TANZANIA Ports Authority (TPA) has donated 2m/- to Habari Development Association (HDA) to enable it build capacity to journalists writing issues on the war against poaching.
TPA Acting Director General, Mr Awadh Massawe, handed over a cheque to the Director of Habari Development Association, Mr Kunze Mswanyama, in Dar es Salaam.
“We support efforts to fight poaching in our country,” he said. He noted that TPA understood the problem of poaching, especially elephants, which he said caused serious loss to the nation.
According to him, as an institution, TPA felt the need to support such efforts because some poachers use the port to smuggle elephant tusks outside the country.
“We are strengthening security at the port to make sure that poachers don’t use it as their exit point,” he explained. He said plans were afoot to install 400 CCTV cameras all over the Dar es Salaam port. Also three scanners have already been added to support the existing two.
Another strategy will be using sniffer dogs expected at the port sooner from the United States. The TPA boss said the management continues to build capacity to workers in areas of ethics and patriotism for the benefit of the country.
Mr Mswanyama thanked TPA for the assistance and said they will use the fund for training 54 journalists. “Journalists need to be knowledgeable so that they can inform others,” he noted.
The association is made up of journalists who are determined to fight poaching in various national parks including Saadani, Serengeti, Mikumi and Selous.