A report published by Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) Mukula production and trade in Zambia shows that an estimated US$1.7 million bribes were paid to government officials to facilitate the export of Mukula logs.
The report is entitled the ’Informality, global capital, rural development and the environment: Mukula (rosewood) trade between China and Zambia and the study took 18 months and covered four districts namely Luangwa, Mansa, Mkushi and Kaoma.
It shows that recent Mukula production in Zambia could have amounted to about 110,000 cubic metres (m3) per annum, with revenue losses of about US$3.2 million.
Results of the study also show that rural villagers are increasingly forging direct links with foreign investors, producing innovative business models that accelerate the rate of small-scale production and extraction of resources, all the while still embedded in the rural economic system characterized by legal ambiguity and limited government oversight.
It says as a consequence, such models repeat historical patterns of exploitation with local cutters receiving an average price of about US$23 per cubic metre of timber harvested while manufacturers in China pay about US$1,000–1,100 per cubic metre to importers, before any further processing is done on the exported logs.
The report also observes that across time and along the chain, politics, vested interests and elite capture have left little space for environmental concerns regarding the sustainability of Mukula production or any other species, for that matter.
It shows that in Zambia’s case, the search for Mukula and rosewood more generally has spread across neighbouring countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique and Malawi over a short period of time, causing havoc in those countries’ natural capital.
It says power hierarchies at all levels of the state and across borders try to benefit as much and as quickly as possible, ultimately hampering the establishment of sustainable businesses.
The report has recommended that the Zambian government must step up its efforts in protecting the Zambian forests and its people’s long-term livelihoods by implementing the innovative measures included in the Forests Act of 2015 regarding community, joint and private forest management.
New scandal every week.
And this is the government that has the full backing of the so-called Lusakatimes MIT CABAL
A country full of kleptocratic gov officals is a POMPWE STATE!
No news at all. Trying to discredit the government for not allowing them buy Mukula tree. I will publish one study as well soon. Revelation of how someone got rich, a research I have done over a number of years!
There is cirruption in all the countries in the world, DO NOT blame Edgar Lungu,
There is NO substance in this study
I hold a PhD
Thanks
BB2014,2016
And someone will say this Report should not have been published ….they will even post five paragraphs stating why it should not be released to the public….educated foooooools are a cancer to our society!!
@ 1.4 Jay Jay
Where do you really work?? You might be living a very good life…eyes on your phone or iPad 24 hours a day…beautiful life my friend..no wonder Zambia is very developed because of hardworking people like you
Anonymous – I am comfortable thank you very much for asking…yes I am doing my bit as well home!!
Fake news. Its better the Chinese get all the Mukula trees they want than our land and women. Under the able leadership of excellency Edward kadoyo ka mu moba, we shall grow even much more trees than all the previous governments have managed. Let the smart people of the Zambia Enterprise roll.
Lungu should stop stealing and vacate the presidency. He has tarnished the peaceful image of Zambia.
Please watch this video and circulate it to mount pressure these PF 1diots more especially Chakolwa Lungu.
Go youtube and search “Lungu and Kaiser are thieves” share the video. This is one way of addition pressure to PF regime.
This is the incompetence and corruption of Lungu and his gang that we keep talking about, for those of you who are still trying to defend this man. Foreigners pour into our country to literally take whatever they want, with the help of corrupt individuals. Zambia needs a president who has integrity, competence, well informed, patriotic and loves this country and it’s people. A President who will make it a priority to fight corruption with all his/her might. Lungu lacks all these qualities.. He’s part of the corrupt bunch. If it was in any other country, corruption investigations against him would’ve already ensued. Why wait until someone completely destroys the country? Start the investigations now. Look into all his dealings, him and his buddies. Audit their bank accounts and their…
(Continued)… properties from January 2015. If you let this corruption go on unabated, you will be destroying Zambia’s future and it’s posterity. He told you from the beginning that he had no vision, and yet you put him in office. What a shame.
Good that money has gone into Zambian pockets. The PF promised more money in your pockets.
Wanzelu alibe nzelu. His video on youtube confirms this as a fact. He is making wild claims without providing evidence
Ever head of Cambridge Analytica? They are on rampage to paint this government black for you the gullible who do not see through their scheme. $1.7 m bribe for raw timber? Is made of diamond or Gold, where on earth? Can they name the people involved and which account was the money transferred into? These opposition thieves know that you their supporters are so naive that you get everything they throw at you.
