Ghanatodayonline.com News, Politics, Health, Education & More
The Youth in Afforestation Program’s beneficiaries claim that because the government hasn’t paid them for the previous 15 months, life has become intolerably difficult for them.
During the Green Ghana Day in Kumasi, some of them spoke to the media claimed they were struggling to make ends meet because of unpaid debts.
They appealed with the authorities to pay them since they claimed they had to walk to work to care for the newly planted trees.
Benito Owusu Bio, the deputy minister for lands and natural resources, has stated that negotiations are ongoing between the ministry and the ministry of finance to pay Plantation Developers and Seedling Contractors’ outstanding debts.
During the nationwide tree-planting activity in 2021 and 2022, the seedling contractors gave the government seedlings.
Since then, they have not received payment, but they have threatened to sue the government for the unpaid arrears.
The Deputy Minister told the media that because the contractors had not been paid, the government was unable to purchase seedlings from them.
He claimed that the Forestry Commission raised the trees that were planted today since the government did not want to add to the existing outstanding debt and wanted it paid off first.
The Minister made this statement today in Kumasi, in the Ashanti Region, on Green Ghana Day.
To mark the occasion, Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II and the Ashanti Regional Minister planted trees. Out of the 10 million trees that are intended to be planted statewide, the region is anticipated to plant 2.1 million trees.
The restoration of the garden city, according to Ashanti Regional Minister Simon Osei Mensah, has long been a goal for the area. Mr. Clement Amo Omari, regional director for the Forestry Commission, said that 76% of the trees planted the previous year survived.
Source: Ghanatodayonline.com
