The people of Dokokyina in the Tain District of the Brong Ahafo Region have petitioned the government to amend Legislative Instrument (L.I.) 710, which established the Bui National Park in 1971, to exclude all Dokokyina lands from being part of the Park. The people assigned seven reasons as to why they are calling for the amendment. Notable among them is the fact that at the time of passing L.I. 710 to establish both the Kogyae Strict Nature Reserve (Banda Forest Reserve) and the Bui National Park within whose boundaries the people of Dokokyina share common land boundaries with the people of Banda Ahenkro and Bui respectively, no Government Ministry, Department or Agency consulted them about the development, not even the Department of Game and Wildlife, which was to supervise the project. They contended that though officials of the Department of Game and Wildlife knew about them in their present location, they never bothered to ask them about their relationship to the land. They rather went ahead and paid land compensation to 17 individuals who were not natives of the community. The people of Dokokyina said they had wondered on what basis 17 persons could claim ownership of lands extending to their village. In a petition to the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources dated October 27, 2009, the people stated that, “the Department of Game and Wildlife has not a single document to show that the portion of Dokokyina lands that its personnel have clung to as part of the Bui National Park had been duly acquired by the Government of Ghana through legally acceptable process. This came to light when Game and Wildlife officials invited by the Bui Power Authority on August 20, 2009 failed to produce a map, which according to their circular of 28th March 2003 with reference No CWD/60/93 had extended the Banda Forest Reserve to cover the entire Dokokyina lands. Neither could they produce land title documents of the 17 parcels of land the Department claimed to have acquired from an equal number of persons and for which 14.5 percent of the compensation [due them] had been paid.” The petition further stated: “The original size of 1,821 km2 of the Bui National Park as gazetted on 20th September 1971 was increased to 3,500 km2 by the Wildlife Division of the Forestry Commission outside of L.I. 710. Claims by the Department of Game and Wildlife officials that at the time of buying the lands ‘no stool in Brong Ahafo laid claims to Bui lands’ fail to acknowledge that Bui lands are different from Dokokyina lands.” The petition also noted that “since 1971, personnel of the Department of Game and Wildlife have harassed and brutalized Dokokyina villagers with impunity and plundered the community’s little resources, including the game they were supposed to protect”. In a related development, the people of Dokokyina and communities within the Bui catchment area have accused officials of the Department of Game and Wildlife of collecting monies from the people passing through the Park and issuing undervalued receipts. They also accused the officials of seizing charcoal from land owners who had been given permission to remove trees along the upper banks of the Black Volta at Bui to prevent boat and canoe accidents on the. They have, therefore, called for investigations into the issues. They complained that the Wildlife officials sold the seized charcoal and wondered whether they paid the money accrued from the sale to the appropriate government treasury. Yet another accusation leveled against the officials is that they exact yams from Ivoirian farmers on Dokokyina lands. Investigations have indicated that in 2008 and 2009, tractor-loads of yams were collected from Ivorian farmers on Dokokyina lands by officials of the Game and Wildlife at the Bui Camp. “Why do these officials allow the people to farm there when they claim those lands are part of the Bui National Park?” residents of Dokokyina quizzed. Reacting to the accusations in his office at the Park, Samuel Akonor, Park Manager, claimed that all the compensations that were paid amounted 14 percent of what government should have given to the land owners. He said the problem was that no stool at Bui came forward to make claims regarding the lands; only a few individuals did. “So the government would not pay all the monies because they knew more people would be coming. In the northern sector, it was only the Yagbonwura since the land belonged to the Gonjas. On the other hand, Dokokyina compensation had been claimed by somebody already and they need to trace all those people,” he said. He said the people are degrading the environment with their farming activities, and whenever officials of the Park embarked on an operation to arrest them, they became very aggressive. Mr. Akonor said before Dokokyina, there were five other small communities that moved out of the Park out of their own volition. At the moment, entrance fee to the park is GH¢5.00 for nationals and GH¢4c10.00 for non-nationals, with GH¢2.00 set aside as guide fees. Dokokyina, only four kilometres to the border with La Côte D’Ivoire is said to be situated 26 kilometres from the entrance of the Park, and it takes roughly two hours to get there. With regards to the seizure of charcoal, Mr. Akonor said if the people want to cut the trees for charcoal then they should seek permission from the relevant authorities to enter and fell trees in the reserve. According to him, the charcoals that were seized were auctioned and the money placed in government coffers. “If you are not going to take the people to court, you do an auction sale of the seized items. We also auction to the people themselves; and there is no law in Ghana that forbids the same people from buying the items,” he noted. Mr. Akonor indicated that the Ivoirians are farming seriously on the western boundary line and “we are only able to go there during the dry season, burn down their huts and then collecting all their farm produce,” he said. Asked why they had to wait and allow the people to cultivate the lands before moving during the harvest season to arrest them, Mr. Akonor said the reserve is 1,821 kilometres square and that it is not easy getting to the people. “We do not go there to confiscate their yams, but just to scare them away. We can’t bring down all their yams; even 10 KIA trucks can’t do that. We go there just to make our presence felt. By the time you get to the place, the tractor is broken down and by that time, the farmers would have brought trucks from La Côte D’Ivoire to cart the yams away,” he noted. Asked whether just taking a tractor full of yams would deter the farmers since they are large scale farmers, Mr. Akonor replied that it tells of their presence there. He said they first auction the yams and other confiscated items such as meat to the Park staff and if nobody buys them then they reach out to the community. Story by Innocent Samuel Appiah, Bui