http://allafrica.com/stories/201801260119.html


Tanzania: Poaching Syndicate Exposed

By Sylivester Domasa



Dodoma — KEY suspects in the massive poaching and wildlife trafficking were named yesterday, with the police given seven-day ultimatum to arrest and prosecute Wayne Lotter's murderers.

Natural Resources and Tourism Minister Hamisi Kigwangalla released the first list of operators, owners of hunting blocks and officials in the ministry accused of supporting the poaching syndicate.

He blamed the suspects whom he said had for a decade paralysed the country's national parks, protected areas and game reserves. Dr Kigwangalla, speaking to reporters here, said: "The suspects along with their associates will first undergo a thorough inquiry by the ministry's special task force...I have potential incriminating evidence and I want them to appear before the task force for questioning."

He gave the named suspects until next Wednesday to report to the Ministry in Dodoma. The named suspects are Berlette Safari Corporation Limited, which operates Ruvu Masai GCA, Selous GR LL1, Selous GR LL2 and Selous GR MT2; and Game Frontiers of Tanzania Ltd that controls Moyowosi/Njigwe GR 2, Rungwa River GCA, Mbaranga'NDU WMA and Ugalla GR E as well as Green Miles Safaris Limited.



Others are Mkwawa Hunting Safaris (T) Ltd that operates on Selous M1, Selous GR K4 and Selous GR R1; TanzaniaGame Trackers Safaris Ltd that operates on Maswa Kimali GR, Maswa Mbono, Ugalla GR N and Ugalla GR S. Wengert Windrose Safaris (T) Ltd that runs Lake Natron GCA-North, Makere FR-Uvinza OA and Moyowosi GR S also appears in the list. The minister charged that he had received vital information from the United States of America agency implicating some of the hunting block operators for supporting the poaching syndicate.

"I can confirm to you, a wife of one of the suspects had close relations with the Ivory Queen, Ms Yang Fenglan," Dr Kigwangalla charged, adding that some operators cleverly used their official documents to smuggle hundreds of kilogrammes of ivory and other endangered wildlife by conniving with dishonest government officials.

While hunting operators may have permits to kill two wild animals a year, Dr Kigwangalla said, some killed over 20 and used the same permit to smuggle the illegally hunted animals. "Some extended their hunting blocks while some are also accused of transferring hunting blocks without observing the procedures," he revealed.


It had come to the ministry's attention that while there were over 116,000 elephants in Ruaha Game Reserve in 2008, a 2014 census revealed that there were only 8,000 elephants. The Minister said the government has embarked on acomprehensive strategy to purge the entire syndicate of wildlife trafficking in the country by 2020.

Dr Kigwangalla warned especially the police to back up efforts by the ministry against poachers. Citing the killing of Lotter, renowned elephant conservationist in August last year, after having received numerous death threats in the country for his work, the minister said police were aware of the people behind the killing but had taken too long to act.

"The police are aware of the names and location of all people behind the killing...they had a video footage of the person who financed the plan, yet nothing has been done," the minister charged, giving the law enforcers seven days to take action or else he will personally take the matter to President John Magufuli.

According to Dr Kigwangalla, one of the people who had evidence has already been killed and others are afraid of their lives.



Read the original article on Daily News.

TGTS....wow!

Damnation. TGTS and Windrose are Friedkin owned, no?

More horseshit coming out of the TZ government. They need only look in the mirror to find those to blame. There were never 116,000 elephants in Ruaha NP.

I am not saying the new government is not taking steps to fix the problem now that “the horse has left the barn” (elephants to China).

Government corruption to blame as always.

IMO This is major bullshit.

Mark

quote:

Originally posted by MARK H. YOUNG:
IMO This is major bullshit.

Mark

I smell a shakedown.

What a load of bloody bullshit!

Poaching rests solely on the head of the government, for their inaction, and the corruption.

Nothing else.

Last week I had a meeting with a friend who spent several years trying to set up businesses in both Uganda and Kenya.

He finally gave up.

Citing corruption on such grand scale it defies comprehension!

1. Wasn't Green Mile the company that had the video a couple years ago where they were shooting from the vehicle. Shooting Kori's. Tormenting wounded animals?

