The police in the Western Region are investigating the destruction of parts of the rubber plantation of the Ghana Rubber Estates Limited (GREL) in the Ahanta West Municipality.
So far three suspects including the Odikro of the Gyabenkrom community, Nana Agyarko, have been arrested for unlawfully entering the plantation and destroyed more than 33,000 matured rubber trees.
The company said the destruction was estimated at the cost of Ꞓ95,000 equivalent to ¢1.1400-million.
The police preliminary investigations have led to the arrest of the Odikro who allegedly hired some young people from outside the community to chop down the trees and are assisting in their investigation.
The action of the Odikro according to police source was ostensibly informed by his desire
to reclaimed part of government land allocated to GREL for rubber plantation, rezone it and sell to private individuals for development.
The Association of Chiefs on whose land GREL Operates (ACLANGO) said the company's operations in the area provided about 4,500 direct employments to the local communities from its nucleus and factory operations, and over 50,000 additional employments through the out-grower project.
The Chairman of ACLANGO, Nana KwesiAgyeman IX, addressing the press after the tour of the destroyed plantation, condemned the destruction of plantation without considering the national interest, job security of employees and the community.
He said the association was aware that some individuals purporting to be serving the interest of traditional rulers and encroaching on GREL's legally acquired lands for various uses, which the association did not know anything about.
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"Since 1993, GREL and traditional rulers through the association have been working and living peacefully and that anytime a community needed portions of GREL's legally acquired concession for community expansion, or any developmental project, the parties engage each other in a peaceful manner until an agreement is reached," he said.
The chiefs said GREL was one of the major economic actors in the region, providing livelihood support to more than 70,000 people and that it was wrong for someone to enter the state land allocated to it for plantation and destroy the trees.
Rubber is one of Ghana's top 10 exports commodities, in 2021, the country exported $136M in rubber and that for sustainable job creation and revenue for the economy, the company expanded its factory for more value addition under the 1District, 1Factory.
These illegal invasions of GREL lands, the chiefs said would directly affect the raw material base needed for the smooth functioning of the two factories it operates, hence the need for all relevant state actors to take the necessary steps to protect the legally leased concessions to GREL and the sustainable employment of the youth in its communities.
The trees destroyed have a lifespan of more than 47-years, including seven years of nursery to planting are currently being tapped. The destroyed plantation was part of a leasehold between government of Ghana and GREL through the Land Commission since 1950s and renewable after every 50-years.
