TROUBLE IN THE FORESTS

Report reveals dubious deals by NFA

BY GERALD TENYWA

A NEW report on the National Forestry Authority (NFA) has revealed irregularities in giving out concessions of forest reserves, opening the door to illegal timber cutting.

NFA is entitled to give out concessions to private investors to manage portions of the forest on its behalf.

Forest concessions have been awarded to harvest over-mature trees, plant new trees, manage eco-tourism sites and extract non-timber forest products for commercial purposes such as rattan or medicinal plants.

Other concessions have been awarded to develop portions for forestry functions such as small-scale saw-milling and wood-processing industries under strict conditions that trees cut are replaced.

The report entitled ‘Trouble in the Forest’ by the local NGO Advocates Coalition for Development and Environment (ACODE) shows how licenses have been given out by NFA without following PPDA regulations.

It found that in many cases, there was no competitive bidding, or the best bidder was not given the license. The prices at which some concessions were given out for harvesting mature trees were low compared to the market price of the wood.

The prices also varied considerably, at times within the same reserve. “For example Woodco/Kwewayo purchased electric poles at sh10,000 each while others had paid as much as sh20,000 for the same poles in the same plantation,” the report says.

The NGO established that portions of protected forests had been cleared without any licenses issued.

The report further notes that some private investors do not fulfil their obligations under the terms of their contracts and do not pay up the full amounts due to NFA.

The NGO also found that NFA has allowed the use of tools that have been banned, such as power saws, in certain forest reserves.

“Notes have been given selectively to timber dealers to convert timber, contrary to the Minister’s notice of 2004 that declared the power saw as contraband,” the report says.

It cites a letter dated August 12, 2008 to the Masindi Timber Dealers Association and Hoima Pitsawyers Association, in which NFA boss Damian Akankwasa extended the deadline for clearing timber processed with power saws in the districts of Hoima, Kibale and Masindi.

The report further raises concerns about the fact that those given licenses are mainly business people and traders from afar who often employ migrant workers to cut and carry timber.

“There are limited opportunities for local employees to get licenses or jobs in concessions in their own neighbourhoods.”

The UK funded NGO concludes: “Uganda’s timber harvesting business is marred by local or higher level political intervention.”

Harvesting mature trees
One of the examples cited in the report is a license issued for harvesting over-mature trees in the Katugo reserve in Nakasongola district.

Adverts were placed in the media in 2006, attracting bids from two companies, Nile Plywood Limited and The New Forest Company, which offered $9.5m and $13m respectively.

NFA was reportedly not happy that the New Forest Company, the highest bidder, had put a lot of disclaimers on their bid, and the process was halted.

Towards the end of 2006, there were changes in management following the resignation of senior NFA managers and the entire board.

In 2007, the new board offered the concession to Nile Plywood, owned by Sebastian E.J., an investor of Asian origin, without re-advertising. The investor received a license to harvest 100,000m3 at sh6.25b. “The offer of the concession to Nile Plywood contravenes the Public Procurement and Disposal of Asset (PPDA) Act and regulations,” the report states.

“It was not transparent and provides a hint to corrupt tendencies that need to be investigated.”

ACODE also notes that the pricing committee at NFA did not sit to agree on the price, contravening both PPDA rules and the National Forestry and Tree Planting Act.

The NGO further indicates that sh6.25b was cheap considering that 1 cubic meter of pine timber goes for minimum sh80,000.

“This deviation in market price is too big, requires an explanation, considering that all procurement procedures were evaded.”

The report further notes that NFA set up a saw mill in the Katugo reserve, opening up opportunities for illegal timber transactions.

Asked for a reaction, acting NFA boss Hudson Andrua defended the allocation, saying the trees in Katugo were dying of old age and an urgent intervention was needed.

“Not many saw millers were willing to come in when they realised that the trees were dying of old age. We have nothing to hide because we kept on lowering the price until Nile Ply came in.”

Part of the Katugo plantation is being harvested by NFA’s sawmill as a way of salvaging the trees, he argued.

But Samwiri Rwabwogo, a former coordinator of the law enforcement unit at NFA, noted that the trees were still standing up today.

“It is surprising that they hurriedly gave the green light to Nile Ply on grounds that the trees were dying of old age and some of them have not been felled up now,” he told Saturday Vision.

The managing director of Nile Plywood, Sebastian E.J. said they made an application which was appraised by NFA before an offer was made. He refused to comment further.

Budongo Forest Reserve
In another case, one person, Mrs. Mugisa Aziiz Mateeba, was offered to harvest abandoned logs of mahogany and mvule wood in Budongo Forest Reserve in Masindi district without going through a competitive bidding process.

The logs were offered “at a pre-determined, non-competitive price of sh110,206 (per cubic metre)”.

This, the report says, contravenes the PPDA regulations, the National Forest and Tree Planting Act and defies set procedures of public auction of abandoned logs.

Mrs. Mateeba started harvesting the logs without a license. Instead, she received a letter of offer, signed by Akankwasa.

“The license will be concluded at the NFA headquarters after you have made the necessary payments,” said the letter, dated September 12, 2007.

The letter further awarded “un-marked abandoned logs found in the area” to Mrs. Mateeba. This, the ACODE report notes, is an “incentive for illegal activities since the concessionaire can go ahead and fell trees on the pretext of later getting them as abandoned logs”.

Consequently, the NFA sector manager for Budongo, Deuz Irumuba, resigned citing unclear conditions for harvesting the abandoned logs.

“Considering that the core values of the NFA are no longer being practiced, I feel that I am not able to serve under these circumstances,” said his resignation letter.

But acting NFA boss Andrua instead accused Irumba of being involvement in legal harvesting of timber in Budongo.

“We did a lot of investigations and discovered that some of the NFA staff is involved in illegal activities,” he told Saturday Vision.

“When we discover such a thing, we take punitive measures and Irumba resigned before NFA could sack him.”

Lendu Forest Reserve
In the Lendu Forest Reserve in Nebbi district, the NGO notes, several parts of the forest were cleared without a license.

In compartment 16, it found that over 2.5 hectares with about 875 cubic metres worth sh70m was cleared.

In compartment 13, it found that over seven hectares were harvested without a license, translating into 2,450 cubic meters of round wood worth sh196m.

Asked for a reaction, Paul Dritch, the new NFA director in charge of plantations, acknowledged that a number of illegal activities had taken place in Lendu Forest Reserve. “A large portion of the plantation was harvested without a license. After a review, disciplinary action was taken against the NFA manager in charge of Lendu,” he said.

To be continued in Sunday Vision Nov. 1, 2009