GHANA LOSES ?BILLIONS

The Sun can report that, due to acts of omission or commission by officials of the Forestry Commission (FC), the nation has lost billions of Cedis that could have been mobilized for the development of other sectors of the nation. Already outstanding is the colossal amount of ?97 billion, being accrued cash the Forestry Commission could not account for in 2003, after it sold teak to that tune to 18 companies through a so-called competitive bidding.

The Sun gathered that during the first competitive bidding for plantation timber in 2003, the 18 companies that pre-qualified and actively participated, the first required part-payment of 25 per cent. Out of these companies, only five made payments in the second and third installments to the Forestry Commission. Additionally, of the 17 companies that participated in the natural forest allocation, only four made the first installment payment, with only one company paying the second installment.

Quite apart from the nauseating happenings, there is the clandestine operation of dubious and illegal exportation of teak to mostly the Far East countries courtesy unscrupulous collaborators, who were depleting the teak plantations under questionable and pitiful operations, leading to under-invoicing and non-payment of the right taxes for the exportation of the priceless wood.

The non-payment of the huge outstanding cash came to light last week, during the review of competitive bidding at a workshop held in Kumasi.

Under the Timber Utilization Contract (TUC), a competitive bidding of teak was introduced with the hope of getting the best for the country. However, three years after it was introduced the 18 companies that won the bid were yet to pay the full amount realised at the bidding.

Out of ?97 billion realized during the 2003 bidding, The Sun gathered that an amount of over ?80 billion was still outstanding. The paper learnt that officials of the Forestry Commission whose purview was to check recalcitrant companies seem to have gone to sleep, allowing the companies to take the nation for a ransom.

Even though there were a lot of question marks about the credibility of some of the companies that were pre-qualified for the bidding, officials of the Forestry Commission closed their eyes upon protestation from insiders, and went ahead to hold the bidding.

Apart from this huge money that has remained outstanding, The Sun can report that the nation has been short-changed through dubious exportation of teak and other timber products, running into hundreds of billions.

Meanwhile, The Sun can report that a number of companies pre-qualified for last Friday?s competitive bidding had questionable backgrounds. This therefore raised suspicion about the whole process, since most of the companies even have their core business as barbering, communication centers, dealers in cement and electrical appliances.

In a related development, the Ghana Association of Forest Plantation Wood Millers and Exporters (GHATEX) secured interlocutory injunction motion against Forestry Commission against last Friday?s competitive bidding. The association, among other things, accused the Commission for under-handling and unlawful issuance of permit to companies even after unproductive competitive bidding in 2003.

The defendants recklessly issued permits to a number of companies to harvest thousands of wood products, without recording same in the books of the defendants.

?One of those companies was Chiraa Forest Mill Limited whose permit was issued on February 8, 2005 by one Mr. Owusu Abebrese to harvest 14,742 trees. The same company, on November 26, 2004 was issued with the permit to harvest 14,447 trees. Again on June 15, 2005, Chiraa Forest Mill Limited was issued a permit for 8,768 trees, stated the plaintiff.