The Savannah Regional Taskforce against rosewood trade has impounded two trucks illegally transporting rosewood.

The two trucks were impounded in Damongo, the Savanah Regional capital on Sunday, June 28, 2021.

There is currently a ban on the harvesting and export of rosewood which has been in place since 2019.

Despite the directive, some persons have been caught engaging in the felling and haulage of rosewood.

Citi News understands that the impounded wood and trucks have been parked at the offices of the Forestry Commission in the region.

The two drivers and other occupants of the trucks are also in the grips of the police waiting to be arraigned.

Meanwhile, the Lands and Natural Resources Minister, Samuel Abdulai Jinapor, who earlier spoke on the Rosewood trade, reiterated the government’s commitment to enforcing the ban on rosewood felling and exportation.

“Across the northern part of our country, the Forestry Commission and its guards and its enforcement regime are actively policing the activities of those who harvest this wood and export them and so on and so forth.

We have got into partnership with the chiefs as far as the enforcement is concerned “and that is really helping,” the Minister said.

Background


The ban on rosewood harvesting in Ghana first came into force in 2014.

The government cited the abuse of permits granted some loggers to harvest rosewood in the catchment area of the Bui dam as the reason for the imposition of the ban.

The ban was lifted in 2017, with the Minister in charge at that time, John Peter Amewu, giving over 20 companies permission to fell the trees.

But in March 2019, the trade was banned again, following alleged corruption and illegal trade of the resource.

Source: citifmonline