In spite of the nagging cases of judgment debt assailing the nation and the huge tranches of cash being doled out by the State regularly to settle cases arising out of such negligence of politicians and technocrats, the canker goes on unabated, investigations by the African Eye News can reveal.
Forestry Commission sources told the African Eye News that months ago, the Government, confronted with the nagging headache of degradation caused by charcoal burners along the Bui Dam stretch, gave a directive to make a swoop on the area and drive out illegal operators felling logs and burning charcoal.
The species in question is an expensive log called rosewood, which has a huge market in Asia, especially China. Significantly, however, Government took the decision, without consulting its technocrats.
Traditional rulers along the Bui and sections of the Northern and Brong Ahafo corridors, worried about the scale of degradation in the jurisdictions, had alerted the District Assembly which, in turn, notified the Forestry Commission and the sector Ministry. The Regional Forestry Commission then notified Accra and was mandated to do field verifications, after which a stop gap measure to evacuate the illegally felled logs was put in place.
According to our sources, Government through the Forestry Commission then invited applications based on merit. Applications were shortlisted from several dozens to just about a dozen, we were reliably told.
District Assembly sources, confirming the story, said companies which were lucky to be selected to clean up the mess then mobilized logistics and resources and went on site to cart the illegally felled logs, for which they were required under the deal to pay stipulated levies to Government, after they had been armed with permits by the sector Ministry and the Forestry Commission.
Companies were of two categories: five were to clear the Bui waterways and the corridor of live, un-felled trees that might impede flow of water, whilst the second category were to evacuate the already felled economic rosewood and other species left at specific and predetermined locations. As indicated, all logs attracted statutory levies, which companies dutifully paid to Government through the Forestry Commission and other allied agencies of State.
Even before captains of the affected companies move to the courts to file for judgment debt, information reaching the African Eye News indicates that some of them have fired missiles to the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources expressing their anger at the counter-directive that has thrown players into unnecessary debt for which reason they have a right to sue the Government for breach of contract and demand damages.
A copy of some of such letters sighted by the African Eye News , while congratulating the current Minister, also worries about the action of the Government in backing away from the deal unilaterally, asking the Minister to re-think the actions of Government in that light.
The letter, which carries appendices, calls on Government to allow the contractors to evacuate the rosewood logs, instead of suspending the salvage permits of legitimate contractors legally employed by the Government to harvest and/or evacuate rosewood logs.
Their argument is that they should be allowed to evacuate the logs and finish their assignment or be forced to go to court. The first option is to generate revenue to Government, according to the original agreement, rather than allow the logs to be ravaged possibly by charcoal burners, whose activities cause ritual bushfires. Directors of the companies were sad that there were no consultations with stakeholders and no notifications whatsoever.
Strangely, contractors argued in some of their letters, the Government ignores the fact that they could be courting judgment debts. Additionally, they expressed disgust about recent publications that tend to create the impression that contractors are lawless.
Fearing that agents of aggrieved companies might ignore the ban and lawfully move in to continue with the contract, damn the consequences, the Daily Graphic of Monday, August 25, 2014, for instance, carried a story demeaning contractors.
Another official story planted in the national newspapers of 16/07/2014 and a follow-up forum organised by the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources on Friday 08/08/14 created the impression that contractors’ permits have been revoked forthwith.
Directors of the companies, however, indicated that this did not reflect the true picture on the ground because, according to most of the contractors that the website contacted, there has not been any official letter, from any quarter, written to them revoking the permit, save the contradictory news items.
According to the aggrieved companies, based on the permission granted them, they had dutifully performed their responsibility in evacuating the economic rosewood logs.
In the process of carrying out those responsibilities, too, they had contracted huge loans to pay the statutory royalties/levies to the Forestry Commission as well as expended substantial monies on haulage and logistics etc. to evacuate most of the logs to dumping centres ready to be re-hauled by road to processing centres for processing and export.
Cumulatively, all such inactions on the part of Government, they further insisted, have the potential to ignite litigations from some of their colleagues who have irrevocable contracts with Government or, for that matter, Timber Industry Development Division (TIDD) registered buyers.
In their view, the fact that no single contractor was consulted to make available relevant information to guide the report that necessitated the rosewood ban forum is an indication of bad faith on the part of the Government, and contractors naturally feel scandalised by the views expressed at the rosewood forum as well as the report from the Daily Graphic. The new directives, they insisted, are contrary to the mandate given contractors.
According to them, in response to the Daily Graphic report, harvesting of rosewood is likely to continue unabated by charcoal burners because forestry officers cannot match their insurgence in terms of their numbers and trickery. Apart from that, nothing will be gained by the State from charcoal burners in terms of revenue, except degradation. They felt that legitimising the activities of therefore of contractors was a better option.
Rosewood logging, Forestry officers say, is selective and does not degrade the forests as against charcoal burners, who do so indiscriminately. The decision by Government therefore to continue with the ban may only result in a case of judgment debt, if the Government fails to reconsider its decision.
They believe independent checks with District officers of the Forestry Commission would reveal that astronomical revenue accrues from their activities to the FC and Government, by extension.
Concluding, some of the contractors spoken to intimated that, whilst they welcome the attempt by the Ministry to sanitize the timber industry, care should be taken not to disenfranchise those contractors who have already paid monies to the Forestry Commission and evacuated all or partially hauled the logs to dumping centres for example Techiman, ready to be processed and shipped, particularly when they are now saddled with a huge quantum of evacuated logs which are duly covered by all statutory documents from the Forestry Commission/TIDD.
“Indeed, there may be unscrupulous and die-hard timber rustlers engaging in nefarious activities,” contractors admitted, pointing out that the views expressed, however, by the Daily Graphic in its Monday August 25, 2014, is not entirely true because as far as they are concerned, “none of its colleagues have been cited for contempt since the ban was placed.”
African Eye News
