Timbermen Ask Ministry To Clarify Policy

Inchaban (Western Region), 14 Oct. The Ministry of Lands and Forestry has been asked to clarify as a matter of urgency, whether it is now an offence for timbermen to use conveyance certificates issued by the Forestry Department on Saturdays and Sundays. The call was made by Mr. J. E. Armah, Western Regional Chairman of the Ghana Timber Association (GTA) in an interview with the Ghana News Agency at Takoradi yesterday. This follows the alleged harassment and impounding of timber trucks with logs by the Timber Taskforce at Inchaban and Agona-Nkwanta barriers a week ago on the grounds that the conveyance certificates were issued on Saturdays and Sundays. Mr. Armah said an early clarification by the Ministry would avert any possible confrontation between the Timber Taskforce and the Timbermen ''whose tolerance is waning.'' He said the ministry's own directive, which has been in operation for some years now, is that all logs leaving the bush must be covered by conveyance certificates issued by the Forestry Department. ''Over all these years timbermen have been obtaining the conveyance certificates from the Forestry Department on all days of the week including Saturdays , Sundays and even public holidays without any hindrance'', Mr. Armah said. The Regional Chairman said ''We are, therefore, surprised at the harassment and impounding of trucks by the timber task-force since the Ministry has not notified timbermen of any change...'' Mr. Armah said the impounding of timber trucks brings additional expenses to timbermen. He suggested that the timber task-force should be made up of people who are conversant with the timber industry and should include representatives from the GTA and the Forestry Department. Timber trucks which were impounded by the task-force for between two and four days included those belonging to Western Veneer and Lumber Company (WVLC), Subri Industrial Plantation Limited (SIPL), WMT, SAED. When contacted, a member of the task-force who refused to disclose his name said their action followed a directive from the Ministry to arrest timber trucks with logs covered by certificates issued by the Forestry Department on Saturdays and Sundays. He said since no official of the Forestry department goes to work on Saturdays and Sundays no official could issue certificates to timbermen on these days.