Former Kumasi Mayor, Kojo Bonsu, and his team have met with a group of fishing people in communities such as Nkekem, Everwere and Jomoro within the Axim municipality in the Western Region of Ghana.
‘The fisherfolk community-based visitation and dialoguing’ is an part of the National Democratic Congress (NDC)’s conscious efforts of reorganisation and remobilisation processes geared towards the return of the party come the 2024 general election.
The Vice-Chairman of the Constituency, Matthew K. Essie, expressed his excitement to the leadership of the team for choosing Axim as a destination point of the dialogue, adding that they have been neglected over years but they are now assured that the NDC will attend to them when they return to power.
In attendance were the former Minister of Information and former Member of Parliament for Ablekuma South, Fritz Baffoe, Constituency and Branch executives.
The former Mayor of Kumasi acknowledged the warm reception from the good people of Axim and reiterated the need to kick out the “highly-indebted-yet-nothing-to-show” New Patriotic Party government.
In his speech, he admitted that politics sometimes creates a space of forgetfulness, however, the NDC remains compassionate about the plights of its members and Ghanaians in general, hence the need to meet and dialogue about the possible way forward.
Speaking at the event, the former National Sports Authority boss revealed that more often than not, many tend to forget that fisherfolks are one of the most skilled workers in the country but little is being done to maximise their gains within the fishery industry.
He used the opportunity to call on the government and other major stakeholders such as the Environmental Protection Agency and Ministry of Science and Environment to, as a matter of urgency, give the needed attention to the industry by ensuring the enforcement of laws regarding pollution, premix fuel and illegal mining (galamsey).
As part of ensuring a healthy lifestyle for the participants, a medical team was deployed to have a free health screening exercise for everyone. Participants’ BP, BMI, temperature and height were checked and medical advice given accordingly.
Mr Baffoe, in a short message, said Axim is an important historical venue in Ghana and that the men and women within the fishing communities were very important to the course of NDC. He ended by saying that the NDC is there to listen to the people and add their views in the reorganisation process.
Among the issues confronting fisherfolks were fishing machines and premix fuel shared based on party colours, fishing close seasons, attitudes of some constituency executives, lack of jobs for the youth, lack of support for women in the fishing industry, lack of incentives for the fishermen during the closed season, difficulties in accessing scholarships for students.
