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The Origins of Forest Law and Policy in Ghana during the Colonial Period

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2009

L. K. Agbosu
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Extract

John Whittow in a recent book observes that droughts, unlike an earthquake, a tsunami or an avalanche do not suddenly appear in a dramatic fashion hitting the newspaper headlines of an unsuspecting world. Drought, he says, is slow and insidious, a creeping death which gradually paralyses entire nations and changes the course of history.

That is how it seems Ghana was taken unawares by the recent prolonged droughts that have been affecting the country since the early part of 1982. Until then, people in Ghana had taken for granted constant water supplies, uninterrupted supply of electricity and other energy resources, principally from the Volta hydroelectric dam—the largest man-made lake in the world—feeling secure in the mistaken belief that drought comes only to the geographically arid or semi-arid parts of the world.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of African Law , Volume 27 , Issue 2 , Autumn 1983 , pp. 169 - 187
Copyright
Copyright © School of Oriental and African Studies 1983

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References

1 Disasters—The Anatomy of Environmental Hazards, London, 1980, 286Google Scholar.

2 Ibid., 281.

3 The only exception was the Northern and Upper Regions of Ghana where the administration of all lands was vested in the colonial government.

4 No. 5 of 1883.

5 Ibid, s. 11.

6 See the Report of a Commission appointed to investigate the Economic and Agricultural Potential of the Gold Coast, 8 09, 1889, Accounts and Papers Relating to H.M. Colonial Possessions, 1890, No. 110, ZHCL/5239Google Scholar.

7 Timber exports from the Gold Coast to Europe within the period were as follows:

Year Quantity in feet Value in £

1902 2,228,616 21,896

1903 7,832,684 48,853

1904 16,012,560 34,294

1905 — 84,429

1906 — 75,939

Data obtained from the Memorandum of the West African Branch of the Liverpool Chamber of Mines, 27 05, 1907, CO. 879/65 (Public Records Office, London).Google Scholar

8 Dispatch from Governor Rodger, F. to the Secretary of State, 17 06, 1908, C.O. 879/99Google Scholar.

9 The Bill was introduced on 6 October, 1889, but it was never brought into force. It met with objection from timber firms, the native middle class and traditional authorities. See Dispatch from Sir Hodgson, F. to the Secretary of State, Chamberlain, No. 108 of 12 03, 1900, CO. 879/65Google Scholar.

10 See s.2 of the Concessions Ordinance, No. 14 of 1900.

11 s.9(2).

12 ss. 27 and 28.

13 Memorandum of 1907, loc. cit., note 7, above.

14 Ibid.

15 Loc. cit.

16 Loc. cit.

17 Governor to Secretary of State, 31 August, 1907, CO. 879/99.

18 Ordinance No. 20 of 1907, Cap. 96.

19 The West African Chamber of Commerce is a group representing the interests of the Chambers of Commerce of London, Liverpool and Manchester in West Africa.

20 See Governor Rodger, to Secretary of State, 17 06, 1908, CO. 879/99, Enclosure No. 1Google Scholar.

21 Ibid.

22 Ibid.

23 Ibid.

24 See the Correspondence Relating to Botanical and Forestry matters in British Tropical Colonies and Protectorates in Africa, 1905–1907, CO. 879/88, African No. 785. The guidelines to be outlined here are based on this correspondence.

25 Their unwillingness and inability, as we have seen, to exercise the powers conferred on them under the Native Jurisdiction Ordinance, 1883, to make bye-laws for the preservation of forests and protection of water-courses, was reflective of their general attitude to forest conservation.

26 See Dispatch from Rodger to Secretary of State, 17 June, 1908, CO. 879/99.

27 Ibid., Enclosure No. 4.

28 Secret Dispatch from Governor Clifford to the Secretary of State on the Land Question, 26 12, 1917, CO. 96/583Google Scholar. This was in reference to the Abortive Lands Bill of 1897 which sought to bring the administration of all Lands in the colony under the government, but was withdrawn on account of native and European merchant protests.

29 s.5.

30 Ibid.

31 s.II(3).

32 s.II(2).

33 See s.13 generally.

34 s.14(l).

35 s.14(2).

36 See Sir Clifford, Hugh, The Land Question, op. cit. The Chief Justice was obviously influenced by the unexpected objections to the Crown Lands Ordinance, 1894Google Scholar, and the Public Lands Bill, 1897, having had a hand in the introduction of the former.

37 See s. 11(2).

38 Address delivered to Liverpool Chamber of Commerce, 19 September, 1904. See a lengthy discussion of this by Hayford, J. E. Casely in his book, The Truth about the West African Land Question, London, 1917, 43–48Google Scholar.

39 The West African Mail, 14 10, 1904Google Scholar.

40 See Governor Griffith, Brandford to Ripon, 31 10, 1892, CO. 879/39, No. 453Google Scholar.

41 See the 14 10, 1910, edition of the paper quoted by Hayford, J. E. Casely in his book, Gold Coast Land Tenure and the Forest Bill, A Review of the Situation, London, 1911, 12Google Scholar.

42 The Truth about the West African Land Question, op. cit., 45Google Scholar.

43 Gold Coast Land Tenure and the Forest Bill, op. cit., emphasis supplied.

44 A classic example is the Ensor Agreement and that in respect of the Ashanti Gold Fields, each of which granted away 100 square miles of territory for paltry sums. In the case of the latter, in 1895, Mr. Cade obtained his concession for £12 and a bottle of rum and then made a paper profit of £2 million within a year of the agreement.

45 Quoted by Hayford, Casely, Gold Coast Land Tenure …, op. cit., emphasis suppliedGoogle Scholar.

46 See Sir Belfield, H. C., Report on the Legislation Governing the Alienation of Native Lands in the Gold Coast and Ashanti, London, 1912, 38Google Scholar.

47 Ibid.

48 Ibid.

49 Sir Clifford, Hugh, The Land Question, loc. tit., above note 28Google Scholar.

50 Ibid. Clifford was referring here to Brandford Griffith, Junior, who had advised in 1894 that revenue from the “waste lands” could be used for the general advantage of the colony as a whole.

51 Ibid.

52 Ibid.

53 See Minutes of 2 April, 1918, CO. 96/583.

54 Ordinance No. 13 of 1927.

55 See circular Dispatch from Secretary of State, Mr. Jones, A. Creech, 17 10, 1946Google Scholar. Colonial Office, P. & S. File (12). This change of policy was in conformity with the postwar Labour Government's socialist policies.

56 Act No. 144 of 1962.

57 N.R.C.D. 243 of 1974.

58 Whittow op. cit., 280.

59 Ibid., 281.

60 Ibid., 285.