Eight unlawful chainsaw operators have appeared earlier than the Wamfie Justice of the Peace court docket within the Dormaa East District of the Bono area for harvesting 36 totally different species of timber valued at GH₵177, 701.70.
They’re in court docket for additionally creating 1.3Km entry street and building of two siding space with the full space of 0.4 hectares and different species of bushes valued at GH₵12,000 .00 within the Mpameso Forest Reserve at Dorma Ahenkro with out authority.
The boys had been apprehended by authorities for working chainsaws with out the required permits and licenses.
The accused individuals had been Matthew Opoku, 57 years; Kwadwo Poku, 48 years; Samuel Nsor, 42 years; Ebenezer Obeng, 34 years are drivers respectively and Kwame Nkrumah, 35 years; Isaac Boateng, 21 years; Twumasi Emmanuel, 28 years; Adu Gyamfi, 29 years are drivers’ mates and all residing at Kasapin.
They’ve been modified with conspiracy to commit crime, opposite to part 23 of the prison offence ACT 1960 (ACTS 29); illegal opposite to part 152 of the prison offence ACT 1960 (ACTS 29); felling, crosscutting and hauling of timber logs with out authority opposite to part 1 (a), (b), and (c) of the forestry safety ACT 264 of 2002 and inflicting illegal injury to property opposite to part 172 of the prison offence ACT 1960 (ACT 29).
All of them pleaded not responsible to the 4 prices.
The Wamfie Justice of the Peace court docket on Thursday, fifth September, 2024, granted every of the accused people a bail quantity of 80,000 Ghanaian cedis, totaling 640,000 cedis collectively with two sureties every.
The accused are required to pay the bail quantity with the intention to be launched from custody whereas awaiting their trial.
Moreover, they’re anticipated to report back to the Wamfie police each Tuesday at 10 AM till they re-appear on October 7, 2024.
Prosecuting, Detective inspector Godfred Mensah informed the court docket presided over by His Worship Eugene Ntim-Boateng that on August 27, 2024, round 0900 hours, the complainant and his speedy response staff of the Forestry Providers Division carried out patrols within the Mpameso Forest Reserve at Dormaa Ahenkro and upon listening to the sound of a chainsaw machine, they adopted up the place they sighted the accused individuals within the reserve.
D/Insp. Mensah mentioned the complainant and his staff found that the accused individuals had allegedly felled 36 totally different species of bushes, changing them into lumber.
In response to the prosecutor, the staff arrested the accused individuals and confiscated 3 tractors, a chainsaw machine and handed them to the police and upon police interrogation the accused individuals admitted coming into the reserve and harvesting the bushes.
The prosecutor mentioned they had been arraigned earlier than the Wamfie Justice of the Peace court docket a day after passing an evening on the Dormaa Divisional Police Headquarters for authorized motion to be taken.
Nonetheless the authorities are sending a transparent message that unlawful logging is not going to be tolerated in Ghana.
The unlawful operation of chainsaws in Ghana is a severe offense, because it contributes to deforestation and threatens the nation’s pure assets. Authorities are cracking down on unlawful logging operations in an effort to protect Ghana’s forests and fight local weather change.
In the meantime, the Dormaa Forest District supervisor, Dominic Attebare-Oteng, is looking for collective efforts particularly a swift collaboration between the army and police to reinforce the speedy response staff of the Forest Providers Division to guard the forest reserve.
He mentioned if the scenario was not introduced beneath management, then the targets of the federal government’s Inexperienced Ghana Initiative couldn’t be achieved.
” We aren’t going to take a seat all the way down to fold our arms for these folks to destroy our Forest Reserve we’ll combat, to safe the forest reserve and the assets. So we’re calling on everyone, the communities, the chiefs, the meeting members, to assist us defend the Mpameso forest reserve”, he said.