Prime
Tanzania rejects review of hunting permits for tourism
Hippopotamuses in a national park in East Africa.
What you need to know:
The government aims at ensuring that locals become major players in the hunting industry but tourist companies that were locked out have appealed the decision.
Monitor Correspondents
Dar e salaam
The government will not review the allocation of hunting permits for both local and foreign tourist companies despite pressure from firms that lost in the bidding in September last year.
Natural Resources and Tourism Minister Ezekiel Maige closed the door on that possibility in the wake of reports that foreign tourist hunting companies that received no allocations under the amended Wildlife Conservation Act 2009 had mounted a charm offensive, through politicians to pressure the government to order fresh allocations.
In an interview on Wednesday, Natural Resources and Tourism minister Ezekiel Maige did not mince his words: “Any foreign tourist hunting companies that are using politicians, including MPs, to pressure the government to conduct fresh allocation of the hunting blocks are wasting their time.”
He was responding to queries from The Citizen, a sister paper to Saturday Monitor, following reports that some of the foreign firms had set up a campaign to overturn the legislation that seeks to ensure that indigenous Tanzanians get a chance to be major players in the hunting industry.
The law states that the percentage of foreign-owned companies allocated hunting blocks shall not exceed 15 per cent of the total of the existing hunting companies at any particular time.
The allocations were made by the Hunting Block Allocation Advisory Committee embracing wildlife experts from the Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute, Tanzania National Parks, among others.
Too late
“The allocation of the hunting blocks has been done in accordance with the legislation,” Mr Maige said. “The foreign companies should have pressurised the MPs not to approve the legislation. But since the legislation is in force, it is too late.” He denied reports that a report submitted to his office had reviewed the allocation of the hunting blocks.
Those who were aggrieved by the allocations, he said, should appeal to the High Court and not to politicians. The secretary-general of the Tanzania Hunting Operators Association (Tahoa), Mr Abdukadir Luta Mohamed, said 33 local and foreign member companies applied for hunting blocks. These include Francolin Safaris Ltd and Intercon Adventure Safaris Ltd and Tanzania Big Game Safari Ltd.
All firms that were locked out and some that were not satisfied with their allocations have appealed to the minister. The final government list indicates that a total of 60 hunting companies have been allocated 146 hunting blocks throughout the country.
