E.I. on Achimota Forest Reserve declassification must be revoked immediately – Suhuyini
Some people might be trying to loot Achimota forest – Suhuyini
Losing Achimota Forest will be bad for Ghana - MP
Tamale North MP, Alhassan Sayibu Suhuyini, has called on the government to revoke an Executive Instrument (E.I) it has enacted to declassify portions of the
According to him, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo must look into the E.I because there might be attempts by some of his officials to loot the land.
Suhuyini, who is also the Ranking Member of the Lands and Natural Resources Committee of Parliament, added that the portion of the land due to the Owoo family has for some reason been increased in The E.I.
“We believe that it was not well thought through if indeed intention was not deliberate to loot the Achimota Forest land and so the president must take a second look at the E. I. 144 and possibly revoke it as soon as possible.
“We also believe that the increase from about 90 acres to about 360 acres is untenable, and we ought to engage to understand what went into that increase in the acreage of land that has been given to the Owoo family, and we insist that the Achimota Forest must remain a forest reserve,” he is quoted to have said on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show.
The Member of Parliament (MP) further stated that it will be bad if the government loses the Achimota forest because it will reduce the number of forest reserves in the country to 265, which is not the best.
Meanwhile, Samuel Abu Jinapor has said that the government has not declassified the entire Achimota Forest.
He explained that the government only declassified peripheral portions of the forest reserve that was rightly released by the then John Dramani Mahama government to the Owoo family.
The minister added that he, on behalf of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, enacted an Executive Instrument to amend the law (Forest Act, CAP 157) which made the portion of the land given to the Owoo family a reserve so that the family would have full assess it.
“We do not have that many in this country. We only have about 265 that’s if you take the Achimota Forest out,” he told Winston Amoah, host of Joy FM’s Super Morning Show on Wednesday.
Tamale Central MP, Alhassan Suhuyini
