Cartel In Forestry Commission Moves Against Newly Inaugurated NTMT

<h4>Cartel In Forestry Commission Moves Against Newly Inaugurated NTMT<&sol;h4>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a><&sol;strong> reports that an aide to the Director of the newly inaugurated National Timber Monitoring Team &lpar;NTMT&rpar;&comma; identified as Edem&comma; has been arrested in what eyewitnesses described as a &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Rambo-style” operation by the Tepa Police in the Ashanti Region&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The arrest comes just days after the National Timber Monitoring Team was officially inaugurated on Monday&comma; 12 January 2026&comma; and deployed nationwide to intercept illegal lumber transportation and clamp down on the persistent destruction of Ghana’s forest resources&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The NTMT has since been actively monitoring major timber routes across the country&comma; a move that appears to have unsettled powerful interests operating within the forestry sector&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Sources close to the operation indicate that the team’s enforcement activities may be stepping on the toes of a deeply entrenched cabal within the Forestry Commission&comma; allegedly determined to continue the large-scale depletion of Ghana’s forests through illegal logging and timber trafficking&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>According to available information&comma; the current developments are linked to earlier efforts to expose forestry-related cartels and their financial networks&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>A formal complaint had previously been filed by Yeboah Kwaku Ninson&comma; a Range Manager with the Forest Services Division of the Forestry Commission&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In that complaint&comma; he accused the Deputy Chief Executive&comma; Eric Elikem Kotoko&comma; together with some soldiers and other individuals&comma; of undertaking similar operations last year aimed at uncovering illegal timber activities&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Those actions&comma; according to insiders&comma; reportedly exposed well-organised cartels benefiting financially from illegal lumber movements while the state continued to lose significant revenue and valuable forest resources&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Although several senior officials of the Forestry Commission have reportedly been fingered in the alleged rot&comma; their identities have not been made public&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Sources say the matter has been forwarded to the appropriate appointing authority&comma; and further directives are being awaited before additional names are officially disclosed&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Meanwhile&comma; the arrest of Edem has raised concerns among environmental activists and stakeholders&comma; who fear that the enforcement efforts of the newly inaugurated NTMT may be facing resistance from individuals determined to protect entrenched illegal interests&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Investigations into the circumstances surrounding the arrest are ongoing&comma; and authorities have yet to issue an official statement on the matter&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>More details are expected as developments unfold&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;