Radio Miraya
2695: Exploitation of Mahogany Trees Along the Border of SS and DRC
we have had in the past a lot of concern over the illegal lumbering since independence there are several reports of illegal lumbering in parts of central equatoria that is the cutting of trees for business you know illegal logging in yay kajakeji and most recently in morriba as well and in 2022 some stakeholders in forestry raised a flag over the exploitation of mahogany trees along the board of south Sudan as well the board of south Sudan and democratic republic of kongo this is being done by some individuals and companies both local and foreign and they are involved in this illegal logging for their own personal benefit and so right now i'm joined by a member of the revitalized transitional legislative assembly polino or bede who will speak to us about this issue a good morning polino good morning good morning to the west of meliah yes thank you so much for um for speaking to me this morning now are you aware of these illegal activities happening in your constituencies and also some surrounding counties and different parts of the country as well yes uh uh part of all let me start by introducing myself my name is paldana lupudo the whip of the optp in the council of the states and the representative of the central equator and the national legislature uh i am aware fully aware of the illegal logging happening in some parts of central equatoria state last time that was a series of of of the illegal logging in in in in lanya county then it moved to kajakeji county and now we are heading it in uh more of a county specifically in a place for panyume and we are so much disturbed of the illegal logging happening in parts of central equatoria state all right and thank you for noting that lanya a panyume and also in kajakeji how can this be addressed first of all who are these people and then how can it this be addressed when we investigate it let me start with what in with investigative industry accounties one when we investigate it the illegal logging in lanya county by then we found that there's some individuals and this individual are issued received by some also individuals within the government of central equatoria state to do this login secondly when in we we investigate it what happened in kajakeji county we also realize that the company's data logging in kajakeji there were also issued with some of the documents from the state authorities to do the logging in that area again when we are now hearing of what is happening in in in more of a county we have fear to investigate because the matter is now coming into the hands of the net assembly and we realize that there are also companies according to the information that we are we are getting they are foreign companies there are some companies like an oil coach company and and and and some certain individuals doing this logging in the area of more of a county the question that we asked why is the state authorities condoning the illegal logging and they know very well that logging is illegal in the current time the whole world is shift in fighting the issue of the deeper restoration and the climate change and preservation of the biodiversity but why is the state government allowing logging happening in those places this is the question that we are asking and soon the national assembly there is a motion already in the house and then the few days or few in the next week or the few days to come we will be suhoning some of the institutions of the government to answer us on this specific issue the whole world is fighting climate change and we are opening a gate for climate for destruction of the environmental production and the biodiversity in the in south Sudan and specifically in the area of central Victoria okay and you you just mentioned that there is a motion that is in place and is to be tabled before parliament and the summoning will happen could you briefly just share some of the content in this motion yes the motion is still at the at the at the juncture of the leadership discussion and very much to her that this motion is specifically about the logging in more of a county and the illegal logging in more of a country where it involves even the foreign company doing that thing and there is a governor in central Victoria state who is the head of the administration of the whole central Victoria state and and and and even the security of the state there is a commission in more of a county how are these things happening or they are what they have to make sure that they are as stupid as soon as possible and why the the the the the national assembly is trying so hard to ensure that these individuals or institutions are brought to book where are they getting there the department for logging from okay and when you talk about earlier you did mention that state authorities are involved in this illegal activity ideally state authority should be the number one people upholding the law and what is good for the country so what what is your thought on this how do you respond to this factor yes uh there is a there is a piece of of of of over with that administration I think when an area under administration of a commission or other under administration of the governor and things that are prohibited and the second thing that actually brought to to to to to this effect is okay on the state government this illegal logging is prohibited and we don't want a continuation of a login in any part of central recorder and not even any part of south so that number two the minister the nation and minister of the environment has to step up in the issue of logging because this thing has been happening regarding requiring requiring and we don't know how is it difficult to stop the law the logging this issue of logging has to be stopped and the ministry and the nation and minister of environment recently the parliament has participated in international parliamentary union whereby the topic of discussion was mainly about the climate change and we realized even that the public of south Sudan is yet to have a climate change policy this is the responsibility of the nation and minister of environment and courage between sure that there is a climate change policy brought to the parliament so