Probe into forest mafia syndicate down south
Rampant corruption wrecks Liwale`s biggerst Angai Village Forest Reserve The villagers say they are fighting a losing battle as district leaders collude with a syndicate of individuals PCCB admits corruption is rampant among government leaders
Dismas Fabian (21) and Onesmo Ng`oroko (22) under
arrest over illegal harvesting timber. illegally in the forest reserve.
Investigation by The Guardian on Sunday.
The investigation which began early August this year has revealed that the unbridled corruption has led to severe degradation of one of the richest woodland ecosystems proposed to be locally gazetted as Village Land Forest Reserves.
Today, the village land forest reserves is an active site to bellowing smoke, fire burning, heavy sounds of chainsaws, non-sanctioned pathways known as “panya” routes for both men and vehicles and a large field for counterfeit timber business.
Despite the fact that the 139,420-hectares woodland ecosystem is a source of over 15 rivers which supply water to Liwale and Nachingwea residents, it has now become a Mecca for timber smugglers in whose lexicon “official documents” have become a taboo.
The smugglers freely maim the Forest Reserves through logging and trading the precious species of Miombo woodlands, Brachystegia and Julbernardia, as well as valuable hardwoods such as Pterocarpus angolensis and Dalbergia melanoxylon.
Given the illegal activities, the Forest Reserves, which forms part of one of the nation’s largest game reserves, Selous Game Reserve, has been reduced to a mere shrub.
Though the communities have gazetted the forest into Village Land Forest Reserves (VLFRs) where 6 villages have already outlawed logging in the 64,085ha, the illegal logging and smuggling in the area has been described as a major factor hampering their resort into engaging themselves in a sustainable timber trade, apparently sending thousands of the neighbouring villagers into poverty and acute shortage of water.
But amid the poverty-stricken residents of the area that has become the rich smugglers’ hub, and where rangers and police seem to be overpowered, it took The Guardian on Sunday reporter to help residents catch three illegal loggers, traced five others and discovered two warehouses used by the timber smugglers.
Only one logger was caught on the spot where others escaped using “panya” routes they had created.
The two were later arrested, with the help of the nearby Mtungunyu village Natural Resource Committee and Assistant Community Development officer for Liwale District.
They were identified as Dismas Aidan Fabian (21) and Onesmo Leonard Ng’oroko (22) residents of Naipingo Ward in Nachingwea District. They testified of having been hired by prominent businessmen in Nachingwea District.
But, on the same day the reporter spotted five other illegal loggers armed with chainsaws who managed to sneak away in a motorbike.
In a forest reserve neighbouring the village of Nahimba in Nachingwea district, The Guardian on Sunday discovered two big warehouses, each keeping 366 illegal timbers destined for Dar es Salaam and Lindi town. The owners closed the stores and ran away.
This paper also learnt that Nahimba village is also a gateway used by a syndicate of businessmen to ferry the illegal timber consignments destined for Lindi town and Dar es Salaam.
Nahimba village Chairman, Sadiki Hemed Machawi said that he was familiar with the store owners and the illegal timber harvesters but he could not initiate their arrest because they had disappeared from the village.
The Village Natural Resource Committee (VNRCs) leaders of other forest neighbouring villages of Nahoro and Mtungunyu have pointed accusing fingers to the district council and the Lindi regional authorities for failure to smoke out the illegal loggers who have degraded rivers and caused them to dry out.
But, when the Natural Resource Committee Chairman of Mtungunyu village, Adam Kitunwike and his team decided to handle matters on their own recently, he was assaulted to comma by a gang of illegal loggers.
He was on a patrol mission when illegal loggers attacked him and some members of his team before fleeing to unknown location.
The Nahoro and Mtungunyu village leaders have ever since been complaining of lack of concerns from the office of the Lindi Regional Commissioner, saying the police were not doing enough in solving Kitunwike’s case and bring the perpetrators to justice.
“Our chairman was seriously injured by the illegal loggers, sending him to comma, but the way the case is being handled leaves a lot to be desired.
This case was first filed in Nachingwea instead of Liwale where the victim lives,” said Jafari Ali Kitunwike, the father of the victim, who is also a member of the team. “He’s too poor to afford regular transport fares to Nachingwea to follow up his case… we are hoping against hope that Adam (Kitunwike) may get his right,” he said.
