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Investigative reporter with The Fourth Estate, Philip Teye Agbove and freelance journalist, Justice Baidoo, have been named among the four winners of the 2025 Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) Media Africa Award for Local Journalism.
Their investigative series, Death and brutality: The battle for West Africa’s largest salt deposit was selected from out of over 30 submissions from 16 countries in Africa.
The jury of the KAS Media Africa Award for Local Journalism praised The Fourth Estate’s investigation for its depth and relevance.
“These submissions had an important focus on local reporting during elections,” the jury said in a statement from KAS Media Africa. The awards are run by KAS Media Africa, the Regional Media Programme for Sub-Saharan Africa under the German think tank, Konrad Adenauer Foundation.
Philip Teye Agbove and Justice Baidoo expressed their gratitude for the award, stating that they were deeply honoured to have their work recognised at the continental level.
“We hope this brings the needed focus to improving the rights of indigenous communities who depend on natural resources for their livelihoods,” Mr Agbove stated.
He further called on the new John Mahama administration to treat the issues around the Songor Lagoon- Electrochem deal with all the seriousness it deserves to restore peace in the area.
Background
In November 2024, The Fourth Estate published a groundbreaking investigative series exposing the consequences of the recent lease of West Africa’s largest salt deposit to Electrochem Ghana Limited, a company owned by Ghanaian businessman Daniel McKorley, popularly known as McDan. The investigation revealed how the peaceful town of Ada has become a flashpoint for violent clashes, leading to deaths, injuries and loss of livelihoods of indigenes of the coastal community.
The series also uncovered troubling irregularities in the lease agreement, revealing that Electrochem was allocated significantly more land than initially agreed upon in a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Ada Traditional Council. Under the original MoU, Electrochem was to receive 12,428 acres of the Songor Lagoon and adjoining lands for salt production.
However, when the agreement was presented to Parliament for ratification, the acreage was increased to 39,126 acres—more than three times the original allocation. According to the company’s website and public statements, Electrochem now claims ownership of 41,000 acres, the entirety of the Songor Lagoon.
As a result, artisanal salt miners, who have depended on the lagoon for generations, now face charges of trespassing and encroachment whenever they attempt to mine salt. This has led to several violent clashes between Electrochem’s security personnel, the police, and artisanal miners, leaving a trail of death, injuries, and destruction.
Between 2021 and 2023, there were 28 recorded confrontations. Blocked from accessing the lagoon, thousands of small-scale salt miners are struggling to sustain their livelihoods.
The controversy has also had political repercussions. The discontent is believed to have played a role in the defeat of Christian Corletey Otuteye, the MP for Sege—the constituency covering most of the Songor Lagoon—who lost his parliamentary primaries due to perceptions that he failed to protect his constituents’ interests during the lease’s approval.
“My people think I am the cause but the starting point of this whole thing is the Traditional Council,” the former MP said of how the issue cost him dearly as he lost the primaries to contest for re-election in December.
“I lost the primaries because of this. It is a very serious issue.”
Many residents of Ada blame the erstwhile Akufo-Addo-led government for granting the lease, accusing it of depriving them of their means of survival. This reflected deeply in the December 2024 general elections when the two constituencies around the lagoon voted massively against the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government.
State institutions, including the Minerals Commission, the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, the Environmental Protection Agency, and Parliament, have come under heavy criticism for their roles in the ongoing conflict in the area.
The Fourth Estate’s investigation flickered public outrage and led to pushback from Electrochem Ghana Limited.
Following the investigation, the Ada Songor Lagoon Association (ASLA) petitioned the Operation Recover All Loot (ORAL) committee to probe allegations of state capture, abuse of power, and corruption in the leasing of the Songor Lagoon to Electrochem Ghana Limited. ASLA’s petition demands the immediate recovery of the lagoon to restore peace and economic stability to the economy of the area.
The ORAL committee, a key initiative of President John Mahama’s anti-corruption agenda, has pledged to investigate the matter. ORAL aims to combat corruption by prosecuting offenders and recovering looted funds and assets for national development.
Another journalist with The Fourth Estate, Kwaku Krobea Asante, received commendation for his investigative piece titled Influence and Deception: How a Pro-NPP Firm Flaunting UK Connection Produced Polls Favouring Bawumia.
At the height of the heated 2024 general elections, Mr Asante’s investigation exposed how polls conducted by Outcomes International, a firm owned by individuals linked to the NPP government, consistently favoured the party’s Presidential Candidate, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia.
His report also revealed how the Ghanaian media widely published these polls without verifying their authenticity- raising concerns about journalistic due diligence. His findings generated public outrage over how information disorder was orchestrated to influence voter perception, ultimately shaping the outcome of the elections.
This is not the first time The Fourth Estate has won the KAS Media Africa Award for Local Journalism. In 2024, two of its journalists, Mr Asante and Adwoa Adobea-Owusu, were among winners for their investigative piece, Dangerous Endorsements: Exposé on Herbal Medicine Advertising in Ghana.
