Ada women cry foul over salt mining

The Ada Songhor Salt Women’s Association (ASSWA) has urged the government to ensure the removal of small dams created around the Songhor Lagoon to allow them mine salt freely.

Madam Mary Akuteye, the president of ASSWA, said the rate at which some individuals were privatising the Ada Songhor Lagoon had made it difficult for the indigenes to mine salt, depriving them of their livelihoods.

She said the small dams (locally called atsiakpo) belonged to some traditional leaders, politicians, and individuals who were making money at the expense of the majority poor.

The association made the call at a media conference in Accra, while staging a demonstration simultaneously at Sege, to drum home their frustrations.

The president of the association said the situation had become very serious to the extent that women were asked for sexual favours by some owners of the dams before they were allowed to work in the concession.

“The Songhor Lagoon traditionally was for all, a communal resource open to Adas and all Ghanaians and even foreigners who respected the regulations and mined salt on that basis,” she stated.

The president explained that the introduction of a master plan in 1991, which sought to improve mining conditions of salt, had worsened the situation due to lack of implementation.

She, therefore, urged the government to abide by the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People (UNDRIP) and work to develop the resource.

She said it was necessary for it to exercise stewardship over the Songhor Lagoon as a communal resource in efforts to eliminate the small dams.

Mr Duke Tagoe, an activist, also urged the government see to the demand of the women because salt was a vital resource in the petro-chemical industry and for domestic needs.

He also tasked the government to help by breaking the natural sand bar that had divided the sea and the lagoon, making it impossible for salt to crystallise.