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Tenders for Ikoma wildlife management area nullified
2007-12-17 09:11:17
By Adam Ihucha, Serengeti
Serengeti District authorities have nullified all seven would-be Ikoma Wildlife Management Area investors, saying the awarding of the respective tender was made in conditions that smacked of corruption.
In mid-November this year, the Authorised Association (AA) of the Ikoma WMA ceded an area of approximately 24,230 hectares to seven prospective investors in what are now alleged to be under controversial circumstances.
Serengeti District Commissioner Edward ole Lenga, who also chairs the district`s natural resources advisory board, said recently that the entire tender process used in picking the investors violated WMA regulations.
The DC heaped the blame over the mess on AA. ``I have received a number of short messages sent to some investors by our officials soliciting bribe to help particular tenders to sail through,`` he told a meeting for stakeholders held in Mugumu township last week.
He said some investors had in turn diverted the messages, which he described as ``a clear indication that the whole tender process was riddled with corruption``.
``Tenders applications from any investor swayed by the unscrupulous officials` demands for bribes will not be considered. In fact, those involved in the scam will be taken to task,`` he added.
In the wake of the scandal allegations, the advisory board met on Monday last week and resolved that all seven tender applications be shelved.
That would be pending thorough investigations to be carried out by the newly formed technical committee led by Serengeti District Council Chairman John Ng`oina.
The committee`s terms of reference include reviewing all seven investors` tender application documents for confirmation of whether they met legal and other requirements.
The Guardian is informed that the committee swung into business on November 12 and was set to establish whether AA violated regulations and recommend more proper and effective ways of operating the WMA.
The team, which is expected to submit its report on January 8, is also due to come up with recommendations on by-laws to enable authorities in the district to govern the utilisation of wildlife resources in the WMA most judiciously, profitably and sustainably.
It is also incumbent on the committee to check whether the investors in question have conducted an environmental impact assessment on the area as clearly stipulated in the tender advertisement.
Ikoma is the first WMA to be formed in Serengeti District and comprises five villages: Robanda, Park Nyigoti, Nyichoka, Makundusi and Natta Mbiso.
The tender was advertised on September 11, this year, and the bidders passed included Ana kwa Ana Ltd of Arusha, Rough Trucks Ltd of Moshi, Thomson Safaris Ltd of Arusha, Zara International Travel Agency of Moshi, Moivaro Camp Ltd of Arusha, and Grumeti Reserves Ltd of Serengeti.
Trouble started when Grumeti Reserves were granted power to manage, oversee and utilise all the user rights in the WMA.
Notification of the successful bidders was also mired in controversy in that the AA wrote three different letters at different times on the same issue.
The first letter was written on November 17, 2007, before it was revoked a day later by another letter signed by AA Secretary Steven Makacha.
The revocation of the first letter apparently irritated Grumeti Reserves Ltd, prompting them to write AA a letter threatening to sue them over their conflicting decisions.
AA then wrote yet another letter to Grumeti Reserves Ltd, informing them that the November 18 letter had in fact nothing to do with the first one that endorsed the complainants` proposal.
A lawyer representing some of the investors in the matter, Stolla Francis, told the stakeholders` meeting that it was against WMA regulations to give a single investor absolute powers to manage, oversee and utilise the WMA.
But Grumeti Reserves Ltd secretary Nyaga Mawalla swears that their bid was in respect of the entire WMA, adding that the final decision to grant or not was in the hands of the authority.
Ikoma WMA`s Makacha said when contacted for comment that, if they had erred, ``it was only because of lack of experience seeing that the exercise was the first of its kind for us to conduct``.
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