An Odikro from Gyabenkrom and two others have been detained for damaging over 33,000 mature rubber trees on a plantation owned by the Ghana Rubber Estate Limited (GREL) in the Ahanta West Municipality of the Western Region.

The devastation is expected to cost the corporation €95,000, or GH1.14 million.

According to police sources, the Odikro identified as Nana Agyarko’s behaviour was motivated by his ambition to regain a portion of government land assigned to GREL for rubber plantation, rezone it, and sell it to private persons for development.

The accused have been granted bail by the Takoradi Divisional Police Command, which is overseeing the case.

According to preliminary police investigations, the Odikro allegedly recruited several young individuals from outside Gyabenkrom, the hamlet where the plantation is located, to down the trees.

Odikro and his two accomplices are assisting police with their investigations.

Tour

Nana Kwesi Agyeman IX, Chairman of the Association of Chiefs on Whose Land GREL Operates (ACLANGO), has since led a tour of the devastated plantation at Gyabenkrom to assess the degree of damage to the rubber trees.

At a press conference following the inspection trip, the chairman labelled the culprits’ actions as a threat to national growth since they did not regard the national interest, employee job security, or the community.

“Through the association, GREL and traditional rulers have been working together and living peacefully since 1993,” Nana Agyeman remarked.

He also denounced the criminals’ actions, saying they had the potential to send mixed messages to the investing community.

As a result, the ACLANGO chairman requested the police to conduct a comprehensive investigation, apprehend and prosecute all perpetrators.

Benefits to Community

According to Nana Agyeman, the company’s operations in the area generated over 4,500 direct jobs to the local populations in its catchment area, as well as over 50,000 more jobs through its out-grower initiative.

He further stated that GREL was one of the region’s key economic players, giving livelihood assistance to over 70,000 people and that it was improper for the criminals to enter the state land allotted to it for tree cultivation and kill the trees.

These incursions on GREL lands, Nana Agyeman added, would have a direct impact on the raw material base required for the smooth operation of the company’s two factories, emphasising the need for all relevant state actors to take the necessary steps to protect GREL’s legally leased concessions to ensure the long-term employment of the area’s youth.

Nana Agyeman noted that the current scenario, in which some persons encroached on GREL grounds in the name of community growth and galamsey, was an unlawful act that deserved to be denounced.

Support

The chairman emphasised that the organisation and all other traditional rulers supported any disciplinary action taken by the police against the culprits within the parameters of the law.

“Those who forcibly take over GREL lands in the name of community expansion without consulting the Office of the Lands Commission, the agency tasked with managing all state lands, are breaking the law and must face the consequences.”

“A country seeking partnerships for investment and development should not have its citizens taking the law into their own hands and destroying private investors’ investments,” Nana Agyeman added.

Background

R. T. Briscoe began the plantation as a tiny private operation in 1957 at Dixcove, with a plantation area of 923 hectares.

The plantation was nationalised in 1960 as the Agricultural Development Corporation (ADC), and then in 1962 as the State Farms Corporation.

The Rubber plantation had grown to Abura and Subri at the time.

Briscoe (Firestone) surrendered its stake in GREL to the government in 1980, making the company entirely state-owned.

The government entered into a financial deal with the then Caisse Française de Development (CFD), now Agence Française de Development, to repair and operate the company’s Rubber plantation, as well as to construct a new rubber processing factory at Apimenim.

Following the rehabilitation in 1996, the French management firm, Societe Internationale de Plantations d’Heveas (SIPH), became the business’s principal stakeholder with a new 50-year renewable lease.

Source: Graphic.com.gh