Com-Watch - Issue 37 - June 2014

Bold Initiative To Strengthen Ghana Forestry Commission
To improve oversight of the sector the Forestry Commission [FC] an 11-member committee has been tasked with recommending
ways in which the FC can better ensure the it its functions in a credible, transparent and independent manner. Inaugurating the
committee, known as the Timber Validation Committee [TVC] the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Alhaji Inusah Fuseini,
lamented the inadequate and weak laws that have been the root cause of illegal forestry operations. The Minister tasked the TVC
with recommending additional measures to improve the verification and validation of licenses and for addressing complaints in
ways that eliminate the risk of any outside interference or influence. The committee is also responsible to come up with ways to
inform consumers of their rights, obligations and understanding of the functioning of the Legality Assurance System [LAS].
[ITTO 01/05/14]
State Loses US$16 Million Of Stumpage Values
A study shows that the state from 2003-13 lost US$16 million of stumpage value of timber due to the inability of the Forestry
Commission to review and publish new fees within the period. The stumpage fees, which is the price a firm pays for the right to
harvest timber from a given land base, has not been reviewed since July 2003 until March this year. On March 1, the Forestry
Commission [FC] reviewed the stumpage fees, which subsequently would be reviewed quarterly to reflect prevailing economic
conditions at both the local and international markets. The study by Forest Watch Ghana [FWG] noted the FC did not comply with
legislative instrument [LI] 1649’s requirement that stumpage fees be determined partly in relation to the free-on-board price of
air-dried lumber. Failure to reform timber pricing had resulted in continued over-harvesting and closure of more than two-thirds of
the industry towards the end of 2000s. The study called for the repositioning of the Timber Industry Development Division of the
FC, to place it one step ahead of the timber industry. It urged the FC to begin to implement quarterly reviews of stumpage fees
indexed to both the free-on-board value of the air-dried lumber and quarterly average inflation.
[Ghanaweb 10/05/14]
Oda Timber Firms Reeling From High Production Cost
More than 10 wood processing companies at Akyem Oda and its environs in the Birim Central Municipality are on the verge of
collapse due to the high cost of production. Birim Wood Complex has retrenched more than half of its work force whilst East
Forest Products Limited [EPL] and K.G Wood Company Limited have laid off hundreds of employees. Factors include high
electricity tariffs, 400% increase in stamp fees charged this year by the Forestry Commission, high fuel prices coupled with high
cost of tyres and vehicle spare parts, and high taxes.
[Ghanaweb 26/05/14]
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