The Vice President and flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has announced what he calls a bold solution to ending the age-old problems over premix fuel for fisherfolks.
Speaking at Saltpond in the Mfantseman constituency during his ongoing campaign tour of the Central Region, Dr. Bawumia said, that after many attempts to deal with the issue of premix fuel for fisherfolks, including the setting up of automated dispensing machines at various landing beaches and fishing communities, which have not completely dealt with the issue, he has come up with a new, bold solution – the introduction of solar-powered outboard motors, which he stressed, will permanently address the problem.
“When we came into office, we brought premix automation. And in Mfantseman here and other places, we have premix automation machines. But when you look at the premix problems, we have not addressed all. We still have problems with the premix so I have been thinking a lot and discussing how we are going to solve the problem permanently,” Dr. Bawumia said.
“We need a permanent solution to this problem because every time we move, we don’t solve the problem permanently. So I have finished some discussions and by God’s grace, I believe we have a permanent solution to this problem,” Dr. Bawumia said, amidst loud cheers of endorsement.
“I want us to move away from the dependence on premix fuel to solar power for the boats. Let’s go for solar power to power the boats. So, before the end of this year, we are going to pilot the solar power outboard motors.”
“With this, we will make the outboard motors available to the fishermen, and they don’t need to buy premix any more. Once the sun is shining, their batteries will be charging, and they can go across.”
The piloting of the solar-powered outboard motors, Dr. Bawumia stated, will start most likely next month, so that the fisherfolks can be shown how it works.
Dr. Bawumia added that once the fisherfolks get the solar-powered outboard motors, there will no longer be the need to buy premix fuel to power outboard motors.
“We will have meetings with the fishermen on this in the next few weeks and the pilot programme will take place next month and we will start a whole new regime for fisherfolks because there is too much ‘kululu’ (fraud) in the premix matter,” he said.
“We will take them out of the way, and we will give the fisherfolk outboard motors powered by solar, and then we will solve the problem.”
Dr. Bawumia’s announcement attracted wild cheers from the crowd, which included members of the fishing community in Saltpond and surrounding villages.