Some fishermen at the Bosumtwi-Sam Fishing harbour
The Chief Fisherman of Sekondi, Nana Kofi Essoun, has accused the National Premix Committee Chairman, Kweku Sersah-Johnson of allegedly diverting premix fuel to a non-existent landing beach site in Sekondi in the Western Region.
According to the chief fisherman, two fuel tankers offloaded a total of 27,000 litres of premix fuel at a fuel storage facility at the Bosumtwi-Sam Fishing Harbour in Sekondi on Thursday, October 6Â and Saturday, October 8, 2016.
The fuel was allegedly meant for distribution to some fishermen operating at Akrufo Mpoano, near the Bosumtwi-Sam fishing Harbour.
However, the chief fishermen told DAILY GUIDE that there were no artisanal fishermen or canoes operating at Akrufo Mpoano.
He, therefore, claimed the diverted commodity would be sold later by some people.
DAILY GUIDE’s checks at the said landing beach site indeed revealed that there were no canoes or fishermen operating at the Akrufo Mpoano landing beach site.
On his part, Emmanuel Gordon, the Secretary to the Sekondi Chief Fisherman, noted that the distribution of premix fuel was guided by rules and regulations.
He noted that according to the rules, the National Premix Fuel Committee can only authorize allocation of the commodity to a landing beach committee with a recognized landing beach site that has more than 70 canoes using outboard motors.
He said that the landing beach committee at Cape Three Points landing beach site in the Ahanta West District had to be dissolved because of the small number of canoes with outboard motors at the place.
He pointed out that the artisanal fishermen at Cape Three Points were asked to buy premix fuel at Dixcove, also in the Ahanta West District.
He, therefore, called on the National Premix Fuel Committee to immediately halt the allocation of premix fuel to landing beach sites that do not meet the standards since it would promote corruption.
Reacting to the allegations in an interview with journalists, Kweku Sersah-Johnson, the National Premix Committee Chairman, admitted that those consignments of premix fuel were discharged at the Bosomtwi-Sam Fishing Harbour in Sekondi on the said dates.
He, however, indicated that the premix fuel was delivered to the fishermen at Akrufo Mpoano upon a request by a traditional leader.
He noted that the National Premix Committee has the mandate to deliver sufficient premix fuel to all fishermen in the country so that they could undertake their fishing expedition without any problems.
Meanwhile, some fishermen in Sekondi and other coastal communities in the region have debunked the claims by Mr. Sersah-Johnson, stating that no traditional leader or chief is supposed to sell premix fuel.
From Emmanuel Opoku, Takoradi