Rawlings holds discussions with Council of State

Accra (Greater Accra) 23 April, The Council of State today expressed its displeasure at not seeing the Executive "crack the whip" often and suggested that appointees who fail to live up to expectation should be sacked. The Council said it has not always been a pleasure to see the President engage in clean-ups when officials have been appointed to see to the cleanliness of the city. It said for the President to lead such clean-ups meant failure ont he part of those officials. "We want to see more firing," said Major-General D.K. Addo, a member of the Council at the Castle, Osu, when members met the Executive to deliberate on pressing national issues. Issues discussed included sanitation, the energy crisis, agriculture, return of confiscated assets, illegal timber operations and the current shortage of cement. With President Jerry John Rawlings were Vice-President John Atta Mills, Mr. Fred Ohene-Kena, Ministers of Mines and Energy, and some Presidential Staffers. Maj-Gen Addo said it was the view of the Council of State that once in a while, the people might have clean-up campaigns but this should not be on regular basis. The president taking part in such campaigns should be a signal to officials responsible to take a cue. But if the President has to engage in such exercises repeatedly because the place is not clean, then it means a word to the wise is not enough and the officials who have been tasked to keep the place clean should be sacked. Mrs. Mercy Owusu-Nimoh, Dr. May Grant and Nana Oduro Numapau, members of the Council, spoke about the need for more education on the need to keep the environment clean. Mrs. Owusu-Nimoh said it is disheartening to sometimes see people stand and watch while volunteers are cleaning their surroundings for them. Supporting the suggestion that unproductive officials should be fired, Mrs. Owusu-Nimoh said:"people must be made responsible for jobs they have been asked to do". On the nation's forests, the Council of State expressed its unhappiness at the rate at which illegal timber operations are taking place in parts of the country and said people tasked to check these activities rather collude with the operators. "If care is not taken, we will be living in a desert, taking into account the rate at which trees are being felled in our forests," said Nana Aduhene, who added that at Juabaso Bia, there are about 20 companies operating illegally. Mrs. Owusu-Nimoh said at Kwaebibirem in the Eastern Region, illegal timber operations are carried out on Sundays and in the night. She said when the timber produce are being carted to Accra the owners drive ahead and bribe personnel at the barriers. Nana Numapau and some of the chiefs on the council complained that before concessions are granted to timber contractors, chiefs on whose land the timber is located are not informed. He said chiefs are capable of checking illegal felling if they are more involved in the timber industry. "Those who live near the forests are more capable of protecting the forests because illegal felling takes place at night". Mr. C.K. Dewornu complained about the activities of the Timber Task Force and said its members have stayed at post for so long that they have been corrupted. "The task force should be looked at again because the place has become a goldmine". Prof. Mills said it is a mistake not to involve chiefs when timber concessions are being granted and that this would be corrected. An official of the Ministry of Lands and Forestry, Mr. Siisi Wilson said forest guards have not been able to carry out their jobs satisfactorily because the illegal operators often attack them. He said over the past two years four guards have killed. He said new laws would be passed to check the practice. Under these laws, any person caught felling a tree illegally would be made to pay 10 times its commercial value.