This man is not serious , we will push u out from that office . U want more arm robbers in the country
This man is not serious , we will push u out from that office . U want more arm robbers in the country
The mask 9 years ago
Nowadays businesses and government organisations have stopped demanding Secondary School Certificate or Basic Education Certificate.
Each of these certificates are important. For example for many tertiary graduates the on ... read full comment
Nowadays businesses and government organisations have stopped demanding Secondary School Certificate or Basic Education Certificate.
Each of these certificates are important. For example for many tertiary graduates the only certificate that can tell whether one can speak good English or whether one has adequate knowledge of Mathematics is the Secondary School Certificate.
Similarly the only certificate that can tell whether a tertiary graduate has basic knowledge of Ghanaian history, culture, agriculture and the basic geography of West Africa is the Basic Education Certificate.
princewilly@ymail.com 9 years ago
A new convert to Catholicism decided to go to confession to
deal with his transgression. In the confessional, he told the
priest that he had sinned.
"What was your sin, my son?" asked the priest.
"I stole some lumber, ... read full comment
A new convert to Catholicism decided to go to confession to
deal with his transgression. In the confessional, he told the
priest that he had sinned.
"What was your sin, my son?" asked the priest.
"I stole some lumber, Father," replied the man.
"How much lumber did you steal?" asked the priest.
"Father, I built my German Shepherd dog a nice new doghouse."
The priest replied, "Well, that's not so bad."
The man continued, "Father, I also built myself a 4-car garage."
"Well, now, that's a little more serious."
"Father, there's more. In addition to the doghouse, the 4-car
garage, I also built a 5 bedroom, 4 bath house!"
With a pause, the priest finally spoke. "That is a little more
serious. I'm afraid you'll have to make a novena."
"Father, I'm not sure what a 'novena' is, but if you've got the
blueprints, I've got the lumber!"
Mohammed Kamil Is-haaq 9 years ago
I think you are rather creating avenues for the law enforcement agencies like the rapid response of the forestry commission to make money for themselves. This operation requires the involvement of the minister,the deputy and ... read full comment
I think you are rather creating avenues for the law enforcement agencies like the rapid response of the forestry commission to make money for themselves. This operation requires the involvement of the minister,the deputy and all top ranks at the FC. It seems you dont see how important it is to protect the forest.Stop the talking and do somethiing serious.
George 9 years ago
It very difficult to get sawmill wood.U guys stay in the office,come out and say whatever you like without going out there and see the reality.You want all the real estate projects come to a stand still.
It very difficult to get sawmill wood.U guys stay in the office,come out and say whatever you like without going out there and see the reality.You want all the real estate projects come to a stand still.
G. K. Berko 9 years ago
George, my name-sake, do you really understand the problems at stake that the Minister is trying to get his hands around? Or, you are just being facetious?
If you asked me if we need to restrain the wanton destruction of ... read full comment
George, my name-sake, do you really understand the problems at stake that the Minister is trying to get his hands around? Or, you are just being facetious?
If you asked me if we need to restrain the wanton destruction of our Forests at the expense of the booming Real Estate Development, I would say a big YES!!!
Now, I would spare you any attempt to educate you on the full and real impact of the loss of our Forests. Time and Space may not allow that. However, I would emphatically like to assert that what we would be missing permanently from the loss of our Forests as benefits can never be replaced by any benefits of the Real Estate Industry as we understand and see it in Ghana, now.
One would ordinarily not expect that Real Estate could also include the acquisition and Management of Forest Estate in the real sense of the former. I have backgrounds in both Forestry and Real Estate, (having gotten my license to pursue a Real Estate career in the USA), as regards the acquisition, managing of and trading in Buildings and other physical structures.
So, I am confident in what I am putting out here regarding your comment. First off, the booming Real Estate business in Ghana, now, would have been much more profitable and beneficial to all if we could depend fully on our local resources to construct the Buildings.
The Real Estate Business in Ghana is now booming for the simple facts that: 1). We have a rapidly growing Population that needs to be housed;
2). There is a certain continuing panic of anticipation that prices or cost of acquisition of Houses in Ghana would soar further.
To strictly stay with these two points alone for now, I would like to explain that had our Governments, in the last few years, seriously ensured that our Forest Ordinances were obeyed, the Forests would have been better managed to fulfill our ultimate and laudable goal of adequately and sustainably supporting us, way beyond the provision of lumber for our Building Industry, not mentioning the priceless intangible benefits.
We insensitively allowed the Forests to be savagely ravaged by greedy crooks who only cared for instant wealth. Many of such criminals were illicitly engaged in milling lumber without proper machinery and permits, especially using Chainsaws. Others were issued excess licenses to operate without the necessary supervision by the appropriate Forestry personnel. The voracious devouring of the best quality species in the First and Second Class Species-categories for export rapidly depleted our Forests.
All these went on with the near total neglect of our Governments till last year, when, for the very first time in the History of our Country, Ghana, we had to !!IMPORT!! Wood to supplement our needs both in the Building (Real Estate)and the Furniture Industries.
Our Ancestors would be fuming in their graves that we have in just under 40 years squandered more than half of the Tropical High Forests that they had bequeathed to us with their blood and toil for Centuries.
