Fishermen in Dixcove are crying over the shortage of premix fuel which has persisted for three months >>>Read
For three months now, fisher folks and boat owners as well as operators at Dixcove have not received premix fuel for their operations.
When Ahotor 92 3fm’s Western Regional Correspondent, Portia Nana Yaa Cudjoe visited the area during the weekend, the fisher folks said the shortage of the fuel has adversely affected their business and the overall living conditions of inhabitants in the community.
” How can we work without premix”? How do we feed our families when we don’t go to work?” They fumed !.
“We voted for the party [NPP] to take care of us, not so that we will die. We have to travel to Esiama, Funko, Axim, and its environs to purchase fuel at high cost, some of the fishermen have to travel to cote de’ voir to work and earn a living” they complained.
Apparently, that is the only source of livelihood for many people along the coast.
The chairman of the premix fuel committee Benjamin Quayson, seemed helpless and would not take any blame for the situation, he said series of phone calls to the national premix committee have been made informing them about the shortage for the past three months but no action had been taken to that effect.
He however, called on the government to come to their aid by providing more premix fuel to the fishermen at Dixcove.
“Dixcove is the highest community which is into fishing so the government should do well to bring premix fuel constantly” he stated.
When Nana Yaa Cudjoe questioned him once more about the alleged premix fuel diversion, he denied the allegations suggesting diverting and hiding of the fuel or possibly sell at a higher cost each time the situation becomes erratic and dire in the area.
He said, since his appointment as the chairman of the committee, there has never been any reported case of premix fuel diversion and hiding in that enclave.
Currently, most of the fishermen struggles through thick and thin before they could get some of the premix fuel for fishing and also others have had to resort to buying petrol and engine oil at higher cost by way of improvising to for fishing activities for economic sustainability.
” The business is dying due to the shortage of fuel and thus affecting the living standards of the people in the coastal areas and making it difficult for them to make a living”. They lamented Profusely !
Nana Dogbe|ahotoronline.com|Ghana
