THE Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism has said it will intervene in the ongoing operation to evict residents living near the National Parks in Karagwe District, as plans to seek the lasting solution on the matter is still ongoing.
Deputy Minister for Natural Resources
and Tourism, Engineer Ramo Makani said in the National Assembly today
that the government would seek first hand information regarding the
ongoing eviction exercise to see how best to handle the matter.
He was responding to a query raised by
Karagwe Member of Parliament, Innocent Bashungwa (CCM) who sought
guidance from the Chairman of the House Andrew Chenge to suspend
parliament business to debate the ongoing evictions, charging that it
was exposing residents in the district to danger “As we speak now, over
300 households in my constituency have already been saved with eviction
notices from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism informing
them to vacate within three days,’’ he said.
According to the law maker, the eviction
order was unfair, adding that it was exposing them to poverty as they
have nowhere to go. Following the MP’s plea to the House Chairman to
suspend parliamentary business to discuss the matter, the government’s
Chief Whip, Jenister Mhagama asked the ministry to give clarification
concerning the matter.
In his clarification, Eng Makani said
the government had formed a committee to deal with the ongoing disputes
between residents living near the national parks and the ministry, which
comprises of officials from three ministries—Ministry of Natural
Resource and Tourism, Ministry of Land, Housing and Human Settlements
Development and Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries.
“The committee is currently at initial
stages of coordinating and assessing people living closer to the
national park because this issue has been a problem for a long time in
the country that needs long-term solutions,’’ he said.
The Deputy Minister said the initial
report of the committee had already been handed over to Permanent
Secretaries (PSs) of the respective ministries, adding that the PSs
would hand over the report to the Cabinet before the final directive
from top government authorities.
Eng Makani said the exercise that was
taking place in Karagwe was just earmarking and putting new signs in the
demarcations that have been existing for a long time but residents
there are not able to identify them. However, he was quick to point out
that the government would intervene to see if the concerns raised by the
Karagwe lawmaker were valid.
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