28th September 2013
Following increased illegal poaching of elephants
and rhinos in the country’s national parks, President Jakaya Kikwete
has announced he will personally command the Tanzania People’s Defense
Forces (TPDF) to help fight the vice.
A Statement issued by the Directorate of Communications at State House said in Dar es Salaam yesterday said that President Kikwete, who is commnder-in-chief of the armed forces, announced his intended move following rampant killings of the animals alongside wanton felling of trees for charcoal.
The president made the announcement at UN headquarter in New York city on Thursday this week when he met fellow world leaders at a meeting convened to discuss wildlife poaching and illegal businesses in wood planks across the world.
President Kikwete noted that Tanzania’s tourism was threatened with indiscriminate killings of the animal for their tusks whose lucrative business had expanded across the world. He said he would take further step to protect tourism – which contributes 17 percent to the National Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and currently employs over 300,000 people.
The State House statement sys Kikwete told the meeting which earlier had been organized by Gabon President Ali Omar Bongo in collaboration with the German government at the UN headquarters office in New York that in 1960 Tanzania had about 350,000 elephants, and that their numbers had dropped to 110,000 by 2009.
He also said the number of rhinos had gone down from some 700 animals in 1974 to a mere 100 now, mostly due to poaching.
However, the president said that in the early 1980s and late 1990s the government was forced to apply extra force -- by deploying its army -- in the affected areas.
“But we have witnessed increased acts of poaching in the past four years … due mainly to dishonesty among the stakeholders … between 2010 and July 2013 more than 1,386 elephants were killed in Tanzania,” he said.
He said the government had since taken stern steps to curb poaching. “My government has signed various international contracts to help fight the phenomenon,” the president said, adding that the government had since arrested poachers and impounded several weapons.
The president noted that between 2010 and mid-2013, some 5,189 poachers were arrested and taken to court, and that 1,952 weapons had since been impounded.
He also said that 3,788 pieces of elephant tusks weighing 10,756kg had been impounded across the country. To heighten the fight against poaching, the president said he had ordered the TPDF soldiers to help fight wildlife rogues.
Meanwhile, the president has assured the public that social security firms will remain stable until 2040, and that they would continue building various projects such as construction of roads, water, electricity in rural areas, airports and water services within Dar es Salaam and Morogoro regions
He revealed that at a meeting in New York this week, in the investment meeting of African countries with New York businessmen as well as Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC).
Kikwete adds that social security funds had started making funds available for development, and that they would continue doing so in future, citing the University of Dodoma (UDOM) as a test case.
Says he: “All social security funds in Tanzania are safe … they do not face any financial problems … Tanzania is using these social funds well … that’s why we’ll continue benefiting from them,” he argued.
A Statement issued by the Directorate of Communications at State House said in Dar es Salaam yesterday said that President Kikwete, who is commnder-in-chief of the armed forces, announced his intended move following rampant killings of the animals alongside wanton felling of trees for charcoal.
The president made the announcement at UN headquarter in New York city on Thursday this week when he met fellow world leaders at a meeting convened to discuss wildlife poaching and illegal businesses in wood planks across the world.
President Kikwete noted that Tanzania’s tourism was threatened with indiscriminate killings of the animal for their tusks whose lucrative business had expanded across the world. He said he would take further step to protect tourism – which contributes 17 percent to the National Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and currently employs over 300,000 people.
The State House statement sys Kikwete told the meeting which earlier had been organized by Gabon President Ali Omar Bongo in collaboration with the German government at the UN headquarters office in New York that in 1960 Tanzania had about 350,000 elephants, and that their numbers had dropped to 110,000 by 2009.
He also said the number of rhinos had gone down from some 700 animals in 1974 to a mere 100 now, mostly due to poaching.
However, the president said that in the early 1980s and late 1990s the government was forced to apply extra force -- by deploying its army -- in the affected areas.
“But we have witnessed increased acts of poaching in the past four years … due mainly to dishonesty among the stakeholders … between 2010 and July 2013 more than 1,386 elephants were killed in Tanzania,” he said.
He said the government had since taken stern steps to curb poaching. “My government has signed various international contracts to help fight the phenomenon,” the president said, adding that the government had since arrested poachers and impounded several weapons.
The president noted that between 2010 and mid-2013, some 5,189 poachers were arrested and taken to court, and that 1,952 weapons had since been impounded.
He also said that 3,788 pieces of elephant tusks weighing 10,756kg had been impounded across the country. To heighten the fight against poaching, the president said he had ordered the TPDF soldiers to help fight wildlife rogues.
Meanwhile, the president has assured the public that social security firms will remain stable until 2040, and that they would continue building various projects such as construction of roads, water, electricity in rural areas, airports and water services within Dar es Salaam and Morogoro regions
He revealed that at a meeting in New York this week, in the investment meeting of African countries with New York businessmen as well as Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC).
Kikwete adds that social security funds had started making funds available for development, and that they would continue doing so in future, citing the University of Dodoma (UDOM) as a test case.
Says he: “All social security funds in Tanzania are safe … they do not face any financial problems … Tanzania is using these social funds well … that’s why we’ll continue benefiting from them,” he argued.
SOURCE:
THE GUARDIAN
