A candidate for the New Patriotic Party’s flagbearer position, Kennedy Ohene Agyapong, has vowed to put a stop to what he calls corrupt practices in Ghana’s fishing industry, which he claims are harmful to the nation’s development.
The member of parliament for Assin Central, who claims to run the largest cold store in Africa, said in a speech to NPP delegates that such corrupt practices in the local business have forced him to import goods for his store.
“Today I was reading a comment where somebody I claim to have built a cold store but I import fish for the cold store. Let me explain to them why. We live in Ghana here where Ghanaians have become the source of our woes. When you go to Tema fishing harbour Ghanaians are the ones fronting for foreigners by acquiring fishing license for them to fish in our seas.
“What is sad is that every fishing vessel has a blast freeze machine that the fish is stored to be frozen at -40 degrees before it is packaged and sold. Instead of them bringing the fish here to sell they send it abroad to sell and when they finish, they pay the Ghanaians fronting their business a thousand dollars a month. So we end up losing all the revenue,” he said.
Kennedy Agyapong pointed out that because of this method, Ghanaian fish does not match international standards, depriving the country of the necessary foreign currency.
He emphasized, however, that once he is elected president, these abuses will stop.