Whilst musing over what topic to write about this week, last Sunday morning, I listened to a religious programme on Garden City Radio by a Minister of the Deeper Life Bible Church.
He emphasised that although Ghanaians seem highly religious, we are pretenders of faith because we are never righteous.
I fell for his thoughts because, all along, I have thought about the unending blame game or buck passing of governments since 2001, the first time in the political history of a peaceful change of an elected government from an opposition or minority party, claiming every positive achievement when they take over or leave office with the concomitant blaming of the other administration for all the ills of the present.
The relevance of my thought about insincerity of our governments falls squarely with the observation by the Man of God that although we are religious, we are deeply unrighteous.
Otherwise, why should a simple matter of international drop in cocoa price which demands candid engagement with stakeholders, especially cocoa farmers, divide us so sharply.
On one hand, current public and government officials who argued that cocoa farmers deserved not less than GH¢6,000 per bag in 2024, are justifying the reduction in price from GH¢3,600+ to a little above GH¢2,500 and have insincerely tried to explain that due to the low cost of living from the prudent management of the economy by the current government, GH¢2,500+ for a bag of cocoa today is worth more to the farmers than the GH¢ 3,100+ paid under the Nana Akufo Addo administration.
Supporters of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) led by the MPs instead insist that government pays the farmers the GH¢3,600 determined in 2025.
The MPs have been active visiting farmers to encourage them to demand their pound of flesh from government but they know that the price has fallen from about USD 8000+ per tonne to a little over USD 2000 against the appreciation of the cedi from about GH¢15 in 2024 to about GH¢11 in 2025 to the dollar.
Empty
The issue of our empty religiousity without righteousness is observed from the fact that, government officials, instead of rational explanation as to why the old producer price cannot be sustained, have resorted to the meaningless and diversionary discourse of measuring the high cost of living in 2024 under the NPP era against the low cost of living presently under the NDC regime.
The weird and uncanny conclusion is that GH¢2,500+ in 2026 is more valuable and of a higher purchasing power than GH¢3,100 in 2024, forgetting that it is the current government which increased cocoa price from GH¢3,100+ to GH¢ 3,600+ in 2025.
The Minority MPs, instead of limiting the discourse to partisan taunts, have moved the issue a notch further actually visiting farmers at their farms and arguing animatedly that the prevailing price must be restored.
They are doing so because in 2024, key actors of the NDC including the current Ministers of Finance and Agriculture, carried the fight for increased cocoa price to the farmers all over the cocoa producing regions.
Deep
In the face of such deeply dichotomous digression, the public and the genuine pursuit of solution to the problem are abandoned.
The inertia at the Ghana Cocoa Board and ineptitude of the management are lost to the people.
Whilst the Minority seeks to compel government to reverse its decision, governments has corrupted public officials, appointed to hold office and manage the strategic resource, cocoa, which has carried the country on its back all these years, by hiding the truth about the true state of the industry.
What did previous governments do that burdened the COCOBOD with responsibility for carrying out infrastructural developments of all kinds, not from its profit but sometimes from its operating capital.
What happened to the world market price of cocoa to tumble so fast Is it that we were taken by surprise, did not know or foresee it coming, is it that we felt confident that prices would continue to rise and waited to capitalise on soaring prices or we abandoned forward sales and focused on spot market or we decided to do nothing and blame the past.
That is where Chinua Achebe becomes propitious in Anthills of the Savannah when he submits that, ” to blame all these things on imperialism and international capitalism as our modish radicals (fanatical or sycophantic party activists) want us to do, is in my view sheer cant and humbug.
It is like going out to arrest the village blacksmith every time a man hacks his fellow to death’.(paranthesis added)
Prof. K.G. Folson, has noted that it is no part of democracy for the Minority or opposition to assume that government has an obligation to change policy to meet their demands and that any minority or opposition which wants government to change policy must mobilise public opinion in that direction.
He also argued that any government which patronises or compromises the integrity of public officials destroys the foundations of democracy and cannot claim to be serving the interest of the people.
The patronage and compromises come through the manner of such appointments based on party loyalty rather than any established criteria or standard set by the Public Services Commission
Accordingly, my appeal to both government and the Minority is that there is the need for genuine discourse on the cocoa issue.
That is imperative because once cocoa proves incapable of cost recovery and we have demonstrated that the fight against galamsey is half-hearted, in the face of soaring prices of gold, cocoa farms could be turned into gold mining sites where earnings in a week or month could readily surpass genuine income from cocoa harvests for years.
The Minority MPs could continue talking about betrayal and show solidarity to farmers by physically touring farms knowing that it is only public opinion that can result in policy change.
However, they must engage government and see what could be done together in the face of the collapsed world market price of cocoa.
Similarly, government and public officials must not let their intellect be clouded by partisan emotions to continue the baseless, infantile, weird, sycophantic and puerile arguments that when cost of living goes down people do not need big money for anything.
It must be noted that it was the NDC administration which increased the producer price of cocoa to GH¢3,600+.
If GH¢3,100+ under Akufo Addo is of less value and purchasing power than GH¢2,500+ under Mahama, what are the values of GH¢2,500+ and GH¢3,600+ under Mahama.
That is how thought is introduced into political discourse to serve the public interest functionally and meaningfully.
Whilst the information in the public domain suggests that the arrears are to be redeemed at GH¢3,600+ and the GH¢2,500+ is to operate with new purchases, the farmers are alleging that they are getting a flat rate of GH¢2,500+ for both current sales and the arrears.
Is it that purchasing clerks are fleecing the farmers or that the farmers are insincere or that the government is not truthful about what price to pay for produce purchased last year.
The full facts must be disclosed because in between the different stories is the truth.
If we want to prove that we are not only religious but righteous as well, then the public must be told the whole truth, nothing but the truth.
Source:
www.graphic.com.gh