Minister angers timber association

IT IS misleading for the Ministry of lands to allege that some traditional leaders and some individuals have been involved in the illegal Mukula trade and that those are the people who prompted a ban to the trade in Mukula, Zambia Association of Timber and Forestry Based Industries (ZATFI) has said.

The association has differed with Lands Minister Jean Kapata’s recent address on the matter saying if it was true that traditional leaders and unscrupulous individuals were involved in the illegal trade of Mukula, security wings would have arrested such individuals by now.

ZATFI secretary general Kalowa Mooto noted that Ms. Kapata’s recent statement was misleading as it contradicted with her earlier statement in July 2017, in which she said Government had banned harvesting, transportation, and trade in Mukula because it wanted to reserve the trees for the future generations.

“Before we even go any further, to date, Honourable Minister, you have failed to mention the names of the traditional chiefs, individuals and associations that have been dealing in Mukula illegally. Since those you know have been dealing illegally, why have they not been arrested?

It is just important that the public is made aware of such people who are involved in illegalities, and we would implore the investigative wings to swing in action and apprehend such people,” Mr. Mooto said.

He said the interest of the association has always been to help members who are the main victims of Government’s policy inconsistency.

“Your government, through the Forestry Department, advertised for concession licenses and credible Zambians, including traditional leaders, applied and were issued with licenses. These companies went further to procure machinery, and some even went as far as borrowing from the banks to fulfil all the requirements as stipulated in the Forest Act No. 4 of 2015. These companies followed all the requirements to trade in timber and Mukula by paying for production and conveyance through the Forestry Department.

“Some companies were even issued with export permits after meeting all the requirements as per Forest Act No. 4 of 2015. However, despite all these efforts and so much money and other resources spent on their investments, you just woke up one day in July of 2017 and banned export of all timber species including Mukula with immediate effect, and within no time unleashed the military into the concession areas to confiscate and arrest our members who were legally harvesting and conveying timber,” he said.

He said it was sad that Government sold the Mukula confiscated from association members to the Chinese using ZAFFICO, a move he said protected illegal timber dealers punished law-abiding citizens.

“We would like to remind you, Honourable Minister, that the decision to arbitrarily ban trade in Mukula without consultation with stakeholders and without giving a timeframe for our members, who to date still hold their legal documentation, remains wrong.

Any propaganda meant to clear your face in the eyes of the public will not work as Zambians by now already know what is going on and how the timber sector has been captured by a few greedy individuals in collusion with some unscrupulous officials.

“It is also wrong for you, Honourable Minister, to insinuate that because of the ban and the coming in of the military, illegalities have stopped. You cannot at this time deliberately pretend that you do not know what is going on. You are fully aware of authorised illegalities that are still going on, and it is not the people you have mentioned in your statement that are perpetuating it. You are aware that the people who are now smuggling Mukula out of the country are the “big fish” and we are very sure you know them,” he said.