By Dennis Peprah, GNA
Nkoranza, (B/A), Oct. 26, GNA – The Nkoranza
Municipal Assembly in the Brong-Ahafo Region has not been able to gazette its
by-laws because of lack of funds to do so, Mr
Kwame Adu Gyamfi, the Presiding Member of the Assembly said on Thursday.
This is making it extremely difficult for the
Assembly to enforce approved by-laws in the Municipality since 2013, he said at
a stakeholders meeting organised by the Nkoranza Progressive Cashew Farmers
Association (PCFA) at Nkoranza.
Attended by cashew farmers, buyers, assembly
members and traditional authorities, the meeting formed part of an advocacy
project being implemented by the association with support from the Business
Sector Advocacy Challenge (BUSAC) fund.
Dubbed “advocate for the enforcement of bush
fire law to prevent bush fires in Nkoranza North and South Districts”, the
project is aimed at helping to remove bottlenecks impeding the economic
activities of the cashew farmers in the two areas.
Mr Gyamfi noted that the assembly had enacted
and approved several by-laws, but the problem was their enforcement,
“We don’t have enough funds to gazette these
by-laws because our IGF is very limited. My brother internal revenue generation
here is very poor. We cannot prosecute offenders because of political
interferences”, he said.
Mr Gyamfi said because the by-laws were not
gazetted “they have not teeth to bite” and nothing punitive could be meted on
offenders.
Rather, he said since traditional rulers were
the embodiment of the people, there was the need for them to use their
traditional powers to enforce some of these by-laws so that citizens would
comply.
Mr Thomas Benarkuu, the Programmes Director of
MIHOSO International Foundation, a Non-Governmental Organisation and service
providers, expressed dismay and described the situation as unfortunate and
unacceptable and advised the Assembly to do something as soon as possible.
He said perennial bushfires were causing
extensive damages to cashew farms in the two districts and appealed to the
Assembly and traditional rulers to help intensify campaign and enforced the
PNDCL 229, 1990 to control the fires.
Mr Benarkuu said the cashew industry had huge
potential to transform the nation’s economy saying there is growing demand on
the world market for cashew kernels as well as its by-products hence the need
to help to address pertinent challenges confronting the sector.
He pointed out that the PNDCL 229 mandated
Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) to educate and
establish free volunteers for control, prevention, enforcement of the bushfire
law, but regretted that the Municipal Assembly had done nothing about that.
Mr Osei Kwabena, the Chairman of the PCFA,
said the association had about 730 members, and added that annual bushfires
threatened and caused extensive damage to their farms and appealed to the
assembly to gazette the bush fire by-laws.
GNA