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Showing posts from December, 2015

A PEOPLE'S STRUGGLE AROUND THE ADA SONGOR LAGOON

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INTRODUCTION: Atsiakpo, a major threat to the lagoon A handful of people are wrecking unimaginable havoc on the Ada Songor Lagoon with associated devastating environmental consequences. The Lagoon produces a greater part of salt consumed in Ghana and in many Western African states including Togo. Small scale salt winners have long been engaged in a struggle to conserve and protect the lagoon as a collective ownership. A monument for Margaret On 17th May 1985 armed policemen acting in concert with a private company raided Bonikope, a community along the Songor Lagoon killing Margaret Kowornu, a pregnant woman in the process. Vacuum Salt Products Limited had alleged at the time that the inhabitants of the area had encroached on their portion of the lagoon allocated to them by the government. A monument has been erected in memory of Margaret. The locals explain that that monument serves as an embodiment of their collective aspirations and imbibes in them a zeal to f