Afenyo-Markin Meets Effutu Fisherfolk

Alexander Afenyo-Markin, the Member of Parliament for Effutu Constituency on Tuesday held an interactive stakeholders engagement with thousands of his constituents working within the fishing industry.

The interactions centered mainly on how to further improve the working conditions of the fisherfolk and the entire value chain.

It is one of the several stakeholder engagements Afenyo-Markin has had with the fishing fraternity in his constituency.

Afenyo-Markin, who doubles as the Majority Leader in Parliament and Leader of Government Business took time to explain to the fisherfolk kingpins plans to introduce the use of solar-powered outboard motors to solve the challenge of how to get a constant supply of premix fuel to power the outboard motors.

“Vice President Dr. Bawumia, the flag-bearer of the NPP was here in Effutu with us barely two weeks ago and you heard him tell us that before the end of year, Government would be introducing solar-power outboard motors and also come up with a facility to help our fishermen get them”, Afenyo-Markin told the fisherfolk.

He continued: “I can assure you that the solar-powered outboard motors would truly come and I your MP would guarantee the facility so you all get this solar-powered outboard motors. This is what we call transformational leadership that offers bold solutions to solve our problems. Under a President Bawumia led Government, there would be more of such bold solutions.”

The stakeholders took turns to make their suggestions on how to better their trade known. They also thanked Afenyo-Markin for  the years of support for them and how he has personally funded many of their fishing equipment, facilities and projects.

Some also sought clarification on the ongoing landing beach project in the constituency and how to adopt best fishing practices.

The solar-powered outboard motors were of a key concern to the fishing stakeholders during the interaction as they said how to get a constant supply of premix fuel was still a challenge.

The Vice President touched on the landing beaches project the NPP Government has embarked on across the country’s fishing communities and reaffirmed the commitment the NPP to alleviate the challenges faced by the fishing industry.

For several decades, the supply and allocation of premix fuel has been problematic. While there are reports of diversion in the supply chain, Government continues to provide heavy subsidies to make the product affordable to the fisher folk.

In many instances, there is a major shortage of premix fuel and in such times the fisher folks are unable to earn incomes because their fishing boats remain unpowered.

The Africa Center for Energy Policy (ACEP) reports that “that between 2000 and 2018, national premix fuel supply has increased form 42 million litres to about 73 million litres with an average annual growth rate of approximately 4 percent. However, there have been periods where supply goes so high.

“For example, in 2017, supply was 91.7 million litres due to extensive smuggling of the product and dropped to 73 million litres in 2018 when such incidence of smuggling became subject of public discussion and stringent monitoring was enforced. As at the third quarter of 2019, premix fuel supply was about 51 million litres, which is estimated to rise up to about 76 million litres by the end of 2019.

“This problem has persisted in spite of the elaborate institutional structures and policy interventions governing the distribution and utilisation of the fuel.”