NINE people who set fire to farms and bushes at Nyameriga, about 45 kilometres from Tamale, in their quest for game, were arrested by the Police Mobile Task Force on Saturday.
The nine, who were among a group of 50, also inflicted machete wounds on a farmer who chided them for setting fire to his farm.
They were arrested following an urgent report made to the Northern Regional Police Command by the Northern Regional Director of the EPA, Mr Iddrisu Abu.
Six of the nine were identified as juveniles and have been placed in custody in the juvenile cells at the Sakasaka Police Station.
The rest are Osman Latif, 20, a farmer; Adam Fuseini Neindow, 20, an electrician, and Osman Adam, 18, a student.
The police said investigations would soon commence on the matter and the appropriate charges preferred against them.
Mr Abu told the Daily Graphic that the group set ablaze farms and bushes in the community, which is in the East Gonja District, when they went on a hunting expedition on motorbikes and bicycles.
He said in the process, they set fire to a 36-acre cow pea farm because a rodent they were pursuing had supposedly run into the nearby farm.
He said the owner of the farm approached the group and scolded them for setting his farm on fire, adding that in the heat of the exchanges, a member of the group inflicted machete wounds on the farmer.
He said the victim was currently responding to treatment.
The director noted that since the beginning of the dry season, officials of the EPA, including himself, had been sensitising people in the community to bush burning.
“We also provide them our contact numbers and encourage them to call us anytime fire is set to bushes in their communities,” he added.
Each year, fires are set to the bushes mostly by game hunters and farmers who intend to clear the old vegetation in preparation for planting.
However, the fires often lead to the destruction of food crops and economic trees such as rice, cow pea, shea nut, dawadawa and mango.
This year, many rice farms have been destroyed, one of which was situated on an 87-hectare land at Kpalkori in the Tamale metropolis which belonged to members of the Northern Youth for Peace and Development, a Tamale-based civil society organisation.
Although the EPA had, on countless occasions, spoken against the setting of wild fires, it had rarely bared its teeth at offenders due partly to limited logistics and ineffective collaboration from other partners, such as the security agencies and the judiciary.
The district assemblies have also not been proactive in halting the practice, nor have they been enforcing bye-laws that prohibit bush burning.
Two weeks ago, the Central Gonja District Assembly issued a warning to all persons in the area to avoid the practice of bush burning or face punishment.
In a release signed by the District Chief Executive (DCE), Mr Salisu Be-Awuribe, the assembly noted that “hunting for game and its antecedent setting of wild fires, especially the activities of organised hunters, are prohibited in the Central Gonja District”.
“Any such activity contravenes sections I and II of the Control and Prevention of Bushfires Law 1990, PNDC Law 229, and Central Gonja District Assembly bye-laws,” the release stated.
No comments:
Post a Comment