Some Members of Parliament in the Minority Caucus have rejected a report by the joint committee on Mines and Energy and Lands and Forestry, which investigated a clash between small-scale salt miners and officials of Electrochem Ghana Limited at the Songor Lagoon enclave.
The report recommends no review of the three mining leases ratified by Parliament for Electrochem Ghana.
During the debate on the report, MPs Christian Otuteye of Sege and Nii Lante Vanderpuye of Odododiodoo argued that adopting the report in its current form would not promote peace in the Ada enclave.
They emphasized the need for stakeholder consultations and a peaceful resolution to ensure that local communities benefit from the salt mining concession.
Nii Lante Vanderpuye stated, “If in some areas chiefs will shut up and allow galamsey to ruin their rivers and do anything to them without any benefit to the people. We, the people of Ada, will not allow this to continue. Our people need to survive, and one investor cannot appropriate the whole concession to himself and allow the people to go hungry and die.”
Christian Otuteye on his part added, “As a member of parliament for the good people of Ada, when we go on with this, we will still not have our peace. But let go of things in the manner in which the people also accept. There haven’t been enough stakeholder consultations and that has led to all this…I’m not against the report entirely but I wish it could have been done differently.”
Chairman of the Mines and Energy Committee, Samuel Atta Akyea, urged political leaders to refrain from inciting local communities and instead promote national interests.
He highlighted the potential economic benefits of salt production, which could rival gold and cocoa exports.
“Political players in that space should desist from making political capital out of the use of national assets for the development of the nation Ghana, rather than inciting individuals to believe they are being robbed by the government of the day.
“There should be a serious security arrangement in the communities for them to come to terms with the fact that it is in the best interest of Ghana and the local communities to desist from any form of lawlessness to pave the way for a national undertaking with export benefits to function at full throttle,” Atta Akyea said.
Source: www.ghanaweb.com
