You have to kill us before you evict us – Ada Songor residents to Assembly

Local miners who have been requested to vacate the Ada East sector of the Songor lagoon concession for Electrochem Ghana to commence mining say they will not comply.

They claim that the directive from the Ada East District Assembly will be overturned.

The Ada East District Assembly has received official notification from salt-mining company Electrochem Ghana of its intention to begin mining in the Ada East sector of the Songor lagoon concession.

As a result, the District Assembly has requested that local miners leave that area so that the salt-mining firm can begin operations there.

“To this end, you are hereby informed to vacate the land with all your machines to allow the company to start its operations,” the assembly notified the local miners in a statement.

The statement further indicated that “you are given up to December 31, 2023, to finally leave the concession.”

But Abraham Ahumah, PRO and organiser for the Ada Songor Association, has dared the Assembly to evict them.

He said they would have to be killed before the eviction would take effect.

He told Nyankonton Mu Nsem on Rainbow Radio 87.5Fm that the residents would not move out from the location where they had been asked to evict and would dare anyone to come to carry out the action.

He lamented that the area in question also serves as a residential facility for residents in the area, and any attempt to evict them will render them homeless.

“We cannot vacate from the land because the land we are talking about covers our various villages and towns. The District Assembly is asking us to vacate the land, then they should find a place where they can carry our buildings, farms, animals, and other properties; they should go and put them there for us, and then we will leave. Aside from that, we are not moving anywhere.

We are expecting the District Assembly to reverse the decision because the letter they issued cannot happen. So automatically, we cannot move. We have nowhere else to go. We have nowhere to go, and this is the reason why you heard us taking and organising demonstrations. We have petitioned the President, Parliament, IGP, CHRAJ, the Police, and the Regional Minister that the licence that was granted to Electrochem was unfortunate and ought to be reversed.”

He said the licence that gave the company access to the 41,000 concessions could not bring peace, and yet, their petitions were not responded to.

He stressed the need for the government to revisit the issue because the residents are not prepared to move an inch.