Rosewood Smuggling: Committee of Inquiry alone can't end illegality – Apaak

Member of Parliament for the Builsa South Constituency in the Upper East Region, Dr. Clement Apaak, has welcomed the establishment of a 7-member committee to probe allegations of the felling of Rosewood and smuggling.

The Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources has set-up a seven-member committee to probe allegations of rosewood smuggling in Ghana.

This follows the US-based Environmental Investigations Agency’s (EIA) publication that alleged that rosewood smuggling is rampant in the country despite a ban.

The committee which will be headed by the Deputy Minister of Lands and Natural resources, Benito Owusu-Bio, has five weeks to investigate the issue and report their findings..

However, Dr. Apaak has indicated that government must go beyond the committee of inquiry to ensure it gets a handle on the problem.

He said the move is good although the impact would be insignificant .

“Contrary to the assertions that were being made in light of the advocacy that we’d waged; even the EIA report, the status remain even today that this illegality is still ongoing. So while it’s welcome news, we cannot conclude that this alone is going to end the illegality,” he said in an interview with Accra-based Citi Fm.