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Shoot-To-Kill System, Not An Option In Addressing Illegal Chainsaw Menace In Our Forests

By Daryl Bosu
Opinion Shoot-To-Kill System, Not An Option In Addressing Illegal Chainsaw Menace In Our Forests
OCT 12, 2018 LISTEN

For a long time, it is sad to observe that some of our leaders have become trigger happy and fallen in love with the Shoot-to-Kill system as a suggested panacea to address the threat posed by recalcitrant offenders in the management of forest, land and mineral resource in this country. In as much Ghana needs to employ all available state resources, both human, logistics, carrots and sticks to secure it forest, water and land resources, an action critical to secure our very livelihood and way of life as people, never has the option to resort to Shoot-to-kill become a viable solution.

Shoot-to-Kill System cannot and will never solve the problem of illegal chainsaw activities in our forests. First of all, it will be a fundamental human right abuse of the offenders. Secondly, there are several human right based and safe-guard compliant approaches and options that we have not sufficiently and effectively applied, and to this I want to avert the agile mind of the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Forestry Commission to. Lastly, the current forest and wildlife policy of Ghana focuses on harnessing the non-consumptive values of our forests, while employing collaborative, transparent and inclusiveness approaches and strategies to paraphrase.

As the CEO of the Forestry Commission, the state agency mandated with the function to create, protect and manage the permanent forest estates and protected areas in the various ecological zones of the country to conserve Ghana's biophysical heritage, working towards a vision of leaving future generations and its communities with richer, better, more valuable forestry and wildlife endowments than we inherited, I am sure there should be several human right based options that come in handy before we resort to these terminator suggestions. Have we all so soon forgotten the national debate that ensued both in public and in the corridors of our legislators when a Deputy Minister of State made similar proposals as the solution to address the galamsey menace plaguing the country. That aside, is this strategy an admission that all strategies have failed and this terminator system remains the only solution to addressing the threats to our forests, lands and water resources?

In addressing the infringements to the fundamental human rights of the offenders associated with this proposal, I will refer the CEO and all others thinking of proposing shoot-to-kill as a strategy in this era, to avert our minds to the provisions first of all in the 1992 Constitution of Ghana which was reiterated in a similar discourse on the floor of Parliament in March this year. During the submissions of the Majority Leader of Parliament, Hon Mensah Bonsu, he referred us all to the provision of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana in Article 13, (1) which says “no person shall be deprived of his life intentionally except in the exercise of the execution of a sentence of a court in respect of a criminal offence under the laws of Ghana of which he has been convicted.”

Just like the provisions in the constitution, this does not mean that, if push comes to shove and shoot-to-kill is reasonably and justifiably inevitable in the performance of the functions and duties of the Forestry Commission, that right cannot be exercises as in the subsequent clause 2 of the Article which adds that “A person shall not be held to have deprived another person of his life in contravention of clause (1) of this article if that other person dies as the result of a lawful act of war or if that other person dies as the result of the use of force to such an extent as is reasonably justifiable in the particular circumstances: for the defence of any person from violence or for the defence of property; or in order to effect a lawful arrest or to prevent the escape of a person lawfully detained; or for the purposes of suppressing a riot, insurrection or mutiny; or in order to prevent the commission of a crime by that person.”

Clearly, Shoot-to-Kill is not an acceptable approach and strategy, unless reasonably and justifiably inevitable in the particular circumstances. We cannot also lose sight of the fact that, with such a directive, the hunted will eventually become the hunter, and will not order well for the parties or the state.

Secondly we need to know that, the proposal to resort to Shoot-to-Kill system in addressing the threats posed by the agents of deforestation and forest degradation in Ghana in the management of the forestry sector in Ghana, fails to take into consideration the full complement of options that Forestry Commission can deploy efficiently and effectively in the achievement of its mandate. We cannot run away from the fact that, one of the major reasons for forest loss in Ghana, is the wanton and increasing impunity exhibited by the illegal chainsaw operators in our forests, to the extent the same reckless and disregard is exhibited even in the dry savanna regions of Ghana. That said we cannot ignore the underlying factors of the greed of the syndicate behind the trade preying on the poverty of poor job seeking individuals to perpetuate their actions.

Many are they who have a soft spot for some of these illegal operators just on the excuse of poverty and unemployment. It important to know that the economic and livelihood reasons proffered by illegal chainsaw operators as an excuse is not a relevant consideration in this matter, particularly when the laws of the state considers illegal chainsaw operation as an offense. Secondly there are more sustainable ways of producing lumber for use and profits that still remain largely untapped by private entities in Ghana.

This said, it is important to know that, the threat from illegal chainsaw operators are happening for many reasons and the CEO of the Forestry of Commission needs to consider these humble suggestions in the mix of strategies that he is considering

1.The Commission needs to be Proactive in addressing threats.

