Soldiers walk on Nyirenda’s Uhuru footprint

DAILY NEWS Reporters in Moshi

RETIRED CDF General George Waitara (with hat left), leading a delegation of 47 trekkers to scale Mount Kilimanjaro in Moshi, recently. Only 28 of them managed to reach the summit. (Photo by Marc Nkwame)

A GROUP of soldiers from the Tanzania People’s Defence Forces (TPDF) have successfully followed the steps of Alex Nyirenda (pictured) by hoisting the National Flag atop Mount Kilimanjaro, making another history in East Africa.

Led by former TPDF General, George Waitara, the soldiers were marking the 56th anniversary of Tanzania’s independence. They were among the 48 people who started to scale Africa’s ‘rooftop’ among them some journalists, Tanzania National Parks (TANAPA) officials and other individuals.

When Tanganyika (now Tanzania) got independence some 56 years ago, TPDF troops led by Nyirenda hoisted the flag at the top of the world’s highest free standing mountain. The group descended and reached at the Marangu Gate on Sunday and were received by the Acting Kilimanjaro Regional Commissioner (RC), Ms Agnes Hokororo who congratulated the group for patriotism and promoting the movement.

General Waitara who is also TANAPA Board Chairman said that the move has provided training to identify the various challenges in the Kilimanjaro region. He said it was a great honour to hoist the national flag at the top of Kilimanjaro.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism has released five new names to join the special committee formed to rebrand the country globally as the ultimate tourist destination for East Africa. An official release from the ministry’s permanent secretary, Maj-Gen Gaudence Milanzi listed the five new entries as Mr Javed Jafferi, Ms Hafsa Hassan Mbamba, Dr Miraji Ussi, Mr Salim Aikhasasa and Mr Arafat Haji – all joining the ‘Destination Tanzania National Branding Committee.

The new members will join the original team of 16 delegates that were named in the original committee thus increasing the panel to reach 21 and these will work out on strategies to brand Tanzania as the ultimate tourist destination under the theme of “Tanzania, the Land of Kilimanjaro Serengeti and Zanzibar.”

“The committee is expected to strengthen the position of Tanzania as an outstanding destination and aggressively market this identity in all outlets across the globe,” Major General Milanzi explained. Tanzania targets to attract more than 2 million tourists per year effective from 2020 onwards.

The country is home to Africa’s highest Peak; Mount Kilimanjaro; the legendary Ngorongoro Crater and 16 National Parks, among them Serengeti, which is famous for the annual wildebeest migration.

Now, the newly fitted ‘Destination Branding’ Committee to rebrand the nation, will be chaired by Ms Devotha Mdachi the Director General for the Tanzania Tourist Board (TTB) who is assisted by Mr Richard Rugimbana, while Mr Geoffrey Meena will serve as Secretary and Mr Dennis Simkoko as the Assistant Secretary.