Correspondence from Eastern Region

The Akyem Swedru Circuit Court in the Birim South District of the Eastern Region presided over by his Honour Abubakar Abass Adams has sentenced a thirty-three-year-old chainsaw operator to eighteen months in prison custody.

Kwaku Arful, the convict was handed the sentence after being found guilty of engaging in unlawful chainsaw operations in the Oboyo forest reserves located within the Akyem Oda District forestry zone.

The Police Chief Prosecutor Richard Mekposigbe reading his charges before the court indicated that on Thursday 17th November 2022, Kwaku Arful was arrested by the Akyem Oda forestry taskforce team in the Oboyo forest at 5am.

In the process, items such as a chainsaw machine and a tools bag used in the illegal activity were seized from him.

The Akyem Oda District Forestry Manager, Mr. Ernest Adofo speaking to the media after Arful’s conviction indicated that the central government was, through the implementation of the ‘Green Ghana’ policy, doing its best to ensure that forest zones in the country were well maintained.

To this end, he resolved that the forestry commission will not sit down and look on as the country’s forest reserves are destroyed by illegal chainsaw operators, adding that culprits would be apprehended to face the full rigours of the law.

“Chainsaw activities here in Oda are not rampant but we’re determined to eliminate it once and for all and warn the public that anyone caught in any of our forests [engaging in illegal logging] will be dragged before the law for it to take its course,” warned the forestry manager.

Mr. Ernest Adofo stressed that the efforts of the Commission to increase the forest cover through the green Ghana initiative will not be derailed by these illegal activities as offenders will be dealt with to restore the area’s vegetation to its former state to address the global challenges of climate change.

He, therefore, advised the general public to access the legal and necessary documents that legalize anyone to harvest timber in the forest reserves from the appropriate institutions or offices before entering into such reserves to cut down trees.

Failure to do these, he warned would result in the arrest and prosecution of offenders.