The Anlo Youth Council in the Volta Region has dragged the Minerals Commission and three other state institutions to the Supreme Court for giving some firms — Kensington Industries Limited and Seven Seas Salt Limited, the license to mine salt in the Keta Lagoon.<\/p>\n
The Council wants the court to declare as unconstitutional the issuance of the license to the said companies \u201cwithout the approval or ratification by Parliament.\u201d<\/p>\n
[contextly_sidebar id=”GcwB6M810JkMeFQ3EDPBgZE0pXHVZnUs”]The residents of Adina in the Ketu South Municipality of the Volta Region a few months ago\u00a0revolted against<\/strong><\/a><\/span> the salt companies especially, Kensington, accusing them of drying up their wells and destroying \u00a0water bodies with their operations.<\/p>\n Joined to the Anlo Youth Council’s case is the Attorney General, Director of Wild Life Division of the Forestry Commission as well as the Water Resources Commission.<\/p>\n The Council in its writ also argued that the Water Resources Commission, Chief Wild Life Officer and the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources failed in their role of protecting the Keta Lagoon Complex \u201cby allowing or failing to stop the complete blockage of the Belikpa stream from flowing into the Keta Lagoon Complex.\u201d<\/p>\n It also want \u201ca declaration that all licenses granted by the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources to Kensington Industries Limited, Seven Seas Salt Mining Limited or any other person to extract brine from beneath the bed of the Keta Lagoon Complex, a Ramsar site and its actual extraction from the bed of the Lagoon has an adverse effect on the environment and the people residing within the catchment area of the Keta Lagoon Complex, does not constitute a \u2018sustainable utilization\u2019 and \u201cwise use\u201d of the Keta Lagoon Complex, and therefore is inconsistent with Article 36(9) of the 1992 Constitution and the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, 1971 as amended.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Below are other reliefs sought by the Anlo Youth Council:<\/strong><\/p>\n –<\/p>\n By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana\n
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