YEJI BOAT OPERATORS CRY FOR LIFE JACKETS

By Michael Sarpong Mfum, Yeji

Boat operators and fishermen at Yeji and its environs in the Pru District of the Brong Ahafo Region are calling on government to provide them with life Jackets to save lives and properties on the Volta Lake.

Chairman of the Yeji Boat Operators and Fishermen Society, Noah Kwame Sarfo revealed that thirty members of the association did not receive life jackets from government through Zoil a subsidiary of Zoomlion, though communities such; Kpando,Tepa Abotoase, and Kete Krachi received life jackets after last year’s disaster on the Volta lake where close to 20 people traveling on the lake got drowned.

                                 Passengers travelling without life Jackets at Yeji

Mr. Sarfo said people who travel to and fro from Yeji to communities scattered along the lake including; Agokope, Wodomea’bra, Ghanakope and Sikakura risk their lives travelling long hours on the Lake without life jackets. Mr. Sarfo has therefore called on government as a matter of urgency supply life jackets to boat operators and fisher folks at Yeji and her environs.

He commended the Ghana Navy who are present in Yeji to check overloading of boats. He however said the Navy’s need logistics such as boats to patrol the lake and also go to the rescue of passengers who face any difficulty on the lake.

Mr. Sarfo also noted that the irregular supply of premix fuel is also affecting the work of boat operators and fisher folks in the area and calls for regular supply of premix fuel to enhance their work.

The Chairman also said tree stumps in the lake are possible cause of accidents on the lake; he therefore called the Canadian company Clarke Sustainable Resource Development in charge of removing tree stumps from the lake to speed up its work to avoid accidents on the lake.