The village Acting Executive Officer, Ambrose Joasen Kyekaka and Chairman of the Village’s Community Forest Network (MUMINAM) Abdallah Mtarika said that the speed at which the forest is being degraded is a clear evidence of rampant corruption at the Forest Reserves.
In the related incident, The Guardian on Sunday has also discovered that the Liwale District Harvesting Committee has approved a timber businessman who had used counterfeit documents from Luwele and Chigugu villages to win a lucrative post in this year’s timber harvesting team.
Hassan Athuman Luwango, a resident of Luwele accused the district leaders of irresponsibility saying, the district commissioner and his team should have gone to the village for firsthand information and on-the-ground assessment before giving approval to the allegedly con businessman.
“We knew this man as one of the leaders in the syndicate of the local business tycoons, and wondered why he was given an approval without our knowledge,” Luwango who is also a patron of the Community Forest Network for Luwele and Lilombe villages said, adding that the Chairmen and Executive officers of the two villages had facilitated formulation of the fake documents.
“Until recently the village councils for Luwele, Lilombe and Chigugu did not have an idea as to how the businessman could have secured the permits.
It was only of late that we were informed that the district harvesting committees were behind the dirty scheme,” said Fanyeni Mwambo from Lilombe village.
“When Luwele, Chigugu and Lilombe villagers reported the issue of illegal logging to the Liwale District Council last year, the later reported the informers to the illegal loggers instead of taking action against the culprits,” he said.
Mtawatawa village
Mtawatawa village is one of the 24 villages surrounding the Angai Village Land Forest Ecosystem. The village has declared a total of 12,391ha to be Village Land Forest Reserve and established harvesting quarters for various tree species.
In another corruption related incident, when Mtawatawa village Natural Resource Committee (VNRC) and some of the Village Council members and communities went into the Angai Forest Reserve to clean the roads on the 21st of October this year, they impounded 740 illegal timbers laid down in the reserve.
But to everyone’s surprise, when the illegal timber harvesters were informed that their consignment has been unraveled they immediately bribed the village leaders to auction the consignment to the illegal timber harvesters themselves at a pre-negotiated price.
Investigations by this paper revealed that in the auction, where the District Natural Resource officer Damas Mumwi was also present, a businessman from Dar es Salaam James Makalila tried his luck suggesting to buy the timbers at a reasonable price of Sh. 24,000 per timber, only to be told the villagers had already sanctioned the sell to the local timber harvesters.
The auction was just a matter of formalities since the buyer was already known, he was told. In what appeared to be an obvious scam of the coalition between the village leaders and the illegal harvesters, the timbers were sold at Sh. 18,000 shillings per piece, Sh 6,000 less than the actual auction market price.
This was done in a situation where alien buyers mainly from Dar Es Salaam were not given opportunities to ask questions and suggest the prices.
Strange as it may sound in the related incident, the Village Executive Officer spent over Sh 4.3 millions (over 5,750 Tshs per piece) to carry the timber consignment from the forest to the village office (about 30 km) while the costs for doing the same job for over 500km stretch from Liwale to Dar would cost not more than 4000 Tsh per piece.
He did this on his own volition without seeking approval from the Village Council or Village General Assembly.
The village leaders admitted to have seen and auctioned the timbers but refuted bribery allegations.
One of the alleged culprits, the Mtawatawa village Executive Officer, Abdul Haji Ponela said they resorted to extravagant way of transporting the timber consignment courtesy of timber harvesters Joseph Mangi and Christian Koka, the alleged smugglers, after failure to secure means of transport from the District Council.
When contacted for comments, the buyers Joseph Mangi and Christian Koka admitted to have bought the timbers but refuted corruption allegations.
Other corruption related cases
The Acting Mtungunyu village Executive Officer, Ambrose Joasen Kyekaka and Chairman of the village’s Community Forest Network (MUMINAM) Abdallah Mtarika said that in about three patrols which involved village Natural Resource Committees (VNRCs) and other two local network members seized a total of 427 pieces of timber and 11 chainsaws used for illegal logging.
