Freeze activities at Songor Lagoon -Tepkerbiawe

The Tepkerbiawe Clan of Ada on Tuesday appealed to the government to freeze all activities of the Ministry of Mines relating to the Ada Songor Lagoon

The freeze should be in place until PNDC Law 287 on the lagoon is revoked and possession restored to the rightful owners, the Tepkerbiawe Clan.

"Anything to the contrary is likely to create serious conflict of interest in the Ada Songor Lagoon area," Nene Tetteh Chayi II, Chief of the Tepkerbiawe Clan, who led some of his elders to state their position at a press conference held in Accra, warned.

He said the lagoon was the exclusive property of the Tepkerbiawe, adding this was determined in more than one court suit dating as for back as 1904 to 1946 and the 1989 Government White Paper on the J.H. Amissah Committee of Enquiry.

"The government is, therefore, accountable to the Tepkerbiawe Division, the absolute traditional owners of the Lagoon.

The Chief explained that the Lagoon, which was discovered by their ancestor Chayi of the Tepkerbiawe in the 17th Century, faced a lot of confrontation among the various clans of Ada and even governments because of its usefulness.

He said former governments in their bid to compensate the people of Ada for the damage done to their land by the construction of the Akosombo and the Kpong Dams rather dispossessed them of their Lagoon.

The Nene Chayi said the continued occupation and "holding in bondage" of the Lagoon and abutting land was totally illegal and morally wrong "because we did nothing criminal to warrant the confiscation of our Songor Lagoon".

He said the Tepkerbiawe Clan was not invited to the recent forum at Ada organised by the Ministry of Mines that came out as if a peace deal were reached for a smooth take off of the salt project.

He said they had not received a response to a letter of appeal dated July 30, 2002 sent to the government to revoke PNDC Law 287 and restore the ownership of the Lagoon to them.

Nene Chayi, therefore, appealed to President john Agyekum Kufuor to keep to the statement he made at a recent meeting with the Ga chiefs to the effect that he would restore the ownership of the Lagoon to its traditional owners and return the Lagoon to Tepkerbiawe.

"The Lagoon is a priceless asset of spiritual significance to us. Therefore, we are not offering her for sale or mortgage to any investor," he said.