Ministry spends K30m to protect Michiru
Minister of Tourism Vera Kamtukule says her ministry pays about K30 million to the Malawi Defence Force (MDF) to protect Michiru Nature Sanctuary in Blantyre for two weeks.
Speaking during a stakeholders meeting to discuss possible solutions to the plunder on Blantyre’s sole standing natural woodland, she said the cost is unsustainable.
Kamtukule, therefore, made a commitment that she will engage fellow Cabinet colleagues responsible for Defence and Homeland Security to find a cost-effective way of law enforcement.
She said: “I will have a discussion with my counterparts in the Ministry of Homeland Security and also in the Ministry of Defence so that we can find lasting solutions.”
Kamtukule said one of the options will be to offer Michiru Mountain as a training ground for the security bodies.
Dzuka Chilomoni community-based organisation founder Maliko Chikaonga said the meeting was fruitful as it helped the community to know other partners in the fight against illegal activities on Michiru Mountain.
“Law enforcement alone is not enough, we need to find ways of empowering the people that live near the mountain so that they should not engage in illegal logging in the mountain,” he said.
It was noted in the meeting that the illegal loggers have formed associations through which they make contributions to pay fines for their convicted colleagues.
In response, Blantyre senior resident magistrate Euphrasia Nazombe, who was also in attendance, assured the meeting that her court, which handles most of the cases from Michiru Mountain, has now started handing down custodial sentences to deter would-be offenders.
The mountain covers about 3 000 hectares and it is divided into Michiru Forest Reserve, covering 2 700 hectares and Michiru Nature Sanctuary covering 304 hectares.