“A total of 369 pieces were sold at Sh. 16,000 per piece amounting to a total of Sh. 5,904,000 worth the village earnings,” said Mtarika
Kibutuka village
Further investigation revealed that Kibutuka villagers have conducted two patrols in the past 18 months during which they managed to impound a total of 944 pieces of timber.
A total of 25 chainsaws were confiscated and delivered to the village office, 100 pieces of timber were found in Angai Forest but could not be collected during patrol for undisclosed reasons. It was later established that the left out consignment was taken back by the alleged culprits who had run away during the crackdown.
But the patrol team resorted to destruction of 6 sites in Angai and 4 sites in Nyera Kipelele used for storing the harvested logs and confiscation of 50 pieces of timber and 3 chainsaws in Tuungane village.
In another development, a joint-patrol between Likombora and Turuki villages Natural Resource Committees and the Forest Community Networks impounded 425 pieces of illegal timbers harvested from the Village Land Forest Reserves (VLFRs) September 20 this year. It was later revealed that Turuki village leaders were involved in the scam.
But Chairman of Likombora village Hemed Nassoro Makwanda attributed the mismanagement of the Forest Reserves to the slim budget allocation and shortage of monitoring manpower.
Mikunya, Legeza Mwendo and Tuungane
The villagers at Mikunya, Legeza Mwendo and Tuungane carried out a series of patrols including the ones in Angai Village Land Forest Reserve and Nyera Kipengele Forest Reserve in Liwale District Council between June and August last year, in which they disclosed and destroyed 4 illegal harvesting camps and seized ten chainsaws that were later surrendered to the village leaders for custody, pending legal actions.
But that was the end of the story as the seized chainsaws worth millions of shillings seemed to have disappeared in the thin air and so did the information surrounding the whole saga, the patrollers said.
Mahonga village
In another incident Mahonga villagers are questioning the mystery behind a business deal that found a consignment of the seized 109 timber pieces being sold at mere Sh 1.5million and the disappearance of a chainsaw and an ordinary woodsaw that were taken to the District Council for further actions.
The earnings from the timber consignment were initially planned for the construction of a school in the village.
But in a dramatic twist of the event, the villagers believed that the chainsaw and the woodsaw that were initially surrendered to the District Council were back to their former owners owing to the influence typical of Mafiosi they had over the village and district leaders.
They said the village leaders had to write the District Council a letter demanding retrieval of the seized labour tools back to the illegal loggers. In an incident where the villagers ordered the owners of 4 woodsaws to go back into the forest to bring 20 pieces of timber as a punishment for illegal logging, the culprits disappeared with the saws. But when the villagers complained to the Village leadership and the District Council they received cold response.
Kiang'ara village
Kiang’ara village Chairman Juma Ali Mbega and his Executive Officer Mohamed Seif hailed three female members of the Village Natural Resource Committee who unveiled a smuggling scam by ordering the haul of the 27 log-full truck belonging to Mingonyo Company last year.
The loggers who were caught red-handed in the forest were forced into off-loading in the village.
An official from the Liwale District Forest Office made attempt to legalize the consignment by stamping an approval without the consent of the villagers. But the boss of the company had to face the fury of the villagers on his arrival at the village, driving him into forfeiting the handsome consignment of logs.
The Guardian on Sunday found big loads of timbers and logs lying down in front of the village office while other unattended loads scattered here and there in the Forest Reserve itself.
“We have been waiting for the District authorities to take action, but in vain. The logs are rotting here and the suspects have never been taken to task,” said a villager.
When contacted for comments, Logging and Transport officer for Mingoyo Sawmill Company Shaban Masimba denied the allegations, saying his company followed all the procedure and regulations surrounding the timber industry.
“We had legal permits and all the blessings from the Liwale District office, the Forest Manager and the District Natural Resource Officer, but we abandoned the logs because of some villagers who had lust for money,” Masimba said.
Liwale District Council
The Liwale District leaders also dismissed the allegations as groundless, saying it was the village leaders who would be accused of corruption since they were the ones who fed the District leaders with false information, apparently leading to formulation of fake documents.
Next Week, this paper will bring you the second part of this special report on the comments from Liwale district leaders, Lindi regional leaders, the Ministry of Natural Resource and Tourism and other stakeholders.
SOURCE:
GUARDIAN ON SUNDAY
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