New forestry law yields K80m in fines

T

he Department of Forestry says it has raised K79 823 000 in fines from 274 cases concluded in court since Parliament passed the Forestry Act (Amendment) of 2019 on February 13 2020 which imposes stiffer penalties.

Information sourced from the Department of Forestry shows that in 2020/21 courts concluded 45 cases with fines totalling K25.1 million while in 2021/22, the courts finished 128 cases with fines amounting to K19.2 million and in 2022/23, the courts have concluded 101 cases with K35.5 million fines.

One case had a K14.6 million fine.

Speaking in an interview, the department’s deputy director Teddie Kamoto bemoaned lack of awareness on the Act, corruption and shortage of staff as some of the challenges hampering implementation.

He said: “I wouldn’t say we are impressed, we would want more. The fines were not that heavy. We need more awareness on evils of corruption to make the officers do their job properly. We can win this fight. With this Act, we have all the tools in place, what is needed is to put more effort on implementation.

“We would love to tackle this problem from the source, that is, stop the trees from being cut, but we do not have enough human capacity. The roadblocks do not belong to us, we put our officers there, but the control is not under us.”

But in a separate interview, Parliamentary Committee on Natural Resources and Climate Change chairperson Welani Chilenga faulted the police for not doing enough to ensure the implementation of the Act.

He said: “We see bags of charcoal passing through the roadblocks with some selling charcoal few metres away, but police don’t do anything.

“As members of Parliament, our job is to make laws and they are the implementers. We have done our part, we expect the other arm to do its part as well.”

Chilenga further cited lack of political will to support the implementation of the Act, adding that Malawi is still lagging behind in promoting clean cooking.

He urged the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs to fund the Ministry of Natural Resources and Climate Change to develop deliberate policies to come up with alternative sources of energy.

“Malawi needs a special project to help procure gas stoves for the poor and awareness to deal with misconceptions against gas. On our part as a committee, these are some of the issues we are going to raise in our cluster meetings,” said Chilenga.

But National Police spokesperson Peter Kalaya said the new law mandates forestry officers to implement the Act and that police only come in to help as their general mandate is to curb crime.

“They are the ones mandated to confiscate charcoal, firewood etc. They are the ones who take the confiscated items to court as evidence. They are there at our checkpoints and we work hand in hand in an interagency relationship,” he said.

In an earlier interview, Kamoto said the department has issued licences to eight sustainable charcoal producers and sellers but they were struggling to penetrate the market because it is saturated by illegal charcoal which is perceived to be cheap.

The law gives stiffer penalties which include 10 years imprisonment or a fine of up to K5 million for being found in possession of charcoal and 20 years imprisonment for causing bush fires. n