Titus Glover Defends Deputy Agricultural Minister

The Member of Parliament for Tema East, Nii Kwartei Titus Glover has jumped to the defense of the Deputy Agriculture Minister in-charge of fisheries, Hon. Aquinas Quansah, stating that the latter was right in cautioning fish mongers against the use of formalin, a chemical used for embalming corpse for the preservation of fish. According to him, the attempt to criticize the Deputy Minister for not conducting any form of scientific investigations before putting the matter before the fisher folk is not right. ��The attempt to pin the Deputy Minister down because he has swiftly touched on a practice that would in the long run affect the health of all is not acceptable?�I want to back him by telling him to go all out and get to the bottom of the matter. If he was tipped off whiles discharging his duties by touring these fishing communities, are we saying he should have sat on the information and returned to Accra before commencing investigations into it? He asked. The NPP MP was of the view that the Hon. Quansah did the right thing by addressing the matter as and when he got the information. Titus Glover�s comments were occasioned by a section of the media to condemn Aquinas Quansah, the Deputy Minister of Agriculture in-charge of Fisheries, for not first conducting an investigation into the allegation before �going to town� on the matter because it has the potential of affecting the fishing communities economically. It was widely reported that fish consumers in the country risk contracting various diseases, following revelation that formalin, a chemical used for embalming corpses is being used to preserve fish at Axim in the Western Region. Hon. Aquinas Tawiah Quansah, made the disclosure during a visit to Shama, to interact with stakeholders in the fishing sector on new insurance policy for fishermen. He was also reported to have told fishmongers in Axim in the Nzema East Municipality to use the preservative agent to store tuna and other large fishes in order to remain fresh for a longer period. However, Hon. Titus Glover insists the Deputy Minister has not committed any crime by telling the fishmongers of the intelligence he had gathered and therefore has his support for doing so.