The Executive Director of Ghana’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Hon. Henry Kokofu has underscored the importance of protecting the Achimota forest reserve. In a conversation with Omanhene Yaw Adu Boakye, the legal practitioner said, the NPP government has no interest in selling the Achimota forest but rather protecting it. He explained that the government has signed executive instrument 154 to protect the forest reserve.

“There are two executive instruments order signed by the Nana Addo led administration, the EI 144 says the already encroached portion of the land that has Gimpa, Achimota terminal, Achimota golf club, Christian Village and others ceases to be forest reserve. And EI 154 is protecting the 226.7 acres of the land that have not been tampered with.

According to him, the Parliamentary select committee on lands and forestry decided against ikan company registering the land in their name after the previous government has gone into negotiation to register that parcel of land in the company's name. that is the land EI 154 is protecting, so the EI 144 is correcting the anomalies while EI154 is preventing the sale or encroachment, he said. the previous government sold the 226.7 acres of land to ikan company limited to develop Eco Tourist Park and the investors were to invest 300 million dollars but upon careful deliberations, we chose the interest of the nation.

He further went on to say the Ewoo family has been encroaching and selling the land for close to 20 years now with court orders so the government decided to sign the Executive instrument to protect the reserved portion.

“The select committee on Lands and Forestry in 2016 led by Hon Sulamana visited the forest with the media and met one contractor who claims the Ewoo family has sold a portion of the land to, and was working on that same land we are talking about and we stopped him. He said.

He maintained that the government is committed to protecting that parcel of land.

Source…. ww.sompaonline.com//Eric Murphy Asare