Report by Nana POKU
The Managing Director of Forestry Commission of Ghana, Mr John Allottey has disclosed that the arrears he was saddled with in respect of Youth in Afforestation allowances have been paid up to September 2021.
He disclosed this at the ‘Minister’s Press Encounter’ in Accra last week. This answer arose when a journalist questioned him about it. Mr Allottey said at the time he was speaking, the Commission was only two months behind schedule and that the Finance Ministry had released funds for the youths affected so far and it would reflect in the their E-Zwitch cards in December 2021.
He indicated that it is not a deliberate strategy for his outfit to deprive the Youth of their hard earned stipends. It would be recalled that there was a newspaper publication that some youthful workers in the Afforestation project were owed several months of their allowances that resulted in some agitations and press engagement.
Mr Allottey took the opportunity to praise the Youth in Afforestation workers for a good work so far and looked forward for their future engagement especially in the Green Ghana Project. The MD intimated that the Forestry Commission is partnering the sector ministry, other agencies and organisations to support the Green Ghana Project to plant 20 million plants to surmount the scourge of climate change and de-afforestation occasioned by illegal mining and illegal lumbering.
He assured the nation that the Commission would distribute seedlings to all the regions, districts and vantage points to be accessed by Ghanaians for the success of the project. On another suggestion to replenish indigenous species like Odum, Wawa, Mahogany, Ofram, Amire, Odan, Odawoma, Esa etc, he assured the country that the next Green Ghana Project would focus more on these depleting species to keep them in our forests for posterity.
According to him, all timber concessionaires would be biometrically registered to avoid impersonation, multiple registration and falsification of documents. In this regard all concessionaires would be easily identified by the commission and the assemblies. ,He told the Press that Ghana today has about 6.5 million hectres of forest made up of 1.2 million hectres inherited forest left by our colonial masters. This was a cover for mining areas for minerals excluding other areas without minerals. He stated that any vegetation that has trees more than 5 meters tall can be classified as forest and must be a cluster of tress.
The MD intimated that for the first time timber merchants have formed their own union to run their own affairs with no participation from government.
