Ministry seeks aid to stem diversion of pre-mix fuel

Cape Coast, Nov 21, GNA - Mr Alfred Tetebo, the Director of Fisheries, has said the Ministry of Fisheries had sought assistance from the national security apparatus to stem diversion of premix fuel. He said last year the government spent 89 billion cedis to subsidize the product and expressed the hope that by the end of the year a strategy would have been evolved to ensure its effective distribution.

Mr Tetebo was addressing chief fishermen and chairmen of local premix committees from the Central Region at Cape Coast on Tuesday. "Premix is a special product and the government is therefore determined to stall any negative practices associated with its distribution."

He advised local premix committees to present quarterly reports about their activities to the regional premix committee to solve problems they faced.

In related development Nana Jojo Solomon, the Chief Fisherman and local premix committee chairman at Elmina, has been suspended. Nana Ato Arthur, the Central Regional Minister, said it had been detected that between May 2004 and October this year Nana Solomon failed to deposit amounts totalling 250 million cedis being profit from the sale of premix into the committee's account.

He said the Audit Service has been invited to audit his accounts. Nana Arthur said Nana Solomon was still the Chief Fisherman and called for unity among fishermen in the Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abrem District.

He said he was unhappy that the suspension of Nana Solomon had created tension in the distr ict and urged the people to be patient and wait for the audit report.

Nana Arthur said a seven-member interim committee has been put in place to manage fuel distribution until the report was ready. Nana Kodwo Conduah VI, the Paramount Chief of Edina Traditional Area, called for a committee to manage pre mix distribution to ease tension in the area.