By Deus Ngowi
Mlele
— Tanzania National Parks (TANAPA) has completed training to its
officials, as it gets ready to move from civilian to paramilitary system
to curb poaching.
The sixth and last
phase was closed by the Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism,
Professor Jumanne Maghembe, on Saturday that included 27 senior
officials and make the number of trained ones 175.
Addressing the
participants here after commissioning them, Prof Maghembe said that to
support the initiative to go military, President John Magufuli has
offered intensive military training to 50 TANAPA officials starting this
week.
It aims at
equipping the authority with better and necessary field skills. He sent a
strong message to poachers and intruders to national parks and forest
reserves that military force would be applied against them without any
hesitation.
Prof Maghembe said
it was enough how parks and reserved areas have been degraded, animals
killed, forests set on fire and logs cut. "Now it is time to take
action.
We back TANAPA in
its decision to initiate a paramilitary system to protect the country's
resources. "To poachers and intruders in the national parks and reserved
areas; I say we won't send Christmas cards to them.
They come in with
guns and we will respond with guns," cautioned Prof Maghembe. He added
that much as TANAPA will cooperate with the police force, authority will
have to stand on its own legs, go forward and not wait for others in
the strategy to go military since the parks are one of the main sources
of foreign currency earnings and livelihoods to many in the country.
The minister said
much as poaching has been getting chronic, he was optimistic that its
solution is at last as use of force is necessary since poachers have
refused to hear pleas to stay out of the parks.
He sent another
message to park and forest wardens and managers who entertain
encroachers and poachers and let people set fire on parks and forests,
cut trees and smuggle out logs that their days were numbered.
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