By Alex Chitwere

Mulanje, February 15, Mana:  Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) on Friday partnered Mulanje District Council in a tree planting exercise at Muloza Primary School, Traditional Authority Njema in the district.

MRA Station Manager for Muloza Border, Adjison Maziwire said the revenue authority felt compelled to take part in a tree planting season by supporting the exercise with 1,000 tree seedlings as MRA operates within the community.

He said MRA is committed to ensure that the environment is protected to stop the reoccurrence of natural disasters such as Cyclone Freddy.

“Just to plant a tree is not the end of it all, we have to take care of it. We are thinking of going further than this to cover the whole area and the whole district planting more trees,” he said.

Maziwire further called on the community to assist them in their efforts and pointed out that they need help in curbing the smuggling of goods.

“Smuggling is the greatest factor that is affecting revenue collection, we are in a community where the border is so wide such that there are a lot of uncharted routes and to manage all this is not easy," he added.

Mulanje District Forestry Officer, Newton Sodala said despite several efforts on the ground to protect the forest like planting trees, there are a lot of illegal activities happening.

He then said a partnership with MRA will get them closer to their target of planting 2500 trees in the 2024/2025 forestry season.

The Forestry Officer also said his office will focus on block management which gives communities a chance to manage part of the forest as a way of instilling ownership.

The tax body took a similar exercise to Nanchidwa Primary School, an area that was heavily affected by Tropical Cyclone Freddy.

In Mulanje, MRA is operating at Muloza Border as well as at the Boma for domestic taxes.