The Traditional Council, a town in the Greater Accra region of Ghana, has lifted a ban it placed on Radio Ada two years ago, allowing the community radio station to resume its coverage of the annual Asafotufiami, a traditional festival of the people of Ada.
This decision was announced by the Council’s spokesperson and Chairman of the Asafotufiami Festival Planning Committee, Nene Agudey Obichere III, during a meeting held on July 22, 2024, at the ATC premises in Ada.
The ban had been in place since 2022, following Radio Ada’s extensive coverage of a lease granting a salt mining company monopoly over the Songhor, a salt lagoon which is an important source of livelihood for the locals.
The Spokeperson for the Ada Traditional Council (ATC), Nene Obichere III said the lifting of the ban marks a pivotal moment for reconciliation. He emphasized the festival’s objective of healing and unity, urging all stakeholders to embrace ancestral values and work together.
“Things cannot go on forever. Radio Ada is back, we are happy they are back,” he is reported to have told The Fourth Estate, an accountability journalism project of the Media Foundation for West Africa.
The decision has since been welcomed by Radio Ada. Its programme Officer, Gideon Amanor Dzeagu, expressed gratitude and reaffirmed the station’s commitment to community development and its watchdog role as enshrined in Ghana’s 1992 constitution.
“We are humans, and they are our fathers. If they say we have wronged them and call to engage us to resolve it amicably, then we will use the platform to ask for their forgiveness if we have wronged them in any way. We are always ready to collaborate with them and serve the people as their mouthpiece, as we used to do,” Amanor told The Fourth Estate.
At the same meeting, the participation of the Okor Worli (the four Okor Priests) and other major traditional stakeholders, who had also abstained from the festival in the past two years due to the controversy surrounding the Songhor Lagoon lease.
In August 2022, the Ada Traditional Council (ATC) barred Radio Ada from covering the Asafotufiami Festival.
Following the ban, the Ghana Journalist Association (GJA), the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), and other media-centered institutions after a fact-finding mission in Ada described the ATC’s decision as an affront to media freedom and censorship.
The tension between the ATC and the radio station had began when the station, known for its critical coverage of local issues, notably the Songhor Lagoon lease agreement, was omitted from the media list invited to cover the 85th edition of the festival in 2022.
“It is once again regrettable that Radio Ada cannot give first-hand updates on the 2022 Asafotufiami Festival to the Ada state because it had been inadvertently omitted from the invitation list. We trust that this omission will be rectified,” Radio Ada wrote to draw the attention of the Asafotufiami Planning Committee.
Despite Radio Ada’s efforts to rectify what it initially perceived as an oversight; the ATC confirmed the exclusion was intentional.
In a letter dated August 1, 2022, the ATC placed restrictions on Radio Ada, prohibiting the station from setting up a stage at the festival park, barring interviews with traditional leaders.
The letter also banned three specific hosts who are the lead producers of a Radio Magazine show dubbed, “Manor Munyu” that discuses pressing issues of the Ada people including the Songhor Lagoon Redevelopment and it related issues from appearing in Radio Ada paraphernalia at the park.
The Council cited the use of “unrefined language” against traditional authorities as the reason for these measures.
But in response, Radio Ada’s former Deputy Station Coordinator, late Noah Narh Dameh, said the ATC’s actions were a reprisal for the station’s coverage of the Songhor Lagoon lease.
He explained that, prior to the imposition of these restrictions, representatives from the traditional council visited the radio station and warned them to cease discussions on the Songhor lease agreement.
The lease, granted to Electrochem Ghana Limited, was a contentious issue, as it was believed to impact the livelihoods of over 150,000 people who depended on the lagoon for salt production.
The situation escalated on January 13, 2022, when armed men attacked Radio Ada’s premises, beat staff and vandalized its equipment, an incident linked to their reporting on the lease agreement.
Despite the attack and ongoing police investigations, the station continued its advocacy, after it was supported by the MFWA and others to buy and repair its broadcasting equipment.
The MFWA welcomes the lifting of the ban on Radio Ada regarding coverage of the Asafotufiami festival. We hope this will mark the beginning of a new era of cooperation between the radio station and the traditional authorities in the interest of the development of the traditional area.
