By Joseph Nana Yaw Cobbina
The Chief Executive Officer of Forest Industry Association of Ghana, Dr. Kwame Asamoah Adam, has asked the police to arrest and prosecute chiefs who connive with illegal chainsaw operators to destroy the forest reserves in the country.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with this reporter, Dr. Asamoah Adam said he was reliably informed that some chiefs and government officials are at the centre stage of colluding with this illegal chainsaw operators to unlawfully cut down trees in the forest reserves, and thus destroying the potential of the lucrative local timber industry.
“But every one of these chainsaw loggers is breaking the law, especially the so-called chainsaw operators association which is operating illegally on our forest reserves with the support of some chiefs and big sharks in government,” he said.
He mentioned that their activities has impacted the timber business and with a huge decline from 200million euros to 100million euros lost of revenue to the country.
He said based on the huge decline in the timber industry, companies cannot export like they used to do while the workforce is reduced from 100,000 to 37,000 at present, which the government should take a closer look at the challenges confronting the timber export industry.
According to him, if care is not taken Ghanaians may end up use metals for roofing as a result of the illegal activities in the forest reserve and need to stop the menace.
He was optimistic that with the intervention government and other stakeholders to support the fight against illegal mining, chainsawing and other destructiveness activities in our forest reserve across the country.
He also identify persistent challenges such as investment costs, dwindling timber supplies, corruption and a lack of legal access to land and trees.
A hundred thousand chainsaw operators scattered across the country provide 72% of the lumber on the domestic market. They support livelihoods of about 650,000 people and inject much-needed cash into local economies.
