Nana Boateng Bonsu, President of the Concerned Cocoa Farmers Association, has lambasted the government of Ghana over its handling of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) noting that the institution has collapsed and must be done away with
While responding to a statement made by the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta last week that the finance ministry and the Bank of Ghana are liaising to set up a monitoring desk at COCOBOD to ensure discipline in the state-owned company’s expenditure. This follows concerns raised by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that its huge annual losses, posed a major threat to the sector and government’s fiscal efforts.
Mr Bonsu, in response to that move, said, “the COCOBOD is a collapsed institution. We know it, we foresaw it and said it several times but they never listened. So, for this situation, we don’t need Ken Ofori-Atta and his people. What are they coming to do?” he wondered.
Mr Bonsu further berated the the finance minister saying “If they had something better to offer, by now, Ghana’s economy would have shot up. They have nothing to offer. Cocoa farmers are capable of doing their own things” and demanded that “they should forget about Ken Ofori-Atta and his people”.
“If they know COCOBOD has collapsed, we should know so that cocoa farmers can sell their products directly to the buyer to make our money rather than relying on the government, because the government has nothing better to offer the farmers. Right now, a lot of farmers are cutting down their cocoa trees and shifting to different crops all because they’ve realised that they have been enslaved for so many years.”
Nana Boateng Bonsu
COCOBOD Put Wax in their Ears
In his view, COCOBOD has put wax in their ears and are not listening to the farmers. Mr Bonsu complained that COCOBOD takes decisions willy-nilly without the input of the farmers.
“There’s nothing happening on the ground. There is no dialogue between farmers and COCOBOD. Anything that comes to them and they think it is beneficial to them or us, they just implement. There is nothing like an engagement or ‘let’s sit down with the farmers since they are those on the ground and see what they want.”
Nana Boateng Bonsu
Meanwhile, COCOBOD was set by ordinance in 1947, to encourage and facilitate the production, processing and marketing of good quality cocoa, coffee and sheanut in all forms in the most efficient and cost effective manner. It was given ¢27 million (being Ghana’s share of the net profit of the West African Produce Control Board) as its initial working capital. The Board traces its beginning further back to the cocoa hold-up of 1937.
The Board first rented and occupied the old premises of the Export Produce Control Board on the 28th February Road, Accra, and when Swan Mill, which was built by the United Africa Company Limited was completed, it rented part of it at an annual cost of approximately ¢4,500.00 after which it acquired its own building.
In 1957, Ghana’s first President, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, laid the foundation stone to mark the construction of Cocoa House at 41 Kwame Nkrumah Avenue, Accra to provide offices for the Board.
The building of Cocoa House was not only meant to avoid payment of rent but also to represent a concrete expression of the Board’s faith in the future of the cocoa industry and a living monument to the hard work of the Ghanaian farmer.
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