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President John Dramani Mahama has said it is criminal to indiscriminately fell shea trees in the country, and has, therefore, directed metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs), in collaboration with security agencies, to ensure an end to that practice.
He said enforcing the law would help protect shea trees, a vital source of income for local communities, particularly women who dominated the sector.
“I want to thank my father, the Wa Naa, for making a declaration that the chopping down of shea nut trees was unacceptable, and that assemblies and the security agencies should enforce it,” President Mahama said.
The President, who was speaking at the launch of a Shea Park Resource Hub at the Wa Naa’s Palace in Wa, last Saturday, said shea trees were not only economic assets, but also formed part of the nation’s cultural identity and ecological heritage, especially in the savannah belt.
He said that although Ghana was among the world’s leading producers of shea nuts, women, who formed the backbone of the industry remained trapped at the lowest end of the value chain.
President Mahama said that the hub was designed to reverse this trend through value addition, industrialisation and inclusion.
“This initiative reflects our determination that national development must grow from the regions outwards, not only from the centre,” he said, adding that the project aligned with flagship policies such as The Big Push and the 24-Hour Economy.
The initiative forms part of a broader regional development blue print titled: “Revealing potential pathways for socio-economic development 2025 and beyond.” It identifies shea as a growth nucleus for Upper West and northern Ghana in general.
When fully operational, the hub is expected to empower more than 7,000 women, create thousands of jobs for the youth, and anchor value chains for related products, including groundnuts, soybeans, dawadawa, cotton and honey.
It would host modern shea processing facilities for cosmetics, food and pharmaceutical markets, alongside quality control laboratories, training centres, storage and logistics infrastructure, solar-powered energy solutions, water recycling plants and export facilitation services.
President Mahama urged residents to take ownership of the project and protect it, stressing that it marked the beginning, not the end, of Upper West’s transformation.
“Let us move from being spectators of development to becoming architects of our own development,” he said.
The Upper West Regional Minister, Charles Lwanga Puozuing, described the resource hub as a game changer that would improve livelihoods, expand access to technology and markets, and strengthen inclusive agribusiness in the region.
On behalf of the chiefs and people of the region, Naa Kadri Ibrahim, Secretary to the Wa Naa, assured the government of the traditional authority’s full support for the project and reiterated calls for increased investment in roads, health, agriculture and education.
