CHISHIMBA BWALYA
Mpika
KASANKA National Park may be one of the smallest wild sanctuaries in the country, but at the right time, once every year, it welcomes over 10 million fruit bats and a large number of tourists fascinated by the flying mammals.
But the state of the national park has displeased the local traditional leadership.
Chief Chitambo of the Lala in Chitambo district wants Government to change the management of the park, accusing it of mismanagement.
Since 1990, the park has been under the management of Kasanka Trust Limited.
The traditional leader told Minister of Tourism Rodney Sikumba in Mpika last Sunday that wildlife numbers in the park have declined and Kasanka Trust Limited no longer remits tourism revenue.
“The same Kasanka has become a sham,” he said.
“Animal numbers have declined, workers are not paid for many months and the percentage agreement to me as a chief is not honoured for many years.”
Chief Chitambo also questioned the mandate being used by Kasanka Trust to run the national park, saying their mandate came to an end in 2011.
In response, Mr Sikumba said he had invited management of the facility to a meeting in Lusaka “so that we can explain to them our next course of action”.
“To agree with you, Chief Chitambo, we haven’t gotten the best out of Kasanka. The last time I was there on official duty was in 2023 and I wasn’t amused and I think from what you gather… it’s in ICU,” he said.
He added: “But we need to rescue that situation. In rescuing that situation simply means that if we don’t remedy Kasanka, all the gains we are having in Bangweulu, the gains we are having in Lavushimanda would not be achieved,” he said.
But Kasanka Trust Limited acting general manager Teddy Ngosa told the Daily Mail that management still has a mandate to run the park until 2030 and has been facing financial challenges.
“We signed an MoU in 2015 and it is expiring in 2030,” he said.
“What is true is that the park has been going through some situations, a financial crisis. There were a few internal problems among the board which led to the crisis, which we have now begun to resolve.
“Over the last six months, things have not been as they should be, but we have made good progress. There was a time where we were not good financially, we were not communicating effectively with the donors, but that communication has now resumed.”
Mr Ngosa also revealed that due to the financial issues, the trust has not paid tourism revenue to the chief for a year. Kasanka Trust was established in 1987 and registered in the United Kingdom two years later.
