We are on a mission or if you like a crusade to reach out to the whole Ghana about our narratives.
This task is akin to the crusades embarked upon by the prophets of the two impactful religious faiths in the world; Christianity and Islam. However, while it is our wish for continuity in governance, we think the time is ripe for the Akufo-Addo government to put its house in order.
The loud silence of government appointees about matters of public concern is not good enough, especially the feet dragging over the clearance of over $40 million donated medicines at the port, the delay in giving exemptions for payment of taxes on imported tiles for the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital rehabilitation project initiated by the Asantehene, and the turf war between the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) and Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo).
Unfortunately, it gives the impression that the centre cannot hold. The Akufo-Addo government has done so much internally to the extent of being recognised as the best among our West African compatriots. This inertia on the part of the government gives opportunity to failures who disappointed Ghanaians in the past to claim to be on a rescue mission or forming revolutionary movements to mess up the country.
These people have nothing to offer and when the government has done a lot for farmers they embark on a mission of leading cocoa farmers astray.
In the face of the facts and data, the NDC and other naysayers are on a lying mission.
The NDC is aware of the challenges in the cocoa industry because a few months ago some of its leaders were on the neck of the Chief Executive of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), Mr. Boahen Aidoo for in their view, mismanaging the cocoa industry.
The paradox of the position of the NDC is the fact that some of the vociferous members have not seen a cocoa pod before, let alone understand the agronomic issues.
The initiated into the cocoa industry knows that the produce does not do well consistently, largely because of climate change. The extreme sunshine and heavy rainfalls do not help to promote good yields. While the NDC sits on the neck of the government to pay 70 percent of the world market price of the produce, the records of the NDC in government does not support their position. It is generally difficult to meet such a threshold, except during the Kufuor era, and in 2018 and 2019 that the Akufo-Addo government met that record.
We think that all stakeholders including political parties should seek consensus on our development and economic programmes. After all, we all want the good of the country and its people. The extreme politicisation is not helping us to sustain and build on our gains.
Presently, the NPP is doing a lot for cocoa farmers for free. And these include free seedlings, free replanting of diseased farms, supply of free plantain suckers, free mass spraying and the innovative pension scheme for farmers. These initiatives cost money and very imperative to put Ghana back to producing over one million tonnes of cocoa per annum.
The NDC is ashamed to admit that under its watch these initiatives were “killed” and it took pragmatism on the part of the NPP to bring it back on track. We urge the NDC not to create more problems for the cocoa industry on the altar of the dangerous and cancerous cocoa politics.