Giving Ada salt lagoon to McDan was a political and economic disaster – Dr. Yao Graham

Tireless social justice crusader and Coordinator of think tank Third World Network Dr. Yao Graham has chided the Akufo-Addo administration for handing over the Ada Salt lagoon to a private firm, Electrochem Ghana Ltd, a company owned by popular business mogul Dr. Daniel Mckorley( McDan).

For him, it is politically and economically inappropriate to lease the salt resources to the company to the disadvantage of the people who depended on it for their livelihoods.

Dr Graham lamented that the Ada enclave has been a conflict zone because of the decision to give natural resources to a private company.

“Ada has the best salt endowment in West Africa. Since 2020, Ada has been a zone of conflict because the government took a decision to give the whole lagoon to one firm.

If you look at previous governments’ reports on Ada, one thing that I will talk about is that it will be a political disaster and economically not the best choice to give the whole lagoon to one firm. The reason why this choice has led to conflict is very simple: the Ada people for years, generations, salt has been a main choice of livelihoods,” he said in a public lecture in commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the University of Ghana under the theme, ‘Restructuring the National Economy, the Need for a Paradigm Shift”.

He explained that the decision of the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) to entrust the salt resources into the hands of the Ada people was the best for the peace and well-being of the people, adding the recent decision of the Akufo-Addo government has spelled doom for the people.

“As a result of the decision of previous governments to allow access to large-scale firms, conflict broke out.

The PNDC took the lagoon into a trust for the people of Ada. And carried out a broader consultation with the locals, bringing out a master plan for salt development in Ghana with Ada as the centre piece. The scheme was going to allow small-scale salt producers to co-exist with large-scale salt producers in a public-private scheme with infrastructural investments by the government which will serve as a source of raw material input for industry and a growth pole for the rural community,” he explained.

Electrochem Ghana Limited took over some 41,000 acres of the Ada Songor Lagoon on September 19, 2019, in the form of a lease for fifteen years. The decision has led to conflict between the company and the locals that depend on it for their livelihoods.