Mr. Daniel McKorley
Undisputably, government mining concessions are not the playgrounds for illegal mining commonly referred to as Galamsey. It is also incontrovertible that most mining companies, more often than not, struggle towards materialising their corporate responsibilities (pledged or unpledged) towards society.
Often, we hear the rancorous hue and cry of fuming and furious youths of the mining settings such as Akwatia, New Asaase, etc. as they normally hit the roads in protest against some mineral extracting companies that shirk their socio-corporate responsibilities. For example, the residents of New Asaase, a community in the Kwahu West of the Eastern Region, in the year 2019, aggressively protested against a mining firm called Akroma Gold Fields Limited.
According to the demonstrators, despite many years of successful operations, the company regrettably failed to actualize their corporate social mandates, and that, of course, worsened their already poor plight - they lacked basic social amenities such as safe drinking water, toilet facility, road network and proper school infrastructure.
We believe it is against this backdrop, that is, the fear of being mistreated and abandoned by the then-incoming mining company, Electrochem Ghana Limited, a subsidiary of Mcdan Group of Companies, that gripped the good people of Ada.
Unfortunately though and reasonably human as they are, they feared they would be denied or their livelihood, their involvement in Atsiagbekpo, the local name of an illegal salt mining practice in Ada, a practice most mining companies are guilty of.
But thankfully, the able corporate leadership of Electrochem Ghana Limited, for a period of four years, gratifyingly calmed down stressful and distressful nerves through a series of calculated and scientific community engagement programmes which aimed at enlightening and apprising Ada's residents with the transformative agenda Electrochem was bringing to the community.
However, for parochial and personal aggrandizements, a handful of people who do not want the common good for the people falsely and amply created dysphoria in spite of the fact that Electrochem had expeditiously commenced walking the talk by doing numerous things without having finished sowing into the Songor Project yet, not even talking of harvesting.
Doubtlessly, the creation of pans for all the communities was one of the finest things that have ever happened to Ada. Pans are artificially constructed mining water bodies having their sole source from the lagoon and/or sea. It is a traditional method of salt production wherein salt is extracted from brine by using open pans. The strategic idea of the visionary leadership of Electrochem, Nene Kabu Koranteng I, (McDan) was never to deny the people of Ada of their source of livelihood while comfortably doing his business in Ada.
How, on earth, can I possess the peace of mind to work when the people of Ada are not at peace because of economic challenges? That has always been the Visioneer's words over Ada.
Each of the 35 communities which form the Songor enclave has 12 pans from which to mine. One pan is dedicated to the chief of every community and the eleven to the people. In actual fact, the communities are not charged or surcharged for the construction of the pans which is about 80m by 40m per pan. In fact, all that is required of Ada residents is to pick their mining apparatuses, appear at their respective mining sites and start mining.
Invariably, the community mining which will be monitored by Electrochem will follow the appropriate and standard processes to ensure better and more quality salt production (that will offer them a higher price) than the poor
quality type that used to be associated with illegal mining.
Another good news for Ada is, Electrochem has resolved to purchasing directly the salt products of the local miners at a competitive price. Certainly, this and many other development projects have hugely energized the overwhelming majority of Adas to throw their unflinching support behind Nene Kabu Koranteng I (McDan) and Electrochem in his quest to transform big Ada and its environs.
No doubt, the recent demonstration by the youth of Ada announcing and amplifying their astute support for the good work Electrochem is currently undertaking in Ada speaks volumes of the above assertion. What about the canal construction, another massive infrastructural project for Ada? Let's discuss that in our next article.
