|
Minister admits staff involvement
2006-05-10 09:04:58
By Patrick Kisembo
The government is unable to break up a syndicate that exports logs illegally because employees of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism are involved, a minister has said.
Natural Resources and Tourism Minister Anthony Diallo told reporters at his office yesterday that staff in his ministry were behind illegal harvesting of logs, making it difficult to arrest the culprits.
’Our employees are involved. You wake up in the morning only to find that licences have been issued without regard to whether the businesspeople are certified to export logs or not,’ Diallo said.
He said that the government has irrefutable evidence that the syndicate involves staff in the ministry.
He said that most employees in the ministry are culpable and if the government were to take action, all of them would be sacked.
’Unlike the private sector where an employer can hire and fire at will, if you sack all servants operations in the government would ground to a halt,’ Diallo said.
”There are owners (rich people) of some of these businesses, not the people who apply for licences.
It is not easy to control the illegal business because corruption is involved. Bribery runs all the way from the source to the end of log exports chain,|’ the minister said, adding:
’Even worse, our staff has been sucked in the chain of bribery to protect the people behind illegal exports of logs.’
Asked why he has not taken action against a ministry employee he said was known to be involved in illegal harvesting and export of logs, the minister replied that the procedures of dismissing a civil servant are long and convoluted, hence he opted to transfer him to a different department.
The minister who at some point became angry with reporters for pinning him down for not taking decisive action, added: ’If we transfer a staff it means investigations are under way.’
He said the ministry would publish a government notice next week to clarify the logging ban that has been in force since last year.
Diallo reiterated that the government had banned export of logs abroad.
’We don’t have enough hardwood in the country. We want these people to process the logs here, but they tell us that they do not profit if they do so in the country.’
He also accused some port officials he did not name, of complicity in the illegal export of timber.
’There was a time I was given information that some businessman was exporting logs through the Dar es Salaam seaport.
When we sent our officers there, port officials refused to co-operate with them. Instead, the port officials allowed the ship to load the cargo and leave,’ Diallo said.
’I’m sure our staff are part of the syndicate because they are the once who rubber stamp the licences,’ the minister said.
’We have been unable to control log exports. We have established that between 15 and 20 containers of logs are smuggled out of the country every week,’ he disclosed.
|
