Illegal logging in the Tatale-Sanguli district of the Northern Region is fast turning the area into a wasteland.
This was the concern expressed by the District Chief Executive for the area, Thomas Mbomba when he visited some communities with Citi FM.
During the tour, several illegal logs were seen in the bush and in some of the communities, an indication of how serious the problem of illegal felling of trees in that part of the region is.
Thomas Mbomba however told Citi FM that his outfit is working seriously to curb the illegal act.
“The issue of logging has been a bane on us as an Assembly because we live in the desert area. The whole of northern region is a desert-like region and there is even a law banning logging unless the situation is so critical that is for the benefit of the society. The situation is seriously affecting our environment, the rainfall pattern has been affected as a result of the illegal felling of trees.”
He also claimed that a number of the illegal loggers are foreigners, adding that some arrests have alreadybeen made.
“Most of the people we arrest are foreigners. We have arrested about 15 cars carrying logs and only two were from Ghana.
“The problem is we those by the borders we have our relatives in the other countries so it is always our challenge but whiles they find their way into our territory we will arrest them and confiscate everything,” he said.
The DCE says a number of measures have been put in place to deal with the situation.
He mentioned a collaboration with the sister districts to jointly fight the canker.
“We have resolved in our assembly meeting that henceforth if we see a car carrying logs, whether the person has a permit or not, whether they are being directed from Accra, we are not going to entertain that. Most of the illegal loggers are in the bush with their trucks and the problem is where are they going to escape because Zabzugu is alert, Bimbilla, Yendi and Wulensi are all alert. We have a collaboration to jointly deal with this issue such that we will end it in our corridor,” he added.
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By: Mohammed Aminu M Alabira/citifmonline.com/Ghana