Scandals rocking timber sector could be avoided

SCANDALS the timber sector is facing could have been averted if Government did not side-line the key stakeholders and the Forest Department over the sale of the Mukula logs.

Zambia National Association of Saw millers (ZNAS) president William Bwalya said lack of engagement between the key players in the sector and the Forestry Department on what was the best measures to take to strike a balance between helping local enterprises to grow and protecting the forest was responsible for the mess that had come with the export ban on Mukula.

Mr. Bwalya observed that the deployment of military personnel as a preventive measure to protect the endangered species worsened the situation as it only suffocated local businesses while real culprits were let loose.

“What we have seen as rampant illegal logging in 2017 in Zambia was facilitated by Government which ignored to apply and address the sector problems from the Forest Act point of view.

Government side-lined both the stakeholders and the Forest Department in sorting out the challenges faced by the sector in the year and its quick involvement in the sale (not auction) of Mukula tree through ZAFFICO, deployment of the military in concession areas is the source of the chaos now obtaining.

“If I was Minister of Lands and natural resources I was going to work within the confines of the law addressing the effects from the causes. Thus, I was going to define illegal logging and associated trade in accordance with the law, Forest act No. 4 of 2015. There is no universally accepted definition of illegal logging and associated trade,” Mr. Bwalya said.

He said the law gave powers to the police and foresters to prosecute the offenders.

And ZNAS says it expects Government to allow the forest department run the sector free from political interference if sanity is to be restored in the sector and help indigenous timber companies grow.