To burn or not to burn: Muckraking Extra on Malawi ivory

“The world’s poorest country,” wrote The Independent of the UK earlier last week, “is to make the world’s most expensive bonfire.”

President Mutharika and the VP inspect Ivory heaped at the Parliament building - Pic by Stanley Makuti
President Mutharika and the VP inspect Ivory heaped at the Parliament building – Pic by Stanley Makuti

The insinuation may have been irreverent but the message was poignant. Malawi was scheduled to burn four metric tonnes of ivory worth over US $7 million. The stockpile was made from accumulated contraband seized from poachers and smugglers who were planning to launder them in the Far East, notably in China.

But it all ended up to be an anti-climax as President Mutharika announced that Malawi was postponing the incineration of the ivory because government has realised there are at least 2.6 million metric tonnes more tied up in courts as evidential exhibits in trials of smugglers and poachers.

If the reason sounded hollow it is perhaps because it is. Look, if we are going to wait for all pieces of ivory to be on the stockpile before we set alight the pyre then we may never ever burn any ivory. For starters, our courts are notoriously slow in dispensing justice. Besides, because of the lucrative nature of the business more and more poachers and smugglers will continue killing more and more elephants for their trophy tusks.

Or perhaps somebody called from Beijing and said, “Hey, for sure we could make better use of those tusks and surely with Western capitals still shunning you guys could really do with a US $7 million cheque.”

News of the intended burning of the tusks inevitably divided opinion in Malawi. While some argued that selling them would encourage more poaching, others thought Malawi would lose twice for the jumbos are already dead anyway and we should not let such serious potential money be reduced to cold ash.

Both schools of thought are persuasive. With corruption levels still high in Malawi, some people with deep pockets and the right connections may kill more elephants and connive with authorities to pretend to have the ivory seized so that government should later legally sell it for them.

And indeed when the Malawi Revenue Authority seizes property whose owners are failing to pay taxes on them it does not destroy such property; it auctions it. So why not auction the ivory?

Suffice to say, however, there is more to controlling poaching and ivory smuggling than just making expensive bonfires from seized ivory. Look at how mis-treated are our game rangers. If they are not getting paid their field allowances on time, they are not being provided with the right gear.

Imagine a game ranger whose family back home has spent days on end without a proper meal comes face to face with a poacher laden with a pocketful of money.

Or imagine he is armed with an obsolete gun that can only fire one bullet at a time and his feet are shod in Zonke that is not ideal to navigate the thorn-filled foliage. And he is up against a poacher armed to the teeth with a machine gun and properly dressed for the jungle.

If we are to save the remaining 2,000 or so jumbos still left in Malawi let us invest in forest and game reserve and national park policing and management. Whether we get the money for such an investment from selling seized ivory is subject for another discussion.

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Ambele
Ambele
8 years ago

No.21 clueless are you living in this world you say CITES says there is no market ?
tayerekezani mukataye kuntaya ma tasks’wo then muona kuti within a week m’Malawi muno sizipezekanso zikhala zili ku China, UK, USA, Japan mopanda vuto. You think people killed Elephants for marketless tusks?? msika ndi wosayamba. OK apatseni anthu atakate muone

Chief Advisor
Chief Advisor
8 years ago

I beg to differ with all those who are saying we should either burn or sell the ivory. Much as we appreciate that it is illegal to sell the Jumbo tasks, did the so called CITES tell us altenative ways to get rid of the said illegal items? I think Malawians can decide on the best way to do away with the ivory by considering certain situations the country is facing. I would suggest keeping the ivory for posterity. When we have depleted all the elephants, our kids will not believe that there were such animals in the past. Just… Read more »

Pedant
Pedant
8 years ago

‘government has realised there are at
least 2.6 million metric tonnes more tied up in
courts’
Sure? 2.6 MILLION tonnes? How many dead elephants would that be?

kakarate
8 years ago

Comment
Musatinamizepo apa; Masangwi waupeza kale msika wa zimenezi, poti zina zinali zake ndikale. Adzaocha warehouse yake atachotsamo kale katunduyu.

Kasparov
Kasparov
8 years ago

Just like the proceeds of the presidential jet sale.

Zithanie jumba@mail.co
8 years ago

If they want to burn let them do so after all who will benefit fm these ,if not peter & mukhito & ben phiri , god shd remember us because these so called readers of this country , they dont think 4 the puwa, but they think 4 themselves how to become billioners while the taxem puwa are suffering

Nabanda
8 years ago

Unless you people are mad really… How can you burn money??? Dont burn, sale the stuff…money realized help the needy. The Chiefs and Councilors should come up with names from their wards to the Government and get supported. Government should also look at how to take care of the less previlaged… Put in place a salary to all Malawians who are not working please…

phiri la dzunje
phiri la dzunje
8 years ago

mind yanu yonse yapita kwa ivory wheather to sale or not we have so many to deal with our judicial where are you with cashgate cases?

clueless
clueless
8 years ago

Amalawi kuchuluka nzeru too much
The ivory had to be torched. According to CITES (Google it Please), there is no legal market for confisticated ivory. The Director of Wildlife knows better about these issues in his field than you journalists who think you know it all. The problem with malawians is that you think you know everything.

cmk
cmk
8 years ago

Musapange Cashgate inanso,paja inu amboma kuba ndi hobby yanu….mukagulitsa ndalamazo mudya ndi Ana anu ndi abale anu.Mudzasanza magazi pa imfa yanu nonse ndikubiba mphutsi.

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