Residents in Pukor sub county have yesterday passed a bylaw to curb down the indiscriminate shea-nut tree cutting that is rampant in the area due to the high level of depletion of the shea-nut tree species in the region.
This bylaws comes after residents in the sub-county opted to count all the shea-nut trees in the area so that whoever cut one, will be subjected to the bylaws made.
Ray Otim, local chairperson of Gang Ba village says that they have indeed counted all the shea-nut trees in the area with the hope of fighting the rampant tree cutting in their area. He adds that they did not count the already cut ones due to the poor weather where grasses were very tall and cannot reveal the stalk of the tree.
According to Ray, there was rampant tree-cutting due to poor approach from the cultural leaders who tend to commercialize the activities and being reluctant on the matter.
An elder among the cultural leaders known as Kamilo, a resident of Pukor says that the sub-county has resolved that anyone found cutting down a shea-nut tree without proper reason will be forced to pay a fine of 50,000/=, one goat and forced to plant 5 trees seedling. He adds that it's unlawful to cut down trees indiscriminately.
Meanwhile, Martine Okello, Pader district forest officer says that recently there were complications from the cultural leaders, and the election period also made enforcing the bylaws and the government in regards to tree-cutting hectic. He adds that Pukor has eased the government by putting in place a bylaw that seeks to fight deforestation.
According to Martine, anyone found cutting down the shea-nut tree species will perhaps be forced to pay 600,000/= or 2 years imprisonment or faces both penalties. He further urges the local chairperson of villages to be very vigilant and implement the bylaw they have put in place.
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