2. Is Green Mile owned by royal family members from the UAE/Dubai?

3. "vital information from the United States of America" - If information is given on perpetrators in Tanzania, where are the names of the politicians and businessmen in Tanzania? Why only "outfitters"?

4. "Police know all the people behind killing Lotter and they have video of the person who financed the plan." Wonder if this was part of what was provided by USA through electronic surveillance? If so we can all hope this leads to arrests.

5. It would be interesting to know what outfitters objected to the change in the hunting concessions last year. Wonder if this is payback?

6. Dr. Kigwangalla has been in office less than six months. Is he trying to make a name for himself?

7. If this involves influential people from the UAE and the Friedken's, is this a potential shakedown?

It would be very interesting to hear from some of our Tanzania friends about this, but it is understandable that this may be to inflammable for them to speak at the moment.


There are a lot more questions than answers at this point.

quote:

It would be very interesting to hear from some of our Tanzania friends about this, but it is understandable that this may be to inflammable for them to speak at the moment.

More like a powder-keg.

Slowly but surely, Tanzania is starting to behave like Zimbabwe towards foreign investors!

https://www.eturbonews.com/176...ter-hunting-industry


Tanzania Hunters Feel Tourism Minister is After Hunting Industry

By Adam Ihucha - eTN Tanzania -January 29, 2018





A tug of war pitting players in Tanzania’s consumptive tourism and the government has taken a new twist with professional hunters now accusing authorities of negating the rule of law.

Reacting to allegations the Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, Dr Hamis Kigwangalla, recently made against its members, the Tanzania Professional Hunters Association (TPHA) says the remarks were a culmination of disrespect to natural justice.

“TPHA have received with grave consternation the remarks made by Dr Kigwangala in the course of a press conference held in Dodoma in which he accused several hunting companies and our members of a miscellany of criminal deeds including poaching” reads a statement signed by TPHA Chief Executive, Ms Lathifah Sykes.

On 25 January 2018, Dr Kigwangalla released before the press conference what he termed as the first list of operators, owners of hunting blocks and officials in the ministry accused of supporting the poaching syndicate.

The cabinet minister publicly mentioned the suspects whom he said had for a decade paralyzed the country’s national parks, protected areas and game reserves for supporting poaching syndicate in one way of another.

Dr Kigwangalla, speaking to reporters, said: “The suspects along with their associates will first undergo a thorough inquiry by the ministry’s special task force…I have potential incriminating evidence and I want them to appear before the task force for questioning.”

The professional hunters’ umbrella organisation wonders in its statement if the press conference the minister held was meant to summon its suspected members to report to Dodoma for an inquiry.



“The government operates through documents, but we haven’t received any summons besides the media reports,” laments TPHA in its statement.

TPHA is further discomfited that the Minister with blithe indifference to the due process rights of the parties concerned, would find it appropriate to ventilate such grave accusations against several companies and individuals over the media whilst knowing that such accusations would be virally and uncritically replicated throughout the world and thus occasion lasting prejudice against the parties concerned without being heard.

TPHA says that it also find the utterances of the Minister during the aforesaid press conference to be the acme of irresponsibility and discordant with the most trite tenets of constitutional governance.

“The Minister’s approach of brazenly and publicly associating several prominent companies and individuals with the dastardly crime of poaching is highly regrettable and affronts the dictates of natural justice since by his widely disseminated utterances the Minister has virtually condemned the affected parties unheard and trampled over their rights to due process but more disconcertingly, his abjured remarks would have the adverse effect of titling the process of investigation against the affected parties” reads the TPHA statement.

As result of the Dr Kigwangalla’s injudicious remarks, TPHA says it is inconceivable that any process set by the Minister to investigate the allegations raised by him would be fair and just towards the parties whom he has incriminated in the most public and sonorous manner.

“Apart from the adverse effect on the rights of the specific companies and individuals, the Minister’s remarks would also seriously taint the image of the entire country’s hunting industry since his remarks yield the negative impact that the industry has inextricable ties to criminal syndicates” statement reads in part.

“We are extremely disappointed. Dr Kigwangala has deliberately tainted an image of the entire hunting industry for unceremoniously naming the key companies in the mass media allegedly involved in poaching syndicate in the country,” contends Ms Sykes in a statement.

