The Ghana Tuna Association says considering the challenges that bedevil the fisheries industry, only qualified persons with ample knowledge in the space must be assigned to the sector ministry.

In an interview with Citi Business News, the secretary of the association, Richster Nii Armah Amarfio, said the continuous appointment of people not up to the task are some of the reasons that account for the woes of the sector.
“The perception that the fishy sector is one sector that can be treated with some level of disregard or that it is more of a supplement to some other sectors is not very true. The sector is quite technical probably as technical as the ministry of finance or the attorney general’s department. So it is not the case that you would appoint people who do not have the said skill to appreciate the essence of the sector to manage the sector because that has been the challenge and the sector keeps declining. It is very serious the rate at which the sector is declining. That is the first point we want to establish. We all saw the performance of the honourable nominee for the ministry of fisheries at the vetting. We don’t care too much about whether she was able to speak English or not. What we care about is the fact that the honourable nominee doesn’t have an appreciation of the ministry she has been assigned to go and manage.”

The association had earlier petitioned the Speaker of Parliament over what it described as the poor performance of the nominee to head the Fisheries and Aquaculture Development Ministry, Mavis Hawa Koomson. The association believes the nominee is not capable of running the Fisheries and Aquaculture Development Ministry.

It highlighted some sector concerns in the petition like the collapsing pole and line sector, the dearth of skilled labour, international relations matters concerning climate change, among others.

Critics have said Mrs Koomson did not demonstrate an adequate understanding of the sector.

In its petition, the association said Mrs Koomson’s “basic skill sets, biases and passions are such that they may not fit into dealing with the challenges that the sector faces currently and the other workings expected of the sector minister.”