President Museveni recently directed the minister responsible for Water and Environment to send Damian Akankwasa, the Executive Director of the National Forestry Authority, on a three-month leave. The President also directed that an investigation be instituted into the circumstances under which Akankwasa came to possess Shs 900 million.

President Museveni's directive answered incessant calls from various civil society groups for Akankwasa's resignation. Their argument is that he should explain how he came to be in possession of such huge amounts of liquid cash in his bedroom.

The particulars of Akankwasa's intriguing story is that his wife, Juliet Katusiime, stole Shs 900 million from under their matrimonial bed. Desperate, he reported a case of theft to the police. In their infinite wisdom, the police handed Juliet to the Rapid Response Unit at Kireka where she was locked up for eleven days without appearing in court.

For over a week, the Akankwasa incident dominated the national media. Akankwasa claims that the stolen money belonged to his brother who had kept it at his [Akankwasa's] home awaiting the purchase of a piece of land in Kampala City. Akankwasa's wife denies stealing any money from her husband.

However, whereas President Museveni's administrative directive to send Akankwasa on forced leave is welcome, the investigations should not be limited to the Shs 900 million only. I am aware of at least two petitions to the IGG and the Parliamentary Committee on Natural Resources over mismanagement at NFA. Both petitions seem to have been ignored.

In a petition to the IGG dated 16th March 2009, Mr. Samwiri Rwabwogo, alleges that the National Forestry Authority had been hijacked by a mafia-like clique that had made government lose millions of dollars in dubious forest sales. Rwabwogo, the former coordinator of Law Enforcement at NFA, claims to have been forced out of the forestry body because of his uncompromising stand on thefts and gross mismanagement at NFA.

Following the divesture of the forestry department and the enactment of a new law - the National Forestry and Tree Planting Authority Act 2003, responsible bodies were established. These included

Forestry Inspection Division, National Forestry Authority (NFA), Central Forest Reserves and District Forestry Services (DFS), Local Forest Reserves and Private Forests.

New challenges have since emerged for forestry management especially the overall forest protection, licensing of harvesting and monitoring thereof. Irrespective of management, forests are closely linked and their activities impact on one another. This calls for central regulation to ensure the integrity of the resource, stability of markets and general sustainability.

The operationalization of these responsible bodies did not commence simultaneously hence the existence of loopholes in the forest sector leading to illegal activities in forest produce, encroachment, rampant abuse and proliferation of impostors and distortion of market share and prices.

What has played out is the mismanagement of the forestry sector. There have been several scandals at the NFA ranging from illegal forest harvests in several forests in the country where millions of dollars have been creamed off by an organised rackets of criminals assisted by high ranking NFA staffs.

Reports of massive resignations of several high ranking and long serving officers citing interference in their work have virtually stalled work at the authority. They allege that some top officials wanted them out of the authority such that their ill intentions of depleting the forests are not exposed.

This has led to a total stalling of the original ideals and aspirations of the NFA. However, complicity of NFA staff in appropriation of forestry by individuals without regard to law and due process is perhaps the biggest undoing that could trash the dividends registered in the last four years of government and donor investments in the forestry sub-sector.

There are allegations of irregular issuance of harvesting concessions and permits. The National Forestry Authority and Tree Planting Act gives NFA powers to issue permits/concessions to people who seek to undertake lawful activities in forest reserves.

Forest reserves are owned by the people and managed under a public trust arrangement. This demands high levels of transparency, accountability and respect of the rule of law. It is surprising that the management of the NFA have continued to transact in an ad hoc and unprofessional manner.

Delays by the NFA to open up all the forestry boundaries have continued to facilitate encroachment.

Field staffs are said to lack detailed maps of the several reserves which make the work of forest supervisors difficult and hinders the NFA from authoritatively defending forest reserves from encroachers.

Matters are not helped by chits issued by senior managers at NFA who on several occasions disrupt junior staff by ordering them to release impounded trucks carrying illegal timber.

Unless government constitutes a comprehensive investigation to bring rogues at the NFA to book, before we wake up Uganda's forests will be long gone and we shall have ourselves to blame.

The author is associated with the Media Centre