Govt to collaborate with resource rich communities for mutual benefit - Amewu
The Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Mr John Peter Amewu, has stated that the government will collaborate with communities that abound in natural resources to ensure that the people benefit from such resources.
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He said the government was not against small-scale mining but was committed to sanitising its systems of operation to ensure that their activities would not cause harm to the environment, including water bodies.
He stressed that “we want to ensure the right things are done.”
Mr Amewu made the remarks in a speech read on his behalf by his special assistant, Mr Daniel Kafui Wudome, at the commemoration of the 32nd anniversary of the shooting of a salt winner, Margaret Kuwornu, at Bonikope in the Ada West District in the Greater Accra Region.
The programme which was organised by the Yihi Katseme (brave women) of the Ada Songor Salt Women’s Association (ASSWA) on the theme: “Towards Songor plan for livelihood for all.”
Responsibility
According to the minister, every community that is endowed with natural resources such as the Ada Songor Salt must benefit from it “but it should be done in a proper environmentally friendly way.”
Mr Amewu urged a five-member Ada Songor Salt management board to regularly interact with the Ada community to resolve challenges they encountered in the salt business.
“The commitment of the government to local participation in harnessing natural resource is demonstrated by the constitution of the current management committee of the Ada Songor Salt Project, which is made up of five prominent citizens of Ada, the first time in history,” the Minister claimed.
Commitment
The District Chief Executive for Ada West, Mr Adzoteye Lawer Akrofi, said the assembly was committed to ensuring that challenges militating against the development of the Ada Songor Salt project were resolved for the accelerated growth of the area.
He promised that the assembly would liaise with all stakeholders to ensure peaceful co-existence and cooperation in the affairs of the project for the benefit of all.
Concerns
The Secretary for ASSWA, Ms Edith Djokjakarta Osabutey-Okumo, said whereas everybody was free to win salt for his or her livelihood, the Songor Lagoon was now open to only people who created pan for themselves and blocked access to majority of the indigenes.
The group noted with concern that ASSWA, like other concerned citizens in the country, was against galamsey and the contamination of the Songor Lagoon.
“We, therefore, proactively join the nationwide call to stop galamsey by calling for a stop to ‘Atsiakpo’ by the end of September this year to ensure sanity, peace and tranquility,” she emphasised.
The Paramount Chief of the Ada Traditional area, Nene Kabu Akuaku III, suggested to the government to allow potential investors who needed concessions in various traditional areas to negotiate with landowners instead of the government since the citizens in those communities were also stakeholders in such investments.
