The Keta demonstrators
Tension is mounting in Keta in the Volta Region, as members of the Vegetable Farmers and Marketers Association in the Keta Municipality have expressed their dissatisfaction with the exploration of oil, gas and salt in the area.
Last Thursday, members of the Vegetable Farmers and Marketers Association in Keta, embarked on a massive demonstration against the planned exploration of crude oil and gas in the Keta Basin of the Volta Region.
According to the group, exploration of oil and gas in the near future would adversely affect the 3,000 square kilometres Keta Basin.
The unhappy residents and farmers said the exploration would destroy the environment and adversely affect their livelihood.
The Keta Basin straddles five administrative districts in the southern part of the Volta Region.
Swiss African Oil Company in 2016 has been awarded a contract to carry out seismic surveys in the basin, which is believed to have large deposits of hydrocarbons.
Currently, the Ghana National Petroleum Company (GNPC) is also undertaking studies and community engagements in the area to educate the people on oil exploration.
It is unclear what might have sparked the protests at a time when the national petroleum company is sensitizing members of the community about the exploration.
Members of the association and other residents have called on government to discontinue its plans to explore oil in the area.
The protestors, who were clad in red, marched through the principal streets of Keta amid singing and chanting of war songs.
They also held placards with inscriptions such as ‘No Niger Delta Militancy in Anloland,’ ‘Keta Basin was designed by God for Shrimp farming,’ ‘Government abrogate this contract, it’s evil,’ ‘Oil exploration will destroy our fragile ecosystem.
Presenting the petition through the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) to the President at the Keta Municipal Assembly, they called on the authorities to abrogate all contracts for the exploration of oil, gas and salt in the area.
“Keta Basin’s description as a fragile ecosystem is not for nothing so the commercial extraction of salt and crude oil in the area will, among others, destroy the environment in which many people fish, mine salt and irrigate their farms.
“More so, the pollution of underground water sources in the area cannot be underestimated, as the basin is also known to be a water receptacle with many water bodies.”
From Fred Duodu, Ho (k.duodu@yahoo.com)