In terms of Economics, we have lost thousands of jobs through the loss of the Trees and Forests in so short a time. The trade in Lumber and Furniture has fallen drastically. The reason why it has become difficult to get sawmill wood, as you claim, is simply because of the situations explained above. Many of the Sawmills had to close for lack of local Wood to process. For the same reasons, Carpenters and other craft-men/women were out of jobs.
Now that we have to import Wood, the price of Wood has skyrocketed and only a few Sawmills can afford to buy the imported Wood to process, or retail to their customers.
To give you a little bit more insight into the severity of the situation we are in, check this out. I was in Ghana just a couple of years back. And I still grieve at what I personally had a first-hand experience of as to the immediate sordid impact of the loss of our Forests. First, it was people's compelling need to resort to inferior Species of Wood for constructing Houses. In my presence, the Ceiling of a newly built Guest House collapsed unto the floor, narrowly missing injuring some folks present. Upon a close inspection, I instantly noted that the Wood used for the rafters in the Building, to support the Ceiling and the Roof, was of the Terminalia Species (Ofram, most likely), a Class 3 of the Economic Species category of Trees, that never got treated before usage, and some Termites had devoured the core.
Secondly, I observed one other crucial but often overlooked effect of the loss of our Forests. And that is the shortage of clean, unprocessed drinking Water. Almost everyone I saw in Ghana drinking water was doing so with sachet or bottled Water. Before my departure from Ghana in the mid-80s, Water was in abundance and drinking Water was safe and easy to obtain in most parts of the Nation. Rather sadly, majority Ghanaians including the rural dwellers had come to depend on packaged Water for drinking. Many of the Streams, natural Springs, and Wells had dried out, and the volume of many Rivers were reported to have dwindled, causing even the Water feeding into the Akosombo Dam to fall in level, and hurting our Electric power production capacity.
If you did not know, or have forgotten, George, the desiccation of our Water sources in most part is attributable to the loss of the Forest cover over our Water-shed zones. The idiotic destruction of our Forests has caused the exposure of the Watershed areas to hitherto unusual dryness. The consequential greater intensity in hot temperatures elsewhere in the Country has also caused Aquifers in many areas where Wells and Springs derived their Water from to dry out.
Need I go on a little longer? I do not think so. Just the above must adequately suffice to inform you of the gravity of the Economic loss to us. That brings pressure to bear on the Real Estate you are trying to use for an excuse to continue destroying the Forests.
If you did not know, the situation is so grave that the European Union even had to come in, albeit a little late, to ban all exports of Timber from Ghana. The greedy marauders of our Forests did not even stop with the naturally propagated Trees in the Forests. They extended their greed to deplete our Plantations we established to, mostly, serve as a transitional buffer to protect the Forests from the Sahelian drift southwards, and also to replenish depleted patches within the Forests. Our Forest Reserves lost their protection and became victims to these rampaging Forest encroachers. Many Forestry personnel have since lost their lives at the hands of these murderous Forest criminals, trying to protect the Forests.
I do not know about you, but I would not like to live a Glass Mansion on a Desert that extends to the Coastline. We should not aspire to be Abu Dhabi from the wrong end. That country has begun to reclaim its Green from the Desert it was first born on, by spending Billions of Dollars to build environmentally friendly green Cities. We do not have to let our Forests vanish before attempting to reclaim them as Abu Dhabi is doing now.
The Real Estate could wait. We could share smaller spaces to survive until we bring our Wood supply back to normal and acquire larger and more luxurious Houses to live in.
Long Live Ghana!!!
G. K. Berko 9 years ago
This is the first firm indication that the new Minister is proactively trying to cure the plethora of cankers that have demolished much of our Forest Estate and pushed us over the brink to import Wood from outside.
I stro ... read full comment
This is the first firm indication that the new Minister is proactively trying to cure the plethora of cankers that have demolished much of our Forest Estate and pushed us over the brink to import Wood from outside.
I strongly support this initiative and yet expect more to be done to bring our Forests back to life, and secure their continued regrowth to help us wean ourselves from importation of quality Wood.
I would hope that Osa Mills would engage the huge reservoir of knowledge and experience of the prematurely retired Forestry Personnel and other Bio-Environmental experts to get things moving in that positive trajectory.
This man is not serious , we will push u out from that office . U want more arm robbers in the country
Nowadays businesses and government organisations have stopped demanding Secondary School Certificate or Basic Education Certificate.
Each of these certificates are important. For example for many tertiary graduates the on ...
read full comment
A new convert to Catholicism decided to go to confession to
deal with his transgression. In the confessional, he told the
priest that he had sinned.
"What was your sin, my son?" asked the priest.
"I stole some lumber, ...
read full comment
I think you are rather creating avenues for the law enforcement agencies like the rapid response of the forestry commission to make money for themselves. This operation requires the involvement of the minister,the deputy and ...
read full comment
It very difficult to get sawmill wood.U guys stay in the office,come out and say whatever you like without going out there and see the reality.You want all the real estate projects come to a stand still.
George, my name-sake, do you really understand the problems at stake that the Minister is trying to get his hands around? Or, you are just being facetious?
If you asked me if we need to restrain the wanton destruction of ...
read full comment
This is the first firm indication that the new Minister is proactively trying to cure the plethora of cankers that have demolished much of our Forest Estate and pushed us over the brink to import Wood from outside.
I stro ...
read full comment