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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