Q&A – 30 June 2014
Beehive in neighborhood
My neighbor has placed a number of beehives in a tree whose shade gets into my house. I am very conscious about my beauty and thus use perfumes and lotion with strong scents. I am worried the bees might attack me because of this scent. What can I do legally?
LJ Arusha
The law which provides for beehive keeping is the Beekeeping Act, 2002 (“the Act”) and it protects equally those with or without beauty. This law states that if the Director or authorized officer is satisfied that in particular premises the keeping of bees or a number of beehives are public nuisance or a danger to public health or Public safety; or for any other specified reason, those premises are unsuitable for beekeeping, he may, by order served on the person who is keeping the beehives prohibit the keeping of bees on those Premises; or order the said person to keep a specified number of beehives on those the said premises.
If the person does not implement the order of the Director or authorized officer, the Act states that, where the Director or an authorized officer is satisfied that a person has failed to comply with directives contained in an order under the Director or the authorized officer, this shall be reported to Court.
Hence based on the above, you can report your concern to the Director regulating the Bee keepers. The Director shall send his authorized officer to inquire about the issue and they will decide a way forward. If the above is not decided in your favor, you can institute a tortuous case on the ground of nuisance and seek the Court to grant permanent injunction against your neighbor. Kindly consult your attorney for further guidance.
Flying to the international space centre
I have a new cheaper way to fly to the international space centre and want to know whether I can be stopped by anyone. From my reading this is an object in no man’s land and every human has the right to go out into space and to the space centre. When I pass immigration in Dar what should I tell them?
EL, Dar
We have received a number of your space questions and believe that we answered one about a year ago. Unfortunately you have about 20 pending difficult space questions most of which are not legal in nature and hence we have not answered them. We have however selected this one question that has a legal component.
To begin with the international space centre was funded by the US, Russia, Canada and some other countries. No African country including Tanzania have funded this, and understandably so. Hence you have no automatic right to just walk in there. We are also not sure how you intend to get there, and if you have devised a new way of cheaply getting into space, then we recommend you contact both the American and Russian space agencies, amongst others, as they will be interested in this new invention of yours. You should also consider a patent so that no one can steal your invention.
The Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, Including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies states that all space exploration will be done with good intentions and is equally open to all States that comply with international law. No one nation may claim ownership of outer space or any celestial body. Activities carried out in space must abide by the international law and the nations undergoing these said activities must accept responsibility for the governmental or non-governmental agency involved. Objects launched into space are subject to their nation of belonging, including people.
Objects, parts, and components discovered outside the jurisdiction of a nation will be returned upon identification. If a nation launches an object into space, they are responsible for any damages that occur internationally.
From our research, which we recommend you also verify, we believe Tanzania has not signed the above treaty. Nonetheless we believe that the treaty would likely apply to Tanzania if you decided to go up there. Hence, whilst you might not be automatically welcome to the international space station, you are free to go to space if you have the means, which you claim you do have.
As for immigration, likely they will not believe you. However they cannot stop you going to space and will stamp an exit stamp from the United Republic. When you come back from space, you will not have any entry stamp into any nation and we recommend that you explain the circumstances to the immigration officers. In fact, on the day you arrive using this new method of yours, you might be the first person in Africa to have gone up to space as a tourist for a quick trip. With such a milestone, immigration will not cause you much of a hassle.
John F Kennedy stated the following when encouraging NASA employees to go to the moon: “We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.”
It is not a bad idea to dream because dreams do come true. The impossible becomes possible and we wish you all the best in your mission.