No news here..study this study that
Lungu is busy working
“It’s good to be the king!”
Lungu is busy stealing not working.
Lungu must go as of yesterday!
Youtube video “LUNGU AND KAISER ARE THIEVES”
it is a scandal to wake up without a new scandal in Zambia!
And they President is busy addressing rallies and dancing on airport tarmacs like nothing happened…i wonder what his so called “Task Team” into Mukula debacle reported back to him
“Let me make myself perfectly clear: I’m not saying that Plamegate is the same as Watergate. I’m saying it’s worse. Much, much worse
As an intellectual more than Sishuwa Sishuwa, I think the one issue that hasn’t gotten enough attention is the overwhelming obviousness of the fact that this entire Mukula Trade Saga is illegal which makes State house and attorney general look like they are engaged in a criminal conspiracy. I mean, to me, this is worse than the Carlington Maize Scandal.
Lusakatimes, you should be covering the bigger story that Mukula trade amounted to $87m but Hon Kapata said only $900,000 was realised from the sale of Mukula. This is contained in a report from China.
I saw a clip of Jean Kapata yesterday that went viral…I said to myself imagine you are an expert and a PS in her ministry and you have to report to a dingbat like that every morning…
I will not say that the report is true, because academic reports or investigations have to be checked and verified by independent experts and not tye all I want to state is that “government officials” includes officials from upnd. As I have always argued, check the names and wealth of corrupt individual government officials and you will find that many if not majority of the names are from the same region as upnd strongest.hold. It has double/triple benefits for upnd: personal wealth, spoiling the name of the ruling party, donations of the dirty money to fund upnd operations.
So corruption, fraud, etc are found in both parties PF, upnd, NDC, and many others. It is a fight for all of us Zambians and not individual parties or government or Edgar Lungu or h.h.
Correction….
I will not say that the report is true, because academic reports or investigations have to be checked and verified by independent experts and not just the writer or NGO himself as they are usually biased. Imagine Laura Miti doing a study and report on PF governmwnt! All I want to state is that “government officials” includes officials from upnd. As I have always argued, check the names and wealth of corrupt individual government officials and you will find that many if not majority of the names are from the same region as upnd strongest.hold. It has double/triple benefits for upnd: personal wealth, spoiling the name of the ruling party, donations of the dirty money to fund upnd operations.
So corruption, fraud, etc are found in both parties PF, upnd, NDC, and many…
Contd…
So corruption, fraud, etc are found in both parties PF, upnd, NDC, and many others. It is a fight for all of us Zambians and not individual parties or government or Edgar Lungu or h.h.
No even ZIFFICO raised that much in their accounted created by these thieves…no one has been arrested for this Mukula Tree scandal, all the impounded stockpile and trucks have disappeared..everything points to one place Jean Kapata and State House.
JJ where can I find that clip?
So if upnd cadres are suggesting that corruption is not in upnd, they learn to be honest for the sake of our country. We all know that h.h’s morality and integrity are questionable: corrupt tenderpreneur GBM as running mate, murder accomplice and husband snatcher as MP candidate, no convention or internal democracy for 12 years, and annointed as only a tonga president can lead upnd, and many other vices.
Please take your silly HH and focken UPND debates elsewhere …this is bigger than that..
Jay Jay there are so blinded by hatred for UPND that they fail to see what is happening around them !!! The top has stolen so much and yet they continue to support them !
CONCERNED CITIZEN – They think that for one to debate about Zambian issues he has to be PF or UPND…really laughable..in political terms these parties are young…that they were not there in 1991; we have come a long way….he is here posting about issues that have nothing to do with the article. How does one simply go straight to the comments start addressing everyone as UPND..he is so blinded that he even calls himself UPND..OMG…go and read “Blogging for Dummies” you tool.
So if upnd cadres are suggesting that corruption is not in upnd, they better learn to be honest for the sake of our country. We all know that h.h’s morality and integrity are questionable: corrupt tenderpreneur GBM as running mate, murder accomplice and husband snatcher as MP candidate, no convention or internal democracy for 12 years, and annointed as only a tonga president can lead upnd, and many other vices.
You are dull, stop stealing. if your mother has allowed you to steal with impunity all along, then your time is up.
