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.
Hawa Koomson highlighted that politicizing the policy would undermine its benefits for the fishing community. This comes in response to Mahama’s recent pledge to exempt artisanal fishermen from the closed season if he wins the upcoming December 7 elections.
During a media briefing after a stakeholder engagement in Accra, Hawa Koomson stressed that the exclusion of artisanal fishermen from the closed season is not feasible. She pointed out that the closed season is a legally established policy initiated by the NDC in 2016, which she is merely continuing.
“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,” Hawa Koomson explained.
She added, “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.”
