Simba, Yanga must prepare adequately

What you need to know:

This comes at a time when local soccer fans are still striving to come to terms with a disastrous performance by Tanzania Mainland’s team, Kilimanjaro Stars, in this year’s Cecafa Senior Challenge Cup.

 Simba and Young Africans are among four teams that will represent Tanzania in Caf tournaments, which start on February 15.

This comes at a time when local soccer fans are still striving to come to terms with a disastrous performance by Tanzania Mainland’s team, Kilimanjaro Stars, in this year’s Cecafa Senior Challenge Cup.

For the first time in as many years, Kili Stars, as the team is popularly known, did not go beyond the group stage of the tournament. They got just one point in four matches.

This means Tanzanians’ hopes for psychological relief now rest on Simba and Yanga who face tough tasks but they have a responsibility to do us proud. Yanga have been pitted against St Louis of Seychelles in the preliminary round of Africa Champions League.

On the other hand, Simba, who are making their first appearance in continental club competitions in four years, will compete in the Africa Confederation Cup.

They must manoeuver their way past Djibouti champions Gendermanr Tinale if they are to sail through and face El Masry of Egypt or Zambia’s Green Buffaloes in the first round.

Our football has been lacklustre. Our teams routinely fail to get beyond the first round of the continental competition.

But under the ever improving new Tanzania Football Federation, club football in the country has steadily picked up. Money for sponsorship is flowing, live telecast is now custom, player wages are climbing and the football is more competitive. A good showing by the two could be a fresh beginning for Tanzanian football as we dream about hosting the African Under-17 Championship in 2019.     

WIPE OUT POACHING

It is a pity that Tanzania hasearned a dubious distinction of being the epicentre of Africa’s elephant poaching crisis.

In June 2015, a government census revealed Tanzania had lost 60 per cent of its elephants in just five years as poaching escalated. It showed the number of elephants having been dropped from 109,051 in 2009 to 43,330 in 2014.

When an annual birth rate of 5 per cent was taken into account the number of dead was 85,181.

Cites warned that such figures reinforce the organisation’s grave concerns about the scale of poaching of elephants for their ivory.

Alarmed at such scale of elephant slaughter, the United Nations promised to assist Tanzania to fight poaching.

On Thursday, it was announced that an anti-poaching unit had been formed to free Tanzania from poaching by 2020.

The unit consists of members of the army,the Police Force, the Prisons, the Immigration and the Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau.

Already 450 game wardens have been trained in new anti-poaching tactics.

We commend the government for the initiative. However, we call on it to amend laws on poaching to facilitate access to justice to tackle the menace. Rout poaching.