Civic leaders are calling for dialogue with the Tanzania National Park (TANAPA) aimed at finding a solution over land dispute between three villages of the Northern Tarime District bordering the Serengeti National Park (SENAPA).
Director General of the Tanzania National Parks (TANAPA), Mr Allan Kijazi.
The villages are Kegonga, Masanga and Gibasso. Some livestock-keepers from the villages are reportedly invading parts of SENAPA land searching for pasture and water, hence causing what TANAPA has describing as pointless conflicts.
“We need TANAPA to come and hold a meeting with village governments and people are ready to respect the outcome of the talks,” the councillor for Nyanungu ward, Mr Mang’enyi Ryoba said.
“The truth is that our people are yet to know the importance of conservation and that is why we need to sit with TANAPA in a bid to educate them,” a civic leader from one of the villages told this newspaper over the weekend.
TANAPA is of the view that invasions is a major concern posing a threat to the ecology of the world’s famous park considered as jewel of the nation. The 2013 great migration of over 1.5 million wildebeest has arrived in the northern fringes of the park several kilometres away from those areas invaded by herders.
TANAPA Director General Mr Allan Kijazi has already called for immediate interventions from the Mara Region and Tarime District authorities to help in arresting the situation before it gets out of hand. Government sources hinted that the Mara Regional Commissioner (RC) Mr John Tupa is scheduled to start a working tour in the three villages any time from today.
In a bid to make the people of Tarime fall in love with conservation, TANAPA donated 6,000 iron sheets to Tarime District Council on Monday last week. The sheets valued at 124m/- will be directed to boost completion of community projects with improvement of education and health public infrastructures getting top priority.
They were handed over by the TANAPA Board Chairman Mr Modestus Lilungulu in a ceremony officiated by Mr Tupa and attended by other senior political and government leaders in the area.
The TANAPA Director General Mr Kijazi used the opportunity to ask Tarime people to support conservation efforts by refraining from taking the animals to graze and drink water inside the park. Mr Kijazi further asked area residents to support anti-poaching campaign.
By MUGINI JACOB, Tanzania Daily News
