National premix fuel committee inaugurated
A 10-member National Premix Fuel Committee ( NPFC) has been inaugurated in Accra to oversee the allocation, distribution and sale of premix fuel across the country to boost the activities of fishermen.
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Premix fuel is a subsidised petroleum product used by fishermen in the marine and inland sectors to power outboard motors in boats and canoes during fishing.
Members
The committee is chaired by the Communication Officer of the Ministry of Power, Mr Kweku Sersah-Johnson. Other members are Flt. Lt. M.G. Tackey, the President of the National Fisheries Association of Ghana, Mr Emmanuel Longi of MOFAD, Mr Kwaku Agyemang-Duah of the Association of Oil Marketing Companies and Mr Jacob Tetteh Ageke of the National Inland Canoe Fishermen Council.
The rest are Mr Evans K. Ahiakpor, Ghana National Canoe Fishermen Council, Mr Kwame Bona Siriboe of the Ministry of Petroleum, Mr Nemorious Nor-nye Peng-Yir of the Fisheries Commission, Mr Isaac Mensah and Madam Patience Aku Ocansey, a fishmonger.
Challenges
The Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development (MoFAD), Ms Sherry Ayitey, who inaugurated the committee yesterday, said the premix fuel situation in the country was bedevilled with some challenges, making it necessary for the Ministry and the Fisheries Commission to work out a National Premix Fuel Committee Regulation (NPFCR) in 2014, to address those challenges.
She said the NPFCR had the mandate of providing policy guidelines to the NPFC.
‘’The original idea was to ensure the timely availability of the product to fishers at an affordable price and to empower the fisher groups to run premix fuel sale points at the landing beaches’’, she said.
Ms Ayitey tasked the new board to work assiduously to ensure that the fisherfolk obtained premix fuel at affordable prices to increase fish production in the country.