We all recognize and sympathize with the human and logistical resource challenges of the Commission, but a lot of these issues with can be avoided if the Commission can be more proactive rather than reactive. One wonders the commitment of Commission if chain saw operators or galamsey can camp in a forests and operate for more than a week without any action, particularly for actions that are so obvious and loud in their nature. To ensure effective protection for our current forest estates, the Commission must be proactive with the little resources at their disposal and avoid reactive tendencies as is mostly the case. This is not in effect saying that some reactive responses are not necessary and that why the recent bust of chainsaw operators and their equipment in the Western Region of Ghana by the joint action of the Forestry Commission and the Law enforcement taskforce is very commendable. We however mourn the loss of the gallant military officer in the operation and in all unqualified terms frown the actions of illegal chainsaw operators leading to the loss of lives. The age adage old “prevention is better than cure" is an instructive and effective risk management tool for serious consideration, planning and implementation, as we move forward.

2. The Forestry Commission needs to activate data and monitoring system to follow the Chainsaw.

Ghana has had an elaborate legal framework for the regulation of use of Chainsaws in the country. At a point in time chainsaws were completely banned from timber operations, but that has changed giving way to a progressive self-regulatory mechanisms that is backed by law. Unfortunately, these regulations have largely gone without enforcement and compliance. The Timber Resource Management and Legality Licensing regulations, 2017 (LI2254) in provides clear provisions on the requirement to register chainsaw, registration of chainsaw by District Assemblies and registration of chainsaw at the District Offices. Importantly regulation 68 of the LI stipulates that (1) A person who registers a chainsaw at a District Assembly shall also register that chainsaw at the District Forest Office where the chainsaw is to be used to fell trees. (2) An application for registration of a chainsaw at a District Forest Office shall be preceded by a registration at the District Assembly in accordance with regulation 6 7. (3) An application for registration of a chainsaw at a District Forest Office shall be as set out in the Seventh Schedule. (4) An officer of the District Forest Office shall on receipt of an application under sub-regulation (3) (a) inspect the chainsaw, and (b) ensure that the condition of the chainsaw meets the relevant requirement for use of the chainsaw. (c) Where the District Officer is satisfied with the condition of the chainsaw .that officer shall allocate a registration number to the registered chainsaw. (6) A fee is not payable for the registration of a cha· District Forest Office.

The existing system is a good opportunity to track the ownership and use of the chainsaws, which could also serve as opportunity to either review its regulatory mechanism and associated compliance in relation to its use for illegal activities.

3. Shoot-to-Kill the Political Interference
A very important consideration to addressing the activities of illegal chainsaw operators in our forests, is the urgent need to kill the influence and interference of politicians in the mandate of technical and professional managers. The situation where political appointments intimidate and give instructions for logging activities to continue without the intervention of forest managers as well as the interference in legal due process for offenders of forest resource management regulations should stop and should be publicly abhorred. Forests Reserves are not the spoils of war for political parties to allocate to their foot soldiers to the detriment of the public good.

With these interferences, forest managers are incapable of performing their duties as requirement, leading to significant losses in Ghana’s forest estates, as we are all aware.

All laws of this country must be enforced without fear or favour, abhorring the tendencies where politicians interfere in forest utilization and management without recourse to laid down policies, laws and regulations.

4. Pursue a consistent commitment to sustainability as your function and vision mandates

The wavering commitment of the Forestry Commission in the performance of its functions and achievement of its vision, gives room for offenders to doubt their true commitment to create, protect and manage the permanent forest estates and protected areas in the various ecological zones of the country to conserve Ghana's biophysical heritage, working towards a vision of leaving future generations and its communities with richer, better, more valuable forestry and wildlife endowments than we inherited.

5. The state should invest in resourcing the Commission to do its work

In as much as we acknowledge the fact that, most institutions in Ghana are struggling for reasons of inadequate human and logistical resources, the Forestry Commission unfortunately one of the poorly resourced institutions in the country. For all the protected areas that need to be secured, and considering their remoteness and the hard work our men and women put in to ensure the security of our natural heritage, we could have done more to make their work a bit easier. Knowledge of the meagre operational funds given to various forest and park managers for a whole quarter for example for protection services will make you wonder the true commitment of our governments past and present to the protection of our natural heritage. Instead of spreading thinly the already limited resources on tens of thousands of youth in short-term afforestation programs, a good qualified number should have been deployed to support the shortfall in forest protection needs in the country. Forest guards for many forest reserves all over the country need to be reinforced and given adequate logistics and incentives for the performance of their duties.

When illegal chainsaw operators in forests have more intelligence and firearm protection in comparison to the forest guard, where lies the motivation to go to such a risky job.

To conclude, clearly the panacea to addressing the illegal chainsaw menace in our forests requires a mix of human right based approaches that are implemented in a transparent and inclusive manner involving all stakeholders and ensures the application of both carrot and stick approaches. Shoot-to-Kill system definitely belongs to an era many centuries past and not suitable for progressive collaborative and non-consumptive resource management strategies that we are pursuing at national level as well as all the international obligations that we have committed to as a country.

Author: Daryl Bosu
Email: [email protected]

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