Tanzania’s President Jakaya Kikwete late last week appointed an official probe team to conduct an enquiry into the circumstances of the botched ‘Operation Tokomeza’ which was to unfold last year to combat the out of control poaching in the country but ended up harassing local people, confiscating their livestock and generally evading and avoiding the areas known to be poachers paradises, as if to shield them for some time longer, discredit the campaign and bring it to a halt sooner or later.
Retired Justice Hamisi Msuni is the chair of the commission of enquiry and among others are retired judges Limo Damian, Ihema Steven and Fred Manyanda, a State Attorney who will act as commission secretary.
The members of the team will have their work cut out for them to deal with the large number of complaints received from those negatively affected by the way the operation was conducted and misdirected against them while also trying to find out if indeed, as has been severally alleged, the operation was sabotaged with the aim to stop it.
Notably were several ministers fired at the time, including well respected Ambassador Khamis Kagesheki who was the Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism at the time and who, according to at least two sources, was kept in the dark of what happened in the field until it was too late and the matter was raised in parliament which demanded the dismissal of key actors.
Operation Tokemeza Two has since resumed but appears to still be low key as no major successes in unearthing the poaching rings and their financiers and masterminds have been reported as yet in the local Tanzanian media. Although some arrests have been made, they are generally termed as minor and of small fish while those listed on an obscure list of up to 300 names, which Kagesheki reportedly had handed to President Kikwete, still appear to be free and at liberty. Watch this space as at some point in the future the commission will begin to sit, interview witnesses and then file their official report.
WHAT TO TAKE AWAY FROM THIS ARTICLE:
- Tanzania’s President Jakaya Kikwete late last week appointed an official probe team to conduct an enquiry into the circumstances of the botched ‘Operation Tokomeza' which was to unfold last year to combat the out of control poaching in the country but ended up harassing local people, confiscating their livestock and generally evading and avoiding the areas known to be poachers paradises, as if to shield them for some time longer, discredit the campaign and bring it to a halt sooner or later.
- Notably were several ministers fired at the time, including well respected Ambassador Khamis Kagesheki who was the Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism at the time and who, according to at least two sources, was kept in the dark of what happened in the field until it was too late and the matter was raised in parliament which demanded the dismissal of key actors.
- The members of the team will have their work cut out for them to deal with the large number of complaints received from those negatively affected by the way the operation was conducted and misdirected against them while also trying to find out if indeed, as has been severally alleged, the operation was sabotaged with the aim to stop it.
