The Forest Services Division office in the Western Region organised a mini durbar to welcome the Deputy Minister of Lands and Natural Resources (MLNR), Hon. Akwasi Konadu , who is also the Member of Parliament for Manhyia North in the Ashanti Region.

 Dignitaries present were Hon. Martha Kwayie-Manu, Deputy Chief Executive,  Forestry Commission (FC);  Mr Joseph Osiakwan, the Technical Director,  MLNR and staff from the MLNR and FC.

The Regional Manager, Mr. Michael Pentsil , gave an overview of the work in the Region and outlined the core mandate of the Forestry Commission. He touched on forest protection, production and plantations development. He again outlined the challenges facing the Region, of which he made mention of illegal mining, inadequate logistics and staff in protected areas , and delays in prosecution of culprits of forest illegalities.

Mr. Pentsil also used the ocassion to appeal to the Deputy Minister to bring the Military back to support operational activities in the forest reserves since the withdrawal of the Military had made operations quite difficult.

The Minister was briefed on ongoing projects in the Region. They included the Forest Investment Programme (FIP), Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA), and Youth in Afforestation Programme (YAP) of which a lot of youth were employed but due to delays in the payment of their allowances, the number has reduced drastically.

Hon. Martha Kwayie-Manu, the Deputy Chief Executive, spoke on behalf of the Chief Executive, Mr. John Allotey. She  thanked the Minister,  staff of FC and MLNR for gracing the mini durbar.

The Deputy Minister expressed his appreciation to staff of FC for working hard despite the numerous challenges in the Region. The Minister made staff aware that he was in the Region to listen to the challenges and to put in place the best interventions to solve them.

Hon. Konadu mentioned that all issues raised will be addressed at Management and Board meetings. However, he suggested that the burning of excavators should be stopped and different tactics like applying the law to deal with the menace be employed.

The issue of Takoradi Monkey Hill Sanctuary was raised by the Minister and according to him , the land has been allocated to Forestry Commission hence further development will be done.He again informed staff that after the durbar, inspection will be carried out at the Monkey Hill Sanctuary.

The durbar ended with a question and answer session.

TOPIC: …………FCTC HOLDS CORPORATE FUN GAMES

As part of efforts to promote the health and well -being of its staff, the Forestry Commission Training Center (FCTC) at Akyawkrom in the Ejisu Municipality of the Ashanti Region, organised corporate fun games for staff of the various security agencies in the Region

The agencies who participated in the fun games included the Ghana Police Service,Ghana  Immigration Service, Ghana National Fire Service, Ejisu Municipal Assembly , Council for Scientific Research and Industrial Research (CSIR), Forestry Research Institute of Ghana (FORIG),Timber Industry Development Division (TIDD), Forest Services Division (FSD), Resource Management and Support Center (RMSC), Wildlife Division (WD), and the Forestry Commission (FC) Corporate headquarters.

The Director of FCTC, Hon. Dr. Andy Okrah, emphasised on the need for the country to have healthy human resources in various government institutions, to help develop the country.

Some of the fun activities which took place at the event were archery, draughts, football, table tennis, volley ball, and 100-meter race. The FCTC Clinic was also present to take participants through some health screening exercises.

The highlight of the event, which was the football gala, saw the qualification of the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS), FCTC, FSD and RMSC to the semi-finals.

After a successful competition, the Forest Services Division (FSD) team emerged as winners and were awarded a trophy and medal.

The FC Corporate Headquarters team emerged as the overall best with 25 points , followed by FCTC, with 13 points. The RMSC came third place with 12 points.

The corporate fun games ended with socialising, networking, food and lots of fun.