Nine Rat Hunter In Court For Bush fire Offences

Francis Npong

The presiding judge of the Tamale Magistrate Court, His Worship Gabriel Mate-Teye has issued a stem warning to politicians, opinion leaders, and chiefs in the Metropolis who for wants of popularity would try to influence judiciary system to desist or face the law.

The judge who was emotional charged issued this warning when nine persons arrested and charged with unlawful and negligently causing damage contrary to section 12 of the 172 Act 29/60 of the criminal code appeared before him to answer these charges brought against them by the officials of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The nine persons include six juveniles were arrested by the Tamale police somewhere in January 2011 for setting fire to the bush that destroyed a 36 acre cowpea farm at Nyamelga, a farming community on the Salaga road.

Though the pleas of the six juveniles were not taken the court however granted to reappear in court on the 16^thMarch 2011 to enable the court making arrangement to hear the case of these under aged children in camera as stipulated by the law.

Two of remaining three pleaded guilty to the offence and would be sentenced on the 21^st when they reappear before it.Before adjoining the case to 16^th and 21^st of this month respectively, the judge, His Worship Gabriel Mate-Teye who commended EPA officials for resisting pressures and influences for bringing the case before the court observed with concerns the negative effects of rampant bushfire in the northern region saying his outfit would deal drastically with any persons brought before it on charges of setting fire to the bush.

The nine accused persons were on hunting expedition at Nyamalga, a community near Tamale metropolis where they allegedly set fire to the bush which subsequently destroyed a 36 acre cowpea farm, according to the prosecutor Inspector Johnson Keremeng.He said on the 22^nd day of January 2011, the northern regional director of the EPA lodged a complain to the police that some were burning people’s farms in search for rates.

The police quickly dispatch a patron team who arrested the suspects at the scene.Some rates which were tended in court as evidence were retrieved from the accused persons. The police the prosecutor said also retrieved 25 bicycles, and a motor bike which the suspects claimed ownership. The judge however adjoined the case to 16^th and 21^st of this month and issued warning to people to desist from acts that turned to influence judiciary system or justice.

Ghana launched Sustainable Land, Water Management Project

 Francis Npong, Tamale

The Ministry of Science and Technology (MEST) has launched 8.15 million US dollars new environmental project in Tamale aimed to reduce land degradation and improve biodiversity conservation in northern Ghana.

The project dubbed Ghana sustainable Land and Water Management Project (SLWM) is part of efforts by the Ministry of Environment Science and Technology (MEST) and for that matter the Ghana government to demonstrate improved sustainable land and water management practices to reduce land degradation enhance maintenance of biodiversity in micro-watersheds and strengthen spatial planning for identification of linked watershed investments.

With the funding support from the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) and World Bank (WB), the new environmental project which seeks to introduce new agricultural technology for adoption to improve land and water management to reverse desertification, land degradation and water pollutions would benefit the Upper West, East and Northern regions.

The project, according to the Executive Director of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Mr. Daniel Amlalo represents a comprehensive approach to sustainable land and watershed management and would combine what he termed “soft and hard” investments at the community level to manage and maintain ecological infrastructure with planning activities to be integrated into water and flood management in northern Ghana and agro-agricultural zones.

Mr. Amlalo who was speaking during the official launch of the project explained that the sustainable land and water management project is a five year Global Environmental Facility (GEF) and World Bank assistance under both Land Degradation Focal Area (LDFA) which is contributing $ 7.15, million, and Biodiversity Focal Area (BFA) $1 million while the Ghana government would contribute in kind an estimated amount of $7.8 million as part of her efforts to help deal with land degradation, loss of biodiversity and protection and maintenance of watersheds under the new project.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with The Enquuirer, the Technical Director at the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology (MEST) Dr. Nicholas Iddi explained that the new project is not would only maintain watersheds and fights desertification and land degradation but also would work toward economic transformation to facilitate development and reduce extreme poverty in northern Ghana.

He said that the project is also taking onboard the ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Forestry commission (FC), Wildlife Division, and District Assemblies as partners or implementing agencies to achieve the desire result.

