Member of Parliament for Ofoase Ayirebi, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has criticised the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) over the ongoing challenges in the cocoa sector, accusing the party of hypocrisy and poor management of the cocoa industry.
Speaking exclusively to ABC News GH on the difficulties facing cocoa farmers, Hon. Oppong Nkrumah recalled that the erstwhile New Patriotic Party (NPP) government significantly increased the cocoa producer price during its time in office, despite facing intense criticism from the then opposition NDC.
“We moved the cocoa producer price from about GH¢400 in 2017 to over GH¢3,000 in 2024, but we were branded as wicked,” he said, noting that the price increases were meant to improve the livelihoods of cocoa farmers and sustain the sector.
According to him, the current crisis confronting cocoa farmers, particularly challenges with payments, should be squarely blamed on the management of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) under the present administration.
“Blame the management of COCOBOD for the current crisis,” he stated, arguing that the problems are not as a result of pricing decisions taken by the previous government but rather management failures.
Mr Oppong Nkrumah dismissed calls for emergency meetings to resolve the payment issues, insisting that such measures are unnecessary if the fundamentals of management are addressed.
“We don’t need an emergency meeting to address payments to cocoa farmers,” he stressed, adding that timely payments should be routine if COCOBOD is being run efficiently.
He further attributed the struggles within COCOBOD to the dismissal of experienced staff, claiming that the loss of institutional memory has weakened the organisation’s ability to function effectively.
“The management of COCOBOD sacked people with deep institutional knowledge, and that’s why they are struggling,” he said.
The ranking member on Parliament’s Economy and Development Committee comments come amid growing concerns from cocoa farmers and industry stakeholders over delayed payments, raising questions about COCOBOD’s management and the future stability of Ghana’s cocoa sector.
