Pride livelihood interest of over 5000 people to 15 uninformed chiefs-ASLA appeals to Akufo Addo
They looked the president in the eyes and lied to him that McDan is producing high-quality salt with 99.9% purity.
Prosper Kwaku Selassy Agbitor 
Following the decision of the president, H.E. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to grant McDan's ElectroChem to develop the Ada Songhor Lagoon against the will of the vast majority, the Ada Songhor Lagoon Association(ASLA) appealing to the conscience of the President to revert the decision.
The move, according to the ASLA, will demonstrate the president's widely acclaimed respect for human rights.
At a press conference addressed by ASLA last Thursday, June 15, 2023, the group insisted that the president acted in contravention of the PNDC Law 287 and the tenets of the Master Plan for the Development of the Salt Industry in Ghana.
The ASLA, being unwaveringly relentless in seeing the right thing done in Ada said, "The president's decision is thoughtless; very harmful and inimical to the human rights of the vast majority of fellow Ghanaians citizens living and making their livelihood from the Songhor Lagoon.
A delegation of paramount chiefs that met with the president asserted that there has been a massive facelift and revamping to the admiration of all well-meaning people of Ada and the country as a whole since the inception of activities of the company" a statement it considers a palpable lie. ASLA stressed, " the paramount chief, we guess is referring to the facade that McDan has erected at the former Songhor Salt operating area, where he does not even pay electricity bills".
ASLA questioned if the traditional authorities perhaps do not hear about nor see with their eyes the brutalities being perpetuated by McDan's militia and the security forces against the people of the area.
The group said, "Like the proverbial ostrich, they have buried their head deeply in the sand", they looked the president in the eyes and lied to him that McDan is producing high-quality salt with 99.9% purity which could be exported to Nigeria when they know that was "a big lie". "McDan's salt is of unacceptably poor quality and he cannot even sell in the local market for animal feed let alone for export", ASLA stressed.
The group wants to know if indeed the McDan salt is of good quality because it says a product that costs US$70 in Ghana but was shipped to Nigeria only to be sold at US35. ASLA is further questioning whether officials from the Mineral Commission, Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, the Cabinet, and Parliament have read ElectroChem's business plan before issuing the company with mining licenses.
ASLA could not understand why parliament's subcommittee and the full house of parliament approved McDan's mining license on the same day that the cabinet approved same.
"The claim that benefits brought by McDan is the restoration of the dried Songhor Lagoon which has created an additional livelihood for fishers is falsehood", ASLA further said.
The group stated that one Naana Adiki, who was on record saying that for the past 40 years, the lagoon has been dried and that it is only McDan who had fed the lagoon with water, a matter ASLA referred to as a lie quizzing that is the honorable Naana Adiki seeking to imply that for the past 40 years, there has not been raining in Ada?" May our ancestors and deities of Ada bless her", ASLA added.
"Among numerous lies, they told the president, that McDan is supporting the district assembly, and we want to know how much in salt tolls he has paid to the assembly, Nene Ada also told the president that McDan has constructed 11 salt pans each for 5 communities around the lagoon all of which ASLA referred to as lies. In this regard, ASLA demands to know the designs and the construction plans for the pans without which they accused the said Nene Ada of peddling misinformation other than that, ASLA demands to know the terms and modalities by which McDan is constructing the said pans for the communities.
Nene Abram Kabu Akuaku III is reported to have expressed worry over the activities of illegal salt miners whose operations are posing a danger to the lagoon, a pronouncement the group sees as unfortunate.
In conclusion, the group said, "How can an activity which our ancestors have engaged in for over 400 years; an activity which supplies about 90% of the salt consumed in Ghana, an activity which has for so many years been the main source of export to Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger has suddenly become an illegal activity to have warrant a call from the Paramount chief to the president to engage the security services to deal with us?", ASLA queried
