Mining-induced violent resistance: the case of salt mining near Keta lagoon

ABSTRACT

There has been an upsurge in mining-induced violent resistance within the vicinity of Keta lagoon in Ghana that questions the legitimacy of ongoing large-scale salt production by Kensington Salt Industries Ltd. Between 2013 and 2017, there was a series of violent protests and clashes at Adina and adjoining communities at the eastern banks of Keta lagoon, leading to deaths and to destruction of the company’s property and equipment. The upsurge of mining-induced violent resistance in Keta follows the displacement of thousands of indigenes and growing state preference for large-scale projects in the salt sector. The article thus questions the credibility of the company’s permits and calls on relevant state agencies to engage Kensington and the affected communities to address the outlined factors responsible for the resistance and conflict. This must be done in accordance with the minerals and mining policy framework as well as regional and continental policy initiatives that the government has committed to.

RÉSUMÉ

Nous assistons à une recrudescence de la résistance violente induite par l’exploitation minière dans les environs du lagon de Keta au Ghana qui remet en question la légitimité de la production de sel à grande échelle en cours par la société Kensington Salt Industries Ltd. Entre 2013 et 2017, une série de violentes protestations et d’affrontements ont eu lieu à Adina et dans les communautés voisines sur les rives orientales du lagon de Keta, entraînant des morts et la destruction des biens et équipements de l’entreprise. L’essor de la résistance violente induite par l’exploitation minière à Keta fait suite au déplacement de milliers d’indigènes et à la préférence croissante de l’État pour les projets à grande échelle dans le secteur du sel. L’article remet donc en question la crédibilité des permis de l’entreprise et appelle les organismes d’État concernés à engager Kensington et les communautés touchées à s’attaquer aux facteurs de résistance et de conflit décrits. Cela doit être fait en accord avec le cadre de la politique minière ainsi qu’avec les initiatives politiques régionales et continentales que le gouvernement s’est engagé à mettre en place.

KEYWORDS:

• Mining
• conflict
• resistance
• salt
• Ghana
• Keta

MOTS-CLÉS:

• Exploitation minière
• conflit
• résistance
• sel
• Ghana
• Keta

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge invaluable comments and contributions given by two anonymous reviewers and by participants at the international mining conference entitled ‘Mining in comparative perspective – trends, transformations and theories’ held in December 2017 at the University of Ghent, where an earlier version of the article was presented.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributors

Alhassan Atta-Quayson is a PhD (Economics) Candidate and a Global Excellence Stature Scholar at the School of Economics, University of Johannesburg, South Africa. He is also Economics Lecturer (on leave) at the University of Education, Winneba, since 2013 and has previously worked with the Institute of Economic Affairs, International Food Policy Research Institute, Third World Network-Africa and African Centre for Economic Transformation among others.

Amina H. Baidoo is studying for PhD (Development Studies), investigating the effect of current policies and technological innovations for plastic waste management on informal waste reclaimers in Ghana. She is also Assistant Director II with the Ghana Education Service and Research Associate with the Centre for Social Impact Studies, Ghana.

Notes

1 Keta lagoon, which is 126.13 km in length, is the largest of over 90 lagoons that cover the 550-km stretch of the coastline in Ghana (Entsua-Mensah, Ofori-Danson and Koranteng 2000).

2 Kensington Salt Industries Ltd has recently changed its name to Seven Seas Salt Ltd. This paper keeps to the old name because the operations of the company are better identified more with Kensington than Seven Seas. Most newspaper clippings also contain the name Kensington rather than Seven Seas Ltd.

3 See Langdon and Larweh (2017).

4 Tsikata (1997) reports that the offer document for the international sale of the then Ashanti Goldfields Corporation (AGC) noted that ‘Ghana does not currently have a developed system of environmental regulation.’

5 The company’s apparent lack of interest in some areas suggests that this might be due to poor quality and type of the ore body. But even if the ore body in those areas is of good quality, firms may still allow locals to encroach, under a ‘live and let live’ attitude reported by studies such as Aubynn (2006).

6 While the ceding of 30% of the concession to affected communities may appear a positive gesture, it is a significant indication of the strength of the opposition and the vulnerability of Kensington’s operations if they did not make such an offer.

7 The average cedi–dollar exchange rate for 2016 when the interviews were conducted was GHC4.3 per dollar. Head porters were therefore earning the equivalent of US$2.3, and other workers US$3.49. The minimum daily wage in Ghana for 2016 was GHC8 (US$1.86).

Additional information

Funding

The authors acknowledge a research grant from Third World Network-Africa in support of an earlier study out of which the current article has been developed, after further research work.