Parliament faults court ruling on wood exports

Parliamentary Committee on Natural Resources and Climate Change fears for hardwood following the High Court ruling on Tuesday in favour of a businessperson whose trucks were impounded for carrying the banned wood.

Already, court documents show that at least two other people   have also challenged the enforcement of the ban in court.

Said committee chair WeraniChilenga: “My committee sought to conserve the country’s forests by [enforcing] the ban on exports of roundwood.  My committee did not want Malawi’s forest reserves to be depleted.”

In the Tuesday ruling, the court, sitting in Blantyre, ordered Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) and the Department of Forestry to release vehicles belonging to businessperson Steven Phiri.

MRA and the Department of Forestry were not represented in court when Judge Kenyatta Nyirenda, making the ruling on an ex-parte application, said the parliamentary committee had no powers to order the impounding of Phiri’s trucks.

In an affidavit submitted to the court, Phiri accused the committee of issuing a suspension order of export licences to the Department of Forestry despite that he had already paid export duty to MRA and that it had no such powers.

The government was not represented in court, a development Ministry of Justice’s public relations officer, ApocheItimu, said was because the assigned lawyer was out of the country.

According to other court documents in our possession, Phiri’s suit is by no means the last for government over hardwood exports as Smart Kalua and YonaNtanga have also sued the Department of Forestry and the ministries of Industry & Trade and Natural Resources, Energy and Mining respectively.

At the heart of the matter is a ban Ministry of Trade and Industry issued on 23 July 2008 on hardwood exports and that contravening the order would be in breach of the Control of Goods Act 18:08 of the Laws of Malawi.

In its preliminary report submitted to Parliament in February, which the Weekend Nation has seen, the Parliamentary Committee on Natural Resources and Climate Change noted various anomalies in the way export licences for hardwood were issued.

The report, which names Chinese, Malawian and Zambian exporters of hardwood, further recommends the suspension of harvesting of trees in Viphya Plantation and the transfer or suspension of secretary for Environment Ben Botolo.

The document names Mtanga and Phiri as exporters of hardwood among Malawi, Zambia and Mozambique with the final destination being China where it is reportedly used in making car dashboards and gun handles.

The report suggests the exporters obtained forest export licenses long after government effected the ban.

However, it notes that “the Forestry Department, through the Office of the Principal Secretary and without the knowledge of the Minister, issued licences for export of mukulaon 4th November 2014 to Mtanga (licence number 0000021) and Phiri (0000025).”

An enquiry by the committee early this year confirmed over 20 trucks had been impounded by MRA.

On 12 December 2014, three trucks belonging to a Chinese were impounded as they were driven into his compound while a fourth was confiscated just as it was arriving.

“The chairperson and vice-chairperson of the committee literally found a Chinese national loading round wood into a truck at Kanengo on 31st December, 2014 in preparation for its export to China and there is a video on the same, in fact all this hardwood is exported to Chinese companies,” reads part of the document in Weekend Nation’s possession.

The companies named are Shanghai Linhong International Trade Limited, Evergreen Timber Co Limited, ZhiRui, Shen 2HHN Zhen Feng and Dongguan Bai.

Weekend Nation was unable to obtain their contact details, but while denying knowledge of the activities of the firms, the Chinese Embassy in Lilongwe said they would follow up the matter once the report has been released.

“They are not renowned Chinese companies, they are just individuals who are not familiar with Malawi laws. All Chinese companies that are plying their business in Malawi know about laws of Malawi,” said public relations officer, Wang Junchao.

On Botolo, the report recommends his suspension or transfer while investigations are being carried out over his role in the illegal exports of hardwood.

The report alleges Botolo has been “aiding and abetting the illegal exportation of round hardwood [by] bowing to pressure from top politicians.”

The report charges that “he allowed export licences to be issued in November 2014 amid the 2008 ban for exportation of the same without the knowledge of the Minister.”

It further alleges that “Botolo made an attempt to authorise the acting Director of Forestry Department to issue a licence for exportation of round wood to a Member of Parliament [name withheld].”

“[He] went further to extend export licences of banned round wood for up to 30th January, 2015 without the knowledge of the Minister contrary to the ban,” reads part of the report.

But in an interview, Botolo accused the committee of lacking knowledge on the operations of the ministry.

“I have never issued any letter to authorise the export of hardwood; the members have made a mistake to come up with such recommendations because the Forest Act gives power to the director of forest to issue licences,” said Botolo.

In a separate interview, the deputy director of forestry Thomas Makhambela said he was aware of the ban on hardwood exports but he issued the licences because the wood had been offered on auction and it was unnecessary to contact the Ministry of Trade and Industry as the licences were one-off.

Ministry of Industry and Trade officials had not responded to Weekend Nation’s queries by the time we went to press.

Meanwhile, Chilenga said the Forestry Act is silent on issues concerning round wood.

“When the government saw the wood was being depleted, they moved in and we are pressing the government to review it in order to embrace these issues in the new Act. But the government seems to be dragging its feet on this matter,” Chilenga said.

The report has further recommended that harvesting of trees from Viphya Plantations be stopped forthwith and all concessions suspended to bring sanity in the management of plantations in Malawi.

It follows findings huge amounts of money owed to the plantation as well as irregular allocations of plots including in areas which are environmentally fragile such as Luwawa Dam.

The Plantations is owed K643 million in licences by a mixture of politicians and some companies.

Minister of Gender Patricia Kaliati, whose company, Caroland, is among the debtors with K5.5 million, said she was summoned by Chief Secretary George Mkondiwa over the same issue and she clarified her postion.

She alleged that the People’s Party government had revoked her licence and gave it to another person to continue with the business. n