Government, hunting firm in new row

Dar es Salaam. A fresh wrangle is brewing between the government and a hunting firm, Green Miles Safari Limited, following the revocation of the company’s Lake Natron block licence.

Natural Resources and Tourism minister Hamisi Kigwangalla made the announcement in a statement on Wednesday. The revocation means that Green Mile Safaris can no longer operate in Lake Natron Game Controlled Area (East).

However, the company’s managing director, Mr Awadh Abdallah, said in a statement that the firm has not received any official communication from the ministry.

He said the ministry’s statement, which has circulated widely on social media, was “a fabrication”, and urged the company’s customers and the public in general to ignore it.

But Dr Kigwangalla told The Citizen when reached for comment yesterday the statement was genuine, and had already been sent to Green Safaris Limited.

The company held a news conference yesterday, and maintained that it was still operating in the block.

One of its directors, Mr Said Mndeme, accused a foreign hunting firm of colluding with some government officials to taint its image.

He added that they have filed a case against government officials they accuse of sabotaging the company.

“Our troubles started back in 2012 when we acquired the licence. A hunting firm based in the US (name withheld) started to conspire with government officials to tarnish our image,” Mr Mndeme said.

“But they have failed to undermine us. Even after the our licence was first revoked a number of years back, we managed to have it reinstated because the revocation was against Section 38 of the Wildlife Act.

“You can’t revoke licences in all of the company’s blocks if accusations of violation of regulations are limited to one block only,” Mr Mndeme said.

This isn’t the first time Green Miles Safari has found itself in trouble with the government.

In 2014 the then Natural Resources and Tourism minister, Mr Lazaro Nyalandu, revoked the firm’s hunting licence in Gonabis/Kidunda WMA and MK1-Selous for allegedly violating domestic and international laws.

He accused the company of hunting with automatic weapons fitted with silencers, hunting female and young animals and using vehicles to chase and knock down animals, which are all prohibited.

The company was also accused of allowing visitors to go hunting unaccompanied by a professional hunter or game scout, hunting animals and birds not listed on its licence and allowing a client younger than 18 years old to hunt.

Mr Nyalandu said he made the decision based on video evidence presented in Parliament in a matter brought up by Iringa Urban MP Peter Msigwa.

However the company’s licence was reinstated by Mr Nyalandu’s successor, Prof Jumanne Maghembe, in 2016. The decision sparked outrage among local and foreign conservationists.