{"id":94017,"date":"2025-09-13T16:07:13","date_gmt":"2025-09-13T16:07:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=94017"},"modified":"2025-09-13T16:07:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-13T16:07:13","slug":"galamsey-fight-forestry-commission-needs-to-be-resourced-deputy-ceo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=94017","title":{"rendered":"Galamsey fight: Forestry Commission needs to be resourced \u2013 Deputy CEO"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n \t<\/i> Read Time:<\/span>1 Minute, 17 Second <\/div>\n\n <\/div>
\n

Deputy Chief Executive of the Forestry Commission, Elikem Kotoko, has called for more resources and stronger support for the Commission to effectively contribute to the fight against illegal mining, popularly known as galamsey.<\/p>\n

Speaking on Joy Prime\u2019s Prime Insight<\/em><\/strong> on Saturday, September 13, he expressed concern that the Commission\u2019s staff, particularly forest rangers, are too few on the ground to provide the necessary protection for forest reserves.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cLet me also tell you one thing. I even feel that the Forestry Commission also needs to be more resourced because we do not have many of our staff as our forest rangers and all that on the field to constantly guard against that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Mr Kotoko compared Ghana\u2019s situation to neighbouring countries, where he said forestry officials are given military backing to confront illegal activities in protected areas.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cWhen you go to even our neighbouring countries, staff of their Forestry Commission are military detachment. It is only in Ghana that we are civilians and so you are probably holding a hunting gun while the gentleman on the other side is wielding a very sophisticated weapon,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

He said there is a need for serious reforms, including the possibility of assigning military personnel to the Commission in order to make its work more effective.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cI would even wish in my lifetime that we should begin to find a way to make serious amendments that will even include making sure that the Forestry Commission will be a deployment from the military,\u201d Mr Kotoko added.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n \n
\n \n \"Happy\"\n <\/a>\n
\n Happy <\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n \n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \"Sad\"\n <\/a>\n
\n Sad <\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \"Excited\"\n <\/a>\n
\n Excited <\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \"Sleepy\"\n <\/a>\n
\n Sleepy <\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n \n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \"Angry\"\n <\/a>\n
Angry<\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n \n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \"Surprise\"\n <\/a>\n
Surprise<\/div>\n
\n 0<\/span>\n 0<\/span> %<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\"GalamseyDeputy Chief Executive of the Forestry Commission, Elikem Kotoko, has called for more resources and stronger support for the Commission to effectively contribute to the fight against illegal mining, popularly known as galamsey.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[789,4131,442,1883,10,9,8487],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-94017","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-elikem-kotoko","category-forestry-commission","category-galamsey-fight","category-national","category-politics","category-popular","category-resourced"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94017","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=94017"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94017\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=94017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=94017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=94017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}