British government promises subsidies to fight against animal poaching in Tanzania

As the rate at which animal poaching is increasing in the country, the UK government has promised to issue subsidies so as to enable the government in its move to fight against such incidences so as to save the elephant species from the danger of extinction. The UK Minister responsible for African Affairs Mark Simmonds told a press conference on Friday last week in Dar es Salaam after his short tour of the Selous National park which is located in Iringa region,   The visiting UK Minister said that, his government will be issuing subsidies to Tanzanian government as part of the contribution over the fight against poaching, and this is after he had assessed and noted how much is needed to help fight the vice so that, the incoming generation should not learn about the existence of elephants by looking at their photos. The Minister said that, after he had visited the national park has discovered that, the game wardens who looks after the animals at the park are facing lots of challenges, and promised to convened a meeting which would address such issues in Botswana. Speaking on the issues of bilateral relations between the two countries , UK has been one of the countries which has invested heavily in the country whereby about 37 percent of the UK money are directly entered into the country for investments purposes. He said the UK government has promised to help Tanzania to promote its economic development in four main areas of business that includes agriculture, in gas and oil sector as well as in businesses. “The UK government is also in support of President Jakaya Kikwete’s of Big Results Now (BRN) which has helped to create 275 employment opportunities, 35,000 new teachers and insisted that, about 130 million pounds has been invested in agriculture only” he said. 

Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism in Tanzania Mr. Lazaro Nyalandu

On his part, the Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism Lazaro Nyalandu assured the Minister and Tanzanians as a whole that, the government is set to curb the increased poaching activities on elephant and is gaining greater successes for Tanzania is cooperating with other nations tom end the malpractice in this fight.   He confirmed that, the government has issued about 500 sophisticated AK47 machine guns which will be used for guarding the national parks in the country and that, other guns will be added to intensify security pending on the higher increase rates. “We have recruited other 400 new workers to beef up security and the security department has been intensified to continue the fight against poaching”, Nyalandu s aid. Earlier the Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Benard Membe said the aim of the visiting UK minister was to discuss on how the two countries could maintain a bilateral cooperation on economic development between the two countries. Membe note that another thing was the issue on how to stop the increased poaching activities and ivory trade, he also noted that, another thing that the UK minister came for in the country is to consolidate peace and harmony in great lakes regions and the Southern Africa Development Coordination (SADC). Meanwhile, President Kikwete recently issued a statement in meeting that convened to discuss dangers of animal extinction and poaching on elephant animal species in the country.  He issued statistics on the animal censer which was carried in the eco-systems of the Selous-Mikumi  game reserve and noted that, the elephant population in these two parks has reduced from 38,975 in 2009 to 13,084 to present. This is the percentage rate of 66.