NDC, NPP in Sege constituency lock horns over Ada Songor Lagoon lease agreement

The two major parties in the Sege Constituency, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) have clashed over which party supported a bill to rectify the Ada Songor Lagoon to Electrochem Ghana Limited, a subsidiary of McDan Group.

The argument fuelled between the leaders of the two parties on TV3’s open forum maiden program, ‘Community Manifesto’ premiered from Sege Constituency capital on August 13, 2024.

Dr. Divine Kabutey Agyeman Lardey of the NDC, who initiated the argument, voiced the people's displeasure with the sitting government's support for the lagoon lease, asserting that the move has deprived the locals of descent living suggesting that the youth in the area will revolt if the government fails to repeal the decision.

According to him, Ada is sitting on a timing bomb over the government’s reluctance to resolve the anger among the locals indicating that the decision has impacted the financial strength of the local people.

In response, the Greater Accra Regional Chairman of the NPP, Divine Otoo Agorhom, has admitted Dr. Divine's concern saying: “No one is against any investor coming to manage the Songor Salt. God’s own creation, the elephant must eat, and the ant must also eat. The arrangement must be such that the artisans' miners around the lagoon must also have the facility to eat.”

He continued that denying residents of the Songor Lagoon enclave access to the lagoon is unethical considering the resource remained their primary source of income.

However, the former NPP parliamentary candidate in the Sege Constituency has also accused the Member of Parliament for Sege Constituency, Honourable Christian Corletey Otuteye, of failing to adequately defend the leasing deal in Parliament.

Agorhom described the current MP as an undeserving parliamentary member and a citizen of Ada who has acted incompetently in defending his constituents in parliament.

In defense of this, the Sege Constituency NDC chairman, Lawyer Enoch Teye Sewornu refuted the accusation by Divine Otoo Agorhom against the MP and therefore accused the regional chairman and the NPP of disappointing the electorates in Ada.

He further described the regional chairman’s reaction as repentance and a ploy to plead for votes from electorates in the constituency.

“Is Otoo Divine Agorhom still not the chairman of NPP in the Greater Accra Region when the party leased the lagoon to McDand?” he quizzed the regional chairman who left the scene just after he chided the NDC’s Member of Parliament.

Lawyer Enoch Teye Sewornu maintained that the residents are cognizant of the NPP's participation in transferring the lagoon to Electrochem and will vote against the NPP in this year's general election.

He stated that Christian Corletey Otuteye, the MP, was pivotal to parliament dismissing the Attah Kyea committee's reports on the lagoon matter.

In response, the NPP's parliamentary candidate in the constituency, Hon. Dodzie Numekevor, details and declares his position on the subject that the NDC and the aggrieved communities hold the NPP for.

He explained: “In November 2020, when parliament was passing the bill to rectify the lease for McDan and Electrochom, both MPs for the NDC and the NPP voted for the lagoon to be given to him. When McDan came to Ada, all the MPs rejected Attah Kyea’s report, the NDC MPs said they were not against the investor, what they were against was the whole concession given to one person and that is my position as well.”

He reiterated that: “When voted for, I am going to make sure the report that has been rejected will be rejected today, it will be rejected tomorrow and rejected the next day.”