that this policy will have some financial measures on individuals which are which are violating the rules of the climate change then definitely some areas we understood that some areas in central recorder is still under control of some process that are yet to be unified if those areas the logging is happening in this area you want it to know who is responsible in security of the areas where it is controlled by the forces which are yet to be unified to the national forces if it is happening in the area and then the one doing it or if the commission are aware or the commission give the the the the the the the the the seal or the approval for logging in that area or the governor or the minister of in in the agriculture in central recorder a state because there is department of forestry in every county and they know that this rule is completely prohibited by the government and prohibited by even the international community on this matter okay we don't want to speak on peanuts uh illegal logging in all parts of south of dar especially gallett uh okay and and and you say you don't want it to be there entirely uh but let me just bring forward this uh this this uh concern here a natural resources uh for the nation they are national resources and this means that whatever is done with them for profit should be a national venture that benefits the people in the area and the nation at large uh just like we have the oil resource and that's ideally what should happen with it and so is there a plan to have laws in place to both protect the forest and and and have a sustainable you know forest uh maybe planting of trees to keep the forest alive but also to guide the business of logging for in the for as an added economic contributor for the country yes uh in government by itself uh the last time parliament have gone through the policy of of the environment regarding issues to do with the environmental preservation and protection of biodiversity which was developed a very good nice book regarding those issues but what we are focusing now is is environmental preservation it's not environmental preservation and it is not helping or it is not different in breaking any economic activity to the people of that area or even some kind of uh of the area look at the example of what happened in the in in local areas to eat the plantation of local local without even building not even a secret yes yes sorry we i didn't i didn't hear you a little bit there without building what exactly without building not even a single school or health care but the forest has been destroyed yes and the same thing in in tajukeli county there was in tajukeli county and there's not even an influence structure built or not even a school not even hospital not even today now it is happening in anime specifically in motorbok county and in motorbok county it's not just now it has been happening for number of good years the number of good years since 2013 since the crisis of 2013 there was illegal why is it difficult for it to be stopped if it is not but if it is the community the community the community is to benefit the people of the area okay we see the as oil yeah they have some percentage from this oil yeah percentage to the community for the development of the community activities hospital schools and so on but in central auditoria i don't believe the people of central water have been affecting from the nature resources they have not even the gold there is also illegal mining of gold in some parts of central auditor itself but the first community or the community which has gold is not even been affecting these things are done at the level of individual capacity not even just only central auditor the whole of south so that in the areas of equatora they have gold but this world is not even ticketing in the natural budget now we have the issues of financial crisis whereby mainly our budget is focused and being financed by oil and not all the revenues but what about the world there is a mining of gold happening in some parts of equatoria but this even gold is not even helping not even a single training at the national budget okay i want to copy that uh that are in that area all right our time is uh far spent uh per honorable polino what is your final message one i would like to to request our people to report any suspicious logging or illegal mining of minerals in their areas if they don't know if they are fearing their authorities that they don't want to repeat their authority because of the fear of recreation let them report to their members of parliament so that the issue will be addressed by the members of the parliament because the members of the parliament has full mandate of the representation and the oversight of the institutions of the government to ensure that the people and their properties are protected secondly the government of central auditor has to strengthen itself because we are realized there is a series of the weakness of the government of central auditor they are so weak we stop some certain things like this illegal uh logging of uh if they have to strengthen themselves and stop such continuous uh logging in all parts of central equatoria all right please in government will be protected and biodiversity will be protected well thank you so much for making the time to join me this morning to speak on this issue do you have a good day i do know that there is a sitting that is expected to happen today what will parliament be discussing yes there will be a sitting of the parliament else you are aware that last week the president which is the head of the of the country open the national legislature and now today we will be having a sitting in Vegas through the speech of the president because the speech of the president policy statement that that we let's scrutinize the speech of the president and direct the institutions concerned so that at least the will start taking the speech of the president as their policy directive uh statement to ensure whatever related to them said but the president has to be in the policy of the institutions of the government the ministry and so on all right that at least it worked together towards me okay thank you so much thank you and all the best with the sitting do have a good day thank you