Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, the Minority Leader, has said that the agreement between the Republic of Ghana and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) to finance the promotion of rural opportunities, sustainable profits, and to sponsor the environmental resilience prosper project, is extremely unsettling and upsetting.
He backed up his claim by saying that the loan would be utilized for capacity building and consulting, rather than helping farmers. He acknowledged that there was a cap on non-concessional loans, which includes commercial loans, in the IMF program that Ghana signed.
He emphasized that Ghana could only borrow $60 million per year; this loan, however, fell outside of that limit and was therefore considered a concessional loan (commercial loan). In addition, he said there was no cap on concessional loans, and this loan was multilateral, so it could be restructured.
The Minority Leader then clarified that the Ghanaian government was eligible to take out a multilateral, concessional loan.
“Mr. speaker, in as much as the loan is non-concessional, the loan will be repaid. This loan will be repaid in due cause, so we should be mindful of where the money is going. I do not believe that the proceeds of $54 Million dollars are going to areas of productivity. Mr Speaker, I have concerns with this loan. I humbly urge that my colleagues to stand this loan down because clearly, the ordinary farmer will not be benefiting from this loan.
“This loan is largely to build capacity of groups and consultancy and agriculture on agriculture and agriculture value chain. I do not see why we should approve this loan. I say this because in as much as the loan is concessional and we are paying 0% interest,…Yes! We are paying 0% but the principal will be paid in some day. And so, someone should not be siting somewhere and be coming into our country and be making money from it.”
Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson
Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson also demanded that the Chairman of the Finance Committee reconciled the data he saw in the report, after claiming that the consultancy levels were excessive. He insisted that although the loan was good, the way the earnings were used, was bad.
“The terms and conditions of the loan is extremely good but the use of proceeds, that is where I have my problem. I think we should be interested in what the money will be used for and be able to ensure that it is going to areas that will bring economic growth and proper productivity. Mr. speaker, I cannot vouch for that and I recommend that we turn this loan down for further scrutiny.”
Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson
Majority Chief Whip Pleads For Acceptance Of Loan
However, Frank Annoh-Dompreh, the Majority Chief Whip, pleaded with the house to carefully consider the loan and approve it because it would undoubtedly benefit many.
He praised the Minority Leader for recognizing that this was a good loan and that the fact that it was a concessional loan, was significant because it was spoken in light of the Minority Leader’s expertise and experience.
“In these global times of mitigational adaptation, which has become the narrative of the world, for anybody to say this loan is not important, I would complete be at sea. Speaker, recently, the UN is talking about loss and damage, as one of the critical narratives. If we are talking in context of sustainable development, agricultural productivity increase and also to protect the environment, loss and damage are the last call of resorts.
“So, I want to plead with our colleagues, if it is about the using, and as my I heard from my respected leader mention that his concern really is the usage, then it should be considered. Page 5 of the committees’ report, the last paragraph says that interventions will cover 5 regions in the North and it goes ahead to name them; the Northern Region, Savannah, Upper West, North West and three neighboring regions in the middle belt, the Bono East, Bono and Oti.”
Frank Annoh-Dompreh
He remarked that it should not be argued about the fact that these places were home to a sizable number of farmers and that they were wracked by poverty.
In addition, he said that according to his colleague Haruna Iddrisu, the report records the terms and conditions of the facility, which only meant that there should be no doubt about them. “So, what is really the problem with the facility?”, he questioned.
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