The Member of Parliament for Karaga, Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam, has criticized the government over its newly announced cocoa sector reforms, accusing Finance Minister Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson of failing to protect the interests of farmers.
Speaking at a press briefing after the Finance Minister outlined plans to restructure the sector, Dr. Amin Adam said he had expected a broad, well-thought-out reform agenda.
“We were told that the Minister for Finance was coming to announce what they call a restructuring of the cocoa sector. We are very surprised that the minister rather used the opportunity to shortchange cocoa farmers,” he stated.
Dr. Amin Adam noted that a comprehensive turnaround strategy for COCOBOD had already been developed before the change in government, in collaboration with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
“Before we left government, we introduced a turnaround strategy for COCOBOD and worked on this with the IMF. This strategy was intended to comprehensively restructure COCOBOD,” he said.
According to the Karaga MP, current challenges facing COCOBOD stem from the government’s failure to implement the framework.
“What is happening today in the cocoa sector is not surprising because this government has failed to implement the COCOBOD turnaround strategy. That is why COCOBOD is facing these challenges,” he argued.
He also noted that some measures recently announced by Dr. Ato Forson were already included in the earlier plan.
“I heard that the minister is directing the move of the cost of cocoa roads to the Ministry of Roads. This measure was in the turnaround strategy that we handed over to them. It took them one year, and they have not implemented it,” he said.
Dr. Amin Adam added that the previous strategy also proposed a transparent pricing framework and the removal of certain cost elements that reduced farmers’ share of revenue, measures the government has yet to implement.
“They were supposed to legislate a transparent pricing policy for cocoa and remove cost items that tend to reduce the producer price. They have not done that,” he said.
He further contended that COCOBOD had not been refocused on its core mandate.
“They were supposed to move COCOBOD away from non-core businesses and improve efficiency, particularly in procurement. They have not done that,” he stated.
Dr. Amin Adam insisted that a fresh restructuring announcement was unnecessary if the previous blueprint had been executed.
“As far as we are concerned, this NDC government did not need to announce any new strategy for restructuring COCOBOD. If they had implemented the strategy we handed over, COCOBOD would not be in this mess,” he said.
He also questioned the IMF’s lack of response.
“We developed this strategy in consultation with the IMF as part of implementing the IMF programme. I’m really surprised that the IMF has gone to sleep on this,” he remarked, adding that “this government is recklessly managing the cocoa sector, which has brought us to this unprecedented crisis.”
On producer pricing, Dr. Amin Adam argued that a financial bailout for COCOBOD would have been more appropriate than adjustments affecting farmers.
“Given the scale of the crisis, one would expect the government to give COCOBOD a bailout, as we did during the MPP era, rather than reducing the producer price for cocoa. A bailout would have been necessary,” he said.
He challenged government claims of superior economic management.
“They claim to be better managers of the economy. An economy that is better managed cannot pay cocoa farmers? An economy that is better managed reduces the producer price of cocoa?” he asked.
Dr. Amin Adam also blamed the overvaluation of the Ghana cedi for weakening Ghana’s competitiveness on the international cocoa market.
“We warned this government about the reckless overvaluation of our currency. When you overvalue your currency, it adversely affects export competitiveness,” he said.
He added that the stronger cedi has made Ghana’s cocoa relatively more expensive, reducing demand.
“Ghana’s cocoa is now considered more expensive. The CEO of COCOBOD has confirmed this, noting that consumers are turning away from Ghana’s cocoa,” he stated.
Drawing on economic principles, he said:
“When inflation is 3.8 per cent, your currency should depreciate by at least 3.8 per cent to protect exports. Yet they boast about appreciation. That is poor economics.”
He concluded that the cocoa sector crisis reflects broader concerns about economic management.
“The cocoa sector has exposed them. This government is recklessly undermining these efforts, and it won’t be long before Ghanaians see the reality of this government,” he said.
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