Wildlife officer suspended for ‘allowing animals to graze in conservation area’


The Deputy Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, Mr Lazaro Nyalandu, has suspended from duty the Executive Wildlife Officer at Maswa Game Reserve, Mr Lawrence Kileo for charging livestock keepers to graze their animals in the conserved forest.

Deputy Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, Mr Lazaro Nyalandu

Speaking in Arusha, the Deputy Minister explained that Mr Kileo used to extort money from pastoralists so that they graze their animals in the game reserve against the Conservation Act number 5 of 2009 Section 116-2(c) and to make the matter worse, the Wildlife Officer never gave the peasants any receipts for the transactions.

Maswa Game Reserve, located in Simiyu Region, directly borders the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority in Arusha and also forms part of the Serengeti Eco-system which extends to as far as Southern Kenya, making it an important area of both flora and fauna conservation.


However, recent acts of allowing livestock to graze within it en-masse has been causing massive environment disaster in the location.

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism is also investigating another serious case which occurred in Kigoma Region over the weekend, involving the Kasulu District Game Officer, Mr Benjamin Mkosamali, who is said to have dubiously set free a band of suspected poachers who had unlawfully slaughtered 12 Reedbucks in the Kibenge hunting block.

The illegal hunters were previously arrested by a team of rangers from the Friedkin Conservation Fund but upon being submitted to the District Game Officer, he simply let them free which made the rangers to contact the Kigoma Regional Police Commander Mr Freiza Kashai who then ordered the Kasulu Police Officer in Charge of Criminal Investigations Department (OC-CID) Athuman Namba to make fresh arrests.

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