The Minority in Parliament has urged the government to provide cocoa farmers a bailout package to cushion them against low prices of cocoa rather than drastically reducing producer price by 28 per cent.
The caucus said the government should release an emergency liquidity assistance to the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) to pay the almost one million cocoa farmers instead of reducingthe price of cocoa by over GH¢1,000 per bag.
“Given the scale of the crisis in the cocoa sector, a sector that is one of the important pillars of our economy, one expected the government to give COCOBOD bailout as we did during the New Patriotic Party (NPP) time rather than reducing the price,” the caucus said.
Shortchanging farmers
At a press conference last Thursday to react to the government’s decision to reduce the price of cocoa, a former Finance Minister, Dr Mohammed Amin Adam, said reducing cocoa prices amounted to giving a “haircut” to the farmers.
“A bailout would have been necessary, particularly when we are told that the economy is strong and resilient,” he said.
The press conference was also addressed by the Ranking Member on the Committee on Food, Agriculture and Cocoa Affairs, Dr Isaac Yaw Opoku, and the Ranking
Member on the Committee of Economy and Development, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, each of whom converged on the same point.
Dr Amin Adam said in the midst of the cocoa price crisis, Ghanaians were told that the Minister of Finance was coming to announce a restructuring of the cocoa sector.
He said Ghanaians were, therefore, surprised that the minister rather used the opportunity to shortchange cocoa farmers.
He said before the previous administration left government, the NPP worked together with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to introduce a turnaround strategy for COCOBOD.
“This strategy was intended to comprehensively restructure COCOBOD but what is happening today in the cocoa sector is not surprising to us because this government has failed to implement the COCOBOD turnaround strategy.
“That is why COCOBOD is facing these challenges,” the former finance minister said.
On the directive by the finance minister to move the cost of cocoa roads to the Ministry of Roads and Highways, Dr Amin Adam said such a move was already contained in the turnaround strategy that the NPP handed over to the government.
In spite that, he said after one year in office, the current government had not implemented such turnaround strategy only “because there is now a crisis in the cocoa sector, the minister has rushed to announce this measure”.
“They were to remove some cost items which tend to reduce the producer price of cocoa which we thought were unnecessary, and in some cases duplicative, but they have not done that.
“They were supposed to get COCOBOD to move away from non-core businesses and also to improve on efficiency and reduce cost, particularly in procurement but they have not done that,” he said.
Is IMF sleeping?
Having developed the cocoa turnaround strategy with the IMF, the former finance minister expressed surprise that the IMF “is sleeping over this”.
“Because we developed this strategy in consultation with the IMF as one of the requirements for implementing the IMF programme.
“I am really surprised that the IMF has gone to sleep on this and this government is recklessly managing the cocoa sector, which has brought us to this unprecedented crisis in the sector,” he said.
Slash salary of CEO
Dr Opoku said at the time the government took office, the farmgate price of cocoa was GH¢3,100 which it increased to GH¢3,225 and subsequently to GH¢3,625 per bag.
He, therefore, described the slashing of producer prices by GH¢1,000 as something that had never happened in Ghana’s history.
“If cocoa farmers farmgate price is going to be reduced by almost 30 per cent, then the salary of the Chief Executive Officer of COCOBOD and his allowances must be slashed by the same margin,” Dr Opoku posited.
Source:
www.graphic.com.gh