The Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development, Mavis Hawa Koomson, has urged John Dramani Mahama, the flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), to refrain from politicizing the closed fishing season for canoe and artisanal fisherfolk.
According to Koomson, politicizing this policy will hinder the fishing community’s ability to benefit from the exercise. Mahama recently pledged to exempt artisanal fishermen from the closed season if he wins the upcoming December 7 elections.
Speaking to the media after a stakeholder engagement in Accra, Koomson stated that Mahama’s promise to exclude artisanal fishermen from the closed season is not feasible.
“I hear the former president going around to say that when he comes back, he is going to abolish the closed season. I let them [the fishermen] know that it is a law. So I did not even create it. It was the NDC that made the law. And they observed it in 2016,” Koomson said. “I am only continuing what is there because it has become a policy. I want to plead with the former president that he has been in the seat before and he is a former president. When he is before the people and making utterances, he should be very careful because things that you cannot do, you don’t promise them.”
