Fisher
folk in the Ketu South Constituency of the Volta Region, have
threatened to vote out the incumbent National Democratic Congress (NDC),
come November 7 2016, if the party fails to fulfill it’s numerous
promises to improve their livelihood.
The region, which is the
NDC’s stronghold, has a good number of its inhabitants in the fishing
sector. But the residents say their livelihood is being threatened by
several factors, whiles the government only appears to be making
promises without fulfilling them. In recent times, both the opposition
New Patriotic Party (NPP), and the NDC led by President John Mahama,
have been at each others throat over their development records in the
region. President Mahama in proving the NDC’s stronghold on the region,
said it was now the party’s ‘IMF’ and not just ‘World Bank’.
But
with the challenges facing the fishing industry across all coastal
areas of the country ranging from high cost of fishing materials,
depleting fish stock, inadequate storage facilities and illegal fishing
methods among others, it appears the NDC could pay dearly for it this
November, if the threat by the disappointed fisherman in that region is
to be taken seriously.
The general concerns expressed by the
fisher folk were echoed by one Delali Tetevi, a fisherman from the Ketu
South District, who said it was in the interest of government to improve
the livelihood of the fisher folk.
“When we have more catches,
the laborers at the beach will get their share, the fishmongers will buy
the fish then it goes on and on. The district assembly will also get
their share of the revenue at the market side. If the catches are
reducing then it is going against the government; that is why we are
calling on government to come to our aid.”
He outlined some of
the issues government has to deal with saying, “Government has to deal
with the availability of premix fuel, government has to deal with the
pair trolling. Government has to deal with night fishing… therefore we
are calling on government to do as much as possible so we can have the
catch and be able to take good care of our families.”
Mr. Tetevi
warned that if their concerns are not met, then there would be no
motivation to vote for a party that will not meet their needs.
“If
you are voting for a party which is supposed to do what you want and
you are not getting, the only thing you can do is to advice yourself
when the time comes… we don’t just go and stand in the scorching sun and
vote for a party that will not listen to our needs.”
Many of
the fisher folk who spoke to Citi News’ King Norbert Akpablie, expressed
similar sentiments saying promises made over the years including the
construction of a fishing Harbour have all not been fulfilled. |
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