The Tekpebiawe Clan of Ada in the Greater Accra region, has called on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) not to grant the request of Electrochem Ghana Limited, to enlist the company on the stock market.
Interestingly, early this month, Policy Think-tank IMANI, projected adding an extra US$1 billion in foreign exchange earnings through Ghana’s thriving salt mining and winning industry that has consistently produced around 250,000 metric tons annually over the last decade.
Addressing a press conference at Aminapa, in the Ada East District, on behalf of the elders of the clan, Ebenezer Adjawutor, said the company lacks legitimacy to enlist Songor on the stock market, especially when parliament is yet to resolve matters of illegality and arbitrariness surrounding the Electrochem-Songor lease.
In attendance at the all-important presser, were all the principal elders of the Tekpebiawe Clan, the original owners of the Songor Lagoon, including Nene Korle IV, “Wetsoyi”, and Libi Wornor, the Songor Chief Priest.
Electrochem Ghana Limited, recently outdoors what it calls an outgrower scheme, where it claims it has released one thousand acres from its concession to the people.
A move many call a charade to sway the public and parliament, since none of the so-called seven beneficiary groups, has since had access to the so-called released portion.
The Tekpebiawe Clan, contends that Electrochem Ghana Limited, has no right to enlist Songor on the stock market or allocate a portion of it to anyone until the Parliamentary Select Committee on Mines, Energy and Natural Resources, resolves the Electrochem-Songor lease saga.
The Clan, maintains that the three leases granted to Electrochem are legally questionable and do not advance the course of PNDC Law 287 and the inclusion of small and medium producers in the Songor Lagoon.
“The revelation by the ranking member, Alhassan Sayibu Suhuyini, that the committee’s report, was person-prepared and not the committee’s report, raises serious questions and substantiates our earlier suspicion about the report”. Mr Adjawutor stated.
The Clan notwithstanding, trusts steps being taken by Parliament, under the leadership of Speaker Alban Sumana Bagbin.
“However, we have confidence in the ability and wisdom of the Speaker of Parliament to resolve this matter amicably and restore peace in Ada.
Elders of the Clan have always maintained that, “The speaker needs look no far since the solution to this matter has long been found. The only way to resolve this matter is adherence to the PNDC Law 287 and religious implementation of the master plan of Songor for peace to prevail between us”.
One pertinent issue at the media engagement was the frantic attempt by the McDan-led Electrochem, aided by the Ada Traditional Council, to desecrate the “Yomo”, a sacred ground of the Songor diety.
The Tekpebiawe Clan, sent a strong warning to the so-called investors to stay away from that sacred ground. “The Yomo existed long before our settlement, and it is by it we, the people of Ada, exist. We shall protect ‘Yomo’ until the last drop of blood of the last Tekpebiawe Clan member” he emphasised.
IMANI- Ghana, had cited Electrochem Ltd, a Ghanaian-owned entity, as being in an apex position to make the most out of Ghana and possibly West Africa’s biggest naturally occurring solar salt potential basin, the Songor Lagoon.
The primary method of salt production in Ghana is through solar evaporation of concentrated seawater in salt pans, usually in areas with sources very close to the sea including the Songor Lagoon area, Keta, Saltpond, and other smaller coastal enclaves.
In an 11-page policy brief released on Sunday, IMANI stated that “the Observatory of Economic Complexity indicates that in 2022 for instance, Ghana exported $4.36 million worth of salt. This is 0.022% of Ghana’s total export earnings of $20 billion for the same period. This made Ghana the 59th largest exporter of salt in the world for 2022.
“Any observer’s cursory look at the potential for salt production in Ghana will immediately notice the gross shortfall between potential annual earnings from the salt industry and the actual production. For such observers, this gross underutilization of the resource potential represents a missed opportunity for the salt value chain and its benefits to the country and the African continent as a whole.
“A lot of talk and activity has gone into discussing the role of various stakeholders and how they benefit. The raging debate around the beneficiaries have over the years discouraged any significant investment and will to make the best of the resource.
“Electrochem Ltd, a Ghanaian-owned entity, has recently been a beneficiary of a lease arrangement that puts them in the apex position to make the most out of Ghana and possibly West Africa’s biggest naturally occurring solar salt potential basin, the Songor Lagoon. At the background of a full parliamentary inquest and the commitment of the company to initiate and comply with a community-focused master plan that should maximize local participation, there is a clearer path to the projected billion-dollar-a-year dream being fulfilled”.
“Internal documents sighted show that Electrochem intends to grow annual salt production volumes emanating from the Songor enclave from the usual range of 150,000 metric tonnes annually to about 400,000 metric tonnes annually with the current level of investment over the 2025/6 period. The difference is that the salt production will not be focused on the domestic market, but an international export market with industry-grade quality control measures projecting salt as a mineral commodity”.
“Revenue projection for 2025 will be around 350-400 million USD based on projected production based on current infrastructure. After subsequent investment rounds and infrastructure development spanning four years, it is expected that the Songor area alone will yield up to 1.5 million metric tonnes annually, leading to potential revenues in the region of upwards of 1 billion USD from 2028 onwards”.
