Ewoenam Kpodo
Tokor (VR), Sept 20, GNA – The Ketu South Municipal Security Council (MUSEC) has given a four-day ultimatum to Seven Seas Salt Limited to mount danger signposts on its concessions on the Keta Lagoon.
Mr. Maxwell Koffie Lugudor, Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for Ketu South and Chairman of the MUSEC said this was to ward off people and fishers from going near deep pit areas to fish and end up drowning in the lagoon.
He disclosed this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA), on Monday, after the assembly had convened an emergency MUSEC meeting over Saturday’s drowning incident at Laklevikope which claimed lives of a 41-year-old woman and her three children who went to fish.
Some residents suspected a pit from the uncompleted dykes being constructed by the salt mining company for its operations as the cause of the drowning though the company denied the claim.
The people complained there was no form of protection around the dykes, neither was there any demarcation thus, serving as death trap to unsuspecting residents who depended on fishing in the lagoon.
About two months ago, two other persons reportedly drowned in separate incidents along that stretch of the lagoon when they attempted to fish.
Mr. Lugudor said “we have given the company three to four days to mount these signposts on their concessions to warn people of areas where there are deep holes.
“The Council thought about the company using wire mesh to barricade the danger zones but that will prevent our people from being able to fish because sometimes, areas reserved for residents get dried up and the company allows for fishing on their concessions,” he said.
The MCE appealed to residents of communities where the company had concessions to be cautious on their fishing expeditions saying, though the meeting decided to have Seven Seas Salt Limited fill the holes in the water to avoid any danger to human life, that exercise could only be possible during the dry season.
He disclosed the Council along with the company would be meeting with the family of the deceased for some form of compensation to be agreed on for the family.
“We will also be meeting with chiefs and other stakeholders. We’re taking education to the people on how best they can fish in the lagoon without recording any disaster, and the company is willing to support us do that,” Mr. Lugudor added.
GNA