LIVE ANIMAL EXPORT BAN CLARIFIED
THE government’s three-year ban on exportation of live animals was
clamped following rampant cheating and abuse of conditions specified on
permits, which resulted to massive loss to the state in terms of revenue
and animal resources.
However,
the government is considering paying consolation payouts to affected
traders after a rigorous verification of their claims.
The Minister for Natural Resources and
Tourism, Professor Jumanne Maghembe, told the ‘Daily News’ yesterday
that the move to ban export of live wild animals for the three years is
meant to give the government enough time to put in place a better
mechanism that will block loopholes for abuse of the business.
Among the issues that will be looked
into before the consolation payout includes the amount of money a trader
paid to government for the animals in his shed/zoo when the ban became
effective.
“An evaluation of the animals will be
conducted before we decide where they will be taken. There are a few
places that they can be relocated to, mostly zoos, so they can be cared
for because they cannot be taken back to the forests,” he explained.
According to the minister, some
exporters used one permit to export twice or more the same number of
animals or use one permit to export more animals than allowed in the
same permit.
Information have it that one exporter
used legal permit to export 87 animals through Julius Nyerere
International Airport (JNIA) and used the same permit to export another
87 animals through Kilimanjaro International Airport (KIA).
The permit allowed the exporter to
export only 87 animals through KIA. More reliable information has it
that another trader unscrupulously exported 420 animals using fake
export permit.
In a statement to give more
clarification on the government’s ban, the minister noted, “the permits
and receipts for payment of various revenue paid to government will be
looked into and figure out a proper procedure to return the money back
to the traders.”
Cases of some of the traders colluding
with government officials to abuse conditions of permits issued to them
have been rampant with others exporting tenfold of the animals allowed
by the permits, costing the country massive losses.
Early this year, Prof Maghembe suspended
top officials in the ministry, including the Assistant Director of
Wildlife Utilisation, Dr Charles Mulokozi, on allegations of corruption.
It was alleged that Mr Mulokozi granted