Money-making timber

The noise made by the hand-held saw as it went through the giant mvule tree, was drowned by a vulgar song that the basalamala men were singing.

By Joshua Kato
The noise made by the hand-held saw as it went through the giant mvule tree, was drowned by a vulgar song that the basalamala men were singing. The “dirty” words in the song give them energy to go on, while their muscular bodies gleaned with sweat from working so hard.

Finally, the giant tree shook violently., and the men scattered, shouting warnings to stand clear from the tree.

The tree made a creaking noise as it fell to the ground, followed by a loud bang. After their feat, the men celebrated.

These are daily events on Ssese Island because it is one of the leading sources of timber, especially the mvule hard wood.

The cutting of the tree marks the beginning of a long journey for the timber. After leaving the island, it will be placed in timber markets in the city, or even across the border to Kenya.

But this timber does not move in a straight line. According to the basalamala men, a lot of it is smuggled off the island. “Our job is to cut and sell. We have licences from the forestry department that allow us to do so. We are not accountable for the buyers who don`t want to pay taxes,” said one of the basalamala men.

The lake has a maze of very discreet routes known only to the smugglers when they plan their missions.

As darkness fell, a huge boat known as Ekinaala docks at the far end of the landing site. Then, the loading of the timber started with pieces of high grade mvule and mahogany placed carefully in the base of the huge boat.

“It can carry the equivalent of two lorries of timber, plus other merchandise on top,” one of the sailors tells me.

Apart from mvule, the men placed other timber like musizi and enkalati.
I later understood that the boat is steered by man called Taliban, and his assistant Fedayeen –– but they are not of Afghan decent. But, both men have a notorious reputation to be fearless.

“I know the length and breadth of this lake. I have been to every landing site on the Ugandan side,” Taliban said.

After loading 70 pieces of timber, empty crates of soda were laid on top, followed by baskets of greens and tomatoes. Finally, the passengers were seated on top of the wood. Around 6:00pm in the evening, the blue and white-painted boat started its long journey from Ssese to Ggaba.

The passengers shared cheap jokes, as the two giant 115 horse-powered engines errupted into the night.

Normally, these engines would make a very loud noise, especially if in full throttle, but Taliban’s engines do not make any noise. Instead, the machines make a deep, muffled sound.

There are also boats manned by officers from the Forestry Authority. An official from the department said they have patrols on the lake, but they lack enough boats to cover the entire lake. In most cases, the forestry officers monitor the lake from the landing sites, where they check every boat arriving from the islands.

There are also boats manned by officers who claim to be from the State House. All smuggling boats have powerful engines that can effectively outrun boats used by the SRPS and the police.

“It is very common to be chased by the SRPS. Sometimes we are caught, but sometimes we beat them,” Fedayeen said.

“We do not do this all the time. Most of the time we transport legal cargo, whose owners have paid taxes. We only take risks when we get a good offer from a timber dealer,” he said.

Fedayeen also admitted to smuggling fuel and Super-Match cigarettes from Busia and Mayuge. Both Fedayeen and Taliban said they are family men –– both have wives and children who they love.

“We take risks because we want our families to be okay. We need the money to look after them,” Taliban said.

The wood is precious to all, with each panel of wood in the boat costing about sh25,000 on the islands, but this rises to about sh100,000 in Kampala markets.

If the timber is taxed, which is about sh45,000, the dealer will make a profit of about sh25,000 from each panel. Without the taxes, the dealer makes over sh60,000 in profits.
A huge panel is measured about three or four feet, with each panel per foot costing about sh30,000.

He also said for those timber dealers with connections, they do not need the services of Taliban or Fedayeen. They contact and pay soldiers to escort their boats. According to the fishermen on the lake, these boats can easily pass through SRPS or any other check points. The fishermen also said the timber is owned by soldiers.

Major Shaban Bantariza said not every person in a green uniform is a soldier of the UPDF. But, an SRPS official said their soldiers are not involved in any deals on the lake.
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