George Mireku Duker, a deputy Minister of Lands and Natural Resources
George Mireku Duker, a deputy Minister of Lands and Natural Resources has debunked allegations that government spent GH¢125 million on the national tree planting exercise dubbed the ‘Green Ghana Project.’
Following the one-day event on Friday June 11, 2021, allegations have been rife that the government spent GH¢125million on planting the estimated 5 million trees nationwide.
Speaking in an interview on Accra-based Okay FM, Mireku Duker said that the it is wrong for anyone to assume that government spent that amount on the project.
He explained that the documents in circulation are projections by the committee which was established to oversee the successful implementation of the initiative.
He said the GH¢125million was expected to be accrued from a fund-raising exercise but only GH¢1million was made from the campaign.
The Tarkwa-Nsuaem MP stated that the amount of cash used for the project was less than GH¢1million.
“The money we spent is not even up to one million, talk less of getting GHC125million. The committee in charge of the project recommended that to achieve our objective, we need a certain amount of money. The proposal by the committee for the fund-raising is what has been making the rounds. They intended to use it for sustainability project. They prepared a very ambitious budget.
“What is going around are projections. They couldn’t raise the intended amount. The committee proposed GHC125million but after the fund-raising they got a little above GHC1million. This what they use for the project that everyone is talking about,” he said.
Lands and Natural Resources Minister Samuel Abu Jinapor after planting his tree at the Jubilee House urged Ghanaians to commit environmental protection.
He noted that the trees planted will also have economic value to the country.
“As part of the programme, we are seeking to work out a formula where the trees to be planted will be economic trees. We are talking about the Timber, Wawa, Nim, Rosewood, Shea trees. The rationale for this intervention is so that in planting the trees, we are also making an investment for the future.
“For instance, the time it takes for timber to mature is a long and now we do not have enough economic trees which can contribute to the national developmental agenda and so part of it also is to ensure that we have economic trees,” he said.