A Quick Note to JoyFM's Anti-Galamsey Hero, Mr. Eratus Asare Donkor

Dear Mr. Eratus Asare Donkor,
Unlike most Ghanaian media professionals who take an active interest in vexed environmental issues such as galamsey, illegal logging for chainsaw bushcut lumber production, illegal hunting, and illegal sandwinning, I actually come from a land-owning family with one of the largest freehold landholding portfolios in Ghana's Eastern Region's biodiversity-rich Akyem Abuakwa. Some might argue that my perspective on those issues should count for that reason.

It so happens that my extended family clan's freehold 14-square-mile upland evergreen rainforest property lies in a designated Globally Significant Biodiversity Area (GSBA) in the Akyem Juaso section of the biodiversity-rich Atewa Range.

In 2006, the American aluminium giant Alcoa sponsored Conservation International to conduct a rapid assessment survey, and a pillar with the letters GSBA was erected by the researchers on our land. The results and recommendations of that survey are available online in RAP Bulletin No. 47.

Mr. Asare Donkor, the situation in my extended family clan mirrors the dilemma faced by Ghana in its fight to end the egregious destruction of our natural heritage and preserve it for future generations. Our branch of the P. E. Thompson family tree, descended from our late mother’s union with our late father, consisting of my sister Nanayire Marian and me, and our progeny, are committed to protecting our 14-square-mile Akyem Juaso property.

Unfortunately, however, my cousins Kwame Thompson and Kofi Bampoe have grown super-rich from decades of colluding with bad actors engaged in galamsey and illegal logging for chainsaw bushcut lumber production in Akyem Juaso.

One loathes that corrupt, amoral and avaricious duo, as well as those they conspire with to destroy what is one of the most bountiful and beautiful tropical rainforest landscapes in the world, which we see ourselves as mere stewards of for humanity. Investigating the ongoing galamsey and chainsaw bushcut lumber production on our land is crucial if a permanent stop to it is to be feasible.

Our daughter Gladys and her husband George recommended you as the best-suited Ghanaian media professional capable of getting to the bottom of the conundrum we face with our freehold 14-square-mile Akyem Juaso upland evergreen rainforest property, 99.6 acres of which lies inside the Atewa Forest Reserve and is known as an "admitted farm" in Forestry Commission jargon. Are you game, and is such an investigation by your JoyFM anti-galamsey team feasible?

Thanks.
Yours sincerely,
Kofi Thompson.
WhatsApp number: +233 576 564 600
Mobile phone numbers: 0277 453 109 and 055 885 2619

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