Fishermen at Nyiresia, near Sekondi, a profit of GHC38,899 from the sale of their allocation of premix fuel with which they have purchased building materials and fishing equipment for the development of their fishing community.
The items are 100 bags of cement, 100 pieces of roofing sheets, quantities of electrical items, and 2,500 pieces of "Chorkor Smokers."
At a ceremony held at Nyiresia, on Tuesday, to present the items to the community, Mr Ibrahim Zakaria, a member of the Landing Beach Committee, (LBC) which manages the distribution of the allocation, said the building materials would be used to complete a school project and provide pavements along the streets of the community,
while the Chorkor smokers would be distributed to all the fish mongers.
He explained that in line with government directives, the community was entitled to 53
percent of the profit realized, which was used to purchase the items.
Mr Zakaria said the next profit would go into the construction of a place of convenience.
Nii Amasah Namoale, Deputy Minister of Agriculture, in charge of Fisheries, said the
government had kept faith with its promise of ensuring transparency and sanity in the allocation of premix fuel.
Fishermen, he said, must, therefore, reciprocate this gesture with hard work and
honesty in their operations to avoid past situations where proceeds of the fuel went into
the pockets of a few people to the detriment of the community.
Nii Amasah Namoale noted that this system of the premix fuel distribution did not encourage malpractices and entreated the fisher folks to use the profit judiciously for the benefit of the entire community.
The Deputy Minister, however, advised fishermen against the use of pair trawling,
lighting and chemicals for fishing as that was against the Fisheries Law, warning that anyone caught would be prosecuted.
He said the law enforcement agencies, the Police and the Navy had been mandated to arrest and prosecute those who flout the law.
Nii Amasah Namoale encouraged the fishing communities to invest in their children's
education and train them properly to grow to become responsible adults.
"Modernisation and technology had proven that every menial job requires knowledgeable people and this can be obtained through education.
Mr Kobina Annan, Metropolitan Chief Executive of the Sekondi-Takoradi Assembly,said a contract has been awarded for the construction of a landfill site to be completed in nine months for the community.
The community commended the government for bringing transparency in the premix fuel
allocation and presented gifts in the form of miniature boats to the Minister of Agriculture,
Mr Kwesi Ahwoi, and others to show their appreciation.
Following complaints by fishermen that the premix fuel allocation was characterised with diversion and embezzlement, the government instituted measures to streamline the distribution with a percentage of the profit going to the community after refunding the capital to the government.