TPHA is also dismayed that the Minister’s injurious remarks were preceded by attempts by him to cancel the validly granted hunting blocks to hunting operators and later as a palliative measure to placate the protests against the cancellation of the hunting blocks, the abridgement of the tenure of the five year tenure of the hunting blocks to a term of two years.

These precedent acts by Dr Kigwangalla were not based on the law and bespeaks unilateralism on the part of the Minister and lack of solicitude to the large interest of the industry.

TPHA believes that the Minister’s regrettable remarks in the course of the said press conference is intertwined with the unilateral and illegal acts highlighted above.

The timing of Dr Kigwangalla’s remarks is also importune as it coincides with the fact that at this moment, a preponderant number of hunting companies are taking part in international convention to market Tanzania as the potential destination for consumptive tourism.



“It is a cinch that the Minister’s remarks will affect the marketing initiatives of these companies in the ongoing convention, which will in turn affect revenue generation of the sector,” notes Ms Lathifah in a statement.



Hunting sector is worth up to $30 million a year to the country’s economy, but fresh data shows that in 2016 the Africa’s wildlife-rich-country, only pocketed $20 million, due to various factors, including poaching menace.



“No matter what evidence the minister has against the alleged hunting companies and my members, the truth will remain forever that only court of law is the sole organ of the state that entrusted to condemn the suspects after having gone through the due process of principles of natural justice” says Ms. Sykes in statement.

TPHA maintains that the viability of the industry and the country as the best investment destination hinges on the respect of the rule of law and that to bandy about incriminating allegations before investigations are conducted by the pertinent authorities is to denude the rule of law of any efficacy and that would portend serious consequences to the long term sustainability of the industry and the country.

“The minister violated the rule of law by condemning the suspected hunting companies and individuals even before giving them a room to tell their side of the story as it clearly stipulated in the constitution of Tanzania, where every body is entitled to be heard” the statement reads in part.

“Lastly, TPHA would hasten to add that they are not opposed to investigation of any of the allegations against any of the companies or individuals adversely mentioned by the Minister in the course of the said press conference, however, they strenuously object to the cavalier and irresponsible manner in which the Minister has gone about making grave allegations of a miscellany of crimes against several companies and individuals before the relevant authorities have conducted any investigation to ascertain the veracity of those allegations” statement reads in part.

The Minister’s utterances against those companies and individuals amount to a rabid witch-hunt and derogates from the niceties of due process, Ms Lathifah concludes in her statement

quote:

Originally posted by fulvio:

quote:

It would be very interesting to hear from some of our Tanzania friends about this, but it is understandable that this may be to inflammable for them to speak at the moment.
There are a lot more questions than answers at this point.

https://ippmedia.com/en/news/h...la%E2%80%99s-remarks

Thanks for the update. Makes you wonder which anti-hunting organization is greasing the minister's wheels.

quote:

Thanks for the update. Makes you wonder which anti-hunting organization is greasing the minister's wheels.

Isn't it a coincidence that the Americans are the only ones mentioned?

I met several of those clueless USF&W anti-poaching "experts" (dickheads) while they were investigating and providing "solutions" (laughable/naive)on how to curb the ivory poaching/smuggling.

Believe me there is no shortage of people in this world who live in a bubble.

quote:

Originally posted by fulvio:

quote:

Thanks for the update. Makes you wonder which anti-hunting organization is greasing the minister's wheels.

Isn't it a coincidence that the Americans are the only ones mentioned?

I met several of those clueless USF&W anti-poaching "experts" (dickheads) while they were investigating and providing "solutions" (laughable/naive)on how to curb the ivory poaching/smuggling.

Believe me there is no shortage of people in this world who live in a bubble.

There is quite a number of American TV shows claiming to fight poaching.

Nothing further from the truth.

Some stupid gungho ex military idiots trying to make some money out of people's ignorance!

Concession owners pay out of their own pockets - and donations from kind hearted hunters - who are doing the real work against poaching.

quote:

Concession owners pay out of their own pockets - and donations from kind hearted hunters - who are doing the real work against poaching.

That's a fact!