Parliamentary select committee tour Western Region

By Julius Caesar Anadem

An eighteen member parliamentary select committee on lands and forestry are in the western region for a five day inspection tour of some selected District Assemblies and firms. The tour is to help the committee evaluate the revenue .

The tour of the select committee on lands and forestry is a familiarization tour of six selected district assemblies within the western region and to hold discussions and know at first hand, how the assemblies utilize revenue from stool lands disbursed to them. This will afford the committee to understand some project works embarked upon by the assemblies. Their first point of contact was the Sekondi Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly STMA. Where they met the Chief Executive Officer, Kwabina Prah Annan. The eighteen member committee led by the chairman, Geshon Gbediemeh later toured John Bittar and company limited a wood processing firm located in Sekondi to discuss their operations and possible challenges especially on compliance to the voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) on Timber Trade with the European Union.

The committee Members interacted with some top management members of the company on some challenges the timber industry faces. Members were later conducted round the company where they saw at first hand some timber process methods. Geshon Gbediemeh is the chairman of the select committee on lands and forestry.Ghassan John Bittar urged government and other stakeholders in the forestry industry to expedite action to save and sustain Ghana’s forestry in order to keep the timber industry in business; he called for an overhaul of middlemen in the forestry industry.In a related development , the lands and forestry committee of parliament , have charged the Mpohor Wassa East District Assembly to improve and develop other sauces of revenue to support and fund developmental projects in the district. The advice was give when the committee visited the assembly as part of familiarization tour of the district. During the discussions with the DCE and officials of Mpohor Wassa East District on the use of stool lands revenue disbursed to the assembly in the years 2004, 2005 and 2006, one critical area of important to the select committee members on land and forestry was the area of direct benefit of royalties to the locals within the district. Various members during the friendly but firm discussions implored the Mpohor Wassa East District to adopt other ways to raise funds to improve their internally generated funds for development. The District Chief Executive Officer of the Mpohor Wassa East, Anthony Bassaw noted that payment of property rates in the assembly has become a big challenge for the assembly and the assemblies have had to spend a lot on education to sensitize the public on payments of property rates. The committee later toured the bamboo plantation of Subri Industrial plantation limited in the Daboase area.