By Dennis Peprah
Sunyani, June 14, GNA – Nana Obiri Boahen, a former Deputy General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has called for an aggressive approach to tackle illegal logging in the country’s forest reserves to achieve the objectives of the Green Ghana Initiative.
He emphasised that until that was done, there was no way the nation could derive the optimum socio-economic benefits of the Green Ghana Initiative.
However, Nana Boahen said the government alone could not shoulder the responsibility alone, saying concerted approaches were therefore required to stem the wanton destruction of the forest cover and forestry products.
The former Deputy General Secretary was speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Sunyani on the aftermath of the Green Ghana Day.
Describing the Initiative introduced by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, he told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview in Sunyani that until the nation tackled the rapid depletion of her forest cover in a more aggressive manner, the Green Ghana would not achieve its objectives.
Nana Boahen, a renowned legal practitioner said it was sad the nation spent huge sums of money to recover her lost forest reserves and forestry products, and at the same time allowed illegal loggers and miners to destroy the same forest “we are trying to restore”.
For his view, successive governments had not shown any true commitment and political will but had only paid lip service in fighting illegal logging and mining which remained the bane of socioeconomic development in the country.
Nana Boahen said the wanton destruction of the nation’s forest and water bodies were clear indications the country seemed unready to protect and preserve her natural and forestry products.
“Seems we are not forward-looking. Considering the way and manner things are getting out of hand, it’s essential for the country to lease her forest sector management to the private sector if we are serious about preserving forestry products”, Nana Boahen indicated.
“If we are doing the Green Ghana and people are aggressively cutting and wantonly destroying our reserve teak plantation then what is the relevance”, Nana Boahen questioned.
On licensed commercial mining, the NPP General Secretary advocated the need for the nation to revise and amend existing laws and her Minerals Mining Act for the country to derive the required benefits from mining.
He said the current law that kept or reserved the meagre 10 per cent benefit of mining for the nation was out of use, and ‘insulting’ too, hence an urgent need for a review of the Mining Act for the nation to benefit significantly.
“In fact, if countries like Botswana are getting about 45 per cent from their mining exploitation and similar in Latin America and elsewhere, then why can’t we do the same”, Nana Boahen stated.
GNA