General News of Tuesday, 25 July 2017
Source: classfmonline.com
2017-07-25
The fishermen threaten to relocate to Ivory Coast
Fishermen in Upper and Lower Dixcove in the Western Region have threatened to relocate to Ivory Coast to ply their trade since they cannot get premix fuel for fishing in Ghana.
According to them, July and August make up their bumper harvest season and they expect that enough premix would be available to enable them maximise the best of their peak season, but for the past three to four weeks, they have not had a single drop of the fuel.
They say the situation is forcing some of them to contemplate running away to Ivory Coast just as their other colleagues have.
Some fishermen who spoke to Class News’ regional correspondent Abraham Mensah expressed disappointment with the government over the situation.
“It’s been three weeks since I last went fishing because there is no fuel for fishing. A lot of us have, therefore, made up our minds to leave this country; we will not vote for a change of government and suffer. Our children are hungry, they are unable to go to school, so, if we travel to Ivory Coast and find things easy there, we’ll stay. If there is no fuel in Dixcove, we will move to Ivory Coast and fish there and be free. We are frustrated,” one fisherman stated.
“This is a bumper harvest for us but close to one month now, there is no fuel for fishing and nobody is giving us any explanation. We are suffering because we can’t take care of our families. Everyday, a fisherman travels to Ivory Coast. We know the NPP is good with providing fuel but we don’t know what is happening. If government does not resolve this, we will vote them out in the next election,” another fisherman added.
