The Minority in Parliament has strongly criticized the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) for its recent decision to switch to self-financing for the 2024/2025 cocoa crop season, which begins in September 2024.
On Tuesday, August 20, COCOBOD’s CEO, Joseph Boahen Aidoo, announced that the organization will not seek loans from foreign banks for the upcoming cocoa season, a move expected to save approximately $150 million.
This marks a significant shift from the past 32 years, during which COCOBOD relied on offshore borrowing through its cocoa syndication programme to finance cocoa purchases.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, August 21, Minority Leader Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson criticized COCOBOD’s decision, arguing that the organization lacks the necessary creditworthiness.
He described the move as “false, unmeritorious, contrived, and merely an attempt to save face.”
“This is to hide the fact that COCOBOD is no longer creditworthy and that a 32-year-old tradition, which has consistently cushioned and provided Ghana’s economy with the most reliable foreign exchange to support the Ghana Cedi, has been destroyed by the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government.”
The Minority declared that the country’s cocoa sector is in a state of crisis, necessitating competent management and a new direction for the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD).
They accused the government of mismanaging and destroying the cocoa sector, emphasizing the need for urgent corrective action.
“Ghana’s cocoa sector is in crisis and needs urgent attention, competent management and a new direction. The NPP government has completely mismanaged and destroyed the cocoa sector.
“After seven years of decline in production and consecutive losses, the government has shown clearly that it does not have the competence to manage the cocoa sector which has since independence been the mainstay of the Ghanaian economy.”
The Minority also claimed that International Banks in June 2024 rejected the Ghana Cocoa Board’s request for a prepayment loan to finance the purchase of cocoa.
ALSO READ:
