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Mr Benito-Owusu-Bio, Deputy Minister lof Lands and Natural Resources
Mr Benito-Owusu-Bio, Deputy Minister lof Lands and Natural Resources

Lands Ministry seeks clearance to recruit forest guards

The Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources is seeking for financial clearance from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning to recruit more than 450 forest guards to fill vacancies in the security department of the Forestry Commission (FC) to protect the forest reserves.

The Deputy Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Mr Benito-Owusu-Bio, has said when clearance is granted, the ministry will begin the recruitment of the guards to protect the country’s forest cover.

“There are forest reserves that you come across, and there are just three forestry officers; and a typical forest reserve can be from here to Winneba so if you have three persons taking care of it, then you might as well say they should all sleep. These are some of the challenges we have,” he said in an interview with the GRAPHIC BUSINESS after the launch of a strategic plan and inauguration of a broad for Tropenbos Ghana (TBG).

He said the absence of guards was aiding the increasing wave of forest and wildlife crimes, particularly illegal logging.
“There are a lot of our people at home so if you have more personnel, it will create employment and it’s about time we fill the gap,” he said.

Forest protection
Forest and wildlife guards are often subjected to brutalities by illegal chainsaw and ‘galamsey’ operators.
Available data indicates that from February 2011 to March 2013, the commission lost 62 of its guards through such alleged brutalities out of 120 that were attacked, and vehicles belonging to the FC were vandalised.
The Executive Director of WACAM, Mrs Hannah Owusu-Koranteng, said it behoved the citizenry to ensure the sanity of the environment as captured in Article 41 k of the Constitution, especially when it comes to mining and environmental degradation.
“Whether we like it or not, Ghana is for all of us and as citizens, we have a role to ensure that if problems are created we ensure that we do all that is within our power to clean the mess,” she said.
She expressed concern about the situation where government granted companies licences to mine in protected forests, saying that if government will show commitment, then it should come from stopping some of these activities.
“Galamsey is not just the digging and dumping of waste into water bodies, but irresponsible mining goes beyond that and to the extent that we don’t open up the space for a national debate that may try to prescribe some solutions,” she said.

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