The Ghana Timber Millers Organisation (GTMO) has condemned what it calls a “barbaric attack” on a Forestry Commission Timber Monitoring Checkpoint at Babatokuma in the Bono East Region.
The incident occurred on Tuesday, June 9, 2026, and left state property destroyed and some Forestry Commission staff injured.
In a statement signed by its CEO, Dr. Kwame Asamoah Adam, on Friday, June 19,2026, the GTMO said it was “shocked and disappointed” that members of a timber trade association would attack Commission staff over unsubstantiated claims that officials were destroying their timber business.
“The reasons for the destruction of the facility and the injury caused to the staff constitute a criminal offense. The perpetrators must be fished out, arrested and put before court,” the statement read.
According to GTMO, the actions of the timber traders show “blatant disregard for the laws of this country under democratic governance.”
The Organisation stressed that the timber industry operates within a well-defined legal framework, with specified channels for seeking redress. “The timber sector does not operate in isolation where jungle laws are permitted,” it added.
Expanded monitoring to curb illegal logging
GTMO noted that for the past two decades, the Forestry Commission has worked with timber trade associations to curb the destruction of timber production areas by illegal loggers and traders.
One key intervention has been the expansion of timber tracking and monitoring, which includes installing checkpoints. At these points, transporters must provide documents validating the source of timber and proving regulatory compliance.
“All legal timber operators have received training at numerous workshops on what to do and what not to do in the timber trade,” GTMO said.
The group acknowledged that vehicles sometimes spend long hours at checkpoints due to bureaucracy and logistical challenges. “However, situations like this can never warrant the destruction of state property and causing injury to innocent workers,” the statement said.
Illegal lumber threatening forests
GTMO expressed support for the Forestry Commission’s efforts to tackle illegal timber trade and related social disorder.
It said Ghana has a robust timber harvesting regulatory system “recognised among the best in the tropical world,” but noted that over the past decade, some groups have been “running down the system by forcefully and violently entering production forests.”
These groups, GTMO said, make away with huge volumes of valuable timber, which are then sawn in unregistered mills and smuggled into the supply chain, contaminating the market with illegal materials.
“Large tracts of forests in Bono, Ahafo, and Western Regions are now under siege,” the Organisation stated. It added that illegal lumber from these areas moves across the northern border into Sahelian countries, mainly via the Techiman-Tamale-Bolga-Paga route. That, it said, explains the FC’s stricter control measures in those areas.
Call for stakeholder support
The GTMO is calling on forest-owning communities, the National House of Chiefs, environmental NGOs, the Ministries of Trade and Industry, Interior, and consumers of wood products to support the fight against illegal timber exploitation.
“This has become a national security issue that must be tackled with all seriousness,” Dr. Adam said.
“If this unfortunate development is not effectively controlled, genuine and legal timber businesses will collapse sooner or later, leading to massive job losses and a decline in foreign exchange earnings.”
By Benjamin Aidoo
