Guns to be given back to owners

{Firearms that were impounded during anti-poaching campaign dubbed as “operation tokomeza” would be returned after verification of their genuineness and legal ownership, the Prime Minister, Mr Kassim Majaliwa, told the National Assembly here yesterday.}

He said that the police force was still going on with the verification exercise to identify a number of things, including genuineness; legal ownership and whether such arms were free from any involvement in crime.

The Prime Minister was responding to a question by Rashid Shangazi (Mlalo-CCM) in the impromptu session when he stressed that there was a problem over legal ownership of the firearms in the country and the increase of the people who own arms illegally.

“So we need to satisfy ourselves on the legal ownership of the weapons and whether such arms are free from being used in banditry as such incidences were on the increase. The arms will be returned to owners after verification is done,” he stressed.

In the question, the MP explained that the government launched the operation tokomeza to step up enforcement of a ban on elephant and rhinoceros poaching, which has been growing in recent years.

The legislator, however, expressed his concern that during the operation, several firearms belonging to the wananchi were seized, a situation that caused them to fail to chase wild animals that have been destroying their crops.

He, therefore, wanted to know when such arms would be returned to legal owners. The Prime minister agreed that indeed the government had launched the operation, where in due process several firearms were seized.

After suspension of the operation, the government, through the Police Force started verification and the process was still going on. He, therefore, appealed to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism and others to expedite the process.

In October 2013, former President Jakaya Kikwete ordered more than 2,300 security personnel from Tanzania’s People’s Defence Forces, police and special anti-poaching militias and wildlife rangers to step up enforcement of a ban on elephant and rhinoceros poaching.

But in November, the government was forced to end the campaign under heavy criticism by MPs and other people, though wildlife poaching had reached alarming dimensions in the country’s national parks.