Africa-Press – Tanzania. BARELY a week after President Samia Suluhu Hassan issued directives to deter more people from entering the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, some 45 people who returned to the reserved area after being allocated new residential areas have been given notice to vacate.
In a letter to Ngorongoro Ward Executive Officer, the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority (NCAA) has issued a 30-day ultimatum for the residents who returned to the NCA from Jema and Oldonyosambu to leave the area.
A letter signed by Dr Christopher Timbuka on April 14th on behalf of the Conservation Commissioner (CC), Dr Freddy Manongi, orders whoever among them who constructed a house in the conserved area to demolish at their own costs.
The citizens who have been given notice are those who were transferred to the said areas, supported by the NCAA who constructed all basic infrastructure that a human being needs, including a dispensary, a primary school, police post as well as houses for servants with clean and safe water.
The CC took the action according to Section 23 (2) (a) read together with Section 35 of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Act (CAP 284 of 1975) and its amendments, along with directives of the District (Ngorongoro) Defence and Security Committee.
“I would like to do the following …I issue a 30-day notice to depart from within the Ngorongoro Conservation Area…Also, to anyone who constructed a house within the conserved area to demolish it at their own costs,” reads part of the letter that has been copied to the Ngorongoro District Commissioner, the district council executive director and division’s officer.
Dr Timbuka says in his letter that legal action will be subjected against any citizen who will violate the order whose notice started to count on the date of the letter. The Ngorongoro Defence and Security Committee meeting held on March 4th this year resolved and directed the NCAA to issue such a notice to the 45 people.
On April 6th this year, after swearing-in senior government officials, President Samia addressed with concern the challenge facing Ngorongoro Conservation Area, as population of people sours and becomes a threat to wildlife in the world’s greatest unbroken caldera.
Mama Samia called on respective authorities, including the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism and NCAA to be serious on the matter.
She warned that Ngorongoro was on the brink of vanishing as a conserved area, saying that the agreement was that Ngorongoro as a special area should see people and wildlife live together, where only 9,000 people were living there by then.
With between 90,000 to 100,000 people living there now, Mama Samia said it is definite that animals will be overwhelmed and hence Ngorongoro will no longer remain in its status as a world heritage site. Ngorongoro conservation area spans vast expanses of highland plains, savanna, savanna woodlands and forests.
Established in 1959 as a multiple land-use area, with wildlife co-existing with semi-nomadic Maasai pastoralists practicing traditional livestock grazing, it includes the spectacular Ngorongoro Crater.