So if upnd cadres are suggesting that corruption is not in upnd, they better learn to be honest for the sake of our country. We all know that h.h’s morality and integrity are questionable: corrupt tenderpreneur GBM as running mate, murder accomplice and husband snatcher as MP candidate, no convention or internal democracy for 12 years, and annointed as only a tonga president can lead upnd, and many other vices.
Just remove h.h and upnd from the scene, you see Zambians will be able to fight corruption in.government and among politicians with a clearer focus than now where we camnot tell whether an allegation is true or not or just upnd propaganda or NGO/Laura Miti/ or even Sishuwa Sishuwa/Hansungule propaganda.
Is it HH or UPND moving and selling mukula in the dead of night , or were they responsible for 42/42 or for the swazi land gifts ?
Meanwhile mukula is making China’s economy to grow even bigger while here it is the privileged few who get rich at the expense of the national economy. What a country!
They move and sell mukula in the dead of night when they hope everyone is asleep.
I will also do a report on how some families have enriched themselves by just being related to government(Politician)
I hold a Degree
Thanks
Ni mukula ya nyoko?
Aini shuwa? Ni wa nyoko? Ivi nivimiti tyala
I expected Animo Farm here! And I was right. Just arrest the culprits including HH and charge them. Simple. No need to HaLLUcinate and HaDelusions and HaIllusions.
How many Mukula Trees are we planting compared to what is being chopped?
Kwaraption is the the other birth name of the Zambian republic given at independence in 1964.I hope this vice will be buried for good in a coffin made of Mukula tree.
@10.1 jj, does it take a rocket scientist to know that you represent h.h and upnd, and that at the end of the day your debate is always about your directionless party? Your silence when your h.h says or does something is very loud. Sir you are a good for nothing tribal empty headed upnd false prophet. I don’t condone corruption or any crime, but I am challenging the authenticity of the so called Mukula study report. If you read all my posts above fully, you will see that my lament is how upnd and their leaders and cadres like yourself have polarised political discourse in this country since 2006, to the extent that one can’t tell a genuine case from upnd propaganda. You Jj pretend to be an intellectual, if you are then your credentials are as bad as that discredited Hansungule fellow…
The same tribal and partisan nonsense..no time for you!!
#10.1….. You Jj pretend to be an intellectual, if you are then your credentials are as bad as that discredited Hansungule fellow who was caught using Pretoria University logo to hoodwink Zambians.
Pfrof. Hansoni will write FIFA about this with copies to UN Commission for Refugees on a University paperhead!
Look here fellas, no matter how well you try to paint h.h, he is not the leadership option that we want for Zambia. He has proved this himself time and again, including his latest rants about his imaginary PF propaganda about a convention that he should have held twice now since 2006, an ad hoc third convention that he should have held in upnd to reaffirm his leadership credentials about an embarrassing sixth electoral loss in 2016. Not to forget the Charmaine debacle, misjudgment, poor leadership, or directionless party, whatever and however you want to describe h.h. The boy can’t even pretend to hold a “convention”. Edgar Chagwa Lungu looks like an angel in comparison!!
Jj, your leader h.h was born still born in 2006 in political terms.
Yaba this Mukula issue still keeps on propping up again and again with no signs of dying down. It seems some very big and influential people are involved in this trade at very high levels of government and the true story will only come out when a new government comes in and reveals everything.
1. Mukula is not rosewood
2. The logs in the picture are not mukula logs, those are pine logs
3. The writer of the story does not seem to know the tree he or she writing about. Please if you don’t understand forestry issues, leave them to foresters. Do not mislead people.
Seriously? The only thing you can see is the picture and couldn’t even read the story. Ukutemwa ifikope. Are you in kindergarten? So we must give you a place on the table to argue about the picture, the camera used, the distance for the cameraman, the type of tree in the story and not the content of the story. Ubukopo.
Makes sad reading. Humble request is for ECL to have a heart for Zambia & Zambians. I believe God puts us in authority, but because of its sweetness we become Apam Mwamba. Not good at all.
Lock ’em up with HH at Mukobeko!
Zambia is not poor at all. Just Mukula trees could earn forex and help pay for medicines, teachers, build schools etc.
Let us regulate the forestry sector through probably an independent authority created by Parliament.
Ministry of Land have proved incapable.