The financial secretary of the Ghana National Canoe Fishermen Council, Nii Odartey, has urged the government to expedite action on the promise to digitise distribution of premix fuel in the country.
He said if the sector is digitised, it will become difficult for middlemen to operate and this will cut down on the “artificial” shortages of premix fuel that occur frequently.
“There are a lot of challenges in the fishing industry and if the government doesn’t come in to address them, the sector may collapse,” Odartey said.
In July, Vice-President Mahamudu Bawumia served notice that the digitisation agenda of President Nana Akufo-Addo will soon extend to distribution of premix fuel in Ghana to increase the efficiency of its delivery to fishermen.
Dr Bawumia said introducing digital technologies in premix distribution will ensure that fisherfolk, for whom the product is subsidised and intended, are the people who actually get it.
Take politics out of distribution
“One of the areas that we have been discussing and have taken a decision on is, for example, the distribution of premix fuel in Ghana amongst fishermen,” Bawumia said.
“This is an area that has really been a challenging one because there are subsidies to premix fuel, and whenever there are subsidies, the distribution of the product tends to create economic rents. And when it creates these rents, all sorts of people come in the middle, and the fishermen, for whom this is designed, ultimately don’t even get the product because the products are smuggled and sold to other people who may not even be fishermen, at higher prices,” the vice-president said.
“So we’ve been looking at this issue and we’ve decided that the best way to deal with this is to digitise the process so that we can be able to direct the subsidy to each boat that is registered,” he said.
“We’ve registered all the boats and we will implement a digitisation process in the distribution of premix in Ghana soon. Digitisation will also end the politicisation of premix distribution.”
But, speaking on Asaase Business AM, Nii Odartey said the time to digitise the sector is now, because “…all the canoes have been registered. So I think a database should be created for all landing sites so that we use cards in buying the premix fuel.”
He commended the government for some improvement on premix fuel management and construction of some landing sites, but said he was dissatisfied with the implementation of fisheries laws so far. Odartey cited “Saiko” – illegal transhipment – saying it has reached its worst levels within the past few years.
“Although more needs to be done to ensure proper distribution of prefix fuel, we have witnessed some improvement in its management,” he however conceded.
Pensions
Nii Odartey said one of the most important challenges faced by fisherfolk is the implementation of a pension scheme for their industry.
“Fishermen are also helping the nation, but if you come to the sector we don’t have any social security to depend on when we go on retirement. I think the introduction of social security to fishermen is very key,” he said.
“I don’t know if the foreign vessels are doing it for their crew. I’m not sure they are doing it, but countries like the USA and Spain are doing it [running pension schemes].”
He said the mere introduction of a pension scheme for the industry will boost and attract more people into the sector.
Economists estimate that the fishing industry contributes 3% of Ghana’s annual GDP and 5% of agriculture’s contribution to GDP. Roughly 10% of the country’s population is engaged in various trades related to or dependent on the sector.
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