The Committee on Mines and Energy, and Lands and Forestry having thoroughly considered the submissions from all the stakeholders on the operations of Electrochem Mining has told ElectroChem Ghana Limited to enlarge their social intervention activities.
The Committee said this after making a number of recommendations.
The Committee recommends that Electrochem Ghana Limited consider continuing with the allocation of some space to the local miners within the concession area in an arrangement that is mutually beneficial to the company and the indigenes to promote local participation in the salt mining undertaking.
“The local mining so permitted should be undertaken according to the environmental laws and practices as sanctioned by the Minerals Commission and the Environmental Protection Agency. ElectroChem Ghana Limited should assist the indigenes in the deployment of best salt mining practices in order not to devalue the concession area and lower production.
“There is the necessity for a continuous stakeholder engagement to persuade those who are fighting the roll-out of a national resource under the mistaken belief that the indigenes owned the mineral called salt,” it states.
The Committee further stated that it is imperative that the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) embarks upon a massive educational campaign in the Salt Mining Area to bring indigenes to the realisation that salt is a natural mineral and not a local means of livelihood, in the same category of gold in the Ashanti Region, petroleum in the Western Region and bauxite in the Eastern Region.
“The Members of Parliament of this Joint Committee should organise local education tours and durbars to further achieve the object. Political pandits should desist from making political capital out of the use of national assets for the development of the nation Ghana rather than inciting indigenes to believe that they are being robbed by the Government of the day.
“There should be a serious security engagement in the communities for them to come to terms with the fact that it is in the best interests of Ghana and the local communities to desist from any form of lawlessness to pave the way for a national undertaking with export benefits to function at full throttle.
“Parliament and NCCE should be the arrowheads in this regard. The indigenes should be educated by their chiefs. stakeholders and the police that the Nation Ghana has a stake in ElectroChem Ghana Limited and its salt mining business in Ada Songhor and any acts of lawlessness against the Company is a direct confrontation with Law Enforcement Agencies in Ghana.
“All national undertakings over the country including the gold mining business of Ashanti Goldfields are operational because of this basic understanding. The police should continue with the investigation of the death of Numo Korletey Agormedah who was allegedly killed on the 6th day of November 2023 and prosecute the perpetrator(s) of the said crime.
“All minor criminal complaints associated with the salt mining business which can be resolved between the complainants and the culprits to tone down tension in the salt producing environment.
“The chiefs should take up such peaceful initiatives. Any survey challenge relating to the extent of the concession should be brought to the attention of the Minerals Commission for investigations.
“ElectroChem Ghana Limited should enlarge their social intervention activities as their fortunes improve to bankroll poverty in the communities. ElectroChem Ghana Limited in the roll-out of this immensely significant national project should desecrate cemeteries, fetish houses and places within the concession area,” the committee stated.
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