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Malawi: Headman arrested for cultivating Indian hemp Emmanuel Muwamba Africa News Thursday 06 Jan 2011 Village headman Galeta from Traditional Authority Njolomole found himself in unfamiliar territory on Tuesday. He has been charged with an offence of cultivating Indian hemp which is contrary to regulation 4 of the Dangerous Drugs Regulations. The village headman real, Sikenala Pisenti, 60 has been on police remand since Tuesday. The Police said they have uprooted 27 stems of the hemp which had grown over three metres tall. Ntcheu Police public relations officer Gift Matewere said the hemp was grown on the middle of a maize garden to conceal the cultivation from the public. "We received a tip off from the public that the village headman was cultivating Indian hemp. We followed up the tip off and we uprooted 27 big plants," said Matewere. He is expected to be arraigned in court on Thursday to be formally charged. In November, another traditional leader from Zomba was arrested and subsequently convicted of being found in possession of 6.4 kg of Indian hemp. Village headman Chatama from T/A Chikowi in Zomba was sentenced to serve two years imprisonment with hard labour after he failed to pay a fine of K50 000. Being found in possession of Indian hemp is contrary to regulation 4 (a) of the Dangerous Drugs Regulations as read with section 19 (1) of the Dangerous Drugs Act. It imposes a maximum sentence of K500 000 and imprisonment for life. In 2008, government disclosed that police confiscates about 27 tonnes annually of cannabis sativa. The then Minister of Public Security Ernest Malenga said the 27 tonne represents only 2.5 percent of the total chamba produced and trafficked in the country. He said the Malawi Police Service faces a lot of challenges which expose the country to continued drug production and trafficking. The challenges include porous borders, insufficient police officers and sniffer dogs, specialised vehicles and lack of police helicopters to conduct aerial surveillance. In 2000, Deputy Minister of Agriculture Joe Manduwa surprised MPs in the august House when championed Indian hemp's legalisation. Manduwa, a member of the ruling United Democratic Front (UDF) then, told MPs that Malawi stood to gain a great deal from cultivating the plant, which he said was a much-sought-after commodity on the world market. He said the plant could be a valuable alternative to tobacco. "Indian hemp has other important uses that can earn this country a lot of foreign exchange, as happens in other countries that have already taken strides in this direction," he said. He said, for instance, that more than 200 companies around the world are scouting for suppliers of the plant, whose fibres are used to manufacture a wide-range of items like textiles, ropes, paper and cosmetics. He observed that while many of Malawi's cash crops, including tobacco and cotton, need a lot of chemicals and insecticides to treat, Indian hemp can grow with very little care and requires no insecticides at all. http://www.africanews.com/site/Headman_arrested_for_cultivating_Indian_hemp/list_messages/36929
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