President John Dramani Mahama has assured residents of Shama in the Western Region that government will subsidise outboard motors for fisherfolk in the area.
He made this known when he inaugurated an ultra-modern cold store at Shama, as part of his ‘Accounting To The People’ tour, which began this week.
Speaking at the event on Tuesday 5 March 2016, President Mahama underscored the importance of the motors. He noted that the intervention for the fishing community is timely, as the fishing season approaches.
He also noted that government has absorbed part of the total costs of the outboard motors. Government will take care of 30% of the cost as fishermen pay 70% over a period of 3 years.
“We have realised that outboard motors are very important to fishermen. The fishing season is almost due and we have imported about 1,000 outboard motors to be distributed to fishermen,” he stated.
With the tour seeing the President inaugurating the Dodowa District Hospital and the conversion of the Takoradi Polytechnic into a technical university, the president’s critics have questioned the timing of the projects and have added that such activities constitute abuse of incumbency.
Acting chairman of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr Freddie Blay told Emefa Apawu on Class FM’s 505 news programme that the “president is overstepping his boundaries”.
According to him, “Ghanaians are discerning and no matter how the president abuses incumbency the electorate will decide.”
