The youth in the Sissala East district in the Upper West region through a taskforce which was set up on Tuesday, with the support of the police has arrested seven persons for harvesting rosewood in some communities in the area.

On the first day of operation, the taskforce visited Nabugbelle, Dolibuzon and Yagantu where the merchants instead of carting away rosewood that were lying in the community per the license that was issued by the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, were seen harvesting fresh rosewood.

Bawa Ayamga a member of the task force who spoke to Kasapa News revealed that the team has confiscated the rosewood from the loggers who initially took to their heals when they saw members of the task force.

He said, “At Nabugbelle some residents told us that some people were in the bush harvesting rosewood so we rushed there but when they saw us they run away. However, when we got back into the market square, we saw them resting under a tree so with the help of the community we arrested them. They were four people”.

“Later we were told three others were arrested inside the Gbele Game reserve and also taken to the police station before we got into town,” Mr. Ayamga added.

He told Kasapa News that the decision to form the task force was borne out of the fact that, they felt the leadership of the district had failed the youth in terms of protecting the environment.

He said, “We the youth are not happy with how things are handled by our leaders so we have decided to take our destiny into our hands. We will drive all the merchants out of our district”.

BACKGROUND

Government placed a ban on the harvesting of rosewood in 2016 but licenses were given to some merchants two months ago to cart away rosewood that was lying in some communities of the Upper West Region.

The insurance of the licenses was greeted with anger by residents in the region, leading the Regional Coordinating Council to set up a 14 member task force to lead in the carting away of the rosewood in the communities.

The task force, however, has not been seen carrying out its mandate and this prompted the youth in Sissala East to take the decision to handle the problem themselves.

The seven arrested persons appeared before the Tumu Magistrate Court on Wednesday and the case has been adjourned until 27th of November, 2017. – Musah Lansah