Irate youth in Tumu, the capital of the Sissala East Municipality in the Upper West Region yesterday, February 18, 2020, locked up the offices of the Forestry Commission.
The action according to the youth was to protest the re-emergence of rosewood harvesting in the municipality.
Shedding more light on the move, Chairman of the Sissala Youth Forum, Yussif Napuna indicated that several attempts to get officials of the Commission for a consultative discussion had failed.
This situation, therefore, left them with no other option than to resort to the closure. The Forestry Commission has in the past rejected claims that officials of the commission are complicit in alleged illegal felling of rosewood.
Clement Apaak, Member of Parliament who has been at the forefront of the fight has criticized the government’s seeming lack of seriousness towards the fight against the illegal felling of rosewood in the country.
Meanwhile, the District Manager Sissala East Forestry Commission, Jasper Yao Dunyah is surprised at that action by the incensed youth.
According to him, although he had received a letter inviting his outfit to the said meeting, the two parties had not concluded on the modalities for the discussion because he together with his deputy were not available on the scheduled date and had requested for a later time.
An investigative committee was tasked to probe the issue after US-based Environmental Investigation Agency’s (EIA) said the government was failing to clamp down on illegal rosewood export despite the ban on the commodity.
The committee was tasked to investigate allegations of corruption as reported in the EIA’s publication, examine all anomalies with respect to rosewood salvage permit, transportation and export trade and make recommendations for appropriate action to be taken to halt the flouting of the law.
Source: Fiilafmonline/CitiNews
