Tour guides association criticises Immigration

The Immigration Department in the Ministry of Home Affairs has been criticised for issuing residence and work permits to foreigners who end up serving as tour guides denying their local counterparts the right to job opportunities.

The secretary to the association of tour guides in the country, Arnold Makinda said many local members had been rendered jobless as the department continued to issue Class `B` residence permits to people from neighbouring countries paying USD600.

`Two years down the lane, local tour guides have remained without a job on explanations that foreigners took over the available job opportunities. The permits issued to foreigners defied the directives given to the department by the legislators with regard to the ground level operations within the sector,` Makinda explained.

He said at joint meetings with tour stakeholders in Arusha and Dar es Salaam sometime in the past, members of the Parliamentary Committee, Natural Resources, Tourism and Environment turned down the request by some tour operators that the Immigration Department should allow foreigners to work as tour guides.

`Initially tour operators requested the parliamentary committee through the ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism to allow foreigners to take part in tour guide operations. We are pleased with the firm decision taken by the legislators to rule out involvement of foreigners in tour guide career,` he clarified.

Minister for Natural resources and tourism, Prof. Jumanne Magembe, was quoted early this year as saying that since local personnel had proved equally capable of doing the job professionally, there was no justification for foreigners to act on their behalf.

When requested to comment on the complaints, Arusha Regional Immigration Officer, Justine Kabigumila said all permits were authorised at the ministry`s headquarters, and that his regional office did not have legal mandate to make decision on the matter.

Kabigumila, said the immigration guiding regulations insist that issuance of permits to foreign tour guides is prohibited.