Ranking member on the finance committee of parliament, Cassiel Ato Forson, has revealed that the country is witnessing an upsurge in cocoa loans.
According to him, this is as a result of poor management of the sector by the Akufo-Addo led administration. He indicated that government is collapsing the country’s cocoa sector and that in spite of several loan agreements approved by parliament for the purchase of cocoa beans to shore up cocoa productions, COCOBOD and its allied agencies are unable to purchase cocoa from the farmers.
“We are hearing from the cocoa-buying areas that people are ready to sell their cocoa, but the cocoa buyers, in fact the purchasing companies do not have money to buy the cocoa for the purposes of supplying to the state and for the state to be able to satisfy the conditions of their contract… We are also seeing an upsurge of cocoa bills, being cocoa loans, that this government within a short period of time they’ve been able to contract. We’ve numbers that suggest that COCOBOD owes in excess of GHC12 billion from the GHC1 billion they inherited and this is becoming a matter of great concern to us”.
Cassiel Ato Forson
Addressing the media, Mr Forson explained that there are some few developing issues in the country aside the e-levy matter in parliament. That notwithstanding, he noted that the issues that exist within the cocoa sector in current days have been a cause of worry among the minority.
“We are hearing that COCOBOD is not even able to buy up to 42% of what was purchased somewhere last year around the same time. So far, figures from the Ghana COCOBOD themselves suggests that they’ve bought so far 408,000 metric tonnes of cocoa as against almost 600, 000 metric tonnes, same period last year. We are worried because we believe that around this time parliament approved for Ghana COCOBOD to borrow an amount for the purposes of buying cocoa”.
Cassiel Ato Forson
Describing the economy of Ghana as “sick”, Dr Forson expressed that all and sundry need to come together to help solve the challenge which pervades within the cocoa sector. He emphasized that it is not “one political party’s problem”, but a problem that everyone must come together and solve.
“We know that is actually being occasioned by one party’s singular mismanagement but it doesn’t mean they are the ones that should solve it alone. We believe as a political party we are a major stakeholder in the management of this country. So, we are ready, we are well-positioned and we believe that if this government calls upon us, we would lend our intellect and our support to the building of this country”.
Cassiel Ato Forson
In August 2020, parliament approved US$ 1.3 billion loan facility from a consortium of banks and financial institutions to finance the purchase of cocoa for the 2020/21 crop season by the Ghana Cocoa Board (Cocobod). The loan which was intended to purchase an estimated 900,000 metric tonnes of cocoa beans from farmers through the Licensed Buying Companies (LBCs), was also meant to finance other operations of the Board for the cocoa season.
Additionally, part of it was to be used in certain operational areas including fertilizer distribution and application, cocoa diseases and pests’ control, cocoa roads, among others.
Presenting the Finance Committee’s report to the house prior to the approval, the former Chairman of the Committee, Dr. Mark Assibey-Yeboah, highlighted the need for substantial financial resources to enable COCOBOD purchase cocoa beans, which will consequently increase levels of production.
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