Presidential hopeful, Kojo Bonsu with his team on October 19, 2021 have met with some fishing communities including Nkekem, Everwere and Jomorro within the Axim municipality in the Western region of Ghana.
The visitation and dialoguing is an integral part of the National Democratic Congress’ (NDC) conscious efforts in its reorganization and remobilization processes, geared towards the return of the party to power come 2024 general elections.
The party 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 not assured that the NDC will attend to them when they return to power.
The former Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) boss, Mr Kojo Bonsu, acknowledged the warm reception from the people of Axim and reiterated the need to kick out the “highly indebted yet nothing to show” NPP 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 the possible way forward.
The former National Sports Authority boss revealed that more often than not, many tend to forget that fisher folks are one of the most skilled workers in the country but little is being done to maximize their gains within the fishery industry.
He used the opportunity to call on government and other major stakeholders such Environmental Protection Agency, (EPA) and Ministry of Science and Environment to as a matter of urgency and essence to give 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 were given accordingly.
Some bigwigs in attendance were former Minister of Information and Former Member of Parliament for Ablekuma South, Fritz Baffoe, and other Constituency and Branch executives.
Fritz 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 effect their views in the reorganization process.
Meanwhile some isues confronting the fisher folks included fishing machines and premix fuel shared based on party colors, 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 etc.
