Speaker Alban Bagbin has criticized the joint Energy and Lands Committee’s handling of the dispute over the Songhor salt mining agreement between the State and Electrochem Ghana Limited.
The controversy arose after Ada indigenes petitioned Parliament, alleging breaches and abuses related to the lease agreement.
The committee’s report suggested educating locals on mineral leases and reaffirmed the need to honor the lease but failed to address several key issues.
Bagbin pointed out that the committee did not visit the site, postponed this crucial task, and did not adequately consult stakeholders or consider all relevant documents.
“Failure to visit the site which according to the report the committee members had postponed until ‘later on’ contrary to the terms of reference given to the committee, inadequate stakeholder consultation specifically unacknowledged papers on the matter and as such these were not reflected in the report.
“Inadequate redress to some issues such as the areas of land available to Electrochem Ghana Limited since a large part of the concession has been incumbent.
“Again, the issues that the people keep on raising dealing with unemployment were still not addressed in the recommendations,” he said.
He also noted that the report did not tackle unemployment concerns or verify the legitimacy of additional leases granted to Electrochem Ghana Limited.
Bagbin called for a thorough reassessment of the additional lease agreement and PNDC Law 287’s applicability to the company’s leases and lagoon operations.
He recommended further stakeholder engagements to address compensation for affected parties and directed new committees to reinvestigate the matter.
While some MPs, like Alhassan Suhuyini and Nii Lante Vanderpuye, opposed the committee’s findings, arguing for more scrutiny, others, such as Muntaka Mubarak and Frank Annoh Dompreh, defended the report and urged a cautious approach before taking action against Electrochem Ghana Limited.