Jail officials who approve projects in wetlands and forest reserves – Prof Frimpong-Boateng

Former Minister for Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Prof Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, has proposed personal criminal liability for public officials who approve development projects in protected wetlands, watercourses, drainage channels and forest reserves.

The former minister also called for forest reserves and water bodies to be placed completely outside the mining licensing system, with no ministerial discretion or exemptions.“An officer who signs a development permit for a gazetted wetland, a watercourse, a drainage reserve or a forest reserve should commit a personal offence, not an institutional one,” he stated.