By Edward Qorro in Arusha
Ngorongoro residents are once again up in arms with the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority (NCAA), accusing them of hatching a plan to have them evicted from 8292 square-kilometer area.
The irate residents, led by their ward councilors, further pointed an accusing finger on the conservation agency for denying them the opportunity of engaging in economic activities in the good name of conservation.
Tomas Oltwati, an Endulen Village Chairperson alleged that NCAA had denied them the right to access the Crater, Olmoti and Mash to graze their cattle.
"We cannot graze our cattle simply because the NCAA management has prohibited us to get any closer to the grazing land," lamented Mr Oltwati, while briefing reporters at Mto wa Mbu town.
The ward representative further claimed that the NCAA had defied Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa's directive of providing them with salt, which is a necessary mineral for cattle.
Echoing similar sentiments, Shinga Sepetani said the NCAA lacked a clear General Management Plan(GMP) which he says it has seen the conservation agency failing to execute one of its missions of improving the social welfare of the residents who live harmoniously with the wildlife.
"They've for years been using the Multiple Land Use plan as a plot to remove us from a place we've called home for six decades," he alleged.
Mr Sepetani urged the government to put to a halt, the proposed decision of evicting more than 73,000 pastoralists from the area but strive to ensure that NCAA strikes the right balance between conservation and people's livelihoods.
The residents also took issue with recommendations in the NCA Multiple Land Use Module of 2018/19, saying there weren't involved in drafting it.
The chairpersons said they were more than ready to sit down with NCAA to resolve the issue of population increase in the area.
They further called for NCAA Conservation Commissioner Dr Freddy Manongi removal from office, saying he was behind all their alleged miseries.
But in his quick rejoinder, Dr Manongi remained defiant on calls of his axing; maintaining that the multiple use modules must be reviewed to save the Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA) which he warned was on the verge of extinction.
"I'm not aware of any plans of evicting the communities from the area, but my only concern is the survival of the place which will be compromised if the Multiple Land Use module isn't looked at again as it has failed to cope with the population pressure in the NCA," observed Dr Manongi.
According to the NCAA boss, the population pressure was also alluded to by the Controller and Auditor General's (CAG) report of 2020.
The Conservation Commissioner further denied claims of suppressing the locals, saying the conservation agency was in full support of their welfare.
He singled a recent gesture by the authority of allowing the residents to engage in farming where more than 54 households were allowed to.
In the same vein, Dr Manongi rubbished claims that they weren't ready to employ 15 youths from the pastoral communities.
"If anything, we had forwarded the names to the head of public service but the response from the government was clear, that they had no such slots neither did they have the budget to do so," explained Dr Manongi.
In April this year, President Samia Suluhu Hassan expressed her concern on the NCA, noting that the area was on the brink of extinction due to population pressure.
It is estimated that more than 100,000 people co-exist with the wildlife in the area
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