* Also empowers the participation of other law enforcement agencies of Malawi Police, Road Traffic Department, National Parks & Wildlife, Fisheries Department, MDF MRA, Immigration and MEPA
* The other Government agencies and departments as enforcement officers empowers them to do specific acts such as inspection, search and seizure of forest produce
By Duncan Mlanjira
In order to iron out operational challenges currently being met in the administration of the Forestry Act, Parliament has passed the private member motion by Chitipa South Constituency MP Werani Chilenga that, among others, empowers forestry rangers to use firearms against forest products poachers.
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The Bill proposes to amend sections 2, 6, 46, 68, 74, 82 and 83 of the Act and inserts new sections 9A and 13A in which it empowers the participation of other law enforcement agencies of Malawi Police Service, Department of Road Traffic & Safety Services, Department of National Parks & Wildlife, Department of Fisheries, Malawi Defence Force, Malawi Revenue Authority, Department of Immigration and Malawi Environmental Protection Authority (MEPA).
MP Chilenga, who is chairperson of Parliamentary Committee of Natural Resources & Climate Change, said the operational challenges include lack of appropriate regulation of the use of firearms by forest officers; inadequate enforcement of key provisions of the Act by the Department of Forestry due to, among others, inadequate personnel and omission.
“The Bill therefore designates officers from other Government agencies and departments as enforcement officers and empowers these officers to do specific acts such as inspection, search and seizure of forest produce.”
MP Werani Chilenga
An officer exercising powers granted under section 13 of this Act, may use firearms against any person where the person is escaping or attempting to escape; who, by force, rescues or attempts to rescue, a person under lawful custody; and who, by force, prevents or attempts to prevent, his own lawful arrest or the lawful arrest of any person.
An officer shall not resort to the use of a firearm as authorised under unless the officer has reasonable grounds to believe that he cannot otherwise prevent the escape and unless the officer has given warning to such person that he is about to use the firearm against the person and that such warning is unheeded.
They shall also not resort to the use of a firearm as authorised unless the officer has reasonable grounds to believe that he or any person is in danger of grievous bodily harm and that he cannot otherwise effect the arrest or prevent the rescue.
And as far as possible, use a firearm to disable and not to kill and an officer, shall, after using a firearm, make a report in the prescribed form to the Director.
Just last week, Charles Mpaka, Malawi’s seasoned award winning Malawian journalist (both locally and internationally) filed a report for Italy-based Inter Press Service (IPS) news agency— about the perilous dangers that forest ranger face in their line of duty.
He quoted Ministry of Natural Resources, which is responsible for the management of 88 forest reserves and 11 plantations across the country, that in 2024 alone, a total of eight forest rangers got killed in separate incidents while in the line of duty.
The Ministry admitted that Malawi has not recorded such a high number of forest guard killings before, adding that the hostility towards its frontline staff by illegal charcoal producers and loggers is getting alarming.
“People who are destroying our forests are on the loose — they are killing our forestry officials,” Minister of Natural Resources Owen Chomanika is quoted as saying at a meeting his Ministry convened in January 2025 to discuss with other forestry sector players strategies to stem the tide of forest destruction in Malawi.
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Mpaka reported that what prompted the meeting was theft of timber on Zomba Mountain whose poachers blazenly transported the contraband over several weeks, escorted by some young men armed with machetes, saws and axes — moving in groups numbering between 50 and 100.
The media reported of this invasion of the protected forest reserve, that every morning, the poachers cut down pine trees and carrying them away through the streets of Zomba city below in full public spectacle.
“With government forest guards overwhelmed, the Ministry had to engage the Malawi Defence Force and Malawi Police Service to crack down on the illegal operation,” he wrote. Data from the Global Forest Watch show that between 2001 and 2023, Malawi lost almost a quarter of a million hectares of its 1.5 million hectares of tree cover.
“In 2023 alone, the country lost almost 23,000 hectares of tree cover, the highest forest loss Malawi has suffered in a single year since 2001. This devastation is falling even on protected forests where the government deploys forest guards.
“As deforestation mounts — driven by worsening poverty, ever-rising demand for charcoal for cooking and farmland expansion — these forest security staff have the unenviable task of pushing back the avalanche.”
The report also indicated that February 14, 2025, three forest rangers sustained various degrees of injuries after being attacked by people from villages around Kaning’ina forest in Mzimba District — when the guards intercepted eight people who were illegally cutting down trees in the forest.
Three days later, five forestry officers were wounded when community members around Chikala Forest in Machinga District pelted stones at them — “their crime being that they had arrested some men from the village who they had found producing charcoal illegally in the reserve”.
“From being stoned to death to being hacked in the face to being chased and beaten by irate mobs, forest guards in Malawi are increasingly coming into the firing line as they go out to enforce the law.”
The report quoted Ministry of Natural Resources Principal Secretary, Yusuf Nkungula, who attributed the trend partly to internal challenges, which he describe as structural and operational — with structural grouped as the number of guards that are available at one particular time versus the number of offenders.
And operationally may include lack of proper equipment like guns as the rangers are unable to suppress the pressures they face from the offenders.
“Commonly, guards are attacked by offenders because they are not fully equipped to fight back. Because of this, in 2024 alone, eight forest guards were killed in the line of duty,” Nkungula told IPS.
“Sometimes, the Ministry engages the Malawi Police Service, the Malawi Defence Force and national parks and wildlife rangers to help with patrols in deforestation hotspots, but these are short-term interventions.
“These engagements are always very expensive; as such, they don’t happen continuously, hence still creating spaces for offenders to do illegal activities,” he was quoted as saying.
He added that currently, the forestry department has 806 guards deployed to forest reserves and plantations, way below the 4,772 forest guards which the department requires now — and that the department also struggles to equip even these few guards due to inadequate funding.
According to Nkungula, since 1998, not in a single year has the department received half of its budget requirement and that the 2024-25 financial year was the worst, as Treasury disbursed only 30% of the budget for the department.
“On average, 40% of the budget has been accessed annually in the previous 5 years. The shortfall adversely affects the operations of the department at all levels, resulting in failure to achieve some important targets.”
Notable challenges resulting from such financial shortfalls include failure to properly develop plantation forestry, fight increased forest fires, bust increased illegal charcoal production and exacerbate corruption, the Ministry told IPS.
Headquartered in Rome, Italy, IPS’ main focus is news and analysis about social, political, civil, and economic subjects as they relate to the Global South, civil society, and globalisation.
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