…As he pushes for forestry offences to become non-bailable like stock theft…
Minister of Green Economy and Environment Mike Mposha has vowed to end illegalities in the forestry subsector by stiffening laws to make offences non-bailable.
He was speaking during a familiarisation tour of the Forestry Department Headquarters in Lusaka.
Hon. Mposha expressed concern about the high levels of illegalities, whereby even nationals from neighbouring countries were crossing into Zambia to unlawfully cut tree and produce charcoal.
He said Forestry officers that are involved in illegalities will face dismissal and jail term.
“I want this chaos to end. I want stiffer laws that will even deal with our officers. We give you the job to protect the forests, but you go out there committing illegalities, you will come and face the law. We will not just fire you but we will also take you to prison,” Hon. Mposha said.
“When people learn that there is a law that is very punitive, the law itself will deter them from committing illegalities. We have an example of the law about stock theft. We introduced the law, when you’re caught committing the offence of stock theft the offence is not bailable and prison sentence is extremely punitive. The effect of this is that the cases of stock theft now have reduced.”
He said simple fines were not deterrent.
Mr. Mposha also said vehicles used for transporting illegally harvested timber and charcoal must be forfeited to the State without compromise.
The Criminal Procedure Code (Amendment) Act No.19 of 2023 made stock theft non-bailable, if the person has previously been convicted of the offence of stock theft.
The Minister explained that the ban on Mukula tree will continue.
“I know the stakeholders have been requesting that we lift the ban but we will only consider those requests when we have done the thorough check because we need to protect this very rare species of the tree,” the Minister said.
Mr. Mposha also said the Climate Change Bill will be taken to Cabinet for approval and thereafter submitted to Parliament for enactment this year.
He commended the staff for their continued commitment to duty and contribution to the country’s development.