Inland canoe fishermen appeal for new NEC

Members of the National Inland Canoe Fishermen Council (NICFC) have implored the National Fisheries Association of Ghana (NAFAG), to urgently facilitate the election of a new National Executive Committee (NEC) for the Council.

According to the fishermen, the council currently has no recognised leaders because the tenure of the erstwhile committee ended a year ago, making it difficult for them to get premix fuel and other input.

A former National Secretary of NAFAG, Samson Mahu, speaking on behalf of the Council told the Ghanaian Times yesterday that the situation was having a toll on the work of inland fishermen, given that fishing expeditions could not happen without fuel and outboard motors.

Shedding light on the tenure of the national executive committee for the Council, he said the body was elected into office in April 2016 for a five-year period which ended April, last year.

Accordingly, he said, all executive branches of the council, including community and zonal executive committees, district regional coordinators and council of elders, had since ceased.

“After April 2022, and until elections are held to choose new leaders for the executive organs for the council, no person can hold themselves out as executives for any organs of the council,” he said.

MrMahu said the Council was ready to avail itself for the election to be held in the coming days to constitute new leadership to advance the course of the fishermen, many of whom work on the Volta Lake.

He said it was important for the stakeholder in the fisheries sector to heed to their recurrent calls in order to revive the once vibrant council and safeguard their livelihood.

It called on NAFAG, the umbrella body of all fishermen associations in the country, to facilitate a national meeting of all inland fishermen in the country and that the outcome of such a meeting would determine the way forward.

 BY JONATHAN DONKOR