General News of Thursday, 5 March 2015
Source: Today Newspaper
Central regional wing of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) has appealed to President John Dramani Mahama to, as a matter of urgency, dissolve all premix committees in the region to restore peace and tranquility with regard to the distribution of the fuel in the region. The party is also pleading with President Mahama to empower the Central Regional Minister, Mr Aquinas Tawiah Quansah, to reconstitute an interim committee to manage the sale of premix fuel.
This was stated in a press release signed by the Central Regional Communication officer of the NDC, Mr. Kwesi Dawood last Monday.
According to him, the activities of premix committee members in the region were negatively hampering the efforts of government in improving the lot of fishermen.
He explained that recognising the key role fishing plays in the economy, it was imperative that premix committees were set up to help in the distribution and sale of the fuel to solve the issue of inflating the price of fuel to fishermen.
He added that this laudable initiative by government was being marred by activities of premix committee members in the region who were rather engaging in diversion of the fuel.
Mr. Dawood pointed out that the lack of accountability and transparency in the fuel distribution by these members has often resulted in chaos, quarrels and open fights with the blame being put on the ruling government.
The NDC communicator observed that government was working very hard to improve the fishing industry, particularly in the Central region, but added that due to the activities of premix committee members, fisher-folks were not feeling the impact.
He, therefore, called for the immediate dissolution of all premix committees in the region to ensure sanity in the sector.