The challenges of desertification, land degradation and drought while real, are solvable but would need not just multi-million dollars projects but the commitment of implementing agencies to implement the project fully.


The launch of this so-called comprehensive project will definitely not open up northern Ghana or help transform the area if strategies used to implement similar projects aimed to transform the area were not changed.

Most of these projects though are good failed because the implementing agencies do not involve community members whereas most strategies and technologies introduce are either expansive to adopt and manage or could not be fused into indigenous existing technologies. It is hoped this project would take into consideration the existing indigenous technologies and integrate it into the new project plans, and involve community members to make it community own. 

Forestry Commission Cities: DCE, Police In Timber Deal

some piles of rosewood beams

Francis Npong, Tamale

A chain saw operator who allegedly felled over 1000 trees in Saboba District in the Northern Region after securing a permit from the district assembly to do so has been arrested by the Yendi police.

The Chain saw operator identified as Dari Abass who is now helping police investigations and his accomplices, now at large were transporting full loads of rosewood beams in two cargo trucks with registration numbers AS 5237X and ER 7362 E to Accra when the tracks were impounded by the youth in Ugando community in the Saboba district on the suspicion of illegality.

The case, which is now before the forestry commission in Yendi has implicated the District Chief Executive for Saboba Mr. Adolf Ali and a number of personnel in the Saboba District Assembly and Saboba Police for complicity and bribery.

Briefing the Enquirer in his office the Northern regional Director of the Forestry Commission Mr. Ebenezer Djaney Djagletey who suspected complicity in the felling of trees among the major stakeholders in the Saboba District indicated his office readiness to bring perpetrators of the act to book irrespective of the position of people involved.

To help the commission deal with the issue, the Director has petitioned the Northern Regional Security Council (REGSEC) to look into the matter citing uncooperative of the district police, issuance of permit by the district assembly and the growing tension between the communities in that Electoral Area.

The Enquirer information indicated that some key personnel of the district including DCE were alleged bribed with unspecified cash by the chain saw operator to allow then carry out his act.

A receipt in possession of the Enquirer dated 18^th August 2011 under the heading “permit” issued to Mr. Dari Abass by the Saboba District Assembly reads “Received from Dari Abass the sum of one thousand Ghana cedis (Ghc1,000) on the account of felling trees in the Saboba District” was in fulfillment of the agreement between them.

The illegal lumbering was done at the time the government was spending huge sums of taxpayers money trying to revamp the depleted forest in Ghana and as measures to check climate change.

Currently this issue of lumbering is said to have tempered with the security as communities such as Ugando, Jagrido, and Nangundo were allegedly bracing fight.

For reasons, the forestry commission has petitioned the Northern Regional Security Council to intervene to allow the law to take it course.

The investigative team of the commission though has not been able to ascertain the actual acreage of the forest depleted but the manager pointed out that number of rosewood beams seen around the bushes in the depleted area so far  suggested about 5,000 hectares of land would have been affected.

The chain saw operator was allegedly hired by a Tema based wood trading company, to deplete the forest at Saboba District after it was realized the rosewood beams which is currently on high demand in the world market in abundant in the north.

Though the law in Ghana forbids commercial wood logging in any part of northern Ghana, personnel of the Saboba District who were supposed to help enforced government directives rather aid the culprits by granting them permit to the illegitimate act.

Speaking in a telephone interview, the Yendi Forestry manager Mr. Henry Kudiabo said alleged that the Saboba District police were frustrating the move by the commission to deal with the lumbering in the area. He said that the police were not cooperating with his office leaving room to suspect some complicity.

He was also unhappy with the personnel of the saboba District Assembly for issuing permit to the chain saw operators to cut down trees when his office was making efforts to revamp the already depleted vegetation in the region.

“The tree felling was going on in the district for month now but the assembly did nothing to stop

but rather aid”, he said. The efforts to contact the DCE for Saboba District Mr. Adolf Ali for his comment was unsuccessful as all his phone lines available to the Enquirer could not go through. However the

Enquirer was informed the DCE had travelled out of the district when it made a subsequent phone call to the District assembly.