Mr Hichilema in his weekly policy issue said that allowing licensed killing of lions and leopards will deny future generations the opportunity to see these species.
He noted that government has also not addressed the issues raised by then Minister of Tourism Sylvia Masebo at the time he banned the hunting of lions such as corruption.
Below is the full policy issue
Say No to Killing the Big Cats
Last week, Hon. Jean Kapata, the Minister
of Tourism and Arts, made an announcement that her Government had
lifted the ban on hunting of lions and leopards. This is a direct
reversal of their January 2013 position when they introduced the ban.
The move has understandably sparked
concern because the ban was introduced for a reason; namely to protect
our wildlife and the diminishing populations of big cats. The reversal
is the latest sign of the desperation of the PF Government to try and
cover gaps in the fiscal position that have resulted from its own poor
planning and budgeting. It is also another classic reversal of one of
their own policies.
These are endangered species of wild cats
that are on the brink of extinction. Government figures claim we are
privileged host to approximately 4,000 lions and 8,000 leopards.
However, even these numbers are hard to substantiate if you compare them
with a 2012 study conducted by researchers from Duke University using
high-resolution imagery.
The study found 4 lions in the Liuwa
Plains, less than 50 in Sioma Ngwezi, 386 in the Kafue National Park,
less than 50 in Nsumbu and 575 in the Luangwa area sharing borders with
Malawi. This translates to about 1,100 lions in the whole country, 3,000
less than the official figure. Numbers for these cats used to be much
higher.
There are several reasons for the
decline. They range from poaching, habitat loss and habitat
fragmentation, to ill-advised government decisions such as the one Hon.
Kapata has just made. But let us for a minute suppose the figures the
Government is giving us are correct. Does that justify
government-licensed killing of these animals? Is there a study that has
been conducted that these animals need cropping? Have the issues that
were raised by Hon. Sylvia Masebo, the Minister of Tourism and Arts at
the time the ban was introduced, been addressed? The answer to all these
questions is ‘NO’.
In 2013, the PF Government made a
decision to ban the killing of the big cats. The reasons they stated
then were that the killing of these animals was not benefitting local
tourism. At the time we were doing this, Botswana also banned the
hunting of the big cats, a decision that was applauded by most
conservationists.
It was proved that Zambia and its
southern neighbour make more money from photographers that follow these
animals, than from hunters. It is not rocket science to know that a lion
or leopard can be shot by a camera a million times, while it just needs
one shot from a gun and it will be dead.
There is great value in promoting tourism
using our God-given comparative advantage. Any decision to mortgage our
wildlife for immediate financial gain is short-sighted. Our emerging
tourism sector is one of our greatest hopes for the future of our nation
and, if properly managed, could create thousands of good quality jobs
and earn this country billions of dollars. In the Seychelles, 15 % of
the formal workforce is directly employed by the tourism industry.
The contribution to that country’s GDP
from tourism is about 50%. Mauritius, earned $1.35 billion form tourism
in 2013 and nearer home, 12% of the $36 billion GDP in Botswana comes
from tourism. The potential to grow our tourism industry is great. What
we lack is political will and a realization that tourism could actually
earn us more money than the mines. A lot more of our people could
participate in a tourism-led economy because unlike mining, it requires
less specialized personnel and equipment.
These big cats attract tourists into
Zambia in addition to the spectacular and magnificent Victoria Falls. A
tourist’s concern when choosing a destination is value for money. Value
for money means a tourist who pays the same airfare to country X as they
would to come to Zambia will look at what they can get from both
countries.
This is the advantage Zambia has; we
possess unique attractions such as wildlife in its natural habitat,
which you cannot find elsewhere. Lions, elephants, leopards, cheetahs
and other animals contribute to that uniqueness. These are the animals
Hon. Kapata wants dead.
The first step in creating a viable and
sustainable tourism industry in Zambia is protecting our wildlife and
preserving our natural resources. If we allow the proposal from Hon.
Jean Kapata of licensing killing of our game to go ahead we have to ask
ourselves what will our children and grandchildren think of us when
their only opportunity to see lions and leopards will be on video and
pictures?
Posterity is less of a problem, the
question is why these drastic measures and change of heart? The reason
is simple: this Government is broke, they are scrounging for money from
anywhere to meet their obligations after having borrowed heavily.
Hon. Kapata wants us to believe that the
Ministry of Tourism and Arts developed a mechanism that will help
identify frail and elderly animals to be killed, that is laughable. She
represents a government that fails to do stock taking for drugs in
hospitals meant for humans, how will they effectively monitor the vast
areas in the wilderness and determine which animals to kill? How are
they going to guarantee that poachers with fake hunting licenses will
not abuse the system?
What about the corruption that Hon.
Masebo mentioned when she banned the hunting in 2013? Has the legal
framework been amended? These are questions Hon. Kapata needs to answer.
It is our belief that the animals in the
game park belong to all Zambians. As such, the benefits accrued from
revenue generated from proper game management should be spread to all
Zambians, living and yet to be born. We also place great value on the
potential for opening the tourism sector up to create much need jobs and
revenues.
When in government, the UPND will, among other things:
1. Encourage wildlife conservation. The
aim of this will be to protect animals and their habitat for posterity.
One of the ways to discourage poaching is to offer people alternative
livelihoods, as has been done by COMACO who have effectively addressed
the issue of poaching in South Luangwa.
2. Open up the tourism sector as a
priority, through a combination of regulatory reforms, tax incentives
and training initiatives, such as reduced or zero-rated VAT.
3. Review visa requirements so as to
encourage more tourist arrivals. We have prohibitive and unpredictable
visa requirements for tourists in this country and that discourages
patronage.
4. Enhance training and research in
ecosystems. Our training institutions are not very diverse in as far as
the environment is concerned.
5. Incentivize institutions of higher
learning that will teach degree courses in Tourism and Hospitality.
Zambians are known for being very hospitable people; all we need now is
to convert our natural gift into a vocation and business advantage.
Compatriots, let us protect that which
God has given us. We know that PF has borrowed heavily and they barely
have breathing space.
They are desperate for get money from any possible source, this is the reason they are going after poor tenants with their withholding tax, lifting bans even without addressing the cause of the ban in the first place, because they want to lay their hands on every Ngwee before they can take a revised budget to parliament.
The truth of the matter is that the
Zambian Government is broke, not because there is no money in the
country but because of mismanagement.
Hakainde Hichilema
UPND President
UPND President
“Together, we can”
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