600 more residents relocated from the Ngorongoro Conservation Area
Residents listen to the Ngorongoro District Commissioner, Colonel Wilson Sakulo, during a farewell event held on Saturday, June 1, 2024. PHOTO|COURTESY
What you need to know:
- Ngorongoro District Commissioner, Colonel Wilson Sakulo says the government will ensure that every registered resident is promptly relocated and receives all entitled rights as pledged by authorities
Dar es Salaam. Approximately 596 residents have been relocated from the Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA) to Msomera Village in the Handeni District of the Tanga Region.
This brings the total number of relocated individuals to 8,960.
Bidding farewell to the relocating residents, Ngorongoro District Commissioner, Colonel Wilson Sakulo, said on Saturday, June 1, 2024, that the registration and relocation of the residents were entirely voluntary.
He said the government will ensure that every registered resident is promptly relocated and receives all entitled rights as pledged by authorities.
“We are aware of the recent wave of misinformation circulating regarding the exercise. Please ignore such reports, as the government has good intentions of improving the provision of services and the lives of its people,” he said.
“You have the freedom to choose the relocation destination, and the exercise will be done voluntarily without any coercion,” added Colonel Sakulo.
The Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority (NCAA) Acting Conservation Commissioner, Ms Victoria Shayo, pledged that the authority will continue providing education, mobilization, and registration to residents.
She noted that the response has been increasing every day as more residents are being reached.
One of the residents who left the NCA, Ms Gladness Ngaluma, said her family has decided to move to Msomera, where they believe their freedom to engage in economic activities would be higher as compared to the situation within the conservation area.
“We lack the freedom to develop, including building modern houses, farming, and owning motor vehicles at the NCA. The presence of dangerous wildlife negatively affects the ability of our children to attend school, worsening the state of our poverty,” she said.
Providing an update on the relocation exercise, the project manager and chief conservation officer, Ms Flora Asey, said that as of today, a total of 1,472 households have so far moved to Msomera and other chosen destinations.
“They comprise 8,960 people and 38,098 livestock.”
The government, through the NCAA and other sectoral institutions, has been relocating people from Ngorongoro.
The emphasis has been on conducting the exercise with integrity by ensuring that the residents receive all their entitled rights as directed and determined by the government.
