By NATION REPORTER
The Luangwa North National Park has taken over the welfare of game scouts who have gone for months without salaries following the cancellation of Hunting Concession Agreements (HCAs) by the Ministry of Tourism, Chief Chikwa has disclosed.
Chief Chikwa of the Senga people of Chama said the Chikwa Game Management Area (GMA) had lost its revenue following the cancellation of the Safari hunting concessions and had stopped paying its game scouts.
Chief Chikwa, the patron of the Chikwa Community Resource Board (CRB) said following the cancellation of the Safari hunting tenders, his subjects had been confined to untold suffering because Safari hunting had been the major source of income since time immemorial.
He said while he had been working hard to control poaching after the game scouts had stopped their routine patrols of the GMA, it was difficult to keep people who could not have income without engaging in illegal hunting activities.
He said he was still waiting for the government to resolve the impasse over the cancellation of the Safari hunting concessions and was confident it would have citizens in mind when resolving the problems.
Chief Chikwa said he was happy that the North Luangwa National Park was helping the Chikwa CRB by paying the game scouts their monthly stipend because his chiefdom was incapable of taking care of them as a result of the loss of revenue from Safari hunting.
“My chiefdom has had challenges in raising revenue for communities after the cancellation of the hunting concessions. We have been failing to pay our game scouts because there had been no money since the cancellation of the hunting tenders. But we have been lucky that the Luangwa North National Park has been helping us pay our game scouts. We have been working in partnership with Luangwa National Park and so far they have been of great assistance,” Chief Chikwa said.
