The big news from
Tanzania this month is the removal of Minister of Tourism and Natural Resources Ezekiel Maige in early May. This is the official I met at the SCI convention in Las Vegas this past January and spoke with regarding the new concession allocations. Maige came under fire in April, when a parliamentary committee recommended disciplinary action against him and other officials in the ministry, citing "massive irregularities" in how hunting blocks were allocated and live wildlife allowed to be exported. The previous director of the Department of Wildlife, you may know, had been dismissed last year for his alleged involvement in such exports.
The worst criticism came from Committee Chairman James Lembeli, who went to so far as to accuse Maige of creating a "corrupt environment" in the ministry. Among the issues Lembeli raised was how Category I and II hunting blocks were allocated to 16 companies that did not even apply for them, and how three particular companies were awarded allocations when they allegedly did not qualify for them. The three companies he named are Mwanauta & Co. Ltd, Kawawa Hunting Safaris Ltd. and Malagarasi Hunting Safaris Ltd. Malagarasi, I understand, has an outstanding balance of unpaid trophy fees to the government going back to 2008. (See page this month's Controversies.) Despite that, Malagarasi was awarded Inyonga GCS (E) and Selous GR L1 for the new concession period beginning in 2013. Kawawa Hunting Safaris had been given Mwatisi O.A. (S) and Ibanda Rumanyika GR. Mwanauta had been awarded Rungwa Mwamagembe GR.....
