Three chainsaw operators have been brought before the Fiapre Circuit Court in Sunyani West for unlawfully cutting down 45 Cidrella trees worth GH¢46,250 in the Amama Forest Reserve in the Bono Region.
The defendants—Prince Owusu, 38, from Abesim; Ransford Solomon, 36, from Benu Nkwanta; and Johnson Berko, 20, from Kyiridua, all within the Sunyani Municipality—pleaded not guilty to charges of trespassing in a forest reserve and logging without a Timber Utilisation Contract, in violation of section 23(1) of the Timber Resource Management Act 2002 (Act 617).
The court, presided over by Akua Adoma Addae, has adjourned the case to September 27, 2024, for a case management conference. Another suspect, known only as Ebenezer, remains at large.
Chief Inspector Eric Agyenim Boateng, who is prosecuting, informed the court that Eugene Kwabena Opoku, the Sunyani Forest Range Manager, was the complainant. On August 29, 2024, at approximately 0900 hours, Opoku and his team were patrolling the Amama Forest Reserve near Atronie and discovered the accused in the act.
Boateng reported that the team followed the sound of a chainsaw and found that the accused had felled 45 Cidrella trees and turned them into lumber. The team arrested the suspects, seized their chainsaw, and handed both the individuals and the equipment over to the police. During interrogation, the accused admitted to entering the reserve and harvesting the trees.
Francis Brobbey, the District Manager of the Sunyani Forest District, expressed concern after the hearing about the increasing illegal logging and other detrimental activities depleting the forest. He warned that without intervention, the goals of the government’s Green Ghana Initiative could be undermined. Brobbey emphasized the need for collective action to safeguard the nation’s forest reserves and called for enhanced surveillance and monitoring to curb illegal activities in the Amama reserve.