61 transport across the rivers for trading. In the Lake region there about 90 landing beach
committees and because the focus of the premix is on fishing communities the secretariat is unable to supply the required quantity for their transport. This implied that there was over
concentration of the premix on fishing communities to the disadvantage of other areas which also needed premix for the legitimate business. Another challenge that the secretariat faced is
how to manage the numerous shortages that are normally recorded during the lean season at the landing beaches. This creates problem for the secretariat because the orders that the
secretariat makes to Tema Oil Refinery are fixed quantities and therefore reconciling these becomes a problem. Again sometimes in the lean season the demand is indeed high but
because Tema Oil refinery gives as a limited quantity it is difficult to keep up with the increase in supply which is actually genuine and that the real need the fuel for fishing.
Furthermore there is some problem between Oil Marketing Companies and Landing Beach committees over payments which the National Secretariat must manage and explain to both
parties. There was an agreement by the National premix committee and the Oil Marketing Companies that Landing Beach Committee should pay their respective oil marketing
Companies within ten 10 days of receipt of premix and the oil marketing companies also have the same time period to pay Tema Oil refinery. This time period is so short that it
sometimes creates problem between the oil marketing companies and the landing beach committees. Other problems gathered from the research also included inability of the oil
marketing companies to meet the minimum money threshold demanded by Tema oil refinery, the problem of monitoring, logistics and finance.
4.0 RECOMMENDATIONS
• The following recommendations if properly attended would provide an effective and
efficient management of premix in the country. Creation of Alternative Livelihood Programmes
The lean season in the fishing communities is usually characterized by high unemployment, poverty, high crime rate and general deprivation due to a reduction in fishing activities.
Therefore there is the need for alternative livelihood progarmnmes or activities that can still engage majority of the youth during the lean season. This would not only reduce the level of
unemployment during the lean season but also reduce the state of deprivation that confronts these fisher folks during this season. Therefore the introduction of light fishing which does
not necessarily depend on the fishing season should be examined for closely and made more productive and useful to the communities. Therefore government should carry out a more
comprehensive research into the prospects of this light fishing and make it more affordable so fisher folks can be employed throughout the year.
Institutionalization of the Sale, Distribution and Management of Premix in Ghana The distribution and sale of premix is a chain starting from the National Premix Committee to
the Landing Beach Committee and the Oil Marketing Companies. Therefore government should create an elaborate institution in charge of premix in the country. This would stop the
situation where every government comes into power and tackles premix differently and more importantly dissolve earlier committees created by previous governments. This would help
such an institution to fashion out comprehensive ways of dealing with malpractices in the premix business such as corruption, diversion and political interferences.
Centralization of the Distribution of Premix The process of distributing premix should be centralized as it is currently been done. This
will allow for monitoring of the number and quantity of premix supplied to the various
62 landing beaches and this would minimize if not eradicate the number of diversions and
corruption that characterized the premix business. The situation where orders are raised from the national premix based on demand should also be done in consultation with the landing
beaches and not just through the operational officers alone since they may not have time to visit all landing beaches or call them by phone. This would also reduce the work load of
operational officers and time spent going round landing beaches or making phone calls. Again this will also link the national secretariat to the landing beaches for effective
communication and monitoring at the grass roots.
De-politicization of Landing Beach Committees The creation of landing beach committees encourages grassroots participation. However
efforts should be made to prevent the influence and control of the committees by politicians. Therefore instead of the involvement of politicians there should be experts in the field of
community development who can give independent advice to the committees on how to management the premix profits.
Education of Chief fishermen Chief fishermen selected should be taken through some refresher courses on financial
management, general management practices and some development issues so that this would inform them on how to manage the landing beach committees since they are the chairmen of
such committees.
REFERENCES
Campbell, J., 2000, Literature review: the utilisation of marine fish and theSustainable livelihoods of the poor in India, Project Memorandum, SustainableCoastal
Livelihoods Project India. Koranteng K 1998; ‘The impacts of environmental forcing on the dynamics of
demersalFishery resources of Ghana’.Ph.D. Thesis, University of Warwick, Coventry UK.
Mbir, Kojo 2008 Premix: An Avenue for Political Corruption, Deceit, Lies and Petty Thieving National Premix Secretariat 2008 Proposal for the Re-organisation of
Premix Fuel Allocation, Distribution and Sale Mensah, J. and Antwi, B. 2006 Problems Of Artisanal Marine Fishermen In Ghana: The
Way Ahead Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography, 181, 69-88. MFRD Statistics, 2004 Report On The Observations Of Commercial Light Fishing
Operation In Ghana, February – June 2004. Ocran, R. 1972 Ghana fisheries- Perspective for the future
Ulrich K., Khursid A., Ranajit D., Utpal D. Nicoliene O., and Ansen W. 2003 Livelihoods in Coastal fishing Communities, and the marine fish marketing system of
Bangladesh. Report of Project “Fish Distribution from Coastal Communities – Market and Credit Access Issues” NRI Report No 2712.
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SECTION D: TRADITIONAL BELIEFS AND THE SEA
By Joseph Kingsley Adjei
1.0 TRADITIONAL SOCIETY AS BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
