Minister for Fisheries and Aquaculture Development Pushes Premix Revenue Recovery Drive

By Tina Moses Sam

The Minister for Fisheries and Aquaculture Development, Hon. Emelia Arthur, has officially sanctioned an aggressive nationwide accountability exercise aimed at purging the premix fuel distribution system of corruption and recovering millions in “lost” community funds.

Starting Monday March 16, 2026, the National Premix Fuel Secretariat (NPFS), under the Minister’s direct oversight, has deployed teams across all coastal and inland fishing districts, to track every pesewa of the GHS 27.7 million misappropriated during the previous administration, and to ensure that the Community Development Fund is no longer treated as a personal piggy bank for local committees.

This decisive action follows a damning audit covering the period of 2017 to 2024, which exposed a systematic culture of financial irregularities and blatant misappropriation. Hon. Arthur, known for her disciplined approach to sector reforms, has made it clear that the era of opacity is over.

Through partnering with Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs), the Minister is leveraging the power of local government to enforce a new standard of financial discipline in a high-stakes recovery mission, intended to restore the integrity of a program that supports the livelihoods of millions of Ghanaians.

The core of the Minister’s frustration – and the catalyst for this nationwide sweep – lies in the findings of the 2017-2024 audit.

According to official reports, the “erstwhile NPP government,” oversaw a period where premix fuel margins, which are legally mandated to fund community projects, were siphoned off through a network of irregular accounts and unauthorized expenditures.

The GHS 27.7 million deficit represents more than just a fiscal hole; it represents unbuilt clinics, unrepaired landing sites, and missing scholarships for the children of fishermen. Minister Emelia Arthur directed that all members of the Landing Beach Committees (LBCs) who served during the audit period must be held accountable.

This “Accountability Drive,” will require former committee members to produce receipts, ledgers, and project proofs or face legal consequences, as the Minister signals that the government’s seriousness about social justice for the fishing communities who have been “short-changed” by past administrative malpractice.

The exercise, running until March 27, 2026, will leave no stone unturned from the Volta Lake to the Western coastline.

At the center of Hon. Emelia Arthur’s reform agenda is the Community Development Fund (CDF). Under the current policy, 53% of the margins from premix fuel sales are supposed to be reinvested directly into the communities where the fuel is sold.

This fund was established to ensure that the fishing industry contributes to its own local infrastructure, such as cold stores, sanitation facilities, and community centers. However, the audit revealed that in many districts, the 53% margin was either never remitted or was spent on “ghost projects.”

The Minister has empowered the NPFS Administrator, Ebow Mensah, to work in lockstep with MMDCEs to verify every project claimed to have been funded by the CDF. This partnership with local assemblies is crucial because MMDCEs have the ground-level visibility to know if a project actually exists.

According to Hon. Arthur, tightening the oversight on these funds is how to ensure that the 24-Hour Economy goals of the fisheries sector, including nighttime processing and round-the-clock cold chain logistics are supported by actual, tangible infrastructure rather than just line items on a misappropriated ledger.