How not to end poaching: Sow terror country wide and then act surprised

 

By Jenerali Ulimwengu

Just the kind of stuff to wrap up the year with. In the week before Christmas, the ordinary Dar es Salaam citizen should have been worrying about the muddy substance the water supply company was selling us as water. Water you could hardly flush your toilet with, and for which you paid dearly.

But no, instead we were forced to focus on yet another soap opera in our excuse for a parliament as our devalued MPs struggled to regain relevance around issues of the political responsibility of ministers for infractions committed by their subordinates.

This time it was about an operation mounted by government agencies to eradicate the scourge of poaching in our national parks, game reserves and forests, a scourge that has reportedly depleted our flora and fauna to frightening levels. The figures given for the dwindling numbers of elephants and rhinos are simply staggering.

Though the protection of savannahs and what wealth they hold lies within the docket of the ministry responsible for natural resources, the operation, obviously, had to be joined by the more muscular agents of government, including the police and wildlife wardens and guards. This time, for good measure, the military was also roped in, no doubt because sometimes the poachers behave like an invading army.

It turns out, though, that this motley anti-poaching force went on a rampage across practically the whole country, sowing terror and destruction, including violent assaults, arson, vandalism, rape and extrajudicial killings.

These prompted the mandating of a parliamentary committee to investigate the allegations and report back to the House. Many of the allegations were found to be true, and in the debates that ensued in Bunge, irate legislators called for the guillotine.

The ruling party caucus gave the prime minister an ultimatum: Either the line ministers (natural resources, police, defence and livestock) are cashiered or we cashier you.

In a theatre of the absurd that evening it was not too clear what was going on in parliament. The Speaker looked like she expected the ministers in question to take the floor one after the other to state that they had decided to resign. The first one to be called obliged, citing “political responsibility.” The second stood up, only to say his ministry was not involved; the two others were not seen or heard.

It was left to the prime minister to take the floor to say that, indeed, what had been revealed by the investigation was “unacceptable” and people had to be accountable; that the president had agreed that people take responsibility; that it was all about being accountable; that even the minister who said it wasn’t me, well, it was really him….

In the end, it was hard to determine from this meandering statement whether these ministers had resigned or had been sacked. What had the president really done? Accepted the ministers’ resignations before he had received them, or sacked them and then ordered them to resign? Or what?

Other questions linger too. Why do you need to mount a paramilitary operation to deal with a problem that you have been living with since forever, and which, you must know, can only be eradicated by kicking out and arresting and charging all those high officials in government aiding and abetting poachers and their clients?

Shouldn’t operations really be reserved for sudden, unexpected happenings, such as a tsunami or an earthquake, and not for our own embedded avarice, corruption, and incompetence? And, anyway, was it not the same prime minister who only recently declared that, “They will be clobbered; we are tired; they must be clobbered”? So, why does he appear surprised when what he ordered actually happens?

If, as promised, some people will be brought before a court of law to answer charges related to the alleged atrocities, might they not cite the prime minister’s “beat’em up” speech in parliament?

Meanwhile, my water is still muddy.

Jenerali Ulimwengu is chairman of the board of the Raia Mwema newspaper and an advocate of the High Court in Dar es Salaam. E-mail: ulimwengu@jenerali.com