Fisheries and Aquaculture Development Minister Emelia Arthur has set a firm price ceiling of GH¢180 on premix fuel and threatened sanctions against any operator caught overcharging, under-delivering or diverting the product away from Ghana’s artisanal fishing communities.
Arthur announced the revised pricing guidelines last week at Shama in the Western Region, speaking directly to Landing Beach Committees (LBCs) in what the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development (MoFAD) described as part of a broader push to restore transparency and accountability across the premix fuel distribution chain.
Under the new guidelines, the standard yellow Kufuor gallon commonly used to measure premix fuel at landing beaches must retail at GH¢176.40. Landing beach committees may charge up to GH¢180 in situations where providing exact change poses a practical difficulty, but the minister made clear that no amount above that threshold is permissible under any circumstance.
“There should be no circumstance where the price exceeds GH¢180,” she told the gathering. “Any violation of this directive will attract sanctions.”
The minister went further, setting out the full financial architecture expected for each tanker delivery. Each consignment to a landing beach is standardised at 13,500 litres. The sale of a full delivery at the approved price should generate approximately GH¢84,500 in total revenue. After settling the supplying oil marketing company (OMC) an estimated GH¢73,000, a surplus of roughly GH¢11,000 should remain. The ministry has directed that 47 percent of that surplus be retained by landing beach committees for operational activities while the remaining 53 percent funds community development projects within fishing communities, with a minimum floor of GH¢5,000 per delivery set for community development allocations.
On deliveries that fall short, the minister directed LBCs to refuse to countersign delivery waybills if a tanker discharges less than the full 13,500 litres, and to report such incidents immediately to the ministry so that the responsible OMC can be sanctioned.
The directives come as the National Premix Fuel Secretariat (NPFS) has been running a nationwide accountability exercise since March 2026 in partnership with Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs). The drive builds on a pilot programme conducted last year across Shama, Sekondi-Takoradi and other coastal districts, during which the Secretariat worked with district assemblies to audit premix fuel fund management at the community level.
Premix fuel has powered Ghana’s artisanal marine fisheries since 1994 and is heavily subsidised by the state. The distribution chain has long been dogged by allegations of political interference, hoarding, diversion to commercial buyers and opaque accounting at landing beaches, problems that successive administrations have struggled to contain despite multiple reform efforts.
