Participants at a wildfire evaluation workshop at Dormaa-Ahenkro in Brong-Ahafo have condemned alleged cultivation of Indian hemp in forest reserves in the Dormaa district. In a communiqué issued at the end of the workshop, the participants reiterated their determination to help stamp out activities that had the potential to spark wildfires in the district. The two-day workshop, organized by the Brong-Ahafo regional anti-wildfire taskforce, was attended by its officers from the Dormaa district technical committee and taskforce. Briefing participants on the activities of the district taskforce, its chairman, Mr. Chou-En-Lai Paul Ankomah said the district’s wildfire situation during the past harmattan was appalling. "Apart from persistent organized game across the district, there were allegations about some individuals who cultivated Indian hemp in the forest reserves", he noted. Mr Ankomah expressed the taskforce’s readiness to intensify its search for such recalcitrant elements for persecution to deter other like-minded persons. Mr John Nyarko, Brong-Ahafo deputy coordinator for the National Disaster Management Organisation announced that the regional taskforce would tour all 19 districts in the region to assess their fire fighting and prevention activities. He said the taskforce would confer with municipal and district chief executives on the need for the Assemblies to support anti-bushfire programmes. Mr. Nyarko reminded participants that action against wildfires required consistent and systematic approach by all stakeholders. He charged the two fire committees in the district to set in motion a pragmatic action plan to offset the recurrence of wildfires during the next harmattan season. Source: GNA