The Minority in Parliament has emphasized the necessity for the government to annul Executive Instrument 144, which declassified sections of the Achimota Forest as a forest reserve.
Additionally, the caucus is advocating for the repeal of Legislative Instrument 2462, a move that would prevent the opening of the country’s forest reserves to mining leases for extended periods, potentially up to 24 years.
During the budget approval debate for the Lands and Natural Resources sector, Dr Rashid Pelpuo, the Ranking Member on the Lands and Forestry Committee, stressed the importance of the government demonstrating its commitment to safeguarding Ghana’s forest reserves.
“I want to reiterate a request we made earlier to the Minister to revoke L.I 2462 on the Environmental Protection Act or to work with the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources to revoke Act L. I 2462 2022 which is allowing mining in reserve areas”.
According to him, it does not sync well with the core mandate of the Ministry in protecting and ensuring that the Forestry of this country is protected and enhanced.
He also expressed his worry about the low funds allocated to the Ministry as far as their work is concerned.
“Mr Speaker, as the Chairman has said, we are worried about the fact that there is a problem of low release of funds and low allocation of budgetary to the ministry and we wish that this trend could be reversed.
He added, “I just wish that the Minister for Finance would have been here to listen to the core fact that land defines the sovereignty of a state”.
He warned the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor, to execute his mission well when budgets are allocated to his Ministry for work done. He called for strong supervision to be conducted as far as the Country’s Natural Resources are concerned.