently terrorised, imprisoned and unlawfully arrested and imprisoned Stewart Middleton and his Tanzanian staff. In the main the abuse has ben led by the Moshi police headed and directly facilitated by Mr Lucas Ng'hoboko the Regional Police commander for the Kilimanjaro region who the investors describe as an overtly corrupt police offcier supporting the criminal actiivities of Banjamin Mengi.

President Kikwete has promised the British government that the situation would be fairly resolved. He reneged on his promise and the investors had to flee for their lives in 2008 with the total loss of their investment.

The police constantly came to the gates of Silverdale Farm demanding entry on varying complaints initiated by Benjamin Mengi, Millie Mengi or his associate Anold Kimaro who holds himself out as an attorney for Mengi in 14 abusive law plants brought against the investors and their staff to harass them.

The police always came to the farms armed with AK 47s and were abusing their powers in that they had no power to enter the farm and their purpose was to intimidate. Benjamin Mengi was almost always leading the police proceedings.

In November 2005, Mengi stated in front of the senior officer of Boma Ngombe police (seen here in this video) that '..he was black, you are white and the police here are in my hands and will do nothing to protect you..'

Mengi stated that he would drive the investors out of Tanzania by any means and if necessary, would chop them to pieces with a machete and send them back to Zimbabwe in a coffin. He was not arrested for this abuse.

This video shows some of the daily harassment of the investors by the police. The officers, armed with AK 47 machine guns, come to the farm and demand entry.

They are asked what they want and to state what power under the penal Code of Tanzania, they have power to enter.

They never state the later. Firstly they state they have come to the farm to investigate the theft of Mengi's cattle from the farm. Mengi and his wife, keep 120 cattle on the farm unlawfully. They use them to destroy the investors crops produced for export. the Mengis are therefore guilty of criminal trespass and the police do nothing to stop the continuance of this serious criminal offence and situation. The cattle are used as a tool of harassment.

The police are asked who the complainant is. They state Benjamin Mengi. The investors point out that he is in India.

The police then change their story and state that the complainant is now Mengis cattle staff (seen in the video on the left). The police are told that the cattle staff are trespassing on the farm, as are the cattle, that they do not own the cattle and therefore have no right of criminal complaint. The officer is asked what power he has to enter the farms. He refuses to state what power he is operating under. The offcier then is just not sure why he is there and can clearly be heard to say 'maybe the complaint is theft of cattle'.

The police are corrupt abusive and acting as an instrument of promoting Mengi's criminal activities. The investors are bonafide in all respects and yet the police ar ignoring the laws of Tanzania and allowing Mengi to commit criminal trespass on the farms with his cattle.

The investors state that had the police been given permission to enter, they would have made an unlawful arrest of Stewart Middleton or one of his staff.

The investors also state that they would not have obstructed the police had they been acting in the lawful execution of their duty.

A history of this case can be seen at: -

http://www.theyworkforyou.com/whall/?...

The U.K. is the largest donor of foreign aid to Tanzania and it is a country that is vocally, rhetorically committed to being an 'investor friendly' country.

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THE REPUBLIC OF TANZANIA ARRESTED AND IMPRISONSED INNOCENT BRITISH INVESTOR STEWART MIDDLETON USING FORGED DOCUMENTS MANIPULATED BY BENJAMIN MENGI AND FACILITATED BY THE MOSHI POLICE AND JUDICIARY.
Tanzania, a country committed to good governance and an 'investor friendly' environment, savagely abused British Investor Stewart Middleton a bona fide investor in the country.
Stewart Middleton, a bona fide investor in the agricultural sector in Tanzania purchased an assignment to the lease of Silverdale & Mbono Farms, in the Hai district of the Kilimanjaro region in May 2004 from Benjamin and Millie Mengi. Benjamin Mengi is brother to Media Tycoon Reginald Mengi who owns IPP Media in Tanzania.
In April 2005, Mengi began negotiating with another British investor Konrad Legg; to sell the lease to him for a second time and he demanded that Middleton hand the farms back to him based on the fact that Mengi, despite having signed a full receipt, had not been paid in full. It had taken Mengi one year to make this allegation. Legg began negotiation with Kenyan firm Tropical Farm Management, to manage the coffee on Silverdale Farm.
When Middleton refused to hand back the lease, Mengi, using the police and the judiciary and the Kyeri, Shari and Uswa/Mamb Co-operative societies, began a campaign of violence racist abuse and Zimbabwe style tactics to force the investor to leave Tanzania. The tactics were supported by the Moshi Police and the judiciary,
In March 2006, the High Court in Moshi dismissed Mengi's claims to have the investors evicted from the farms but left the investors to pay $6,000 in costs.
In November 2005, Mr. Middleton was arrested on the basis of charge sheets that were forged by the Moshi Police. The complainant was Benjamin Mengi. The charge sheets contained charges that do not exist under the Penal Code of Tanzania. In July 2006. Mr. Middleton was arrested again and imprisoned. This time on allegations of a civil nature carrying no power of arrest, that Mr. Middleton had breached a court order. The court order was forged and issued by Magistrate Temu from the Moshi Magistrates Court. The date on the order preceded the date for the hearing of the order. The first order was issued and not happy with that, Mengi applied for another order signed by another Magistrate. He then complained that Middleton had breached the order. Notwithstanding the order was forged and of a civil nature, it carried no power of arrest.
Despite representations to Vincent Lyimo, Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Mr. Middleton was placed before the court late in the afternoon refused bail and sent to Karanga Prison in Moshi for four days and incarcerated outside the High Court in Moshi in a cage on the day of his release. The file went missing for two days so the court could not address the incarceration. On the day of his release, the prosecution attorney stated, that Mr. Middleton's incarceration had been a travesty of justice. The High Court judge stated that the Magistrate had not been free from bias and that there was no evidence to suggest Mr. Middleton had breached a court order.
All charges were dropped y the Director of Public Prosecutions, but no apology has ever been given to Mr. Middleton by the Republic Tanzania who after four years continue to refuse to address the conduct of the courts and police to register Mr. Middleton's lease.

IPP Media newspapers reported the arrests accusing Mr. Middleton of offences of dishonesty making no investigations into the authenticity of the documents and giving no right to reply.

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