Some fishermen are accusing officials at the Fisheries and Aquaculture Ministry of selling premix fuel on partisan lines.
There has been a shortage of premix fuel in the various coastal towns of the country for the past three months which fishermen lament is affecting them negatively.
They say officials in charge of selling the premix fuel sell it mostly to pro-NPP fishermen who hoard and sell the product at an inflated price thus creating the shortage.
Roland Nii Amu Tetteh, one of the affected fishermen in a Citi News interview complained that the continuity of the alleged practice can cause confusion between the fisherfolk.
“They are playing politics with the fuel because usually when you go to buy you will hear people saying they are NPP members and so they should be served first before we the others, so it has become political. Everyone is complaining about it, it turned into a fight the last time because the fuel was sold to a group of NPP guys instead of directly to the fishermen, and when we went to buy they sold it to us at a higher price”.
But the Ministry has rejected the claims.
The shortage of premix fuel has become a household problem in Ghana over the years.
The National Democratic Congress’ (NDC) Parliamentary candidate for Bortianor-Ngleshie Amanfro, Alexander Akuoko, in August 2019 urged the government to eliminate middlemen in the distribution of premix fuel to fishing communities to avert diversion.
Speaking to Citi News, he argued that the desire by these middlemen to make profit influences the diversion of the subsidized product.
Mr. Akuoku insisted that the provision of premix fuel for fisherfolk was not a profit-making venture and did not need middlemen.
“It is not about profit-making. If it was about profit-making I don’t think the government would take time to go through that process. It is because the government wants to help them to make sure they go on fishing regularly. So if you are helping people, you don’t bring in people who are profit-oriented.”
Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia in July 2019 announced that government has begun processes to digitize the distribution of both premix fuel and fertilizer to address the confusion that characterizes the distribution process.
Speaking at the 2019 Ghana Petroleum Conference, Dr. Bawumia said the trend will end soon.
“We will implement the digitization process in the distribution of premix in Ghana and we hope to extend it to fertilizer next year as well,” said the Vice President.