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Dishonest officials behind illegal trade in forest products
2006-02-14 06:51:18
By Editor
One of the ministries that has been engulfed with a lot of problems is that of Natural Resources and Tourism.
Most of the problems arise from the natural resources department where from time to time various scandals have been unearthed.
Our readers will still remember that in 2004, a serious breach of rules and regulations governing export of logs led to the thriving of illegal export of the forest products.
The breach of regulations was evidenced by faulty certificates, wrong declaration of the types of trees and even cheating on the volume of the export goods.
Some officials in key positions, it was discovered, issued export permits for even prohibited species of trees, with the result that natural forests were being plundered instead of being harvested.
The discovery of the dirty game by the officials prompted the ministry to halt the export business as well as the harvesting of forests so as to review the existing regulations.
The move was also meant to give the ministry an opportunity to do some soul-searching and weed out the bad elements that had consequently painted it black.
And sure enough, they came up with the names of four officials who had a hand in the dubious export business.
The ministry announced the immediate suspension of the four culprits while further investigation on their conduct was being done.
Close to two years today the ministry has not given a word about the suspended officials. We would expect the ministry to issue a statement regarding the fate of its four officials just as it did when it suspended them. Efforts by the media to get the truth of the matter have so far proved futile.
At about the same time, there was rampant poaching of elephant tusks facilitated by some government departments and state organs. On one occasion , a government vehicle was impounded in Rufiji district with a contraband of ivory worth millions of shillings.
A bigger haul was found in a vehicle belonging to the Tanzania Peoples Defence Forces, again in Rufiji District.
This is to say nothing about buses and other private vehicles that have been impounded with ivory and other trophies.
There have also been incidences when illegal traders have been caught with tons of sandal wood, a forest product that has also been banned for export. This has happened in Iringa, Singida and Dodoma regions.
The ministry has been suspending the harvesting of forests and nullifying business licences, a measure which we think has failed to bring about positive results.
For, if withdrawing licences, suspending officials and halting the harvesting of natural resources for sometime was a solution to the problem, there would be no more cases of the minister unearthing containers with contraband sandal wood.
In yet another embarrassing incident, a consignment of sandalwood was impounded at some godowns in Tabata, Dar es Salaam. The Ministry top brass: the minister, the permanent secretary and the director of forestry were told that the illegal dealer has three godowns for storing sandalwood located at a yard in Tabata, Kurasini and Gongo la Mboto.
The forest products which are ready for export, would not have reached Dar es Salaam without the cooperation of ministry officials at various levels, much as the minister was told that the trader does most of the work at night.
We think therefore, that the solution to the problem lies in weeding out all corrupt elements in the ministry who bend the rules and regulations for their benefit and those of the traders.
During his visit to the ministry of Lands and Human Settlements Development, President Jakaya Kikwete had said that if there are 1,000 corrupt officials in the ministry, they should all lose their jobs.
Other Tanzanians would be employed to take their posts.
We think that the same should be done with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism so as to bring to an end the illegal trade in export of natural resources.
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